Heroic Drama

It's been a long and wonderful three day weekend! Luckily my real live was void of drama, because in game it was overflowing. I previously mentioned how my friend quit his guild due to the guild being lax on the age policy. I encountered something I hadn't in a surprisingly long time: a bad PuG experience.

Modan Co doesn't raid much, but I enjoyed it in BC and I thought I'd attempt to gear up in case it's something I decide to do. The best way to do it I determined was to run heroics. The first heroic I tried running actually was with guildmates: ToC. It was a disaster. I knew I had to improve my gear a bit on my own, so I bought a few pieces. I then had some successful runs of other heroic instances.

Yesterday I tried to run the daily which was Old Kingdom. I got in a group, and I should have known it was going to go poorly as the two Death Knights argued over who was going to tank. Finally one said, "I have the gear and spec, but I'm not good at it, but I'll do it." We decided to give it a try.

We're pulling trash and the tank manages to drop aggro, so the mobs attack the healer and the healer dies and pops his soulstone. No one remembers the soulstone bit because all of a sudden the tank and healer are blaming me because my gear isn't good enough. I try to explain that of course my gear isn't all purples, that's why I'm running heroics. The tank says I'm supposed to run regular instances first. I don't want to get into a fight or whine, so I don't bring to the their attention how impossible it is to find a group for a regular instance. Instead I say that this isn't my first heroic and I've done fine before. The healer retorts, "What, you did one that your Uludar-geared friends pulled you through?" Meanwhile, the Hunter DPS is asking me to kick the healer out of the group (however, the healer is the group leader so I can't do that) and the Death Knight DPS is telling me it's not my fault, everyone has to start their gear somewhere, and it's the tank and healer's fault really. Then before I know it I'm kicked from the group.

I find another group a while later. We do fine and eventually we get to Herald Volazj. After the first Insanity, the other two DPS die. I feel a sinking doom, but I continue to push as fast as I can. We make it to the second Insanity, and manage to kill all the doubles, and finally we get Volazj down.

No achievement, but I'm pretty damn proud of myself. I DPS'ed Herald Volazj in Heroic mode from about 50% to 0 including Insanity by myself. I wished that the healer and tank from the original group had seen it. That would've been so sweet. At least I got the Wand of Ahnkahet.

Post-Weekend Update: Big Naga Down!

The Death of Lady Vashj

Frijona, along with the Modan Co and some friends, were finally able to kill the great naga leader, Lady Vashj in Serpentshrine Cavern. Hopefully this will return balance to the Zangarmarsh ecology and the Sporelings will be able to live out the rest of their lives in peace.

Too Many Heinsoos

Our guild leader, Heinsoo, had to leave quickly following the raid. We missed him so much that a few of us created a mob of Heinsoo clones. (Mine is Heiny, second from the left.) We then proceeded to run around Ironforge and Stormwind as stereotypes of our fearless leader. In other words, yelling "Son of a..." and "I'm docking your pay" a lot with many /facepalm emotes.

This sort of craziness is why I love that guild so much!

Frijona and the Sporelings - Part 2

[Here's part 2 of the story! Serpentshrine Cavern is tonight and I'm completely stoked!]

"Fri. Frijona. Someone is here to see you!"
Frijona awoke to a blue hand shaking her and the voice of Fahssn the Sporeling. "Huh? Wha?" she said, yawning.
"A lady from the Cenarion Expedition is here to see you. She says she was asked to find you after you did not return to the Expedition. Her name is Leesa'oh. Come and speak to her!" Fahssn pulled Frijona up to her feet and she followed the Sporeling outside. A violet-haired Night Elf paused in her conversation with Mycah and approached.
"You must be Frijona. I'd had word that you'd gone missing. I am Watcher Leesa'oh of the Cenarion Expedition."
"It's nice to hear that the Expedition was concerned about my whereabouts. I was attacked by a large group of Naga. The Sporelings found my and brought me here where I've been healing. Since you're here, I would like to discuss with you what's going on with the Sporelings."
"The Cenarion Expedition has recently become aware of the Sporelings plight ourselves. I might be able to answer some questions you may have. Mycah tells me that you've been told that Sporeling young are being eaten by fungal giants. I've been doing some research into their diet. Previously they ate mushrooms that grow East of here, but that area has been taken over by hostile Ogres. We're not sure exactly what the Ogres are doing here but we suspect that they are slaves to the Naga."
"The Naga have attempted to use Sporelings as slaves as well," Frijona explained. "However the Sporelings cannot do the work and are killed."
Leesa'oh frowned. "That's horrible news. Unfortunately I don't have much information regarding the Naga's presence in Zangarmarsh, but I know the Expedition is looking into it. As for the fungal giants I've been working on a plan. I've managed to recruit the assistance of a particularly intelligent fungal giant named Fhwoor who had kept himself from eating young Sporelings. I've already discussed this with Mycah. He's been able to provide me with information, and we've managed to steal back quite a bit of the fungal giant's original food source, and we believe it will grow to the West of here. I'll have him explain. Fhwoor!"
There was the thudding of footsteps, and a fungal giant appeared. Frijona prepared to fight incase the giant decided the Sporelings looked particularly delicious.
"Fhwoor help Sporelings! Not eat them." Fhwoor said. The Sporelings appeared nervous anyway, and stood with their backs to one another. "Fhwoor say, we no eat this. But Fhwoor people say need food or starve. Leesa'oh and Fhwoor have plan."
"Fhwoor did you bring the crates?" asked Leesa'oh.
"Fhwoor forgot!" Fhwoor lowered his head. "Fhwoor sorry."
Leesa'oh smiled. "It's alright, why don't you go get them?"

Leesa'oh took the Sporelings to the West to transplant the fungal giant's mushroom supply, while Frijona, Fhwoor, and a Sporeling named Synis guarded Sporeggar. Frijona knew that it would take them a while to transplant all of those crates of mushrooms, so she didn't feel concerned. Fhwoor however, began pacing.
Suddenly there was a splash sound. "What was that?" said Synis. The three of them turned to look in the direction of the sound. It was a Naga.
"What'sss thisss? You're sssuposed to be dead!" the Naga said. Frijona recognized the naga instantly as the one who had nearly killed her. Sure enough, soon the rest of her posse appeared in the water behind her.
"We have come for the Sssporelings! Usually they're not worth keeping alive, but we have a ssspecial job for them. Now where are they?"
"You're too late," said Frijona. Fhwoor had moved in front of Synis so he couldn't be seen. "The uh, see here this Fwho--fungal giant? He's uh--eaten them all! He and the other fungal giants. They're all dead, see. Eaten. Yup."
"You are the worssst liar I have ever heard," said the Naga. "I happen to know there is a Sssporling hiding behind the fungal giant. Get it!"
This time, as the Naga began moving forward Frijona was prepared. She cast a spell causing the Naga to quickly run in the oposite direction, visions of the Tanaris desert in their heads.
"That wont last long," said Frijona. "I am going to call a demon, but when they return you must help fight!" Speaking in Demonic, Frijona called forth a large blue demon--a Voidwalker named Konkath.
"My will is your command," said the Voidwalker.
"KK, I want you to insult those Naga when they return."
"As you wish," said Konkath.
The Naga returned. "Nicsse little trick there, Warlock, but it wont work on usss again!"
"Naga are so ugly," said Konkath dryly.
"How dare you insssult usss!" said the Naga. "Kill the big blue demon firssst!" The Naga rushed to attack Konkath. Frijona wasn't sure how much help her companions would be. Sporelings did not have the bodies for fighting and she was not sure if they could do magic.
"FHWOOR SMASH!" yelled Fhwoor, and ran forward, clobbering a Naga on the head. The Naga fell over. Frijona couldn't tell for sure through the spells she was casting, but it appeared to her that Fhwoor was smiling. Frijona smiled back.

Soon all the Naga were dead except the leader. "I think we should keep this one alive," said Frijona. "She might be able to tell us what these Naga are doing here. Just cover her mouth, Fhwoor, so she can't cast any spells. I'll get some bandages to tie her up." Frijona pulled some heavy netherweave bandages from one of her bags, and tied one around the Naga's mouth and another around the Naga's arms to hold them behind her back. "Put her in one of the caves, will you Fhwoor? We'll decide what to do with her when the others return. Meanwhile, KK why don't you start moving the Naga bodies out of here. They'll start to smell soon. Smell worse, anyway. Synis and I can guard the prisoner until the others return."

Welcome to Moon Guard - The Trailer

I play mostly on Moon Guard, considered the last bastion of actual RP on RP servers. Interesting stuff goes on here, to put things lightly. A guild mate of mine, Leozon, decided to create a machinima series based on all the crazy shenanigans that goes on around here. I'm eventually going to be doing some voicing, but Leo finished the trailer, and it's pretty awesome. Or perhaps I'm biased, but I think you'll agree, particularly given that it's his first work. But you don't have to take my word for it:



Be sure and check at 2:06. That's Fri in the Kirin Tor tabard!

Frijona and the Sporelings - Part 1

[This is the first part of an in-character account of Frijona's time spent in Sporeggar. Modan Co is doing an IC run of Serpentshrine Cavern this coming weekend. This should explain some of Fri's particular hatred for naga, and why I'm so excited about having her kill Lady Vashj!]

Frijona Spindrella arrived in Zangarmarsh with the intent of assisting the Cenarion Expedition, but the young Warlock found herself easily distracted. Since arriving in the Outlands, she'd been spending all of her time in the hot, harsh climate of Hellfire Penninsula. The swamps of Zangarmarsh were a welcome relief. The large tops of the giant mushrooms that populated the zone offered shade from the sun. Frijona was most impressed by the herbs in the area. With her herb sack ready, she began filling it with the anticipation of examining the herbs later on. Of most interest to her was the long white stalks of a herb which according to her book was called rageveil.

Frijona was working with a rather tricky stalk of rageveil, when suddenly she heard a hissing sound and behind her. She looked up. About seven green and blue serpent-like creatures were standing above her. They seemed to be laughing.
"Naga..." Frijona said, standing up and preparing to fight. This was not her first run-in with naga. There was the group in Feralas guarding the ruins, and the mob that tried to attack the ship she was on when she'd taken a job as a deckhand. Never friendly and always extremely annoying. Frijona was about to call on a demon to send the naga backwards when she realized that in all the excitement over herbs she'd forgotten to call on one.
"Thisss one is barely ssskin and bones," hissed a naga, apparently female. "Hardly enough for a sssnack!"
The naga laughed. Frijona thought they were going to perhaps let her be.
"Ssstill, we can't let her live." The naga laughed again and before she could cast an appropriate spell, began to close in on her. The last thing she saw was a particularly burly naga raise a pole-arm above her head.

The warlock awoke in what appeared to be a small, although oddly brightly lit, cave. "Naga..." she said, remembering. They must've taken her prisoner.
"You're awake!" said a strange, high pitched, gurgly sort of voice. Frijona looked to her left where it was coming from and her eyes widened in shock. The creature was very odd looking. It was short and purple with almost glowing yellow spots on its body, particularly on its very large forehead.
"You think I look strange, but to me you look strange. Even for a Human you look odd. But that is no matter. You are doing much better. Wait, no you cannot get up! You must rest. And eat!" The creature thrust out a round light green object that appeared to be a fruit in front of the woman's face.
"Erm, uh. I don't, I mean, no thanks?" Frijona tried to push back from the food, but her head throbbed with a sharp pain.
"Up to you. It's a sporepod. I will leave it here" the creature said. He set the fruit down next to her. Frijona tried to remember the last time she had something to eat. She couldn't, which was her signal that she needed to eat again. She picked up the fruit. She smelled it. No specific scent. Slowly she raised it to her lips and took a very tiny bite. It was soft like a fungus but did not taste like a mushroom. It was also near liquid on the inside. It was almost tasteless, like water, and as Frijona chewed and swallowed she noticed that she had not wanted to spit it out the moment she put it in her mouth. She realized that her body did not want to expell it the moment it entered her esophagus. She did not have to fight any spasms of her stomach.
She wasn't sure how she could tell, but the creature seemed to be smiling. Frijona smiled back. "Yum," she said.

Frijona had tried to get up again after finishing the sporepods, but the creature stopped her again. "You must rest more," he said. "The naga knocked you out hard."
"I am not sleepy," Frijona said. "Why don't you tell me about yourself?"
"Yes. I am Fahssn, a Sporeling and you are in Sporeggar."
"Tell me more about Sporeggar. What do you Sporelings do?"
"Sporeggar is our home in Zangarmarsh. We Sporelings are simple people. We fish and do crafts and try to take care of our families. We do not have wars like you humans. We have not done so. But now we must fight. Things are changing and it is not good for Sporeggar."
"Why not? What is changing?" Frijona asked.
"I will find Mycah who can tell you more. Mycah asked to meet you when you awoke. You awoke so I will find Mycah."

Fahssn left and returned with another nearly identical Sporeling. "This is Mycah. This is: What is your name?"
"I am Frijona Spindrella. But you can call me Fri," Frijona said.
"Hello Fri," said Mycah. "I am glad you are awake. We were not sure you would live. Fahssn said that you had interest in Sporeling trouble. Why is that?"
Frijona smiled. "You helped me, so I would like to help you if possible."
"Humans are too busy with their other problems to help the Sporelings. But I will tell you what is going on. We have two problems. First is the fungal giants. There used to be few, but now there are many who try and eat our children. We try to fight but they are much bigger and stronger. We must go in very large groups to bring one down. But worse than the giants are the naga. They have not always been here. They are killing us because we make bad slaves."
Frijona's bony hands formed fists. "WHAT? They KILL you because you make bad SLAVES? That is the stupidest, most horrible thing I have ever heard!" Frijona winced and put her hands on her head.
"It is a bad time for Sporelings but you must be calm and rest," said Mycah. "Lie down now and sleep and we will talk more in the morning."

Midweek Update?

Some General Announcements:

1. I cannot get the Mithril Pocketwatch even though I have killed Coren Direbrew 15 times already. A mount would be nice, too, but I can live without that. I'll die without the pocketwatch.

2. Because the twitter include suddenly started looking horrible, I have removed it for the time being until I either find out it's fixed or I can fiddle with it and make it look nice on my own. Meanwhile, follow me on twitter here.

3. Very exciting RP-related stuff happening in my guild. I'm super-stoked because it relates back to the Sporeggar storyline I did a while back and it includes many naga casualties. I'm thinking about writing the Sporeggar storyline into an actual narrative story at some point in the near future. It would be nice if I could get it done before we actually head up to Zangarmarsh on Saturday.

4. Speaking of Modan Co, we're still recruiting experienced archeologists. Apply on the forums.

5. I'm also getting started on a new project that I hope will be server-wide in magnitude. (I'm talking about Moon Guard, of course.) More information to come!

These Are a Few of my Favorite Zones

A few pieces of information and screenshots of one of the zones planned for Cataclysm, The Abyssal Maw, is up on the official site. They look pretty amazing with bright colors and soft details. I wasn't thrilled by Northrend's zone landscape. It was all painfully similar, compaired to the Outlands where each zone was beautifully unique. I suppose I couldn't expect much given that Northrend is a Northern continent, but look at Kalmidor and the Eastern Kingdoms. Do the weather patterns in the zones there make any sense?Looking at the images for The Abyssal Maw enticed me to take a trip down nostalgia lane. While there are a couple zones I loathe and have threatened to never return to quest in ever again (namely Strangethorn Vale) there are zones that still take my breath away. I present to you my favorite zones from each continent.

Eastern Kingdoms

Hillsbrad Foothills

None of the zones in the Eastern Kingdoms particularly stand out to me. I chose Hillsbrad Foothills as my favorite because it reminds me most of home with tall lush trees and lakes to the farmland in-between.  For these reasons I chose Southshore as Frijona's hometown. Hillsbrad Foothills is also a fairly lore-centric zone, adding to its appeal. Apparently Southshore will be taken over by the Horde in Cataclysm. This is an event that I have not yet determined how Frijona, who has no beef with the Horde, is going to react.

Kalimdor

Feralas

If Hillsbrad Foothills is similar to where I grew up, Feralas is the zone that most resembles the sort of place my family vacationed to when I was a child: huge, lush trees! gorgeous coastline! highborne relics! Okay, perhaps not the relics. Although my dad was really interested in Native American cave paintings. Feralas is, simply, amazingly beautiful. It's easily my favorite realm in all of Azeroth. 

The Outlands

Zangarmarsh

I don't know who at Blizzard came up with the idea of giant blue mushrooms in a zone, but it was creative genius! There is no zone I love more than Zangarmarsh. It's breathtaking to explore. The quests are fun. The Sporelings are adorable! Some of the mobs can be herbalized! There's lots of naga to kill!

Northrend

Zul'Drak

Picking a favorite zone in Northrend was difficult. I finally decided to go with Zul'Drak because even though it's not the prettiest zone (that would probably be Crystalsong Forest) it has the most interesting quests. I've always found Troll lore incredibly fascinating and Zul'Drak is an entire zone dedicated to it! Zul'Drak is by no means an ugly zone, either. It's unlike any other zone I've seen. It's full of ruins and has a sinister feeling. Stay away from the voodoo!

What are your favorite zones?

Post-Weekend Update: It's a Poll!

I played quite a bit this weekend but didn't accomplish much because most of the time was spent wrapping up an RP story arc with a Modan Co guildmate. I reached Honored with the Knights of the Ebon Blade and picked up a nice cloak. I'm also halfway to having enough gold for my epic flying mount. Being 80 is nice for getting more gold! My current goal is to get Revered so I can pick up the Flameheart Spell Scalpel.

Now that I'm 80, I'm wondering who I should level next. Choices:

1. Cordelaine, level 58 Night Elf Death Knight - Moon Guard.

She has purple hair and is bad ass. I have not yet decided much about her backstory. Probably your general "hero of the Alliance dies and is raised as a Death Knight by the Lich King and is then freed from his grasp at the Battle at Light's Hope and regains her free will" or something like that. She definitely wouldn't be pure good or evil. More an "ends justify the means" type. Like Frijona, but a little less "protector of the small." There's an excellent Death Knight RP guild on Moon Guard with several Modan Co alts.

2. Eadwacer, level 20 Draenei Hunter - Moon Guard.

I'm pretty sure I wrote about Eadwacer before. She's adorable, with the dark blue skin and white hair buns. Her story was that she had a powerful position with the Draenei before the Exodar crashed. After the crash, she lied low and begun going by an alternate name (Eadwacer) learning the crossbow and the languages of the new land. It's very loosly based off the Anglo-Saxon poem Wulf and Eadwacer. Logged into her recently to pick up her level 20 mount.

3. Lorei, level 17 Blood Elf Rogue - Scarlet Crusade.

I'll be leveling her occasionally for sure, since I created her in order to get a look at the Horde side of things before Cataclysm launches. Haven't thought of what she's like IC all that much. She's on Scarlet Crusade so I can play with a friend of mine who is leveling a Death Knight over there. 

4. Claren, level 17 Night Elf Druid - Moon Guard.

The only way I'll level her would be to turn her into a Troll once Cataclysm hits. I don't know what it is with Druids. They sound so awesome, but I just can't get into it. However, I'd love to have a Troll one, and going through levels 1-15ish as a Druid again just doesn't sound appealing.

5. Something Else?

Or, I could roll something new. But probably not. The only new characters floating in my head involve Goblins and Worgen. (Thinking Goblin Hunter and Worgen Mage.)

Since I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do, I've decided to make it a poll! It's on the left. You will vote, wont you?

Note that I didn't list Sprynklez. I've decided that in Cataclysm Srpynk is going to become a Priest. She's going to give up her stabby ways and devote her life to "The Great Lightbulb in the Sky, Master of Knowledge, Creativity, and All Things Soft and Fluffy."

Faction Changes: None for me, Thanks

Paid faction changes are now available, much sooner than I expected! While for some this is a huge change that is long overdue, I for one will not be changing the faction of any of my characters. Here are a few reasons why not:

1. The only character who, in my opinion, is at a high enough level to change is Frijona. Even when I played on a Normal server and didn't really understand what RP was, Frijona had a personality and the inklings of a backstory. Her history is distinctly Human. The only way I could allow myself to change factions and thus races would be to change her name and theoretically (and perhaps ICly) "kill" Frijona. And I just can't do that, I'm too attached!

2. I really enjoy my guild, Modan Co. I seemed to have joined at an ideal time since after joining the guild went through a large growth spurt. (Due to a recruitment thread on the realm forums, being mentioned on WoW.com, and word-of-mouth.) Now I have the opportunity to be part of bringing the guild into exciting new directions as Cataclysm approaches.

3. If I were to change factions it would be to play on another server with a friend of mine. (I believe I've mentioned him by several of his character names in the blog, so I think I'll call him Z from now on to be consistent.) I rolled a Blood Elf Rogue on the server, partly to talk to my friend and partly because I want to see Horde content before Cataclysm comes. Changing Fri into a Horde character would defeat the second purpose.

4. Similar to number two--I have many friends on Moon Guard, Alliance side, that I would be sad to leave.

5. I like the Alliance-side mounts so much more. Once I get to 80 and get epic flight I want to start working on getting the mount achievements. Even though Fri has a pretty Dreadsteed to ride, I'd rather her collection of mounts include fuzzy rams and swift horses instead of scaly raptors and skeletal horses. What I really hate are the raptor mounts. Even with all the ridiculous things in the game, nothing breaks my suspension of disbelief more than the existence of raptors in Azeroth.

And thus, even though I am not primarily playing the faction preferred by Blizzard, I shall remain for the Alliance.

Post Weekend Update: Mew!

Frijona didn't get much playtime this weekend, but I did get to show off my new adorable white kitten, a gift from Modan Co guild member Kreus. Thanks again!

Post Weekend Update: Big Tongues over Puppy Men

-I finished the Frenzyheart/Oracle quest chain. My choice of Oracles was pretty obvious. Pets! I don't have enough rep to buy the egg yet. Also, the Frenzyheart folks are pretty much jerks, with the exception of the wasp hunter that follows you around for a while. He seemed alright. He didn't get all excited that I was his slave like the others. I was a little sad to let him go. But...pets!

-Frijona is now one level away from 80! As soon as she hits 80, you wont have to suffer through another "ding" post, at least until the new expansion hits.

-Speaking of Cataclysm, if you haven't watched the trailer yet, go do it now. I'm so excited. I'm completely pumped. I can't wait a year and a half for this! Heroic Deadmines, folks. Heroic Deadmines!

Coming Soon: Something awesome. But it's a secret!

[Image Credit: It's all over the internet. If it's yours, let me know and I'll credit you appropriately.]

The Stabbing Warlock and Other Noob Moments

I log into World of Warcraft for the first time. I listen to the introduction about the Humans, and walk my newly minted Warlock to the quest giver before me. My task is to kill a few Kobolds. Having never played an MMO before, I find myself standing in front of one of those candle-hoarding creatures stabbing at it with my dagger. I have a couple spells on my bar, but not only do I not know how to use them, but I don’t even know that they exist. Moments later the Kobold kills me, and I can see the laughter of a couple onlookers.

If I hadn’t paid so much for the game and spent weeks researching what class to play, I may have given up right there. I didn’t figure out my spells until visiting the class trainer and learning new ones. Unfortunately, this was not the beginning of my noob moments.

It was several levels before I dared use the Auction House. I used to just sell everything to a vendor. The crowds of people standing before the auctioneers in Stormwind scared me, about as much as the first time I ever spotted a Horde character.

My biggest noob moment was when I received a quest to visit Ironforge and had no idea that the tram existed. I spent an entire day attempting to walk there, going through the Burning Steppes at level 14. I found no way through, and eventually ended up swimming from Westfall to the Wetlands and running over from there. I didn’t ride the tram until after I’d obtained my first mount.

Realize that this is before I learned how to autorun. Yes, I’d been continually pressing the up button on my keyboard. I didn’t learn about it until my then-boyfriend started playing. Of course he figured it out right away.

What were your biggest noob moments?

Coming Soon: I’m really excited about this week’s links! Check back Friday.

Update of Unspecified Time Period

Since I haven't been playing as much as I'd like to on the weekends, here's a general update of what Frijona's been up to since the last time I updated:

-Frijona received her adorable little Oracle companion from the Northrend Children's Week quests. The little Wolvar is cute, too, but this little guy was being picked on. His name is Ickl0o, Ickle for short. You can see His Adorableness in the screenshot to the left.

-Ding! Fri reached level 78! This is the home stretch! I should be 80 in no time!

-I completed the super-long quest chain in Zul'Drak involving the Loa Har'koa, at least up to the dungeon. It's a fascinating quest chain I suggest everyone do if they get a chance. It's full of lore! And trolls! It starts with Strange Mojo which begins on a mojo that drops while killing Trolls for the quest Mopping Up. I also had the opportunity to do the Amphitheater of Anguish while I was in the area.

Post-weekend update should resume as soon as my weekends stop being so odd.

Why I'm a Warlock - Part 1

Originally this post was going to be a list of reasons why I love being a warlock, but then I realized my warlock love goes back in time to my pre-World of Warcraft days. The first RPG I ever played was a Mac game from the early nineties called Tarskmaker, and the sequel, Tomb of the Taskmaker. Both are top down pixilated games where your character accepts quests from a mysterious “taskmaker” figure. Tomb of the Taskmaker featured a choice of gender for your character and three class choices: fighter, thief, and magician. I knew right away that I wanted to be a magician, even though the game stated that it was the most difficult.

One of the things I really liked about the game was that dying was not the end of the world. In fact, I think these games had the most creative "death" I've ever seen. Once you died, you were sent to Hell. In the original Taskmaker you had to go through a maze lined by fires and demons (that you couldn’t really fight). In Tomb of the Taskmaker, Hell was different depending on how you died. When you made it out, you were left with only a butter knife. This might seem pretty low, but obtaining money in the game was easy since there was random free stuff all over the place you could pick up and sell or use. Mobs would drop all sorts of jewels that could be deposited in ATMs for cash. (Yes, there were ATMs lining a medieval-style castle!) Dying in games and having to start over again always really frustrated me, and I found the Hell feature rather amusing. 

This game lead to me wanting to be the magician/mage type in every RPG I played. Before WoW, the only MMORPG I’d played was Maple Story, in which, of course, I was a magician. My friend that I was playing with and I did not get very far in the game, so I was never introduced to the tank/DPS/healer concept, so when I decided to play WoW I didn’t consider it when choosing a class. 

Not that I’m sure it would have made a difference. What got me into WoW was watching the intro video on my friend’s laptop. I loved the Tauren shaman and the Dwarf hunter. My friend played Alliance and told me the Tauren was a “bad guy" and belonged to the Horde, thus instilling in my brain that the Horde was evil. I know different now! Really! 

Before I picked up WoW, I spent quite a bit of time researching what race and class I wanted to play. Since Tauren, and thus the Horde, were “bad” I chose Alliance. I was disappointed I couldn’t play a shaman, and a paladin had no interest to me. I wanted something darker. I thought about a rogue, but I really wanted to use magic. I thought about being a Night Elf hunter, since I enjoy archery in real life and liked the idea of having a pet. But I read a variety of places that this was the most popular class in the game. The mage seemed uninteresting in comparison to my last two choices: a warlock or a shadow priest. 

The shadow priest, I read, would be constantly pressured to heal. The warlock had pets (excuse me, minions). My choice was made. 

The next question was race, which turned out fairly simple. My friend said that Gnomes were “lame” and so I chose to be a human. I made Frijona look like me, and then entered the game. After appearing in Northshire Abbey in that blood red dress and obtaining the first Warlock quest, I was hooked.

Coming Soon: Part 2! Obviously.

[Warlock Image: www.profilebrand.com]

Friday Linkday: July 17, 2009

Hurray it’s Friday! Here are the links of the week:

1. Draele of Rantings of the Afflicted has an excellent idea about a new voidwalker ability, Void Strike, based on the Pain Strike ability of the voidwalkers in Nagrand. The warlock Q&A hinted at a new damage dealing ability for voidwalkers other than just having them punch people with their bright blue fists. This is a very well-thought-out idea.

2. Gryphonheart Items – Addon Review – Some of my guildies use this addon for creating RP items. This is a lovely and informative review of the add-on. (From Too Many Annas.)

3. Feeling burned out? I haven’t lately, but this is still a good reminder of why WoW is so much fun to play. (From World of Snarkcraft.)

4. Fashion Faux Paws - I haven’t mentioned yet how much I hate how the T9 set looks, given that they all look so similar. (Does anyone actually like them? Anyone at all? As my co-GM says, “Fun is the easiest thing to nerf.”) This post from Rolling Hots describes how particularly ridiculous the Druid set looks. Very funny!

Coming Soon: What Frijona and the gang are up to this weekend!

Returned!

Six months after I quit playing and blogging (a hiatus which just happened more than it was actually planned) I have returned. The hiatus just happened in that I found myself not wanting to login. To be fair, I told my guild I would be going away for an indefinite period of time. Eventually my subscription ran out and for months I decided not to renew it.

My return to Azeroth was sparked by my friend who would occasionally email me with some new feature Blizzard had added in that he thought I'd enjoy. Nothing enticed me quite as much as when he told me about the leveling changes to patch 3.2. I thought the best way for me to get into the game again would be to roll an alt, and the ideal alt for me would be a Druid, because I found the new forms very appealing. Playing my Druid, Claren, has been fun and I've gotten her up to level 16.

I also found myself wanting to try out Horde and a PVP realm, so after some research I rolled a Troll Warrior, Renaza, on Twisting Nether. I'm loving the warrior class, which is strange because I've always seen myself to be a caster at heart. Still, there's something exciting about the metal clinking of her chain armor as she charges a target. She's at level 11. I'm trying to only level Claren and Renaza while they are in rested XP so I'm not wasting my time.

The original plan was to retire Frijona for the time being and basically start over, but I've found myself wanting to play her more and more. I'll probably hop on her this evening, perhaps just to see if I can still remember how to play the class!

Fascinating RP-related Posts Not to Miss!

The folks at Blogatelle are my new heroes. They have created the most indispensable guide to RPing the different races. It's the perfect place to start if you're thinking of rolling something new. It goes in great detail as to what the average member of each race thinks of the other races and classes. Of course each character would have her or his own unique view, but check out how the guide describes how Gnomes view Night Elves:

Mind you, if the gnomes think the humans are a little backwards, they think the night elves are insane, surely. Declaring magic evil? No advanced technology whatsoever? How do they live? The gnomes and the night elves really are at complete and utter odds with each other. So naturally, of course, the gnomes are freaking fascinated by them.

This also shows how fantastic the writing is! Sprynklez, of course, thinks the Night Elves are pretty and have soft-looking mounts.

Waging war against the "lorelol" is one of the most oddly-titled pieces in WoW-Insider lately. While it begins as a rant, it has answers to many questions we've all had about Bliz and lore. I learned a few things, including that Orcs came to Azeroth through a Stargate (which makes Draenei more believable as a race). Fascinating. Read the damn thing!

Each Friday Too Many Annas asks their readers five questions about their characters (aptly named the "Friday Five"). This week's were particularly fun to answer (yes, even though it's Saturday). Here are my responses for Frijona:

1. Does your character collect anything? Is that collection of any value to anyone other than them?

Frijona collects potentially magical objects and books. Intending on studying the properties of the object or reading the book, she will put forth quite a bit of gold or effort to get her hands on something that seems interesting. Then it collects dust in her apartment. It might be of value to someone else, but who knows?

2. What just irritates the hell out of your character? What makes them happy (in a silly way, like bubbles or balloons or goldfish), if anything?

Fri gets very irritated when people eat in front of her or talk about eating. She also hates it when people pick on beings weaker than them. Cute, helpless animals make her very happy, as well as obtaining souls from really evil creatures.

3. What is your character’s favorite thing to eat?

Underspore pods.

4. If your character knew he or she would die tomorrow, how would they spend today?

Consistently making sure her soulstone was in place. If that wasn’t an option, she would probably seek out her family.

5. What is in your character’s pockets?

Maybe an underspore pod, a soul shard, and some crushed herbs.

Coming Soon: Pretty Northrend screenshots turned wallpaper, why we should be able to hide our shoulder armor, and future plans for this blog!

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!

How to Woo a Warlock

Asylum recently posted an interview with The Guild's Felicia Day on how to pick up women in WoW.

I decided this needed to be taken one step further. Frijona is perpetually single in the game, partly due to me not wanting to involve myself in anything remotely potentially ERP (that's Erotic RolePlay) related, and partly because I know that Frijona is way too fussy to ever be able to find anyone that would fit her specifications, which are as follows:

1. You must be a human. Fri doesn’t want a partner who will live longer than she will, or that she’s significantly taller than.
2. You must be male.
3. Preferably, your hair is in a ponytail. This is because this is the only attractive human male hairstyle in the game. And yes, the new belf ponytail will work as well. It’s also best if it’s dark brown or black, with no facial hair.
4. You must use magic, or at least know a little, but you may not be a paladin or a holy priest, because there will likely be a conflict of ideals. Frijona does not trust other warlocks to maintain clear-headdedness, so no warlocks. While she respects the mages of her guild, she still sees them as weak and would not want to engage in a romantic relationship with one. This basically leaves shadow priests.
5. You must never eat around her, or at least be very conscious of what you do eat, sticking to small portions of fruits and vegetables. You must never suggest that she eat something or comment on her thinness.
6. Flowers are nice, but Frijona prefers those with powerful alchemical properties. Unique, potentially magical items would be a better gift.
7. Never ask to visit Fri’s apartment. It’s full of junk, anyway.
8. You must not have mindless hatred of the Horde. If you have real reasons for wanting to go to war with them, that might be acceptable.
9. You must respect the fact that Frijona does not appreciate physical contact from others.

And finally…

10. You must not succumb to any flirtations made by Jhorneth (Frijona’s succubus). It is best if you ignore Jho when she is around.

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.