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.]

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.

Friday Linkday: August 7, 2009

It's time for this week's links! With Patch 3.2 hitting this week, WoW blogs are aflutter with reactions and information related to the "Call of the Crusade" patch. Here are a couple of my favorites:

1. I really like Gray Matter's post on First Impressions. It's a casual look at some of the first few things he noticed when logging in after installing 3.2. Isle of Conquest sounds like something I'll never, ever want to do given my general distaste for vehicles.

2. More of a guide than a summary of reactions, Banana Shoulders has included an excellent compendium of information on The Argent Tournament. The crusader's tabbard looks pretty cool.

Of course, that's not the only thing bloggers are blogging about:

3. After logging in I got something in my mail about Northrend orphans! I thought, wait, it's not Children's Week! It's not exactly, but it's sort of the same. You get an Oracle or a Wolvar to take around Northrend and then at the end the orphan mails himself to you! Isn't that adorable? I can't wait to do it! I'll probably get on it tonight. When I do, I'll be following WoW.com's lovely Walk-through.

4. Finally, if you've read anything about "female gamer archtypes" please read Sydera's Revisited post over on World of Matticus. Luckily, all the guilds I've been in have been extremely female-friendly and I hope my experience is more of the norm than the article suggests.

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?]