Alts (WoW)

You are not prepared!

Over the past week I've been working on alts a bit, the Druid and Lock. I ended up enjoying the lock a good bit more, and Dire has been leaning towards playing his DK (both are on the horde), so I figure why not have a 90 on that side too? The lock is really nice for a lot of things and works well with the DK for the things we like to do. The Druid is a lot of fun but balance just has such a weird feeling overall, I do like it but I just can't put my finger on it. I would say it is one of the tougher classes to solo with, not hard but it is much easier to die. Thing is, I only want to play her as balance, so I'll get her there eventually, 90 that is.

We're both sitting at 89, Dire and I, hoping to hit 90 in the next day or two. I've joined a friendly little guild and they have been really refreshing, always wanting to do things, very alive. I wasn't looking for a guild but I was asked to join, so I figured it can't hurt to make some new friends on the horde. I also ran into a friend from years ago, which was so nice. I didn't know if he played or not still. He's even offered me a spot in a raiding guild. Which is very tempting! While I have not really wanted to raid a lot over the past expansion (Cata) it would be fun to raid a couple of days a week with friends. I'm still thinking on it, I don't know if the hours will be something I can swing yet or not.

Other than that we've really been having fun on these characters. I think I may just park the hunter for awhile and work on the lock, I really enjoy it. We love to run old content, Dire and I. It is one of our favorite things to do. We've been able to do so much, with these, and we're not even 90 yet.

Over the past few days we've run a lot of BC raids including The Black Temple, which was the highlight for me. I've never been in there and I didn't think we'd be able to do it, but it was much easier than I thought it would be. We have a lot of self healing which helps. I got some great transmog items like the felhunter staff Illidan drops, I had really wanted that!! It is so perfect for a lock!

I also won a ticket, off the black market, for the brawler's guild. I haven't even used it! I have been toying with the alts and just not taken time to do so. Once we hit 90 with these couple of characters we'll both spend some time with it I think. It looks really cool and I can't wait. If you haven't gotten a ticket, they are pretty cheap on the auction house, I've heard for most servers, you can get one for about 1k. For those who don't know what it is, the brawler's guild, it is basically fight club for WoW, lol. Except you fight NPC characters. I hear it is great and lots of fun watching and chatting with others while you wait your turn.

I can't wait to charge ahead to 90 and start doing more (again, lol)! On some medications for a small infection so I've been groggily, dragging his last level out, meh! Anyhow, leaving some neat pics in closing.

Phoenix Lord- Dire wants the mount so we've been doing Tempest Keep weekly.

Tempest Keep, final boss.

Just riding around outside the Magisters Terrace. I remember when this was the place to be for all your daily needs!

Riding around The Black Temple with Dire. 

Outside the room leading to Illidan. 

Dire and I. 

Drop us some uber loot!!

Pose for a pic now!

A neat debuff that made me and my mount red, lol.

My new transmog set, I LOVE the staff!

Running around in TSS raid instance, I don't like this one so much >.< I did get to fish up the second boss, that was funny! Dire looks to me and says, 'You're the fisher! Fish it up!" lol.

Eye Candy

Meeting up to kill Sha of Anger with a ' PUG'. 

Ohhh he's about to spawn!

Waiting for Sha to show up, milling around. 

Decided I might as well do this one finally, some nice epic boots as reward- Don't forget to loot him!

Buffage!

Fight goes into black and white, kind of neat.

We ready?!

Riding a yak for a quest. I wish I could tame one, they are so huggable!

I just love the Jade Forest.

Sleeping dragon- Onyxia, haven't visited her in awhile. I wants her mount!!

Dead Onyxia.

Pet taming, forgot to take a pic of the new pet, but thought this was a lovely scene in Hillsbrad as I was flying around!

My Dire! I asked him which spirit beast he wanted to tame, as a surprise, he has to go and name one of those challenging tames, lol. It was actually pretty fun, plus he was so excited when he came home. He got me a unicycle too, (yes IRL!), fair trade me thinks!

Chasing Dragons

Wow Insider has a post up about collecting dragon mounts, while it was aimed at the warlock class; it is still a neat list for accessible dragon mounts in the game. The easiest IMO would probably be the timed Caverns of Time (Stratholme) mount. But if you want a flashy newer model, there are some that are pretty easy to get at 90. 

I had completely forgotten about some of these mounts! I remember I had wanted a few of these but they never seemed to drop when the content was current. There are two in particular that drop in regular or heroic runs- Stone Core and Vortex Pinnacle. At 90 these are easy to run. I gave the one in Stonecore a few tries but I really dislike that zone, the whole area outside has never been one of my faves, so oppressive. Then I saw that I actually liked the dragon better that drops in the Vortex Pinnacle, I figured I'd focus on that one instead. It is a lovely grey dragon, one of those spiky models, with pale blue lightning shooting through it. Very snazzy looking!

The instance is quite easy at 90, on regular you can breeze right through. If you can stealth, you just sneak through to the bosses if you don't want to do much. I get lazy sometimes and sneak through some of these on my hunter. If you have a tabard for reputation though, you might want to slap it on and get some faction while you try for mounts. 

I got extremely lucky as the mount dropped on the first try. I was crossing my fingers but I didn't expect it to drop right off the bat, that was a good feeling. Some mounts have evaded me for years, so this was a nice change. Such a gorgeous mount (pictured up top). 

So if you're looking for a flashy dragon mount, there are some options to chose from with different colors, check out the article linked at the top. 

I also managed to get one of those maggot (hunter) pets. We really need more stable slots!!!! I have been reading about many hunters grabbing them before patch 5.2 hits. Supposedly in 5.2 you can no longer tame this pet. These things are huge once tamed, when they spawn (as minions) they are tiny. I wasn't all like 'OMG I want me a huge maggot pet', but if the pet will be untamable in the future, well, I might as well grab it while I can. It is always cool to have a unique pet. The only one I've ever gotten was the spirit wolf back in TBC. Now you can tame the spirit beast version (Cataclysm), but you have to be Beast Mastery to use it. I still have mine and it is not a spirit beast, though I do want the spirit beast version too, mine is just a regular beast so I can use it with any spec, which is kind of cool. I've become really attached to spirit beasts though, I have a macro set up to heal myself with the heal they have, comes in handy in a pinch. 

Anyhow, I'm not sure if 5.2 will hit today or not. If it doesn't then you might want to grab one of those big fellows. As of now-they are not rare. But, it looks like when 5.2 hits they'll be pretty rare as you won't be able to tame them again. There are two colors, you can see them here on Petopia. I picked the red one, then I named it Slimy.

Weekend Recap (WoW)

I didn't plan on jumping so heartily back into WoW when I started puttering around again. I suppose that is just how it goes sometimes. I think the idea of getting to 90 held a lot of enticement, I knew that once I did lots of things opened up, since then I felt there were many more options of play. I do a lot of different things each day.

I do what is fun, memorable. I used to go after the best loot all the time, years and years ago, raids and groups. But for me, now, just doing whatever is the most fun at the time is the best way to go about it. As I run through old instances and loot old gear that is worthless, I think back on how much I wanted this neck item, this trinket or whatever, and chuckle at how worthless it is now... While that is the nature of the beast, I don't think I will ever stress again over loot. It just isn't the gamer I am now. I play to have fun and if phat loot comes along with it, fine, I'm not going to stress over things that are replaced so quickly. It is nice to be proud of what you have worked for but I find myself working on things that last more though expansions. I did the gear treadmill, yearning for items so badly where I was in agony, since my days of EverQuest.

I get overwhelmed with daily quests so at the moment I am picking a few to work on then when I am finished with these I'll move on. For now it is all I have time to do, plus I get to do different things instead of just filling my playtime with daily quests. I like it that way, variety keeps things fun for me.

I plan on working up my tradeskills and I have been slowly working on them all. While it isn't a huge move forward it is relaxing and fun. I enjoy fishing and cooking, doing those daily quests as they are pretty simple and boost the skills up, even if it is slowly. Archaeology gets worked on alongside of pet battles.

Speaking of pet battles, those things are addictive! I've been working through leveling up a team, deciding which pets to level up and my new team is around ten now. I even got one of those baby gorillas from STV (they only show up when it is raining)! I camped out on the island the night before, in hopes that it might be raining the next time I logged in. Luck was on my side, I logged into a rainy day (the island and the rest of the area are on different weather patterns, while it might be raining elsewhere it may not be raining on the isle) on the isle. There were so many people flying around looking for those babies! I battled one and lost, I was so dismayed, the rain wasn't going to last all day. I did manage to load up a new battle team quickly and rushed around to find another one, this one I tamed! He was poor quality but I used a pet stone to upgrade him to rare, I like this little fellow. That was so exciting!

I've also been clearing out old raids for the Raiding With Leashes achievement, I will need help with the higher zones... But Dire is playing again so I have hopes we can do these together! I sent him about 15k worth of rare pets/mount in hopes of getting him excited about playing again. We'll see. I managed to get another chrominius, which I passed onto him. Over the weekend I also picked up a couple new pets from Molten Core, which went into my journal. I even managed to get a Core Marksman Rifle schematic, since I am an engineer I had to make that! It is pretty awesome looking, I made Dire one for his hunter to transmog as well.

It was a good week/weekend, I got 150 pet achievement, awarding me the lovely celestial dragon pet. I also saw I needed one more tabard for the Tabard of the Achiever, which is pretty snazzy looking, so I managed to get that. Lots to do, some days are more exciting than others but there is always something to work on and do. I really like that, always staying busy. I do want to do a few instances and some scenarios, eventually. Maybe when Dire gets caught up.

Have a great week, safe adventures!

Trapped in amber! Archaeology item effect.

150 (unique) pet reward: Celestial Dragon.  

My baby!

This mechanical pet is not a rare (spawns outside of gnomer) but it sure is awesome looking! Who doesn't want a steam powered cat!

Night in Dalaran.... Something you don't see often. NPC triggers it; Rhonin, the leader of the Kirin Tor

A pet from MC. 

Another MC pet and my new Tabard of The Achiever. 

Mah new gun! Core Marksman Rifle. Love big guns/bows slung over my back!

Mr.Pinchy. Had him in the bank from several years ago (three charges come with this fishing item), thought he might need a walk.

AQ 40, I need to read up on this fight. NO AQ pets dropped for me this week, meh!

Black Wing Lair.

Happy Valentine's Day

Have a happy Valentine's Day! Just something fun I drew for V-Day, I love these guys (I miss The Jon...)!

Pet Tracker!

Wearing my 'lucky tamer bunny ears', see they work! Get back over here so I can tame you!

Gaming time has been cut short lately. I decided we need more exercise, over the weekend we went out to look at skates and since then we've been rollerblading in the evenings- which has had me wiped out. I am a huge klutz, it has taken a massive amount of practice to learn to stay upright, lol. I've not fallen (knock on wood) but it is hard to totter around like a (towering 6ft) five year old on skates, hard on ones dignity! I picked up roller-skates and blades, the blades have been much better, except I'm using my son's old pair as they are an expensive pair with ankle support, good for an old spaghetti noodle like me. Good thing we wear the same size.

I've never been good on skates but I decided I wanted us to do something different that gets us out of the house. My son is a pro, so he's been holding his poor mom's hand and teaching her! It has been fun but leaves me quite tired. It is much easier to learn when you're a kid, and that was probably the last time I tried to skate! Now at 35 it is tiring but I love getting out and getting exercise, plus my son has been so excited, he has been asking me to skate for the past year. Practice makes perfect, right? I make them get out every evening and skate, sometimes Dire slacks and skips an evening, but my son has asked if for his birthday I'll go to the skating rink with him and skate. So I need a LOT of practice! I'm going to plan a party there too, as it is his favorite hobby.

Anyhow, that's the biggest reason for lack of posts, in the evenings I log into WoW a little, do some daily quests then crash. I logged into Vanguard over the weekend and got 16 on my cleric there, and a really cool item from a lock box, but more on that in another VG post as I plan on playing more now that I'm 90 in WoW. I just need more time and energy!

Last night I was doing my fishing dailies for the anglers and noticed some tracks. Oh! Rare hunter taming tracks! I followed them around and lost them, backtracked, decided to look up what the mob was. Found the tracks leading forward, found where the creature was, all the while Dire laughing at how bad of a tracker I was... *sniff*. Eventually I tamed him, a large turtle, with a black shell and red skin. I wasn't really after a turtle but why not tame him? I was happy when I finally got him tamed.

Some things to note- Ice trap did not always stick, damage did not cause him to aggro me and thinking back I figured I should have used hunter's mark. If you are after these pets that needs to be the first thing you cast on them! That is the best advice I can give, because as soon as they are out of the flare, well, they just invis again. Also, taming, get on top of them and start it, they will keep walking, they don't attack so you really want to make sure you get close enough to tame as they walk away! I found icetrap doesn't always stick, I think due to them moving out of the flare it sort of conflicts if not stepped upon at just the right time.

I decided I wanted to see what other rare beasts I could track and tame. I ended up with four all together! Luckily they were up and after reading up on WoW Head, I only had to sit and camp one- Glimmer. I camped him about 15 minutes and he showed up. The rest I flew around until I found tracks. Another one to note would be Hexapos, his tracks are backwards. You don't follow the direction they are going but the opposite direction! The rest were uneventful really, well as far as surprises go.

It was pretty neat tracking these pets, hoping someone else didn't tame them when I was looking, following the tracks, knowing I was sooo close but not knowing exactly where they were (they turn a lot, lol)! I liked it better than in the past where the rare hunter pets would be up (those that had no rare drops) but others could still kill them, causing hunters to wail in despair, as the time spent camping these pets skyrocketed. I spent a lot of time taming many of my pets, this was a nice change, time consuming but not nearly as bad. I read most of these are only around two hours for respawn.

Fun stuff! They are all 90. The water-striders are quite awesome as I use them for fishing all time time! If you don't find these guys after about twenty minutes, I say come back another time. They are probably not as hunted as they were at the start of the expansion, I didn't see any other hunters, maybe I was just lucky. Good luck if you are looking for them, I still have a few more to tame, though my stable is full and I don't know who to release.... We really need more stable slots!! Pics below.

Because of phasing in the Jade forest, this spot on the map is the best place to 'camp' Glimmer, as this is where he crosses over the water. The pic below shows where I was standing, I just set the flare below, traps don't always seem to work. (triangle on the map!) And... tracks are harder to see here, make sure to turn your ground clutter all the way down if you're not in a static camp spot. 

Glimmer! He is a neat looking strider. 

Bloodtooth, a dark colored turtle. Not as flashy as the one I tamed in Cataclysm but he's cool, very sleek and mean looking!

Hexapos, he's a tall one. At first I wasn't a fan of these guys but they're so soft and sparkly looking! Plus, it is cool to have a big pet sometimes! Great for the ability to walk on water, perfect pet for an angler!

Portent. This one comes in many colors, I like this scheme, he's pretty dark and impressive looking. This one randomly spawns in one of four colors. Pretty easy to track, you can see the tracks easily enough, note there is one in the pic.