Ding... Again

I've really enjoyed Mists of Pandaria, though I have not yet played a character all the way to level 90. I suppose this has to do with me really enjoying the changes to many of the classes I play, causing me to hop around and play around with many of them instead of focusing on one. This has also changed who I've wanted to work on, some classes being more fun than others, also just wanting a change in general. Most of the time I dread class changes but I really was pleasantly surprised with this expansion.

I thought I'd level the Druid up first, which is a lot of fun, but I'm probably going to work on her secondly. I've been puttering around mostly on my Horde lock and she just hit 85 last night. Demonology is a lot of fun to play with, I've just been plowing through the levels. 80-85 is now so much faster. I leveled through them with my DK before the patch hit, and it is now a blur! I ended up clearing all of Uldum and getting loremaster of Cataclysm then hitting 85 shortly after. I've never finished that zone because I had remembered the Harrison Jones questline being bugged for a while and never tried it again past my first 85. It was nice to finish all that up. Plus, it is my favorite zone in Cataclysm.

I look forward to leveling through MoP with the lock, I really enjoy these zones, the lore, the art and the music. I suppose I should have just stuck it out with my other classes getting them to 90 then worrying about alts, but it's all in fun. I'm enjoying the lock very much and think sometimes it is better to just play what is fun more than worrying about all the rest.

I Be A Troll, Mon!

Nyomi

I've been working on my Druid and Hunter, both making way to 85. I suppose I could work on one and then the other but it's more fun hopping back and forth, for now. One may take the lead eventually. I suppose whatever I feel in the mood for, that day, is what I log in.

My Druid is now a Troll! I love it, mon. The flight form is still the Tauren graphic so I hope to see the new (bat) flight form implemented before long. I managed to buy her epic flying which was easy to save up for with the Cataclysm quest rewards, drops and things I've gathered. Herbs and skins sell oh so well! I'm making a lot of gold each day off all of this. I am sure it will lighten up as the expansion ages but for now it's awesome making all this money!

The fishy wanted some chicken wings...

It's been ages since I was balance so it was a little hard getting use to shifting in and out of forms, at first. I'm dual spec balance/resto currently. Her damage surpasses the Hunter by leagues, it's sad. My normal hits at 80 (she's 82 now)  were what my Hunter crit for at 82. The Hunter doesn't seem to be scaling all that well still. But I still enjoy the class and it's nice having two mains to bounce back and forth between.

I'm enjoying the Cataclysm quests, so much in fact that I put my DK on hold. I just didn't feel up to redoing BC and WoTLK so soon! There are lots of fun quests and many new things to do and see. 

Our little guild ,Walk The Plank, hit level 2 last night and while it's slow going it's exciting to hit levels. I do wish it was easier for smaller guilds to progress. I can see this being a problem, Lono hit the nail on the head in his last post. It will take some time but I hope to see our guild grow and progress.

-kaozz

Beauty Or The Beast? (Worgen)

Beauty or the beast?

Today I woke up with a Christmas tree knocked over on the floor, since then it's been knocked over three more times, all the ornaments are off of it, tinsel all over the house. I have one very bad kitty. To top it off my son's vice principal should be sent to the principal's office for lack of manners. Gotta love days like this.

I managed to finish off the Worgen starting area this morning. It was bittersweet. A lovely story with some sad parts. People losing their homeland a father losing his son, people losing loved ones in general. I feel for the Worgen, it makes me like Sylvanas a bit less. It's the nice part of playing both sides, you get to see things for yourself. Personally, I think she's lost it!

Player housing please?! You taunt me Blizzard >.>

I decided to make  a (yes, another) Druid. I wanted to play around with the new Druid forms. The Worgen are cool looking, a bit 'doggy' looking but cute that way. The mount/run speed animation, I'm still deciding what exactly my thoughts are on that. It's cool in a way but it's weird too. I can already hear all the 'doggy-style' jokes and 'attempts' in the cities. *Rolls Eyes*...

Something I did not like was my visit to the barber. I had to switch to Worgen, pick hair, get out of the chair, switch to human, see hair. Nope not the right one, do it all over again. Annoying. That will get costly at 85! Plus those new hairstyles from WoTLK were not an option for me. Booooo!

Other than that I had a nice time. While not as fun and crazy as the Goblin area it was a good play. It went by quickly and pretty smooth, for the most part. I still have to finish up the last part for the Goblins... Another day on that topic. Today it was nice to be in a cozy rainy day atmosphere.

I will miss those 'gabby' Gilneas'!

I've just been indecisive about what I want to play lately. When I get like this I just play whatever is fun at the moment. I may play the Worgen a bit more when no guildies are on. I'd like to see how some of the Alliance areas have changed with the questing.

So yeah, I'm all about just having fun with alts right now. I keep forgetting to try out archeology. That will give me a reason to log in the main. Hope everyone else is having fun with Cataclysm, seems they are! OR... whatever it is you are playing!


-kaozz

Killin' Time!

What can we get into?

This evening (which is now tomorrow, thanks youube for being a PITA) I was happy to see a few of my guildies on. I had plans to make a little video while passing some time waiting on Cataclysm, which actually ran into more time than I thought! They were more than happy to help me and we had a lot of fun making a video tonight. It's short and sweet, something with some humor.

The thing about adding in subtitles is you have to keep them short if you have many short clips so I had to keep things short and to the point. While watching the first edit my son thought the subtitles too long and hard to read so I had a bit of editing to work on. I hope you enjoy the video, Walk The Plank sure did enjoy making it. See ya in Cataclysm!

And boo on youtube for doing maintenance while I was trying to publish!!!! NERDRAGE!

Countdown To Mean Green Goblin Take Ov... Err Cataclysm!

Can we wait that long?!!

Are you ready for Cataclysm?! I sure am. When I first started playing again I figured I'd want to race to 85 and get the Hunter there first. I'm not so much feeling the Druid, maybe after a race change, but I am sure she will hit 85 in due time.

What I seem to be looking forward to mostly is making a Goblin! They are so cute, the look like little green pixies, well the females do. I'm not big on small races in MMO games. Most never really hold any appeal to me. Having a character with stubby legs and arms, where gear looks like infant wear, isn't that interesting... But the Goblins were so well done that they look like a fun race to be. Seriously they just ooze fun! The racials are sweet as well.

I do plan on making a Worgen too. I have to, I've been wanting to make one since I first heard about the expansion. And I do plan on leveling Clo, my Hunter, because I am interested in getting 85, I'm just not in a really big rush!

I've been mostly playing alts over the weekend. My Mage is level 16, she might end up getting deleted to become a Goblin! My Lock is 41 and I have another Paladin alt (too cheap to transfer my 80 back here), who is 20 now. Paladins are very appealing, I really enjoyed leveling this one up! With all the new quests in these areas it's just so much nicer leveling alts and you just fly through the levels!

He sparkles!

In the past I've mentioned that my serious alt days were in the past as I've played through these zones one too many times since release. With these changes it's not like that anymore and it makes me want to play an alt. Fantastic job Blizzard! It takes a lot for me to want to level an alt these days and it's really nice to feel differently at the thought!

I hope everyone has a fantastic time in Cataclysm! May your loot be phat and your levels be fun!


-kaozz

The End of The Road Is Near!

So, today I bought Cataclysm for us. Yay! We're all set for the big day! I'm mostly messing around on various alts and on occasion the mains(s). Just doing some fun laid back questing, that's enough for me. I should be grinding out daily quests for gold but I don't feel like it right now. Maybe tomorrow! I'm excited though.

Dire hasn't had a whole lot of time to play WoW lately and his interest runs in spurts these days but I think Cataclysm will be a nice change for him, offering more things to keep him interested. He's even mentioned making a goblin once he has a main to 85. 

Lately EQ2 has been getting some attention with some new claims and Velious getting closer. I saw in my mailbox an ad for EQ2: Pay for Dec-Fed and order Velious and you get rewards. A new race (vampires) and a wold mount and I'm not sure what the third is. I don't like the idea of being baited to play. Isn't it enough that I want to play the expansion? So if you miss out you'll never get to play the new race? NOT COOL SOE... I'm losing faith in you here.

Furthermore John Smedly claims "We have five years of World of Warcraft experience behind us to know that people that play EverQuest II don't play World of Warcraft." Really? *Chuckles..* That's odd to hear, I play both. I don't always play both at the same time, for the most part, because I don't have the attention span to focus on more than one MMO at a time. I sometimes do. Sometimes. That's why I didn't do so well with a station pass. I'm just sayin' Mr. Smed- I consider myself an avid fan and part of both WoW and EQ2 communities.

So, I'm ready for Cataclysm, I'm just not sure if I'm ready for Velious yet. I'm sure I will be by the time it hits, I just don't like the idea for missing out simply because I took a break. Kaozz is a sad panda, SOE.

Countdown To Cataclysm!

Just a few days until Cataclysm! What will you do first? Will you be racing to 85 to raid? Taking your time enjoying the way? Rolling a new alt? Exited or wanting more time to finish things up?

I suppose I will level my Hunter to 85 first. I will surely make Goblin and Worgen alts. I think through this expansion my Warlock just might make it to 85 too. Currently she is what I've been messing around with mostly. I expect the Druid to hit 85 eventually, also.

It's like playing through a new expansion while leveling an alt now. I really enjoy the new quests and revamped areas. It's all so refreshing. The quests are enjoyable and it seems not as much running to hell and back is required to complete quests.

As for the Lock, it's very nice now that I am not depending on soul shards for everything! I like that I get the Felguard just for speccing Demo. I like how they've done a lot of things with the trees (for all classes) especially getting things for speccing into different trees. With demo I have no downtime and really the pet just eats everything up. last time I played her I was Affliction. It's fun with a new spec for now. I also hit level 40, last night. Yay, fast sparkle pony now!

Have you noticed prices have gone down?! Cold Weather flying is now 500g, roughly. Dual spec is only TEN GOLD! I like these changes!

So that's about it, in my corner of the world. I'm also mad at Sony Vegas today for crashing with my latest video. It has made me a sad panda... Hours of work down the drain. GRRRR!

Have a great weekend peeps!

-kaozz

Time Is Money! (WoW)

Ready to roll!

Lately I've been trying to get some stuff done before Cataclysm and with that came finishing up my reputations with the city factions in Azeroth. I've been so close and with the new tabards (-found by the city flight paths on the faction quartermasters-) it's easier than ever! Today I will have them all finished up, only about 2k rep left for the last one!

Vanity Plate= Time is money!

Along with all of the older city tabards the new factions were added in as well! When I found out you could already max your faction and grab a goblin mount I was ecstatic. There were people who farmed several mechanics and got the faction in as little as two hours but those ways were hot-fixed quickly. The best way is running heroics. If that isn't your cup of tea the tabards work in all old world instances as well as the ones in WoTLK.You can solo it, though it might take a little bit longer.

Last night I ended up getting my Goblin mount and it's so awesome! It's one sweet little ride. More and more people are getting them but that's cool, we're all excited about having a sweet new ride! I ended up running probably around 16 heroics this week/end and it's added up. It took me a bit as I started off slowly and picked up when Dire was home, faster queues with a healer! I even got several upgrades as the justice points were flowing in, bountiful, much faster than I initially thought they would. Not a big deal but nice to get some upgrades too! Even if it is a bit close to the expansion it's been fun and Dire has enjoyed it more than just messing about, which I do a lot of.

The only thing I do not like about the mount is it is silent. No cool sounds like other mechanical mounts. Well, when you jump it creaks. That's it! Oh Blizzard add in some sound please! It has flames coming out the back, it's not a pedal powered trike! While the Alliance are sort of in the cold with no snazzy new mount currently, well here's something that might, at least, make you laugh...

Goofin' off!

Other than that I've been working on other goals here and there. It was nice to do some heroics, we only ran into a couple of jerks but I had a bit of fun (poking fun) with them. Ya know, heroics are still so serious business right?! My Hunter's DPS has gone down a bit, it's not like she is decked out but she was doing a bit more and I do hope things even out at 85. I still love the class and while focus is fun and neat it's a bit odd going from so much mana to being focus starved at times. Let's hope for the best!

I've been exploring a little, still much to see, much to work on. I have grabbed a few new pets but nothing to brag about. It's been fun and refreshing and while I am messing about I'm (most of the time) getting stuff done. It's been real festive and I'm glad it's not over, Cataclysm will bring in a new wave of festivities! The new fishing and cooking dailies are fun, if not a bit annoying with everyone else doing them! I do like that they reward skill points, this will be nice in the future.

Good to have my healer.. Err.. Dire back!

I've made a little video showing off my new Goblin mount and a couple of the new areas for Worgen and Goblins. It's mostly to show off to some of my friends who have been absent from the game. It's short and just something fun!



-kaozz

Getting In Gear For Cataclysm

 
Have you been getting things in order before Cataclysm and The Shattering? I've been trying to! It's getting closer and the shattering begins tomorrow! It's exciting and there are a few things you might want to make note of.

So, today we have one last day to see some zones, which means you may want to visit some of those, one last time, before those changes. Also note that the Dalaran/Shattrath portals will be removed!  The portals will be replaced with class trainers, oh joy. I'm not happy about this. Why revert? I'm going to skip this and put it in the back of my mind, hopefully it will stay in some dark corner and  not bother me anytime soon.

New Hunter pets! I am soo happy I will be able to grab me a fox and a cute little monkey! With the shattering changes come new looks and new beasts! Another thing that is exciting is the new race/class combinations! I will be trying a few, just for kicks. I've always wanted a Night Elf Mage.

So, there will be some cool things to explore while we wait, hopefully a new line added to the Cata events, some big finisher! I'm keeping busy with plenty to do until then! Plus Pilgrim's Bounty is here this week, it's actually an achievement I have but it's something to do for some monies.

I've worked on trades kills, still in the process actually! Paid my friend back a loan, finished some factions, worked on mounts, farmed mounts, vanity pets (omg this reminds me there are a few to try to grab today!!), rare hunter pets...

Oh the Hunter pet search has been a big time consumer and I try not to camp them! I try to just fly by but sometimes I go searching. I did manage to get Gondria and Loque'nahak but Skoll evades me. I'm not sure I even need him as my stable is filling up and I so badly want a FOX! Plus I still have my trusty ghost wolf (Grimtotem Spirit Guide), which won't be so rare in Cata as the skin will be brought back for a rare spawn- Spirit Beast. Yay for you Hunter's wanting him so badly and boo for us Hunter's who worked hard to attain and have had something unique to show for it. However, mine will still be a regular wolf where I can use in any spec, unlike this new one who will only be usable by BM hunters. Na- Na!

But yeah, I was pretty excited about the new pets, just checking through these zones real fast and they were both up (different days). I thought my heart was going to thump out of my chest while taming them, as it's been Hunter city this week in those rare spirit beast zones, I didn't want him getting snatched away. They've been like vultures, hanging around those spots! I didn't appear to be but I was looking around in different ways ;)

A tip for those looking for Gondria- If you really want to camp her, there is an easy way to look at all five spawns and keep a real good eye out. Fly up to the top of the Alter of Har'Koa and from there you can use Eagle Eye to check all the spawn points (it has unlimited range, if you can see there you can use it). Yes, track beasts does work with this so it saves a lot of time that flying would take. Though you still have to fly there if you see a spawn- but- it's a bit easier, even though it did put me to sleep a few times!


Last but not least Dire has returned. He isn't as enthused as I am so I'm not sure he will stick with it, it is nice to have him to play with as I have just been playing WoW alone most of the time lately. Maybe he'll warm up with the shattering.

Good luck with getting your ducks in a row, or whatever it is you want to do before it's too late! I figure I'll be a little busy this evening trying to scramble around with a few things. I'm so excited though, new stuff! It's about damn time. 

Some useful Info!

MMO-Champion has a lot of info on what will happen tomorrow.

Mania has some Hunter pet skin change info, worth checking out. Mania does Petopia as well, such a fantastic Hunter page. 



-kaozz

Cataclysm- Just Not Feeling It (WoW)

Hrmm, poke eyes with sporks or play WoW... I think I might go with the eye poking, the less painful option.

So I've finally logged into WoW after the big Pre-Cataclysm patch. I had to re-gem since the stats changed, I had to re-glyph-forge-and talent- as well as the 'learning your class over again' thing- on several of my 80 characters. New spells, new talents, different rotations. Oh, and all of my add-ons are broken! Did we start playing a new game? Oh yeah, they've decided, once again, to just scrap things and rework the game. Thanks Blizzard. Oh.. Right I'm not playing anymore. Whew! I had a flashback for a moment there!

Latley I've been happily playing away in EQ2 for awhile now and some other games here and there since leaving WoW. I had planned to leave and get some space and take a breather heading to Everquest. I had hoped to pop back in when Cataclysm released but lately it just seems as tempting to me as a poking at my eyes with sporks.

Why would I want to log in to a crappy community (you know it's the majority!), log back into a game where everything has changed- Again. It really does not appeal to me, doing all this again. On top of this, everything I do doesn't matter in the next expansion or the one after that. Lord knows how long it will be until the next expansion anyhow. I have no long term achievements, everything will be scrapped again in the future, mechanics, gear, content and so on. Oh I can keep my actual achievements? Very few of them even matter or reward. Why bother.

People are shouting praises for changes even if they are not good. Oh it's not good changes but it's a change. Is that what it's come down to? Being so bored that any type of change is welcomed? The stat changes, again. Class changes, again. When does it stop? I like to pick a class for certain types of play but constantly morph and change that I don't recognize any of them from what they started out as. Heck soon we will all be able to tank heal or dps! I don't like relearning classes or constantly watching for cool downs in order to be on the top. Apparently it's what we want, we applaud it. Correction, others may, I am sick of it.

It's so wonderful, people are logging in again, Cataclysm will change the game. I just feel so nauseous when I hear players say this. Yeah, I'm the Grinch here to steal away your happy moments. Five levels and recycled content. Sure it looks great and all shiny and new but really I'm sick enough of the recycled old content. So we lose old places to make them into something new. I don't like this. I didn't like Onyxia being changed, and once again she will be outdated or be vamped up again to be a top level dungeon. Either it's reused content again or they changed a classic instance for a few shits and giggles.

I am at the point to even venture into saying, as of now, I don't think I will ever play WoW again - If it keeps going in this direction. Everything is a race, I like to play to relax and have a nice time. Not compete against my group mates, or my raid members. The game condones a bad community when you couple this with the LFD system. It's everyman for himself, there is no more teamwork. Even on raids it's fussing and spamming meters. It's sickening.

I've said all these points before and I guess I am beating a dead horse but lately I've been so disgusted with the game it just makes me never want to log back in. I still have my account sitting there... just in case. But unless the direction of the game is changed, I don't have the urge to play anymore. I want to be intrigued and charmed by the game again. I want to enjoy it but I can't. I miss it, I miss the game sure, I miss the memories and people really, not what it is today.



-The Grinch a.k.a. kaozz

Around Azeroth- Cataclysm

Some screen shots you haven't seen around yet, different views here and there across Azeroth. I just love the female Goblins, they rock! Enjoy!

Goblin Female... Too cute!

Goblin Racial...Wee!

Greymane Gates.. On the other side!

Transformation!

Gilneas.

Gilneas from above.

Gilneas, inside the city.

Outside Gilneas.

Stormwind.

Stormwind Above.

Stormwind, Wrynn Statue.

Behind Stormwind.

Orgrimmar!

Orgrimmar front and above.

Inside Org.

Thunder Bluff Gates.

A copse in Desolace.

Back view of Lordaeron.

Brill.

Scenery around Brill.

Azshara.

Azshara.

Edge of Blasted Lands.

Westfall!

Westfall!