MOAR Halloween Plz!

Oh, Magic Broom, please don't leave me.... Stay with me forever.  My favorite mount in the game, sadly only avail for a short time each year.

This week has been a bit slow for gaming. I've been playing when I feel up to it. Trying to do LFR, in WoW, has been a right pain. While many people are raving over the new flex raid (If you're not in the know: Flex is a difficulty which scales, sitting between looking for raid and normal difficulty) I think it really hit LFR hard. Sure, I could sit down and join a flex raid with OQ, or join a more active guild. My brother and Dire both use OQ but I generally sit down for spurts and want to just hop in the queue when I can. I like LFR, I don't want any more than that. I like that I can raid casually, but that is all I have in me these days. I've been with my guild for around two years or so now, while it is small I don't want to leave it. So I suffer the pain that is LFR, many times not being able to complete runs in a single sitting. Either you get a good run or you don't. Last week we had a great run at one point, but it was a terribly long run. I've been sick and I just can't sit there without breaks for long periods :(

I am still glad LFR is a viable option for content for casual players. However, I have the worse luck trying to get a new weapon! It really seems by the time I get one from the new content it will probably be time for the expansion to hit. The way the modifiers on abilities work in WoW is heavily dependent on weapon damage, thus I am really suffering because of it. While my hunter's ilevel climbs, I still take a 'penalty' for the weapon I'm sporting. A buddy of mine has every bow that drops in the new raids, talk about luck. I just would settle for one. RNG truly hates me.

I still have fun moments in WoW. With Heri and Necro, at the shrine, being silly.

Which leads to a feeling of meh sometimes. Nothing new on the holiday scenes, everything is raid centered these days. Yet I still find myself logging in, I still enjoy the game. I suppose I wish wow wasn't so.... cookie cutter? There feels no mystery to the game anymore, it feels so small. But on a good note, I will be creating my Sky Golem mount tomorrow!! Very exciting for me, to have actually worked up my tradeskill and saved up enough money for the combine! I am horrible at tradeskills but I have been trying to be better with the hunter, since I did work so hard on engineering, years ago.

I've been dabbling in EQ2 a little bit. Last night I finally got my spells situated on my necromancer, which took me ages to get around to actually doing. Ugh... Do I have to?! I'm working on Halloween stuff, and there is a lot, many fun rewards. I suppose what has hindered me the most is that this account needs me to unlock a lot of things still, from the cash shop, like mercs. I don't have to- but for me to be happy playing, there are a few things I will need. I think that is part of why I stick to WoW, just one upfront payment a month. That and I can be really impulsive with shiny things in cash shops! Then again I do like the option to buy fun stuff sometimes :)

My own PoFear!? Fire walls and all XD

EQ2 has two really awesome housing additions for the holiday season. The first one I checked out was a version of the Plane of Fear. Which is totally cool, coming from the first EverQuest game. I loved that zone back in the day when it was a current raid zone. So being able to have the option to own it as one's personal residence is quite cool in my eyes! It is really snazzy looking. But the new Fright Manor is also quite awesome, that is the one that really caught my eye. My own haunted house to have year round?! It is reallllly hard to resist this one.

Plus, it has been nice to focus on some more festive stuff, instead of worrying about raids and drops, especially when I have been feeling like utter garbage in real life. It is nice and relaxing to just have a change of scenery and a change of pace. To get excited about holiday fluff. Moar Halloween plz! This really has to be one of my favorite events to get excited about since my days in EverQuest. The first 'seasonal' event I ever participated in was for Halloween. Werewolves would spawn, all kinds of spooky waves of mobs, it was so awesome. They had some cool drops too. Since then I've been hooked.

That is about it for today. Safe adventures! Stay spooky ;)

Fright Manor gates, can't wait to get my hands on this house!

Perfect creepy house for a necro!

Inside, while rather small it is cozy.

Behind the house- a murky, little pool.

My pet and I. A fun feeling class for Halloween XD. Probably my most favorite class in any MMO.  

Four Years, Time Flies!

Last month marked four years for this blog, yay! I've been wanting to do a post but I don't really have anything different/ meaningful to say about it, lol. I appreciate the readers who do stick around and visit. I definitely always appreciate it when people take the time out of their busy days to comment, I know how hard it can be to keep up and take the time to do so! So thank you, thanks for even poking in here and reading my rambles! This summer also makes 13 years since I first 'virtually' stepped into my first MMO, EverQuest.

What has four years brought? Well, this entry will make 1,157 posts. The fact that I've stuck with it still baffles me. I am very proud that I have, still there are times I feel I can't keep up, that maybe I should quit- I just try to do what I can; because in the end I love it. I love reading, writing, playing and sharing games and the things that happen in these wonderful online worlds! Plus, who'd I show all my screenshots to?!!

Since my first few posts, what has changed or stayed the same? I still have a love hate relationship with WoW. I love the game, hate the constant changes to classes and how things work in general. I honestly do love the game. It is fluid, polished and easy to get into. I found a great love for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, though I can never seem to get to the cap, one day I plan on changing that! I sometimes eat my words, especially as with Guild Wars 2, which I am enjoying once again. Sometimes you have to take things for what they are to enjoy them! I always find myself missing EverQuest, when things felt more simple, I just wish combat didn't cause me to get so sleepy... How the years have changed things!

Recently I had someone ask my what I did in WoW if I didn't raid. My raiding days were long over before this blog. I did raid through WoTLK, which was actually fun, but my days of sitting there tied to a raid are long over. Truly. I have no desire for that these days. What do I do? Professions, exploring for treasures, may it be achievements, mounts, rares. I do daily quests, pet battles and just putter around. I've found I am very casual anymore, I enjoy it. I like to excel and work with other people, I just can't sit still for too long, lol. My poor heart took enough stress from the days of EverQuest. I like it laid back now.

Anyhow, a few new things this week. Patch 5.4, we've had more of a taste of the isle in WoW. I really can't complain about the isle, it gives us something else to do. I think I will also do LFR with the new raid, SoO. I'm gearing up my alts, which has been pure bliss to someone who just likes to play and explore instead of raiding much (besides LFR). The isle is over crowded, you can't always tag a rare in time (um, most the time), and the rares have diminishing returns on loot (less each time). But I still have to say I enjoy something else to do. The isle has been fun, mindless in some ways, but good ways. I've been able to gear up my warlock and hunter and enjoy playing them. I'm finally able to take a break on the druid without having to spend loads of time getting back into my alts. The warlock is taking the lead, it is still awesome, even with all the changes that came to the class in 5.4, I do miss many things still. Grrr.



GW2 has another chapter of the living story out- Tequatl Rising. A big, meanie dragon. Really, it is mean. To the point where I was pretty let down. Finally I get high enough to try some higher level content and our server cannot take down this boss! That, the horrible AE crud all over and the fish heads, which instant kill you. Yes, fish heads. Exactly what they sound like, giant fish heads that kill you instantly if you run over one. Lovely. I was a bit underwhelmed at this event, but there are other things to do. If it were my main game I'd probably be more annoyed. So, we'll see how it goes doing the weekly for the cosmetic wings. I need to get going with that. I got to see a dragon. Cool? Cool screenshots I suppose.

Mostly I've been playing WoW, soaking up the new isle and working on my lock. Dire and Nelf (my son), have been playing a lot with me and it has really been fun. I enjoy that. What happened to FFXIV? I just got sidetracked, RL got very busy. Things with the house still, family visiting from out of state and so on. So a new game that requires more time really fell off the table. I need to log in and just get back into it! I managed to log into Vanguard and putter on my pally, because sometimes I just HAVE to have my old-school MMO fix. None of this dodging crap, none of those bright circles and silly things on the ground which require lightning reflexes. It was nice. I managed to get my paladin a level, woo.

That is it for this week. Thanks for visiting, as always!

Visions

Dire and I in LFR. Don't we look sharp.

One transmog item I've wanted in WoW would be the Cursed Vision of  Sargeras, with my Druid. We try to do Black Temple weekly, my brothers and I, sometimes a friend will join, so it is always fun to go with others. My lock doesn't need anything there anymore but I've been taking the Druid whenever someone mentions going, this week I happily went with hopes it would drop. I've ran this place more times than I want to think about, never seen it once.  My brother had called me up to see if I wanted to go, of course I want to go, so I was pretty damn happy when it finally dropped for us over the weekend! Next to go will be my DK, who is now alliance.

I've had a hard time trying to find a transmog I like for the Druid but I'm working on it, waiting on a few items still but I have something I like more so than what I've worn in the past. There is a lot of really great leather transmog stuff out there, but my bank and transmog space is full so I really have to consider on what is worth banking and what I don't really need. MORE STORAGE PLEASE!!!

Dire and I have been wanting some of those cute Direhorn Runt pets, they are adorable. We've been out there a few times, on the isle, with raids and seen many drop but never won them. So last night I asked him if he wanted to try to farm a couple. After an hour or two we both managed to get two cute little baby dinos. We also had a Primal Egg drop! What is a primal egg? WowHead to the rescue! We were not quite sure honestly, turns out it is an egg that has a 100% chance to hatch into a raptor mount- after three days. Which I won, so I am excited about that. I have 90 mounts, I've been working on gathering 100 for the mount achievement, a blue dragonhawk. I really want this! Slowly but surely I am making my way towards it.

Other than collecting cute and pretty transmog stuff, we've been working on heroic scenarios, which some can be pretty tough. Heroics and of course LFR My Druid has pulled forward on the gear this week, I've just not felt like playing both through the same content and often Dire asks that I take my druid to help heal with something or a faster queue.

We've been doing LFR which has been rather, hrmm, exasperating at times. Sometimes it goes smooth, sometimes it is a trainwreck. Most the time I enjoy these but the last one really sent me into a meltdown, raging on why I bother to log in and waste my evening by doing stupid things like running through deadly fog and so on. It isn't the players fault though. Even I repeatedly run through the bad stuff because I can't see it, or see where not to run. I really hate some of the mechanics on these fights, it is hard to get a team of random strangers through them without many tries and a hefty repair bill. But at the end of the day I mostly enjoy LFR, it actually gives me a shot at raiding.

My days of scheduled raiding are long over and I appreciate the fact that I can still raid when I can. I really like that, it changes my view and chances to see content, when it comes to raiding. I raided from my old EverQuest days and even the early days of WoW, in MC, spending hours after hour in an raid. I even remember a 12+ hour planes raid in EverQuest. I just won't sit there for that long anymore. LFR doesn't make me, I really appreciate the work put into this system. Sure, I miss raiding with friends, my arse doesn't miss being glued to the chair though. Queue with me! Dire enjoys it, he loves getting upgrades, we all do.

Sometimes though, I question the whole direction of WoW. I love the game, but once I dig deeper I hate how it feels more like a number game, a spreadsheet, a min-max competition, it breaks my immersion. People who'd rather take the highest numbers than work together with friends who don't play as well. To me it is the little things, playing with friends and family, even making new friends, but I feel like a minority. It isn't that I'm not any good, I push myself, I exceed the requirements, I do quite well. I just don't like the whole attitude that seems to possess most players these days. Is it so hard to be kind to other people? The whole attitude of: "Well they don't count, they just suck." Maybe they do, but for heaven's sake it's just a freaking game. While I don't have anyone bother me, it stings to see others treated as if they don't matter. It bites.

I am having fun but that's what I want to keep it- Fun. When everything is said and done, when we look back will we remember all the top damage someone did, how good they were at which fight, or will we be fondly remembering friends?  I'm just a girl torn in the middle, head half in the clouds, feet half on the ground :) I kicked ass and took names all the way and I still have so many people I will always remember, many I will always miss.

Our little runts!

Carrying around a friend in the Black Temple. She's so tiny and cute!

Firelands extrusion. 

Sometimes LFR can be fun. Dire looks like he is having fun, lol. 

Gearing and Designing: A Nice Balance

Mainly...

These days WoW is still carrying me pretty steady as far as interest goes. With my newfound love for LFR (looking for raid system), there is just so much more to go after. I don't know why I was so hesitant to use it in the past. I suppose I heard so many horror stories, but really I haven't had any trouble at all. Currently I am gearing up two characters, heck I didn't even think I'd be that worried about one, much less two! I enjoy healing on the druid and dps as the lock. So for now I swap them both out. It is taking me a little longer to gear up but I love both roles on each class.

Swapping the characters out has it's advantages- If I want to do something while I am off on my own, I use the lock, then I save the druid to play with Dire. It helps hasten the queue time for him as well, since he does not get to play as much lately. I have been doing the weekly quest for the valor and the armor, some of it I can use still. I am still needing many items on both characters but I broke over 480 with them both, this week. Very happy about that! I even managed to get the super snazzy staff from Lei Shi on both characters yesterday. I've had some good luck with loot raining in on me this week, lets hope it holds out! Dire has had some real dry runs, we're trying to get his gear caught up. I want to do some heroic scenarios soon. 

My healing is, as it always is, on the ball. As my gear gets better I start topping the meters, but I don't go for that. I don't waste mana just to see the meters rise but it is nice not to be at the bottom, though I haven't really had that issue, nor the issue of running out of mana. I do try to conserve as much as I can. I've been healing so long it is like second nature, I even find myself watching the health of the raid when I dps, old habits die hard!

The lock is going strong. As with the healing getting stronger in that department, my dps is getting better with this one as well. It really blows to be 17th on the meter when you start out and once you begin making your way up it feels like you're finally doing something. Last night I was 3rd so that made me feel better. It isn't all about the meters but I do like to gauge how I am doing. I don't spam them or flaunt anything, I just want to know exactly how I am doing, what I can improve and so on. 

I have to say that I didn't see myself being so into the endgame as I am now but I enjoy it a lot. It has been fun watching my characters grow and gearing them out. It is exciting and brings back a lot of memories. Even LFD hasn't been bad. Nobody bothers me, pretty nice groups most the time. 

Bit by the housing bug...

I miss having housing in my main MMO. I really do. So I've been contemplating some land in Second Life, shopping around. I finally found a lovely sim with some great land and snapped it up. I've been decorating and puttering around with it here and there, this morning I finished it up and think it turned out quite nicely. 

Other than that I miss being able to create and modify things. I suppose my creative side is drawn to the game, because that is all I do when I am on; decorate and build. I enjoy it, a nice outlet. I built a house, but by the time I finish the things I create, I am tired of looking at them, lol. I will probably finish up the last touches and sell it in the market. 

I've seen a few friends on and that is always great! It is nice to stay in touch and catch up, something I always enjoy. Chit-chatting while I build, not so rushed like some of my other games, more of a relaxed environment. 

Getting to it...

I downloaded Dragon's Prophet a few nights ago, but I had a migraine that made me physically ill so that was put off to the side. I still need to play it. I briefly tried the closed beta but I didn't really get a good feel for the game. The forums are really negative, I have been peeking in on them when I can. But, I don't want to judge things before I get to play it. So that is on my agenda this week/weekend to get my feet wet, see how I like it. Sadly... I hear that housing is endgame. Meh!

Also, as Bhagpuss mentioned on his blog, I see that City of Steam is up to the Elves. Now I want to make a new character and play it. I really enjoy that game, it is a lot of fun, good ol' hack and slash. I've been pretty slack with this game and Neverwinter. So many games, so little time.

What's keeping you busy and why? Are you looking forward to anything? Let me know in the comments! I have been keeping my eye on Wildstar, it looks good, it has housing!! I keep getting stress test invites but usually something happens and I miss them. Ah well, hopefully it will be out soon enough! I'm just trying to keep things fun, for now gearing up with some design on the side keeps me pretty happy, a nice balance.

Safe Adventures!

My buddy, Rakhar, came to visit me while I was plopping things down on my land and terraforming. 

A table... which I decided I didn't like afterall. Lots of decisions and changes ;) That is the fun part!

My treehouse, it even has a tire swing, so cute!

A sweet little table in my gazebo. 

A view of my dock. I like this dock because it has a lot of fun things built into it, like swimming and fishing!

Shopping, or something... lol.

A project I was working on.

My house and a little pond I made, it even has coy swimming around in it, as well as inner tubes to float on!

Blast From The Past

Our last guild run for our new guild went south at a rapid rate. Due to some bad luck we just got some real bad pugs. I was playing my Hunter alt and was top dps which was a bit bad since I had the lowest gear score by far. The people had the capabilities to put out more dps and we just didn't have the dps we needed to pull off the raid. So we decided to just wait to bother with doing a real run until Sunday.

However we still wanted to do something fun so we ended up keying some and doing a MC clear for kicks. It was pretty fun and a few had never been in there. We just took one group of friends and had a fun time. I had not been in there since my days raiding it in 'vanilla' so it was neat going back.

Lately I haven't been playing as much, I've just been busy and playing some other stuff on the side a little. I sometimes need some space from things in WoW as they can be rather tiring. I'm thinking about just sticking with my Druid as my main once again. I wanted to switch over the the Hunter but I'm just thinking about putting her on hold.

Dire has been gearing up his characters decently on his vacation. Today is his last day but he's gone on some real good runs in his time off. I can't stomach as many pugs as he can! He lucked out with his Rogue and ended up getting some really nice upgrades.

Tonight is our weekly ICC run, we will end up pugging five members though. We need to do some more recruiting, it's been going slow. So, wish us luck!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!
-kaozz 

Mr. Angry

I've had my hands full with this new little pup and in the process my evenings playing have been cut a bit short. Chasing after little Dixie is a lot of work! I'm still in the process of gearing up my Hunter and it's been going much better. I'm still pretty excited about the guild getting rolling as well.

Mostly I group with my friends these days, not pugging very much at all. I hope to have her ready for ICC this weekend because right now we have enough healers to cover the bases. While I am still enjoying the game I try not to push myself with things that bother me. I don't want to burn out so I try to have fun and overlook those things. I really enjoy playing with my friends.

I haven't played much else lately. I have been wanting to play something on the side for when nobody is on to play with. I did log into Free Realms the other night to mess around for a few and I saw that there is a new little cutie pet- Domo. I named mine Mr.Angry lol. He's pictured at the top. I tend to get bored quickly lately so I haven't played much. I'm sure I'll get back into it once a holiday event comes around.

It looks like tomorrow EQ2X beta starts, which I'm really excited about. This will give me something to do on the side. I hope it is enough to keep me occupied! I really enjoy EQ2 so I will see if it is not too limited for me or if I just need to re-sub. I am curious to see which classes and races will be available to the first tier of this subscription model. More about it tomorrow, if it does in fact go live! 

-kaozz

Druid Again!

Dire and Nyomi, the dynamic duo now Taurens!

It's been quit some time since I played my Druid. She is on another account of mine and while I won't get into depth on it, it was compromised and I had to contact support to get back into it. The support rep who assisted me was great, he even waited on the phone a little longer just to make sure I could access my password reset email without any problems. I'm happy to have things back in order after taking my break on her.

Recently my guild has been having trouble finding dependable and decent healers. I decided I may as well step in and help out. Raids almost getting canceled because of lack of healing, healers not showing up, getting saved to other raids, bad pug healers and so on, lots of reasons why.

Last night I ended up healing for our second ten man ICC group. This was our first run with the second group there. We had to pug a few people and I really had to pull a lot of weight with a rude and bad healer which we had to replace at one point. When people are not pulling their weight it makes things harder on those picking up the slack. I did get a nice new dagger and some leggings which was very exciting!

The good thing about the Druid is it's one class that you can be under geared but still really exceed expectations on. I don't like healing as any other class. I love the Druid. It fits like an old shoe. Probably because I've been healing as a Druid since the days of MC, ten man ubrs, lbrs, and so on. Some people mesh best with certain classes. I've healed in the group and raid scene with the Priest, Paladin and now Druid through this expansion and I'm happiest as the Druid.

My Clo!

I'm now a Tauren and it's weird. I've never played one before, besides on lowbie alts under level ten heh. I didn't want to stay on Alliance and not play with my friends, just to be a pretty little elf. When Cataclysm is released I will definitely be changing to a Troll! I love the class too much to let a simple race bother me enough to not play it. Nothing wrong with the Tauren but it's just not a race I'm crazy about being.

What about my Priest? My ol' man will be playing her for awhile. I still have my Hunter for a dps class. It's about time I got her to 80. Five levels to go! Plus I have the lovely ghost wolf, too cool not to play her. She has a lot of history and is a character I want to continue with.

-kaozz

Ready for Cataclysm? Part 2- Work Harder for TEH EPICS Scrubs!

Work harder scrubs! Old school style!

This isn't really a ranting post but more of my concerns for where Cataclysm will be taking us when it is released, in terms of direction. Nothing is set in stone and it's still in beta. What I do worry about is the emphasis and direction we keep hearing from the developers.

I remember when I first started gaming, how I looked upon raiders and wished I could do that content one day. Eventually I did but it took a very long time and in the end it was too much of a time sink to want to do on a continuing basis. Now today, 10 years later, I like how things are in WoW. I can catch up fairly easily if I need to, I can raid a few nights a week, do heroics. It's nice, a nice pace a nice medium. A far cry from that out of reach content I remember wishing to experience years ago. Somewhere along the line this game evolved into something that made the game accessible to many more people, something a lot of games failed in doing. This game flourishes because of this in my honest opinion.

Let me start off by pointing out the 'GO GO GO!!' groups we have now. In Cataclysm I think this will be a thing of the past, for quite some time. This will be a hard transition for a lot of people. Pugging, people are not going to be understanding they will be abusive. They already are. I am starting to worry if this fun nostalgic type of WoW is really much of a future to look forward to. I have painful flashbacks of TBC. It seems like a mess I don't want to bother with after of reading much of the beta feedback that's floating around as well as the developers input. It's still early and things can change but honestly how much do you see changing? Keep in mind the goal for this expansion. Work harder to get your epics scrubs! Work harder to heal! Work harder to keep aggro!

I'm not your whipping post Mr. Pug...

Heroics are not what I consider end game content, I consider them something to do on the side. End game content is raiding. From what I am gathering these new five man instances will have more mechanics than ever, healers will have to watch mana closer than ever, tanks will be scurrying after mobs trying to gain aggro. With the random LFD system I think this will push many healers away. I read people stating this will separate the good from the bad. No, get off your elitist pedestal using a game to cater to your inadequacy of feeling so needy. It will just push people away good and bad.

In Everquest Clerics were the healing class for so long. Some of them took a power trip in being so needed. While their heyday is over and mercs replace them in groups the memory is still there. I thought WoW fixed this. We don't want to make healing so painful it becomes not fun which causes it to be harder to find healers again. Blizzard states they want healing to be fun. Healing is fun now, why would making it tougher make it more fun? Challenge? Leave that to raids. I don't want my MMO to become a J-O-B.... I'm paying you guys to do the work so I can play.. not work.

Lately though I think some of these developers working on Cataclysm are wearing rose tinted glasses trying to recapture some nostalgia that is unobtainable. I think this expansion could seriously cause a Cataclysm for the game. I don't want easy mode, I would like to see the game stay much the same as it is.

''Not again!

With several highly anticipated games on the horizon Blizzard should really consider the direction of the game. I'm not calling the end of WoW but we all know games sometimes go past the point of no return and fade into the background. I want to stay with WoW, I don't want to be pushed away because I'm tired of jumping through virtual hoops.

Some of this may be changed by the time things go live. I don't have the highest hopes after the developers seem to go all cloudy eyed at the thought of this expansion being such a change. Just some thoughts that have been sitting in my mind bugging me. Thoughts? Feel free to add them.

-kaozz

Drama Begins...

I've really enjoyed my guild since joining, it's been a real fun time. That is- until we started recruiting for 25 mans. We still have fun but there are some things that shift when you acquire new people and don't really screen them. I'm not big on guild applications but I'm also not big for just randomly doing things to fill up ranks.

Some people ignore things that go on but if you let things slide you are going to run into trouble in the long run. I don't want my guild chat being an extension of trade chat. I don't want my nice guild going all to hell because of a few bad apples.

Yesterday I saw someone running off at the mouth and picking on one of the other members. It was annoying and after the raid before, which had too much chaos, I decided to jump into it. Which I was insulted and had some childish gender remarks thrown my way by this member. I'm sure I didn't act appropriately, unleashing some horrible language on him but it was long overdue.

Nobody stopped this guy. They let things go on. Behind the scene he was making threats to the guild leader the night before, insulting other players and so on. He had given bad advice to other healers and fought with me in the past stating there was no need to research the class you play. What bugs me so badly was that he got his way, brought an alt to our first 25 man, grabbed the loot, created chaos then was finally kicked yesterday. I don't want to see this become a pattern.

It's not my guild, not my say but I don't know how much I can take if people are not put in place when the time calls for it. We ended on a good note last night, having another go at RS, which we didn't get finished but we had a fun time. Nobody yelled or blamed anyone. The core group of this guild is fantastic and it's the reason I'm still there.

So, that's me venting. Nip things int he bud. Strike while the iron is hot, things always have an ugly way of biting us in the ass if we don't.

In other news, my Death Knight is 62 now. I'm having a blast on her still. I bought dual spec and have had fun playing around with Unholy and Blood specs. I am looking forward to getting her to 80, but I'm not rushing it. It is nice to have something else to play on the side.

Safe adventures! 
-kazz

Raiding and Flying Chickens

Yesterday my guild and I did our first 25 man ICC run. We filled in some of the ranks with pug people. We had a rough start but it shaped up after the first kill. We ended up getting to Sarfang and really didn't have many snags. I think we took more time in between the bosses than actually downing them. People running to town, leaving, grabbing another dps and so on.

Most of the time I don't worry much about loot, if it comes my way, sweet, if not.. no big deal. Lady Deathwhisper happened to drop Nibelung and -OMG- I've wanted this so badly, since I first saw it. Of course I did not win it and it put me in a real snit for the night. This is really unlike me for the most part and I pouted for the rest of the night. 

I can get cranky when raiding though, not over loot for the most part. People being childish or stupid on vent, chat, dying to stupid things, they can start to put me into a bad mood It's not my guild and not my say, so I try not to say too much. We had an officer picking on one of our tanks who is a good friend of mine, over vent, it bothered me that this was just ignored. Things like that bug me, uncalled for drama. Even though I was quite crabby by the end of this raid I was glad I got to go along on the first 25 man run. I hope things shape up for us.

My Death Knight is coming along nicely. She is almost 61 now and I am going to buy her dual spec today! I am excited about playing her up. I bought her the DK 'chicken' mount and I am so glad I can fly in Outland! I just wish the DK mount wasn't so expensive... ah all the daily quests I've had to do for it!! All in the past now hehe.

See ya in Azeroth!
-kaozz

Indecisive Panda

Last night we had an off night raid for Ruby Sanctum. It wasn't our usaul raid night but one of the officers wanted to give it a shot. We did not finish it, I think we were close but some of the timing was off. I did have a nice time for the most part. Two of my friends tagged along and one of them ended up joining my guild.

I've been considering going Holy lately. I think the only thing holding me back is being lazy and not wanting to farm up some emblems to finish off the set. I may just work towards it a bit. Another thing is it gets time consuming and it takes time away from my alts. I'm quite rusty healing as Holy so I also need to refresh myself with the spec. 

I was also thinking of leveling up one of my alts to take the place of my main. I am still quite indecisive on it though. Sometimes my Priest makes me a sad panda with the rotation and spec. I only have one dps spec and two healing specs. I have no burst, no change of pace. I am probably the most indecisive person I know when it comes to characters.

I'm not really a sad panda, I'm quite happy lately with my Priest most of the time. It's really been fun being back this time around. I am enjoying myself so much that I have not been playing anything else. Well, I do log in to Free Realms but that will always be the case.

See ya in Azeroth!
-kaozz

Both Sides of The Field

Sometimes it's nice to have a change of pace and play the other faction. I've played WoW since release, on both sides heavily. I often miss one side or a city when I've not played that side for a time. So, I figured I would play my little Alliance DK up instead of deleting her to be remade on the Horde. Dire still plays on this side, he often hops around, playing both sides frequently.Yay, flying skill gained last night! I already have heirloom flying bought for Northrend. I love being able to fly in these areas while questing.

I've been playing my main quite a bit still. Speaking of, I have been mostly doing daily quest with her and some raiding. Last night I went to ICC with my husband's old guild. He's joined mine as of yesterday, I'm happy! We thought we'd go along with them as it's close to reset. It was nice, while a little trying at times, they are nice people. I don't mind a rough run with good people, pugs have taught me to value people more so.

Raiding is nice but I tire of it if too long is spent on it. I am more hardcore casual these days. When I first began gaming I looked upon raiders wistfully. I remember reading the guild recruitment page for one of the best raiding guilds on my server in Everqest, on Lanys T'Vyl, I wondered if I would ever be able to have the time to fit this raiding into my days. It said- Pack a lunch this is an all day event. I went on to raid eventually and it was time consuming on occasions. Today's raids I like more so, quick and to the point. Though in WoW it's like twister on crack- jumping around avoiding fires and jumping through hoops. I often miss the spank and tank raids.

While I'm casual I'm still hardcore in the aspect of learning my classes inside out and understand other classes. I put forth 110% when I do something. I still like to be current with content but I don't have to be on top. Some nights I'd rather be off doing something silly, chasing after a pet or a mount drop other times I'd rather be on a raid.

These days I enjoy a mixture of things playing my MMO games. I enjoy acquiring items may they be pets, loot, mounts or other things I can stick in housing or display on my character for years to come. I also enjoy exploring and acquiring money to put towards goals, perhaps an alt or something else I've wanted.All the while enjoying raiding too, just not too much!

Many wonderful people have I met, sometimes losing touch with them. I enjoy most of all making new friends and when the occasion arises- reuniting with old pals. While I try to keep in touch with friends I try to play for me.

What about you, what drives you? Do you play for friends these days, to raid, or perhaps to just escape into fantasy for a brief time?

Authenticator Time!

This weekend our authenticators came in the mail. They got here faster than I had thought they would, I was pretty happy. I attached them to the accounts and they are pretty simple to use. A little extra typing but it's no biggie. The Core Hound pups are really adorable, a little loud though! I love vanity pets so I was excited to have one of these.

As you can see in the pic, at the very top, I finally got a piece of T10, the shoulders. Very exciting for me! Slowly I am gearing up better and making progress. My guild is starting the raids a little later in the evenings which is a bit better for me. They started quite early server time, it was almost too early to expect people to show up. I'm thinking of leveling an alt on the side just for something else to do. I would like to go through the game one last time before Cataclysm, my last attempt didn't last long.

Dire is still playing both sides of the field. He wants to play his Mage (Alliance) and still has not had any luck finding a guild that raids late on either side. So he just hops back and forth on his chars since he can't raid with any of them (well since he can't find a guild). He has found a few pug raids but more often than not they go bad. I think the Alliance has more pug raids though so it might be better for him there. I don't know what to do to help him, I've tried to get my guild to raid on the weekends (several members have asked for this), no luck though. I've been scouring the forums for a guild for him with no luck.

I have been looking for a late night raid guild and if I do find one I suppose we will both join it so we can be in the same guild. If they are out there, I am having a real tough time finding them! We did find one, but they are the second ranking guild on the server and he is too far behind to join them, so that was disappointing. Even a guild that does more on the weekends would be a plus, they all require raiding through the week in the evenings.

I have hopes we will find something for him. It's what really makes high end fun- raiding, gearing up and seeing the content. Really there isn't much else to do, besides PvP, when you want to play 'seriously'. Wish us luck! Have a great week peeps!