Monday, February 28, 2011

20 Days of...Your First Day Playing WoW (Day 3)

Part 3 of Saga's 20 Days of...writing challenge.

My first day of WoW happened many, many years ago. I had been hearing about WoW through a friend of mine at school (at the time it was high school), and I had been really really wanting to try it. So, I finally managed to get my paws on the basic World of Warcraft game, and while installing I was looking at all the available classes in the booklet. I already had a name picked out, but I still needed a character. The undead female in the booklet was rather fetching I thought, for being all...you know, undead.

The install went well, as did the massive amounts of patching (via dial-up none the less), and soon enough I was in! Now, I didn't do the sensible thing and roll a Horde character over by my friend. Oh no, that would have made too much sense! Instead I chose the Sen'jin realm and began to look at all the undead ladies (you know, all one of them). Needless to say, I was somewhat disappointed that none of them were as sexy as the one in the booklet, but I was determined to have an undead female as a character.

After all tinkering, class choosing, and name giving was finished, I had me an Forsaken Rogue by the name of Kaif. I was ecstatic.

I promptly began to run around and kill things, as roguey-types often do. And then I got stealth. Oh stealth, the one thing I had been waiting for! I spent all my time sneaking about, trying to (and failing hard at) get the upper hand on the many mobs in the wilds. More often than not though, I snuck up too close and they ended up seeing me as they walked into me...

I was also incredibly excited to have learned pick pocket. Again, I would stealth around with (not so much) the greatest of ease, and attempt to pick pocket. Now, any experienced rogue knows that more often than not low level mobs don't have anything in their pockets. They know how to turn on auto-loot for such occasions. They know that trying to pick pocket a mob 5-10 levels above them generally isn't a good plan. They also don't sneak up to a mob to the point of spooning. Needless to say, I made for a pretty fail cutpurse. I was killed in the act often.

Shortly after I gave up for a week or two, only to return to roll a slew of characters that were to be neglected until I picked the game up again about a year or year and a half later when Burning Crusade rolled around.


Hmmm...if BoAs ever manage to finally make it account wide, I may have to go pay Kaif a visit for kicks and giggles. There shall be pictures of her if I ever do. Print screen for me wasn't discovered at the time of her shortly played existence after all. Ah noobiness...

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Crimson/Beryl Fire Hawks (Video)

Just put up on MMO-Champions Youtube page, the Fire Hawk mounts in action...well, standing ground action at least.



Edit: Here's the new MMO-Champion page featuring the new non-combat pets and mounts for 4.1.

The Fire Crimson Hawk is pretty awesome looking imo, while the Beryl Fire Hawk may take a bit of getting used to. The Beryl is neat, don't get me wrong, it's just very...different. Can't decide if I'm 100% in love with these models being shared with the proto-drakes, but the skins are just too fantastic to pass up. Well done Blizzard design team, well done indeed.

"This is a short preview of the Fire Hawk mounts introduced in patch 4.1, so far we don't have any information on the drop location."
~MMO-Champion video text

Hopefully we'll get some information on how to obtain these guys soon.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Darkmoon Faire Friday

They're quirky, they're fun, they're Darkmoon Faire Fortunes!  Every Friday will feature a different Darkmoon Faire Fortune here at World of Saz. Enjoy!


Sayge's Fortune #10: "Rest is a good thing, but boredom is its brother."

 Image does not belong to me.

Crimson Fire Hawk

Over the past few days MMO-Champion has been releasing all kinds of data-mined goodies, some of which are now over on PTR. There's talk of all kinds of new mini pets, the reintroduction of Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman as 5 man instances, and of course there's chatter of new mounts. If you haven't seen this over on MMO-Champion's main page yet, take a gander at the newest object of my desires.


Still no word on how exactly one goes about obtaining him. Regardless of this lack of information, he is absolutely, completely, utterly, amazingly gorgeous. End of discussion.


...Please excuse me, Sazzy must go clean her pants.



Edit: Video Post

20 Days of...Why You Decided to Start a Blog (Day 2)

It's day 2 of the Spellbound's Blogging Challenge for me, and as the title states, I shall be talking about why I decided to start a blog.

The answer is fairly simple really: I love to yammer on about WoW related things. And I do mean yammer on.

You see, once upon a time that is now becoming further and further away by the day, I was a guild leader. As a guild leader I felt it my duty to often write lengthy, heart felt posts about guild ethic/etiquette, set up "how to" guides in different class forum threads just so our new folks would have some sort of resource at their fingertips at all hours, and in general have some sort of way to create a community for the guild that wasn't necessarily always in game. I felt very drawn to our forums and the interaction it brought. Unfortunately things happened, the guild died, and people moved on.

Being without a guild has left me with quite a bit more spare time. Originally I had this big idea that I'd eventually do machinima, and that in order to keep my massive throngs of fans updated on what my latest project was, I should have a blog. Nothing major, just something to jot down updates and occasionally maybe rant in. So I created a new Youtube page and this blog in preparation for that inevitable day when I'd be able to afford a computer that would allow me the luxury of frapsing content and editing it to my movie making desires.

...Yeah, nearing 6 months later and this blog has become a whole different monster. I'm getting ahead of myself in this story though.

So there I was, just toiling away, awaiting for my day of grand famedom to come. At this point in time I was more or less unaware of the greater blogging community, and had really only on occasion followed the Big Bear Butt blog simply because I had stumbled across him while I was on my epic quest of becoming a kick ass feral druid. He amuses me greatly with his epic stories, by the way. If you've never read him, you should.

One evening I was contemplating using my rather dusty blog to perhaps info dump what I knew about the classes I played (of which there was five at that time). I was discussing this to a friend of mine, and he more or less said "Why bother? There's already a site that does that." and linked me WoW Insider, which I of course by this time followed fairly religiously. Then a few minutes later the conversation evolved slightly, and he had mentioned how he had stumbled across a blog somewhere where the author had basically done up a story type thing as they leveled up their character. It sounded to me like it was a bit of a leveling RP blog. The idea hit me like a brick wall: I could do something like that! I've always wanted to get more into story writing, so why don't I level up a character, write the story as I level her up, and put it into a blog?

Well, I started up that project, and probably not a one of you remembers it. It was my Body and Soul project. I created a back story for Jenesee the Holy Priest, as well as for several characters that she was to come across. There was in existence a greater plot that she would fall into once I got her to cap. I had a few of the maps planned with allowance for detours along the way. I kind of ran into a few snags though: time, location, and motivation. Jenesee, her sister Gypsium (Gypsy), and Drazzu are all Horde...not to mention Horde on a different server than the one I typically haunt. This proves mildly problematic when it comes to gold and BoAs. Now, I do plan on resurrecting Jenesee and her story at some point, but she's definitely on the back burner for the time being.

In the mean time I began to post on this blog. Most of it was mount drop rate/RNG QQ at first, but some of it pertained to other things I was working on in game. I decided that I longed for a written record for the major events in my WoW life. I began to babble about working on the Scepter of the Shifting Sands quest line as well as recording some of the various other adventures my Priesty friend and I went on. You can be sure I'll be doing more of it once I get my butt back in game! I know you're all excited about it...

Anyways, I have another dear friend of mine who is a little baby Warlock. My dear little 'lock has been playing since Vanilla, but she's never been to cap. We often find ourselves in length WoW-related discussions. Often she begins to pick my brain about this or that, and quite often I find myself not able to explain things well enough on the fly. This has evolved into me saying: "Well, it's complicated. I have a ton of free time, so let me make you a guide for that!"

Of course, being out of the game for so long has left me only with the ability to create rather generalized guides, and which is why you won't be seeing a ton of them from me for a while yet. If you're curious about what I have done though, check out my Guide Book page. If you're looking for stuff that's a bit more class/specialization specific, scroll down the list. Any of those blog writers could easily put me out of business with their gearing/rotation/gemming/boss killing/PvP dancing guides. If I didn't think that they were worth their salt, they wouldn't be on my list.

So yes...blogging! It's something that I'm still incredibly new at and definitely something I'm learning more about every day. It was something that I just kind of haphazardly stumbled into (as how I often tend to do things), and it's definitely something that I'd like to continue on doing. It's already opened up a whole new community to me that I didn't know even existed, and I certainly hope to meet and get to know some pretty awesome folks along the way. I've already passed by a few thus far in my blogging journey, so here's to getting to know them and getting to meet a few more!

Hmm, perhaps I need to change my original answer to this topic a tad.


Why did you start a blog: Because I just happened to fall into it, liked what I saw, and hey, I like to create massive walls of text. It's a match made in heaven.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Hoarders: Azeroth Edition - Frosty Pets

Welcome hoarders to the third week of Mini Pet Month here at WoS! This time around we will focus on the multitudes of new pets that became available to us in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack.


During Wrath of the Lich King our heroes traveled to the frozen landscape of Northrend, became 80 times stronger than your average noob, rode dragons into battle, wrestled with a man made of stars to save Azeroth from certain doom, and duked it out with a lichy king. In their down time, our heroes were often found to be making some new friends. I'm not just talking about those friends that you can spend hours every night chatting to...well, I suppose you can chat with your new bestest sewer rat bud, but you may get a few funny looks from the so called "real" folks...but no, I'm speaking of the new non-combat pets that became available to us throughout this expansion. Let's check out this extensive list, shall we?


Drops
Cobra Hatchling - Cracked Egg (spawns from Mysterious Egg, purchased from the Oracles in Scholazar Basin, Revered reputation is required) 1 in 5
Darting Hatchling - Dustwallow Marsh, Dart's Nest (Wrath of the Lich King is not required)
Deviate Hatchling - Wailing Caverns, Deviate Guardian, Deviate Ravager (Wrath of the Lich King is not required)
Giant Sewer Rat - fished up in the sewers of Dalaran, fishing skill of 1+ is required, 1 in 1,000
Gundrak Hatchling - Zul'Drak, Gundrak Raptor, 1 in 1,000
Leaping Hatchling - The Barrens, Takk's Nest (Wrath of the Lich King is not required)
Proto-Drake Whelp - Cracked Egg (spawns from Mysterious Egg, purchased from the Oracles in Scholazar Basin, Revered reputation is required) 1 in 10
Ravasaur Hatchling - Un'goro Crater, Ravasaur Matriarch's Nest (Wrath of the Lich King is not required)
Razormaw Hatchling - Wetlands, Razormaw Matriarch's Nest (Wrath of the Lich King is not required)
Razzashi Hatchling - Northern Stranglethorn, The Cape of Stranglethorn, zone drop, 1 in 1,000, (Wrath of the Lich King is not required)
Strand Crawler - Bag of Fishing Treasures (Northrend fishing daily), Bag of Shiny Things (Stormwind/Orgrimmar fishing daily), 1 in 100, (Wrath of the Lich King is required)
Tickbird Hatchling - Cracked Egg (spawns from Mysterious Egg, purchased from the Oracles in Scholazar Basin, Revered reputation is required), 1 in 5
White Tickbird Hatchling - Cracked Egg (spawns from Mysterious Egg, purchased from the Oracles in Scholazar Basin, Revered reputation is required), 1 in 5


Questline


Reputation
Pengu - Dragonblight, Sairuk; Howling Fjord, Tanaika, Exalted with Kalu'ak
Shimmering Wyrmling - Icrecrown (Argent Tournament Grounds) Hiren Loresong, Exalted with the Silver Covenant (Alliance)
Shimmering Wyrmling - Icrecrown (Argent Tournament Grounds) Vasarin Redmorn, Exalted with the Sunreavers (Horde)


Vendors
Albino Snake - Dalaran, Breanni
Ammen Vale Lashling - Icecrown (Argent Tournament Grounds), Irisee Requires 40 Champion's Seals, the purchaser must be Alliance (though pet can be learned by either faction), and purchaser must be championed with the Exodar.
Blue Clockwork Rocket Bot - Dalaran, Jepetto Joybuzz and Clockwork Assistant
Calico Cat - Dalaran, Breanni
Dun Morogh Cub - Icecrown (Argent Tournament Grounds), Derrick Brindlebeard, Requires 40 Champion's Seals, the purchaser must be Alliance (though pet can be learned by either faction), and purchaser must be championed with Ironforge.
Durotar Scorpion - Icecrown (Argent Tournament Grounds), Freka Bloodaxe, Requires 40 Champion's Seals, the purchaser must be Horde (though pet can be learned by either faction), and purchaser must be championed with Orgrimmar.
Elwynn Lamb - Icecrown (Argent Tournament Grounds), Corporal Arthur Flew, Requires 40 Champion's Seals, the purchaser must be Alliance (though pet can be learned by either faction), and purchaser must be championed with Stormwind.
Enchanted Broom - Icecrown (Argent Tournament Grounds), Trellis Morningsun, Requires 40 Champion's Seals, the purchaser must be Horde (though pet can be learned by either faction), and purchaser must be championed with the Silvermoon City.
Ghostly Skull - Dalaran, Darahir
Mechanopeep - Icecrown (Argent Tournament Grounds), Rillie Spindlenut, Requires 40 Champion's Seals, the purchaser must be Alliance (though pet can be learned by either faction), and purchaser must be championed with Gnomeregan
Mulgore Hatchling - Icecrown (Argent Tournament Grounds), Doru Thunderhorn, Requires 40 Champion's Seals, the purchaser must be Horde (though pet can be learned by either faction), and purchaser must be championed with Thunderbluff.
Obsidian Hatchling - Dalaran, Breanni
Sen'jin Fetish - Icecrown (Argent Tournament Grounds), Samamba, Requires 40 Champion's Seals, the purchaser must be Horde (though pet can be learned by either faction), and purchaser must be championed with the Trolls (Sen'jin).
Teldrassil Sproutling - Icecrown (Argent Tournament Grounds), Rook Hawkfist, Requires 40 Champion's Seals, the purchaser must be Alliance (though pet can be learned by either faction), and purchaser must be championed with Darnassus.
Tirisfal Batling - Icecrown (Argent Tournament Grounds), Eliza Killian, Requires 40 Champion's Seals, the purchaser must be Horde (though pet can be learned by either faction), and purchaser must be championed with the Undercity.


There you have it folks! I shall allow you to go start up your Champion Seal grind now (I can hear the groans of the Argent Tournament veterans from here...if you haven't begun on this journey yet, good luck!). Let your grind-weary spirits be heartened though, for next week we will be going through the new Cataclysm pets...or at least those of which have been released thus far.

Until we meet again, happy hoarding as always!

20 Days of...Introduce Yourself (Day 1)

So, today I was doing a bit of blog bouncing. I do this now and again for either giggles or out of boredom, and it often leads me to some brilliant little gems found only in the WoW blog universe. I had bopped on over through Ama's blog Specced For Drama and saw that she had taken up a sort blogging challenge. This blogging challenge was created by Démonique, the writer of the blog Spellbound.

Since I've had a certain lack of content lately, I've decided that I'm going to take up this challenge for giggles. Also, I've taken this up simply because I'm a complete sucker for Q&A things...I like to think of myself as much more interesting than I really am. We all have our quirks, right? Right.

Will I be doing this over 20 consecutive days? Unlikely, especially since I'm a) often lazy and unmotivated and b) I'd prefer to refrain from double posting in a single day. I will however do my best to try to fill out a new section on a semi regular basis. It's an adventure, and definitely something that I see to be a nifty exercise.

Perhaps I should get on with it already, eh?

Right...introductions. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

/wave

I'm Saz/Sazzy/Sazzypants/Ginger/Guild Mom/Grandma/Kel/Kely (I refer to my druid as "Bek"...I don't respond well to "Kel" or "Kely" at all, and this leads to the occasional issue in PuGs)/whateverelseI'mplayingatthemoment.  


Saz Ingame
I've been playing WoW since sometime mid BC and I raided extensively in WotLK. In my time playing I've helped found two different guilds, raised 5 characters to level 80, lead more raids than I care to ever remember, and have managed to make some amazing friends along the way. For almost a year now I've more or less been on a forced WoW break due to a few factors: 

1) I moved back home due to some real life issues, and unfortunately home is located in the middle of a swamp, making it rather difficult to find a suitable connection. 10 months after moving here, I am happy to say I have a steady, wonderful connection that I'd absolutely love to game on.

2) Computers suck, as does lack of cash to fix that situation.

I'm actually not a huge gamer, but I am a hardcore World of Warcraft fan. While I love WoW for it's raiding and PvP, I don't really play it for those aspects specifically. I've always found myself playing for the people. I've always had guilds to take care of, people to see to, things to organize, friends to romp around with...the social aspect has kept me very much into the game itself. Not to mention WoW has helped me through some incredibly rough spots in my life (if you're new here and are wondering what that is all about, I put up a post on my Agoraphobic tendencies a while back).

I favor two classes above the rest: Shaman and Druid. This isn't to say that I don't absolutely love my Affliction/Demonology Warlock, Beast Mastery/Survival Hunter, Shadow/Discipline Priest, or any of my other baby alts, because honestly I love each and every one of them to bits. I just associate more with the shaman/druid classes on some strange personal level.
Shamans are spiritual visionaries of tribes and clans. These gifted warriors who can see into the world of spirits and communicate with creatures invisible to eyes of normal beings. They are beset by visions of the future and use their sight to guide their people through troubled times. Although the shaman may seem wise and serene at first glance, he is a formidable foe; when angered, his wrath is as fierce as those who have a connection to Eternals or nature.
 

We are the preservers of the balance, now and forever, as Malfurion lies in the Dreaming. Never forget this. - Kal of Dolanaar
Druids are keepers of the world who walk the path of nature, following the wisdom of the Ancients and Cenarius, healing and nurturing the world. To a druid, nature is a delicate balance of actions, in which even the smallest imbalance can create storming turmoil from peaceful skies. Druids draw their power from this wild energy, using it to change their shapes and command the forces of nature. Traditionally druids chose the path of a specific animal totem. Since the invasion of the Burning Legion, however, most druids have undergone a number of reforms, including encouraging the study of magic from all totems. Druids who do this are known as druids of the wild.
Druid Wowwiki 

I can't really explain why, but those class descriptions just...speak to me. When I originally rolled Saz, and much later on Kelebek, I had no knowledge of the classes, their abilities, or their lore. They shape shifted, and I thought that was the bees knees. It wasn't until later that I read their descriptions and felt a connection to the classes themselves, not just their abilities to shape shift.

I had been heavily playing a warlock over on Sen'jin horde prior to moving over to Aggramar alliance, but I really wasn't too keep on gnomes (being the size that they are) nor humans (the females and their saggy boobage.../sigh) so my warlock adventures were put on hold. I had loved running around as a ghost wolf during the few times I played my horde shaman, so I decided on rolling Saz just for that fact. So I slowly leveled up my little shaman, and proceeded to try to learn how to melt face...usually ending up dead in the process. It wasn't until much later that I was inspired to level my druid (who at a young age I thought was ugly as sin, and couldn't for the life of me level her past 14 because she died to fast in humanoid form and killed things too slowly in bear). Once I got kitty form, it was over. Over and done, son.

While I tend to lean towards the "help/heal others" and "be passive" philosophy in real life, my gaming play style seems to take a much more "destructive" and "be aggressive" approach.. I love playing the melee role. I like getting in there and getting dirty. I take particular glee in smacking upside the head with my axes and sinking my claws into an enemy. It's a great stress reliever for me. Don't mess with the melee momma.


Saz IRL
Real life Saz is a pretty typical, boring person. At least that's what I think. I'm approaching my mid 20s now. I am a complete tomboy, but physically I am quite female. As has been noted before, I am currently living back at home while I recover from a serious bought of depression and Agoraphobia.

Once upon a time I was a college stupid...err, student (I had to leave the typo in there), first studying music (first percussion for about a year to year and a half, then upright bass for roughly a year) and then switching to photography (preferred the black and white medium). Unfortunately my declining health, and seemingly luck, left me without much desire to continue the pursuits of anything creative. I ended up flunking out of school. WoW became my crutch, and slowly but surely it's helped me feel my way back into normalcy...along with some major support from friends and family, of course. Now I am once again beginning to get back to my creative roots, through both writing and various other forms of media. I was once decently clever, in my humble opinion. Definitely working on becoming clever again. Certainly plan on returned to school to get that ever so illusive, and apparently important, piece of paper declaring that I don't have poo for brains.

*Twenty minutes pass by...*

I am very easily distracted. While writing this I was reminded of my old Deviant Art account. I haven't touched that bugger in over two years, and opening it is like opening up a happy time capsule. I no longer use that handle, nor that account, but I felt like sharing it...feel free to take a gander. I have a new account now under my SerenitySaz handle that I started up a few weeks ago, but it's thus far bare...I'll be sure to mention it again and link it if I ever manage to put anything up on that site.

Where was I?

Right, I was babbling about myself.

I have pets, I love coloring books, I always wanted a horse but never got one. I've dreamed big; accomplishments have thus far been small. I'm a ginger kid, and if asked whether or not I eat souls, the answer is always "yes." (I'm a day walker, but I have to keep my street cred, yanno?) I type faster than I think, though sometimes I think faster than I can translate Heatherish to English, and everything seems to tumble around...nothing makes sense to anyone when that happens. I seem to growing into the Queen of Wall Text, and I've mastered critting faces through this talent. I love fuzzy socks and hate shorts. I live in the Great Lakes region and hate winter.

Someday I will make something of myself. Until that day comes though, I'm rather happy to tinker in my blog in my own little corner of the internet.

One day at a time, right? Right. 

(If this introduction of myself at any point ceased to make sense, I blame the brain soup. I'm in dire need of a giant straw to slurp out the suck. Also, I'm in the market for a red slushie. PST if you will deliver a slushie to my house. Mages, this may be a good market for you *hint hint*) 

One last note. Whenever I get tired, or distracted, I get ridiculous. I babble nonsensically. Feel free to laugh along as I poke fun of myself  ^_^

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Cataclysm Totem Guide: Part 1

When people think of Shamans, they think of two things: Heroism/Bloodlust, and totems. More often than not it seems that many Shaman make use of their totems in an improper way. Cataclysm changed things quite a bit for Shaman-kind; the Hero/Lust buff is now able to be given by a Mage's Time Warp and Hunter's pets the corehounds through Ancient Hysteria, and many raid buffs were consolidated.

So where does that leave us? Well, we're still the totem slingin' buff bots that we've always been, but now we must pay even closer attention to what we lay down. If your raid set up is just so, you may find yourself needing to place less than four totems down or simply doubling up on other buffs. Here is a list of all our totems and of the equivalent buffs offered up by other classes.


Air Totems
Windfury Totem
- Improved Icy Talons, Frost Death Knights
- Hunting Party, Survival Hunters

Wrath of Air Totem
- Shadowform, Shadow Priests
- Moonkin Form, Balance Druids

Grounding Totem


Fire Totems
Totemic Wrath, Boosts Flametonuge Totem, Elemental Shaman Only
- Demonic Pact, Demonology Warlocks

Flametongue Totem
- Arcane Brilliance, Mages

Searing Totem
Magma Totem
Fire Elemental Totem


Earth Totems
Strength of Earth Totem
- Horn of Winter, Death Knights
- Battle Shout, Warriors
- Roar of Courage, Hunter's Pet (Cat)

Stoneskin Totem
- Devotion Aura, Paladins

Stoneclaw Totem
Earthbind Totem
Tremor Totem
Earth Elemental


Water Totems
Mana Tide Totem (CD)
- Innervate, Druids
- Hymn of Hope, Priests

Mana Spring Totem
- Blessing of Might, Paladins
- Felhunter, Affliction Warlocks (Mostly used by Affliction Warlocks, but can be summoned in any spec.)

Elemental Resistance Totem (Fire/Frost/Nature Resist)
- Aspect of the Wild, Hunters (Nature Resist)
- Resistance Aura, Paladins (Fire/Frost/Shadow Resist)
- Mark of the Wild, Druids (All Magical Resist)

Totem of Tranquil Mind
- Concentration Aura, Paladins

Healing Stream Totem


Here's the skinny: our totems are completely situational. Our totems allow us to be like all of the Hunters' pets rolled into one...sort of. They allow us to be adaptable; they make us flexible enough to help cover situational needs. What totems we use completely depends on the group/raid composition we which we find ourselves and the boss mechanics of the fight that we're participating in. Even though we have an immense variety of totem combinations in which to choose from, each one of our specializations has a basic totem setup that it favors. The lists below states which totems said specs favor. Use this list as a starting point, and then adjust your totems to help fill in the buff gaps of your group/raid.

Enhancement
Windfury Totem
Strength of Earth Totem
Searing Totem
Healing Stream

Elemental
Wrath of Air
Stoneskin Totem
Flametongue Totem
Healing Stream

Restoration
Wrath of Air 
Stoneskin Totem
Flametounge Totem
Healing Stream

Now, it is okay to double up on some buffs so long as the other available buffs are covered and there are no situational needs to be met (tremor for boss fear mechanics, for example). Sometimes the doubling up of totems can help cover a broader radius, or sometimes it may prove to be handy to have the totem out in the event that someone dies, uses an Ankh/Soulstone/Battle Resurrect and is unable to get rebuffed. Just be mindful of the buffs present, and adjust your totems accordingly to the different situations as they present themselves.

If you happened to be a raid leader (or just a raid setup-minded individual) and are looking for a full chart of the new buff configurations, definitely check out Finalized Raid Buffs/Debuffs for Cata by Pwnwear and Cataclysm Hunter Pet and Raid Buffs done up by The Hunter's Union. Both of these lists were excellent references in helping me put together this guide and I highly recommend that you check them out.

In the event that I missed a totem or its buff counterpart in the chart/lists above, please feel free to correct me!



Related Posts
Cataclysm Totem Guide: Part 2 (Earth and Air)
Cataclysm Totem Guide: Part 3 (Fire and Water)



World of Saz 2011

Friday, February 18, 2011

Proposed Healing CDs and Homogenization in WoW

Alright, I have a bee in my bonnet. It relates to one of the latest announcements Blizz made in regards to shaman and druid healing.

In Addition- Restoration Druids and Restoration Shaman

We agree with the sentiment among some players that Restoration druids and Restoration shaman are lacking in the healing cooldown department. The shaman buff and Power Word: Shield adjustment above should bring all healers reasonably close in terms of throughput. The decision on who to bring then might end up being dictated by the strong cooldowns offered by paladins or priests. This isn’t the kind of thing we can address via a hotfix, but it is something we are looking at for the next major content patch.


What Saz has to say on the subject: Don't give me no stinkin' CDs I say! Stop tinkering with my classes/specs...leave me be!

Call me old fashioned, or call me naive simply because I haven't played Cataclysm yet, but I think that the proposed added healer cooldowns are a bit unnecessary. I've always loved having a niche as the offspec resto shaman (or on the incredibly rare occasion, resto druid or disco priest) and losing that niche just feels like something is getting stripped away from the decision to play that certain class, or in the case of priests, spec. With this new fangled homogenization, everything just feels...blurred and very cloned.

While my comfort level with this whole idea of homogenization decreases, there seems to be a few issues cropping up play wise. It seems to me, viewing from the sidelines at least, that the more Blizzard is trying to make everything more of the same, the more they're struggling to balance everything properly. Once upon a time the healing meters were taken with a large grain of salt simply because you couldn't judge the difference in healing output between a disco priest, a restoration druid, or a holy paladin. A talented raid leader could simply look at the healing meter and tell if a healer was worth their salt.

Now, it almost seems that Blizzard is wasting a load of time trying to cater to the QQers who no longer wish to raid heal, but feel like they should now be their guilds dedicated tank healer, or tank healers wanting to now fill the role as a raid healer. Not only that, I also think that they're trying to get every class within the three roles available (that is to say, Tank, DPS, and Healer) to be equal on this now apparently all important meter system. I feel that Blizzard is caving into the pressure of "Well, if X class has this, why can't my Z class have it too?!?!?" and "But hunters are doing the most damage! I want to do that as a *insert some other DPS spec here*" and now also it seems "Holy priests have amazing numbers on the healing charts...why can't I do that as a holy paladin?!"...Really now, this whole thing seems to be getting just a touch out of hand. Give them an inch it seems, and they will indeed try to take a mile.

I can remember a time where you brought either a holy paladin or a discipline priest to take care of your tanks, and then either a holy priest/druid/shaman or a duo combination there of to take care of your raid body (in a 10 man raid, of course...25s would require roughly double that number). Holy paladins did little to no AoE healing, but had those bomb heals to keep up the tanks. Disco priests again didn't have much in terms of AoE healing capabilities, but their mitigation bubbles and massive slow cast heals did the trick. Towards the end of Wrath new tricks were being added to these classes to increase raid healing, and like wise, the AoE raid healing classes began to "tank heal." Honestly, I thought that any druid or shaman healer that claimed that they should be the tank healer was off their rocker. Any shaman I came across specced into Healing Way was a damn fool in my book. I felt that us shaman had our place, and that was for raid healing, our totems, and heroism/bloodlust. We were brought because of our abilities as an individual player and for the abilities of our class. Towards the end of WotLK everything began to feel like everything was bleeding together. As a raid leader I was pulling in PuG shaman and druids to raid heal, and I'd occasionally get the comment of "but I'm a tank healer..." Again, called me "old fashion", but this was frustrating to me to say the least.

Now, don't get me wrong. This idea of "bring the player, not the class" is a brilliant idea - at least on paper - and I think that Blizzard is very noble in trying to turn this idea into a reality. But for me, the reason why you choose to play a certain class was for its niche, its play style. If I wanted to sheep things and rock the portals I'd roll a mage, if I wanted to raid heal I'd roll a holy priest, restoration druid, or restoration shaman, and if I wanted to tank with my face I'd switch my druid to a bear. I liked how once upon a time character classes felt special. Now looking on from the sidelines, everything is beginning to look bland.

Honestly, TotalBuscuit has managed to put my thoughts on all this homogenization hoopla into words better than I feel that I've managed to in one of his Azeroth Daily posts (skip ahead to about 10:19 for the specific topic I'm speaking of).

I suppose I'm feeling a sort of loss of identity with my characters, both in healing (regardless of how often I may or may not use my alternate specialization for PvE purposes) and in general. The new changes simply do not sit well with me, and fairly rare is my gut wrong.

I know I haven't been really hands on lately with the game, but I still try to keep up with things as much as possible. All of these changes will affect how I play the game once I manage to return to my beloved characters. Am I simply being foolish? Or do you folks who play regularly feel somewhat similar?

Thursday, February 17, 2011

The Sims Medieval + WoW = I Want

Tonight I decided to try and immerse myself into something a little less WoW-like, just for a change of pace. I began trolling Youtube for some form of entertainment and something inside me urged me to look up Sims 3 videos for some odd reason. I ended up stumbling upon TheSim's channel; why I've never thought to seek out this page before is beyond me. Anyways, so I'm checking out the new Sims 3 content, and also on this page are the advertisements for a new Sims game, The Sims Medieval. Honestly, I think it looks awesome, even if the demos presented were in their "pre-Alpha" stages. It's kingdom building, it's leveling, it's questing, it's character improving, it's sabotage and friendship building, it's pure Sims geekery.

While I was watching the demos one thought kept popping into my head:

This could easily become an MMORPG.

The next thought to pop into my mind was:

The Sims and World of Warcraft need to make woohoo right friggen now!

My official opinion from just seeing the demos for this game is that it's mated Civilization, MMORPG like game play (minus of course, the actual mutli-player factor), and the Sims all into one ball of potential medieval fun. I'm definitely looking forward to hopefully getting to try this game out sometime in the future.


If you're interested in seeing the advertisement and the demo videos for yourself, I have embedded them after the page break.

Hoarders: Azeroth Edition - The Burning Cuteness

...aaand we're back! For another week of Hoarders: Azeroth Edition featuring Mini Pet Month! This time around we will be looking at all the pets that were made attainable via the Burning Crusade expansion pack.


Can you take a guess at which may be my favorite? His name is Pheo. Pheo has been my good luck pet for years now, and is probably the closest thing I'll ever get to the Phoenix mount from Tempest Keep (which I've had my heart set on since my early days on Saz after seeing someone scoot through Shattrath on him). Well, I do suppose there is the Dark Phoenix mount now too, but it's just not the same. *Drifts off day dreaming about riding phoenixes* /Sigh...wait, what was I talking about? Oh right, pets from the Burning Crusade era.

So uh, yes! The Burning Crusade! It was a time of Space-Goats who had fallen from the sky and of Bloody Elves who were drunk on arcane magics. A time where heroes became souped up beings to the 70th power. It was of a time where the Horde learned of the light and the Alliance took up Shamanism. It had castles and demons and fel energies and invasions. Most importantly though, it had new pets. Let's take a look at the list, shall we?

Drops
Chuck - Bag of Fishing Treasures (Outland fishing daily quest), fishing required. 1 in 2
Firefly - Zangarmarsh, Bogflare Needler, 1 in 1,500
Magical Crawdad - Mr. Pinchy, fishing 430+ required, 1 in 500 fished from Highland Mixed school, 1 in 5 wishes (of 3 available give Magical Crawdad Box)
Mojo - Zul'Aman, Forest Frog (upon hex removal using Amani Hex Stick), 1 in 50 hexes removed
Muckbreath - Bag of Fishing Treasures (Outland fishing daily quest), fishing required. 1 in 2
Phoenix Hatchling - Magister's Terrace (regular and heroic), Kael'Thas Sunstrider, 1 in 16
Snarly - Bag of Fishing Treasures (Outland fishing daily quest), fishing required. 1 in 2
Toothy - Bag of Fishing Treasures (Outland fishing daily quest), fishing required. 1 in 2
Vampiric Batling - Karazhan, Tenris Mirkblood, 1 in 1, no longer available

Questline
Miniwing - Skywing

Reputation
Nether Ray Fry - Terokkar Forest, Grella, Exalted with Sha'tari Skyguard
Sporebat - Zangarmarsh, Mycah, Exalted with Sporeggar

Vendors
Blue Dragonhawk Hatchling - Netherstorm, Dealer Rashaad
Blue Moth - Exodar, Sixx
Brown Rabbit - Netherstorm, Dealer Rashaad
Cockroach - Undercity, Jeremiah Payson; Netherstorm, Dealer Rashaad
Crimson Snake - Orgrimmar, Xan'tish; Netherstorm, Dealer Rashaad
Golden Dragonhawk Hatchling - Eversong Woods, Jilanne
Mana Wyrmling - Netherstorm, Dealer Rashaad
Red Dragoonhawk Hatchling - Eversong Woods, Jilanne
Red Moth - Netherstorm, Dealer Rashaad
Senegal - Stranglethorn Vale, Narkk; Netherstorm, Dealer Rashaad
Siamese Cat - Netherstorm, Dealer Rashaad
Silver Dragonhawk Hatchling - Eversong Woods, Jilanne
White Moth - The Exodar, Sixx
Yellow Moth - The Exodar, Sixx


 Happy (pet) hoarding!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

My Computer Got Into the VD Spirit!

So tonight I broke down and made another trial account. Yeah...I came to a few conclusions right quick.


1) Princess has gotten quite a bit bigger than the last time I needed to steal her brass collar.
2) As much as I love my Warlock, I don't think I'll ever manage to level a second. I much prefer my melee classes to the 'locky squish. Really, I got owned by little kobolds three times in a row when I went after Narg the Taskmaster. All I got for my efforts was a little pouch. Not cool...
3) I miss my Shaman and Druid something horrible. I don't feel like myself in this game unless I get to play one of them for a bit.
4) I really do prefer to take a stance when I'm fighting something instead of prancing around, trying to kite the damn bugger. Don't get me wrong, I've grown to love my range classes, but nothing really beats getting physical with your enemies.
5) My computer sucks horribly. Okay, this isn't exactly a new realization, but it was once again reaffirmed.

Speaking of my computer sucking horribly, shortly after I logged off the trial account, I got virus spam city. I had "anti-virus" systems popping up that I never downloaded, porn pages popping up, and all the while my Norton system - which apparently didn't install right in the first place, thus was not working properly - that I did have just sat by complacently. The porn pop up I kind of had to laugh at a bit, especially since I had just wiped my system not 48 hours previous, thus nothing sketchy had been viewed on my computer for some time. Apparently my computer was getting it on with some dirty counter parts without me knowing...dirty dirty information lovin'. All in the holiday spirit, right? Outside of that moment where I smirked a bit, I was just thoroughly annoyed that I needed to wipe my system for the second time in the span of a week. That super awesome music image that I was talking about installing? Yeah, not happening...completely forgot that I had to have my old Uni pin to be able to run any of that. Idea scrapped.

The fun just never stops, does it? QQ

Well, at least now I have a clean system (again) and I have about 9.5 days to teach myself how to mouse drive. I really don't see what all the "keyboarder's are noobs!!!1!" rage is about...I think my hybrid version of keyboard/mouse moving was more efficient with my play style, but I'll give it some time. I'm thinking I may just re-roll a warrior again on the trial instead of keeping up with this darn 'lock. Yes, they're deliciously evil, but it's just not as much fun as whacking at something with an axe : P


Oh, realization #6: leveling really is overly easy/fast now...not that I'm really complaining as chronic altoholic.  It took me about 1.5 hours to hit level 10, and probably would have taken me less time had I not tangoed with the kobolds for so long. Even being super squishy, laggy, and having no heirlooms, leveling is more or less a complete breeze now. Kinda cool.

This weekend I'm going to corrupt my little brother with this trial account. He's going to be insufferable until we manage to get a new computer and get at least my account back up and running, if not get him his own as well. It may prove to be hilarious to watch him play. It may be obnoxious as all get out. I'm kind of excited either way.


Ps. Murlocs still suck -_-

Wurglewurgle!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Loveloveloveandstuff!

To all my friends and readers, Happy Valentine's Day!


Much love to each and every one of you on this day, and of course, everyday!

<3 Saz

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Rabble Babble

I'm in a hardcore writing dry spell right now, but for some reason I feel like babbling for a few minutes. Indulge me, eh?

First things first, I'm kind of sort of postponing any more installments of The Rack simply because my computer was attacked by a virus, and now I have to once again muscle WoW Model Viewer into working. I pretty much struggle every time I go to update or reinstall WMV for some reason, and since I'm not in game (nor will I be anytime soon sadly) I have no other way to put together gear sets or outfits in general. I'm a bit bummed about this since I have a pretty decent line-up of articles planned, but right now it's just more of a pain in the butt kind of thing rather than fun. I'll get back to it eventually, I just gotta fix a few other things first.

For some reason I've had no real...urge, I suppose...to write. I feel dry and uninspired for the most part. I'm trying to get the juices flowing again, but it's hard. It's just all gunked up inside my noggin. I really need to start keeping a pad of plain paper near me for drawing purposes again (while a notebook is nice, especially for writing purposes, the lines just kill sketches). Also, I'm debating if I want to reformat my computer again so I can reinstall all of the old music programs that I had from college. After a 3+ year spell away from music, it really is high time that I start dabbling in that again. Maybe if I can start exercising other elements of creativity I'll feel less drained about writing.

Does any of that even make sense? It doesn't really matter to me right now, I'm just writing to write. Editing and mind flow be damned.


Projects. Projects, projects, projects. I really wish I had a little more to work with (both in ambition and technology) to make them all come to life. So many ideas of mine die before I can even bring them to light; I'm not a fan of that scenario.

Hmm, as a ginger female, I should learn how to rap, right? Makes sense, doesn't it, that probably the whitest person next to an albino needs to learn how to rap. I guess I have some reasoning behind it though. Not only would it be an interesting experience from a musical standpoint, perhaps I'll get less tongue-tied when I'm talking normally. It would be a win-win situation, or something. I also need to get my voice back into some sort of singing shape. Has it ever really been in any kind of proper performance shape? No, but I think at one time there was potential, I was just lazy. Story of my bloody life, being lazy.

I'd really like to eventually do some WoW parodies. I'd rather do WoW machinima, but until the time comes that I can actually do that, parodies may have to tide me over. I have some ideas, I just need to sit down and write them out. I've never been talented as a poet/lyricist, and it's high time that I work on that.

Pffff, I hope I can get back into WoW soon so I can jabber on about WoW-related things instead of rambling about random crap like this. I'm sure the five people I have in my reader base would prefer WoW babblings over "Gee, what should Saz do with all her excess time" posts. Right? Right.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

She Wants It Her Way!!!

Dane Cook aside, it's time for another Shared Topic from Blog Azeroth. I know it's been a while since I've done one of these, and I figured that it was high time that I hop back in that saddle. This week's topic is brought to us by Naithin, creator of Fun in Games.


Pretend for a moment that WoW hasn't yet been released. Or perhaps it is, but you've never heard of the whole SWG NGE debacle, and thus have no fear about dramatically changing how everything works post-release.

You have the original (or BC, or Wrath, or Current, your pick) design docs to start from, but you're free to change absolutely everything if you so choose.

With all this power, what would you change? What would make WoW the dream game for you?



This is a fairly loaded question. Now, I could overload this page with a wall of famously crit-filled Saz text (oh, it could be quite easy...I have my happy/productive music channel rolling on Pandora right now), but I shall refrain. Instead, I'm going to focus on three different aspects of WoW that I'd change if I had such magical designing powers.


Character Customization
There is nothing more that I enjoy more than customizing. My favorite part of creating a character is getting that little avatar to represent the persona that I want to play. Now, I didn't play Aion, but the boyfriend did. One of the few things that I liked about that game (from what I saw at least) was the ability to customize your character to the T. You want to be some obese dude with blue skin? Go nuts. I would absolutely love some of the customization offered up in Aion, or even The Sims 3 to bleed into World of Warcraft. What if I wanted my Night Elf Druid to be a bit shorter than the rest? What if I was curious about how a Draenei looked when pregnant? What would happened if a Gnome and a Tauren just so happened to mate? Okay, that last one may not be able to happen...some of the customization would of course have to fit within WoW's lore, no two foot tall Tauren or seven foot tall Gnomes now...I'm sorry, but the line must be drawn somewhere. However, the ability to be able to choose your players height (within the rough restrictions of your chosen race of course), the facial features, hair color (I'm talking full shades here people), hair type/length/cut (more than what we have now at least), and body build would be very, very awesome.

 
I just have a problem with looking like a clone, okay?


Personal Houses/Guild Halls
Again with the customization. My favorite part of playing The Sims is building my house. I could care less about the micro-managing aspect of the game, even though it is indeed somewhat fun to be that controlling for a bit, but what I mean to say is, I loooove to tinker with the environments in which my avatars live in. I think it would be really neat to be able to "visit" your friends at their various homes around Azeroth, maybe get an insight into what they (or in an RPer's world, their character) may be into in RL. It's a certain personal touch that I simply feel is lacking currently in Azeroth. Not to mention, we could store all of our extra gear in the closets and display all of the nifty items we've hoarded *ahem.*

Real estate would be a bit hard to come by though. Given the physics of Azeroth, coupled with our player population ratio per server, there may not be enough room for everyone to have a house and to keep the continents found on Azeroth from looking like New York City from one coast to the other. The next idea that I'd whole-heartedly accept would be a guild hall. Now, this could simply be a portaled off part in the city; for those of you who remember the PvP room in Stormwind, how that was instanced for pretty much ever, I'm thinking something along those lines. One portal door for all to go into, but inside would be two things: 1) A commons area, decorated/arranged by the GM of the guild and whoever he/she gives decor permissions to and 2) Another portal inside the room in which each player has a personal, dedicated space in which they can "lock" people out of or allow certain people in. When wanting to go visit a person in their room (they must be online), they simply walk up to the personal room portal, a selection box would appear, and they'd choose either their room or the room of the person who has given them permissions to enter. They would not have to be within the same guild to enter (it's magic after all!). Of course each personal, dedicated room would solely be decorated/arranged by the owner, and potentially shared throughout the entire account.

Ideally though each account would get a house in an area of their choosing (apartments available in all major cities, cottages in the country sides, mansions on ocean-front property, etc), and then there would be Guild Hall commons in all the major cities, which would be accessible to all guilds and their players, whether or not the players decide to have a place of their own.


Druid Forms
For the love of everything cute and fuzzy, let us choose our aquatic forms! I want to be a giant sea turtle or orca...this "seal" form is just...well, it's not as pretty as our other forms. If I want to be a giant sperm whale one day, and a tiny star fish the next, who says that I shouldn't be able to? I'm a druid darn it!

Also? I to be able to choose my tree form (bring it back!!) and color. I'd rock the birch tree form, or perhaps even the weeping willow.

Borrowed from Google.

Imagine the /cower emote on that sucker. Win!


Outside of the options to personalize things more, I'm rather fond of how World of Warcraft is currently set up. I love the structure, I'm rather fond of the maps, I love the characters and personalities involved...just give me the ability to give my Shaman bright pink dreadlocks and a place to call my own and I shall be happy until the end of Azeroth!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Darkmoon Faire Friday!

They're quirky, they're fun, they're Darkmoon Faire Fortunes! They have been pretty much out of sight and out of mind for most folks since the Burning Crusade, mainly due to the fact that the faire didn't come near Dalaran in Wrath of the Lich King and most people didn't hang out in the old world much. In honor of Cataclysm and the return of players to the old world, every Friday will be feature a different Darkmoon Faire Fortune here at World of Saz. Enjoy!


Sayge's Fortune # 9: "Your first love and last love is self-love."

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Hoarders: Azeroth Edition - Love is in the Air

We now interrupt "Mini Pet Month" to bring you a special holiday edition of Hoarders. I'm sure you're all crushed, but fear not! Mini Pet Month shall resume next week and besides, it's not every day that you have the chance to acquire some of the nifty loot given out during special holidays.

What all does the "Love is in the Air" event offer to us hoarding types? The answer is: plenty! It contains not only fun dress up items, but also offers two different types of pets and a chance at an extremely rare mount. On top of all the items that can result in hoarding goodness, if you complete all of the achievements for Fool for Love you earn the title "the Love Fool" and are one meta achievement down for What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been, thus just a tad bit closer to receiving your Violet Proto-Drake! Let's get on to the list!


Wearable Collectibles
Forever Lovely Rose - 40% drop rate, now drops from a Heart-Shaped Box which you receive upon a successful (once daily) kill of Apothecary Hummel in Shadowfang Keep.
Vile Fumigator's Mask - 28% drop rate, now drops from a Heart-Shaped Box which you receive upon a successful (once daily) kill of Apothecary Hummel in Shadowfang Keep.

For all the men who want to look handsome:
Blue Dinner Suit
Purple Dinner Suit
Red Dinner Suit

For all the lovely looking ladies out there:
Lovely Black Dress
Lovely Blue Dress
Lovely Purple Dress
Lovely Red Dress


Random Collectible Items
The Heartbeaker - 5% drop rate, now drops from a Heart-Shaped Box which you receive upon a successful (once daily) kill of Apothecary Hummel in Shadowfang Keep.
Love Rocket (Fireworks)
Bouquet of Red Roses
Bouquet of Ebon Roses
Handful of Rose Pedals - Chuck 'em at people! Make the love rain, baby.
Lovely Rose - Make the people around you feel pretty!
Box of Chocolates - Buff up the one you love with some chocolate!
- Buttermilk Delight
- Very Berry Cream
- Dark Desire
- Sweet Surprise
Bag of Heart Candies - Tell them how you really feel.
- I'm all yours!
- You're mine!
- Hot lips.
- You're the best!
- All yours.
- I LOVE YOU
- I'll follow you all around Azeroth.
- Be mine!
Romantic Picnic Basket - A necessity for any romantic outing.

Pets
Toxic Wasteling - 33% drop rate, now drops from a Heart-Shaped Box which you receive upon a successful (once daily) kill of Apothecary Hummel in Shadowfang Keep.
Peddlefeet - Was once a drop, is now purchasable

Mount
Big Love Rocket - Incredibly low drop rate, and only you can ride your rocket of love (how does that work?!)


Saz's top 5 personal favorite Love is in the Air items:
Heartbeaker - It's a relatively useless item, but I'm "mean" and I like to run around breaking hearts : P
Lovely Rose - I don't normally stock up on this item personally, but I have a certain love for it. Last year someone ran up to me, used it on me, and left me feeling rather pretty (and giddy) for the duration that the item lasted.
Toxic Wasteling - I only saw one drop last year, so I don't have this little guy (yet...next year hopefully!), but I love him because he's adorable...and eats other little creatures.
Romantic Picnic Basket - Out of all of my holiday items, my picnic basket probably has been used the most. I just like picnics, okay?
Big Love Rocket - *Insert perverted jokes here* Really, it's a super rare mount...with zebra print...and is bright pink...why wouldn't I want this? The image above was taken during last years Love is in the Air event, and to my knowledge that was the only person on Aggramar that was able to nab this mount. Someday, I too will have a pink love rocket...I just have to find the right way to talk dirty to the RNG gods.

4.3 Additions
A new mount has been added in 4.3!
Swift Lovebird - A ground mount. Same model as the tallstriders you find in game, but it's pink! Can be purchased from your local Love is in the Air vendor for 270 Love Tokens.

The items that drop from Apothecary Hummel in Shadowfang Keep are still 346 ilevel blue items. Any random drop item (Big Love Rocket, Toxic Wasteling, etc) now drop from a Heart-Shapped Box, which can be gained once daily via the dungeon finder.


May you find some sort of love during this Valentine's day season, whether it comes from others or yourself, and may you be showered with lovely items that fill your inventory!

Love and Rockets,
Saz

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Blizz's 20th Anniversary

*Puts on the party hat*

Yeah, it's a video day. Have I mentioned yet that I really miss having G4 as a channel? I think I have, but this is just more emphasis about how much I miss X-Play, Attack of the Show, and Ninja Warrior...no one should have to live without Ninja Warrior. Ever.





To read more about how Blizzard got it's start, check out G4's article Blizzard: A 20 Year Legacy of Quality (And Awesomeness) and Blizzard: The Forgotten Console History. Honestly, I think I love Blizz just a bit more knowing that they dabbled in making titles for Super Nintendo, the only video game console that I could properly work and kick some butt on.

New Tree of Life Animations

This just popped up in a link on Wowhead's Twitter account (@wowhead). New idle animations, emotes, and the new groove. Kind of makes the giant broccoli form a little more bearable. Still doesn't live up to the old grumpy tree permi-form, but it's improving at least!





I'm really digging some of the new casting animations implemented so far in Cataclysm, no lies.

Monday, February 7, 2011

The Rack: Tier 11

Are you curious about whether or not your alt would look smashing in Tier 11? Are you unsure about what your class's current tier is even called? Well you're in luck, because this week on The Rack I had covered just that! Check out the images and links below for all of your tier needs.


Regular

Heroic


Druid/Warrior
Paladin/Death Knight
Shaman/Priest
Warlock/Mage
Rogue/Hunter

Sunday, February 6, 2011

The Rack: Tier 11 - Rogue/Hunter

This is part 5 of 5 for this week's The Rack: Tier 11 Edition. After the break you will find links to the stats page on wowhead.com for each spec of the Rogue and Hunter tier sets. Also included below the break are images of both regular (on the left) and heroic (on the right) models for each tier set. Enjoy!

Agoraphobia and WoW: My Form of Rehab

Sorry to interrupt the general flow of this blog, but I feel like getting down and personal for once. Will this happen often? Unlikely. I'm currently feeling incredibly sterile with this blog though, along with many other things, and I want to be real for a bit. I've also been highly inspired by Beru with her incredibly moving personal post over at Falling Leaves and Wings.

This is in no way, shape, or form meant to be a "QQ" post, but rather a way to get some things off my chest. Perhaps it could also help someone else in the long run...who knows.

If you have any comments along the lines of "Lol go get help noob." or of anything of the like, please keep them to yourselves. If they pop up around here, I'll simply delete them. I have enough negativity in my life, and this blog is my realm. If you don't like it, your navigation bar is located at the top of your web browser.

This is my world. Welcome to it.


Saturday, February 5, 2011

The Rack: Tier 11 - Warlock/Mage

This is part 4 of 5 for this week's The Rack: Tier 11 Edition. After the break you will find links to the stats page on wowhead.com for each spec of the Warlock and Mage tier sets. Also included below the break are images of both regular (on the left) and heroic (on the right) models for each tier set. Enjoy!

Friday, February 4, 2011

The Rack: Tier 11 - Shaman/Priest

This is part 3 of 5 for this week's The Rack: Tier 11 Edition. After the break you will find links to the stats page on wowhead.com for each spec of the Shaman and Priest tier sets. Also included below the break are images of both regular (on the left) and heroic (on the right) models for each tier set. Enjoy!

Darkmoon Faire Friday!

They're quirky, they're fun, they're Darkmoon Faire Fortunes! They have been pretty much out of sight and out of mind for most folks since the Burning Crusade, mainly due to the fact that the faire didn't come near Dalaran in Wrath of the Lich King and most people didn't hang out in the old world much. In honor of Cataclysm and the return of players to the old world, every Friday will be feature a different Darkmoon Faire Fortune here at World of Saz. Enjoy!


Sayge's Fortune # 20: "Many a false step is made by standing still."

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Hoarders: Azeroth Edition - Old School Pets

It's Mini Pet Month! (Because I say so!)

They're cute...they're cuddly...they're collectible! Oh yes my friends, I'm talking about mini pets. Welcome to this week's installment of Hoarders: Azeroth Edition! I decided to do something a bit different this time around, and instead of just showcasing all of the pets currently available to players, I will be breaking down the non-combat pets collection down into a five week series. With this officially being week 1 of 5, I figured we should start at a logical point: the beginning. Where is the beginning for those of us involve in the MMORPG world of WoW? Why, classic World of Warcraft of course!


Once upon a time, in land which wasn't sundered and where the highest level of hero was a mere 60, the inhabitants of Azeroth both great and small carried non-combat pets within their little backpacks...so long as they didn't mind fleas that is. Now-a-days the heroes are mightier, carry bigger sacks upon their backs, and have the ability to summon any one of a multitude of miniature creatures to help keep them company during long walks through the Barrens and to offer up moral support during those particularly difficult boss fights. Though, who in their right mind would bring an innocent kitten or a helpless whelpling into a brutal battle against some power crazed creature and/or bad guy is beyond me.

Here's how we're gonna break things down for this week. Vanilla didn't have a huge variety of pets - collecting on a large scale back then was nearly impossible after all - so this week is fairly straight forward. You have your drops, which you basically just run around murdering mobs on a massive scale until you manage to convince one of the buggers to crawl into a cage for you and become your life long companion. Next up you have your quest lines...go here, go there, get a pet...nothing terribly fancy. And last but definitely not least, you have your vendor pets. Toddle on over to that vendor guy (or gal), give 'em a few silver, and you have yourself a brand new friend!

So kick back, relax, check out this list of old school pets and get your Elmyra on.



Drops 
Azure Whelpling - Winterspring, Zone, 1 in 1,000
Black Tabby Cat - Hillsbrad Foothills, Zone, 1 in 1,000
Crimson Whelpling - Wetlands, Zone, 1 in 1,000
Dark Whelpling - Wetlands, Ebon Welp; Badlands, Nyxondra's Broodling; Burning Steppes, Flamescale Broodling, 1 in 1,000
Disgusting Oozeling - Oozing Bag (drops from ooze, slime, and worm mobs), 1 in 25 oozes/slimes drops Oozing bag; 1 in 85 bag drop Disgusting Oozeling; 1 in 2,125 overall
Emerald Whelpling - Feralas, Noxious Whelp, 1 in 1,000
Green Wing Macaw - The Deadmines, Defias Pirate, 1 in 50
Hyacinth Macaw - Northern Stranglethorn, The Cap of Stranglethorn, 1 in 5,000
Siamese Cat - The Deadmines, Cookie, 1 in 7
Sprite Darter Hatchling - Feralas, Sprite Darter (Horde), Zone (Alliance), 1 in 100


As of 4.0.6

Smolderweb Egg -  Drops from Mother Smolderweb in Lower Blackrock Spire. Drop rate still unknown.
Worg Carrier - Drops from Quartermaster Zigris in Blackrock Spire. Drop rate still unknown.

Questline
Jubling - Spawn of Jubjub, Darkmoon Fair
Mechanical Chicken - Rescue OOX-09/HL!, Rescue OOX-22/FE!, Rescue OOX-17/TN, final quest: An OOX of Your Own 

Smolderweb Hatchling - Currently not available.
Westfall Chicken - CLUCK! 

Worg Pup - Currently not available
 
Vendors
Ancona Chicken - Thousand Needles, "Plucky" Johnson
Black Kingsnake - Orgrimmar, Xan'tish
Bombay Cat - Elwynn Forest, Donni Anthania
Brown Prairie Dog - Thunder Bluff, Halpa
Brown Snake - Orgrimmar, Xan'tish
Cockatiel - Stranglethorn Vale, Narkk
Cornish Rex Cat - Elwynn Forest, Donni Anthania
Great Horned Owl - Darnassus, Shylenai
Hawk Owl - Darnassus, Shylenai
Orange Tabby Cat - Elwynn Forest, Donni Anthania
Silver Tabby Cat - Elwynn Forest, Donni Anthania
Snowshoe Rabbit - Dun Morogh, Yarlyn Amberstill
Tree Frog - Darkmoon Faire, Flik
White Kitten - Stormwind City, Lil Timmy, limited supply: 1
Wood Frog - Darkmoon Fair, Flik, limited supply: 1


There you have it folks. For more detailed information on these pets, or for tips on the quests or on farming, either click the links provided and read the comments on Wowhead or check out Warcraft Pets. Until next week, happy hoarding!