Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Through Your Interface - Day 5, Title of Choice

Once upon a time a title was a sort of great feat. It was a rare beast that only the most accomplished of raiders and the most dedicated of PvPers managed to earn. If you saw someone with a title, you knew that they were a hardcore WoW player. In this day and age titles are everywhere. You still get titles for PvPing and accomplishing certain things in the PvE environment, but you can also get some fairly nifty ones through simple grinding. There are also a few titles that are really neat and easy to get, but unfortunately no one uses those since they are a dime a dozen ('the Patient' how I wish you weren't so easy to obtain!). Everyone likes a bit of individuality after all. So that's what today's Through Your Interface post is all about.

Show us an image of you pimping your favorite title and give us a reason why you dig it so much.


I gushed a bit about this title in the last TYI post since it is indeed a hell of an achievement to get. While it may not quite have the reputation grind that say, the Insane has, but there's so much luck involved and you're battling against so many folk to win a fishing derby that trying to get the 'Salty' title is well, boarder line insane in itself. I love it because I worked my little Draenei tail off to get it, it's still fairly rare, and well, Salty Saz just has a sexy ring to it.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Super Mini Update Post

...since I've been too lazy/preoccupied to do a proper full-blown Friday one. I'll blame it on family this week.

Just a few things to cover really. First, I have a new writing project. If you don't follow me on Twitter, or you're like me and follow so many people that tweets just kind of blow right by you, you probably haven't heard of it. It's a fanfic project based on my druid and is called Feral By Nature. I have no set schedule for when I'll be releasing new "chapters" or whatever you want to call the posts, but I aim to have a new one every week or at the very least every other week. No promises though.

Next up is the fact that I now have a Tumblr account. Why I have a Tumblr account is really beyond me. I was originally going to attempt to host the FBN project on there, but quickly realized that it isn't really the proper platform that I wanted to use for such a project. Now that account will just be filled with random useless crap. The kind of random useless crap I try with great might to keep off of Twitter, Facebook, and this blog. You'll probably see me at my most insane on Tumblr if you haven't had the, uh, pleasure of being in a chat channel with me.

There's four days left to vote on the poll on my site. No, there isn't any incentives to click buttons but I do get a kick out of the answers. I may also base a future post on this latest poll.

I had ads up on WoS in hopes to eventually give me a little play money for WoW. Google AdSense kind of decided to say "Hey thanks for several months free advertising! We're going to shut down your account now and not pay you. Have a nice day!"...those of course weren't their exact words, but I think you get the picture. So yeah, if you were wondering where those went (I'm sure you were and I know you were worried), that's what went down. Me babbling about this is more of a reminder to myself to look into other avenues in order to ensure that I have a steady WoW account again.

Last but possibly the most awesome, I must gush over how awesome the Through Your Interface project has turned out. I've tried to comment on as many of the posts as possible, but I know I've missed quite a few. Regardless if I have commented on your images or not, I have to say that I love them all. It's always refreshing to see the game through another person's eyes. This project has brought quite a few new blogs to my attention, along with introducing me to a lot of new personalities that I hope to continue to have the privilege of following in the future. I'll be putting out a master list post for the Through Your Interface participants very soon, so if you haven't done so yet please leave a comment on the original post!

This mini post has quickly gotten larger than I intended. I'm off to enjoy some of this gorgeous weather that we're having in the UP while we still have it! Have an excellent week folks, and keep an eye out for hopefully some quality content from me in the next several days!

~Sazzy

Friday, June 24, 2011

Fortune Fridays!

They're quirky, they're fun, they're random Azerothian fortunes! Every Friday you will see a different fortune (either from our beloved Darkmoon Faire or the new fortune cards) featured here at World of Saz. Enjoy!

Fortune Card: "You aren't very lucky. Yet."

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Hoarders: Azeroth Edition - Midsummer Sizzle

Welcome to another Thursday Hoarders! I certainly hope you've all been having a lovely week, one that is hopefully quite a bit warmer than the one we're having up here in my neck of the woods.



That video doesn't really have anything directly to do with the Midsummer Fire Festival or Hoarders: Azeroth Edition, but I figured eh, fire festival = songs kinda sorta almost about fire. Alright, maybe I was too lazy to take/find a proper screen shot. *Sigh* Anyways, what all can you hoard during this holiday? Well, let us pull up our sleeves and dig into the ever famous list!


Friday, June 17, 2011

Fortune Fridays!

They're quirky, they're fun, they're random Azerothian fortunes! Every Friday you will see a different fortune (either from our beloved Darkmoon Faire or the new fortune cards) featured here at World of Saz. Enjoy!

Fortune Card: "You will develop a great sense of relaxation (and patience) from the fishing profession."

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Hoarders: Azeroth Edition - A Salty Bloodsail Admiral

"I heard you want'd to see me, Admiral?"

"I did, helmswoman. The Capt'n wants Serenity out to sea by dawn's light. Have her sails been mended and her hull stocked?" inquired Bloodsail Admiral Kelebek.

"Aye, though what kind of crazy fish chase does the Capt'n have us on this time?"

The admiral took a moment's pause to stroke the blood red feathers of her favorite parrot, one of several who roosted about on the ship in question. With her attention still mainly focused on the bird she said "I don't rightly know. We could be chasin' after loot or we could be looking for some sort of legendary sea creature. I'm sure the Capt'n will let us know once we unfurl the sails and set a course." Kelebek ceased stroking the vibrant birds chest and looked the human in the eye. "Have the sacrifices to Neptulon been made? I don't want this ship and her crew to go through what it did last time."

"It has been done."

"Shiny. Get some rest, the Capt'n will be eager to set sail."

The dark skinned woman took her leave. Kelebek listened as the helmswoman's heavy booted footfalls thunked into the distance. She sighed and said to the bird "What do you think, Jane? This new little Kaelei seems to be doing well." The bird made an aggressive gesture. "Keep it up and I'll feed you to that River cat. This trip is going to be rough as is, ain't need you nor anyone else acting up, savvy?" The bird responded by ruffling up her feathers and then set off to roost somewhere on Serenity.

Kelebek took one final look at the sunset from her balcony at the Salty Sailor Tavern. With another sigh she thought to herself "My gut tells me that we're going to get a bit salty. Might as well get my bits of precious together and find the Capt'n. We got a job to do, even if I don't much care to find out what it is."


She turned gracefully in her black leather boots and crossed threshold of her quarters.

*******

Hello all and welcome to a very...errr...different type of Hoarders. I thought I'd take a bit of a break from my typical list style and try my hand a combination of wannabe role playing text, mixed in with a side of how-to. Chances are the lists that you all know and love shall be back soon enough, but if you all prefer this version of Hoarders to the standard set up, let me know!

Today I thought that we'd cover two different titles: Bloodsail Admiral and Salty. Both are summer flavored, fun, and a swashbucklin' good time to have.


Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Through Your Interface - Day 4, Greatest Accomplishment

Today's Through Your Interface. Enter witty intro here!

Proud of a boss kill? Excited about taming that rare? Over the moon about getting a title? Show us your greatest in game accomplishment!


Why did I get the fishing pole instead of the trinket? QQ...

Once upon a time I may have considered my guild, Battle of Serenity, to be one of my greatest accomplishments (the fact that she lasted a little over a year with me at the helm baffles me to this day). I could choose a multitude of different raid focused achievements, various long awaited hunter pet tames, or I could highlight one of my various grinds. While there are many, many events and evenings that stick out on my mind when I reminisce over my many years in Azeroth, none are quite as potent as the day I managed to win that fishing derby down in Booty Bay.

Aggramar is a very old server; she is not only cranky, but she is highly populated. For several weeks I was tearing myself from sleep (for my sleeping schedule is odd) in order to catch both the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza and the Kalu'ak Fishing Derby only to be disappointed by the good luck and quick win of someone else. I'd steal the at the time boyfriend's computer, log on to Saz with all addons off (who had been positioned prior to falling asleep, just in case I was a touch late), and wait for the stress to begin. The day I snagged the achievement above was no different. The last 10 fish or so I had the shake syndrome thanks to our good ol' pal adrenaline something fierce. When I got my fish and hearthed back to the bay of the booty, I was surprised to see no one at the robot yet. Hastily I chose an item (whyyyy didn't I choose Hook of the Master Angler, whyyy?!) and the achievement popped. I don't think I've quite ever been excited as I was that Easter morning. Thank goodness for real world holidays bringing the server's population down a touch for a few hours.

The next day I managed to fish up a Dark Herring for the One That Didn't Get Away achievement I had the title that I had lusted over for a good year or two.

So there you have it, the hidden tales of Salty Saz. What a sea dog.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Through Your Interface - Day 3, Representing You

I felt ambitious enough to go screen shot digging this morning, so have part three of my Through Your Interface challenge.

Show us an image that represents who you are, either in Azeroth/Outland or in real life.


Who I was: the performer.

Who I am: a dreamer.

Who I long to be: unknown.

Reflecting and Questioning: Why Come Back to Azeroth?

It may be Sunday instead of Wednesday (neither of which are to be mistaken for Friday) but I figured that I'd get this week's Shared Topic post out regardless. This week's post inspiration is from none other than Ringo Flinthammer.

Despite a well-publicized dip in subscriber numbers, most WoW players have stuck around. But those folks didn't leave for no reason, so what keeps you coming back and still playing?

Is it the friends? The new content? Old content still to explore? Alts? PvP? Roleplaying?

At this point in time it's getting to be a touch difficult to remember why I keep coming back to World of Warcraft. The game that I've known and loved for years now has become rather stagnant to me, and this seems to be much of a similar case for both my fellow bloggers and players alike.

Much like your favorite book or movie that you've simply seen one too many times, WoW has become a bit stale. Don't get me wrong, the game is looking as gorgeous as ever. The characters are as always interesting and engaging folk, the people behind the avatars for the most part are diverse and entertaining, hell even some of the storylines that I'm just now coming across are rather intriguing. For some reason though WoW has just seemed to have lost its spark, that one irresistible charm that has kept me craving for more. There are two things to blame for this I think: 1) Far too much available content, resulting in a glutton style of gorging oneself quickly on said content, only to log off with a feeling of mental misery. 2) Myself for not pacing my time spent logged on in the past. Even after two months of steady playing I still felt overwhelmed by the content available that had been left to be yet experienced. I hadn't even stepped a hoof or paw into raiding. Burn out indeed.

The fact of the matter is that the people of Azeroth and Outland have been warring for years now. The Alliance is exhausted, the Horde's lust for blood has been sated, and quite frankly all of the various leaders and soldiers of both sides need some serious down time to mend their wounds and rest their tired minds. Both sides have been waging a tireless war against not only each other, but against the greater evil as well. Whether we like it or not the barracks are emptying due to fallen soldiers, aging warriors, and tired leaderships. For many of us who have been warring for years are beginning to look back at glory days of past instead of the potential challenges ahead of us. I know of more than one guild hall that was once a bustling congregation of raid ready comrades, now only to be filled with the echos of the past.

So what is it exactly that keeps me wanting to return to Azeroth? Why do I still want to slip into the pixelated skin of a druid, shaman, or a rogue? Is it simply because it gives me the freedom to fly in such ways that I am unable to do in real life? Is it because normally I wouldn't be able to shift into a cat made of shier badassery and stealth/pounce bunnies to my little heart's desire? Perhaps it's due to the fact that I am unable to kick nearly as much butt in real life as opposed to my alter online egos. These are all nice benefits, don't get me wrong, but they're not what pulls me in at the end of the day. My answer to all of those questions would have to be: "Yeah, well that's part of it, but..."

To cut to the chase it's the people. During past rocky periods within my guilds it was always my raiders that kept me logging in. There have been times where I just wanted to /gquit and run away (actually quitting the game had never crossed my mind actually), but I couldn't do that to those who faithfully followed me into battle oh so many times. Now that I no longer have a guild that I consider 'home' it's just my little crew that keeps me longing to play. I miss being a badass with a tail, I miss exploring, I miss mangling faces off for the greater good, but honestly this game doesn't mean shit to me without my people. I may not hang up my hat for good if they were all to decide to put down their wands/bows/axes/swords/staves, but what little passion I currently have left for the game would certainly dwindle to nothing but an ember. Yes, what was a huge burning bonfire of passion for this incredibly immersive game has finally sputtered down to a candle's flame, but without my friends it would be but a lonely ember.

Currently the WoW community is very, very tired. You can see it in the blogosphere, you can read it on Twitter, and sometimes you can even catch a gleam of it on the more popular sites. Subscriptions are beginning to dip, the population of the various guilds are beginning to shrink while their raid attendances are waning, and the popular troll comments on many sites have been something to the tune of "Yeah, I quit WoW." I see and hear all of this, and I definitely feel the weight of it getting me down sometimes. However, so long as I still have my friends and part of this great community to give me a reason to keep coming back, jump back into the rabbit hole I shall. Just ask Alice, I think she knows what I'm talking about.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Fortune Fridays!

They're quirky, they're fun, they're random Azerothian fortunes! Every Friday you will see a different fortune (either from our beloved Darkmoon Faire or the new fortune cards) featured here at World of Saz. Enjoy!

Fortune Card: "Be cautious in your daily quests."

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

20 Days of...Things I Miss (Post Cataclysm) (Day 16)

Confession time: I'm slacking. Hard. I'm still working on this 20 Days of challenge partially out of laziness, and partially out of me wanting to avoid some subjects. Well, *puts on big girl pants* let's get into it, shall we?


There are many, many things that I miss from the pre-Cataclysm era. Some of the changes brought about were Deathwing's doing, some were mechanical, and others were just socially inevitable I suppose. Lists. I must do this in a list. It's the only way I can think to bring order to this topic for me.

- I miss the days where I was able to PuG a 25 man raid with some success. I long for the days to be an anonymous DPSer who would just get a raid invite and claw some faces off.

- I miss my guild. I do not necessarily miss the responsibility, stress, or drama, but I do miss being surrounded by a rather dependable community. Ever since I had to leave WoW for a bit and things fell apart with that guild I've been a tad bit lost.

- I long for the heroic grind to no longer feel like a heroic feat once again. I love the fact that Blizzard upped the difficulty levels for heroics, I really do, but at the same time I hate leaving a heroic absolutely drained. In Wrath I was able to put my game face on and was able to get through multiple heroics in a day and still have enough energy to raid. In Cataclysm I go through one heroics and I'm more or less tapped. Granted, heroics on my druid have been much more forgiving than on my poor shaman and I'm able to run several more heroics at a go on the kitty, but I'm still left feeling incredibly tapped out. As a once chronic raider, I feel a great urge to get through my heroics, gear up, and to make my characters look statistically pretty. As things are now, even with the changes I'm having a very difficult time making my weekly VP cap for heroics on the druid alone, let alone both of my mains. This makes me a very sad shaman/druid.

- I miss Dalaran. While it was laggy as hell, I loved /dancing with the Horde folk, hanging in the sewers with my peeps, and the convenience of the portals.

- I miss the confidence to not only raid, but raid as a melee. Those of us who prefer to smell the farts of bosses seemed to have really received the short end of the stick with Cataclysm mechanics (not only for raiding, but heroics kind of suck as well for us) and it has made me even more hesitant to try and step back into the raiding scene. Granted I have a lot of other anxieties regarding raiding - I have some ocd-like issues when it comes to my damage output and where I lay on the meters on top of my general "gah people" issues - so really I'm just at an awkward turtle stage. I was comfortable with how Wrath ran, and I'm not so comfortable with how Cataclysm is. Things are how they are, but I really do miss that comfort and the confidence that naturally comes with that sense of comfort.

- I miss a lot of the random personalities that I've had the joy of running content with. Many of those personalities have either moved to different guilds/servers, discontinued logging in to WoW for a wide variety of reasons, or have parted this world all together. While I'm grateful for having had the opportunity to get to know those personalities on some level, I still miss them!


There are of course many many other small things that I miss from the pre-Cataclysm era, some of which are minor details like certain little hidden areas being removed or certain NPCs switching location or being removed all together (generally I do love the area revamps though) but those mentioned above I think are the bigger ones for me. Especially that bit about /dancing with the members of the Horde. I always loved dancing with the Tauren folk!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Through Your Interface - Day 2, Player Housing

Good "morning" everyone. Yes I'm aware that it's nearly 6pm where I'm from and I'm also rather aware that it's no where near the realm of morning anymore. Blame the sleepless nights for the sleep filled days! Anywho, here's day 2 of my Through Your Interface challenge.

If you were to claim a place to call your own, where would it be and why?

Due to the fact that I more or less have two main characters I end up having two different places where I'd possibly reside within Azeroth. I've touched on this subject before a bit, but now I have pictures!

Saz's Farm

This is my shaman's farm. It's located somewhere on the outskirts of Gilneas and she lives here with her priesty friend. Had this actually been our player house The Farm would be filled with a boat load of mounts and pets. Don't step on our chickens!

Kelebek's Den

My druid doesn't actually live anywhere in particular (she's a bit of a roamer after all), but the field near Mulgore where the rats, rabbits, and prairie dogs are constantly at war would be a typical haunt of hers. It's fairly quiet in that area and the warring of little animals for some reason amuses her. If she wants to escape the sounds of tiny guns and knives she can always fly over to the Tanaris for a few nights. Bek has told me that the evenings in the desert are absolutely lovely. Really though, I'd build Kelebek a nice little wood cabin out in this field of Mulgore and set my hearth stone there if I could.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

So I hurd you like links...

...so I gave you a link to a blog post full of links, so you can link while you browse links.

Before I get into this update post, for this is what this is even if it is now Saturday morning and not Friday evening, I must state that you should not expect any amazing writing in here. I'm having a sleepless Saz night. Sadly it's not one of those "OMG let's be productive!" nights. No, it's just a regular ol' "Hmmm, lets see how many times I can roll around until I become one with my blankets and turn into a permanent burrito." lack of sleep sort of night. I don't even have brain soup this morning, I just have chunks of brain mold...or something. I hope it's not really mold, I'm allergic to that stuff. *Insert look of "where the hell was I going with this" confusion here.* Right, updates.


WoS
- New poll up on the side. Click buttons and if you feel the need to discuss the content, go nuts in the comments in this post. I'll be writing on that topic soonish though, so feel free to hold your comments until then as well.
- The Photo Gallery has been updated with some Cataclysm screen shots. Alright, a small handful may also be a bit pre-Cataclysm (there are some shots from the events prior to the release), but the majority are from this expansion.
- Very minor information tweaks have taken place in the About Me section. I'm sure not many of you care about that, but it now sports a poorly lit image of me being ridiculous with a dinosaur (his name is DinoRAWR, btw)...you know, sans dreadlocks since I brushed those things out months ago now. I also felt the need to prove that I didn't look like a living comic book for some reason.
- Hoarders: Azeroth Edition will be back soon. I'm not sure where to pick up with it right this minute, seeing as though WoWInsider is currently covering mounts in I believe the Over Achiever column and I feel as if though I continue on with my Mounts Month theme that I would just be creating something that was a bit redundant. So, to push on with the theme I unexpectedly abandoned because I got flustered over coding and noticed that someone else was currently covering, or to hold off and just do up a list of another topic for now? Tough call, Batman.

New project: Through Your Interface - Well, the post can speak for itself. Here's the list of folks that I know of so far that have participated in the challenge and of the folks who say they plan to participate in the near future. Check 'em out and give 'em some love, eh?

Dragonsworn
Revive & Rejuvenate
Jaded Alt
Dwarven Battle Medic
Spellbound
Kamalia et alia
Moonkin Journeys
Red Cow Rise
Isadora
Tome of the Ancient
Amerence Love WoW

Edit to add:
Postcards From Azeroth
Jaedia's Menagerie
Amateur Azerothian
The Daily Frostwolf - Druid Edition
Unleashed Rage
The Grizzlemaw Gazette
The Ready Check
Bubbles of Mischief

If I miss anyone in this list, please poke me with a big stick. I'll be making a better stand alone post sometime in the next week or two featuring all the folks to let us look at WoW through their eyes.


Saz in Game
Well, after two rather blissful (albeit on occasion, stressful) months in Azeroth I am once again out of the game for a bit. In my short time back I managed to get three of my 80s up to 85, both my shaman and druid could probably be considered almost raid worthy, and I've bumped up a few of the alts up a couple of levels. All in all not too bad on the personal progress scale. Unfortunately there currently isn't a whole lot in the game for me seeing as though raids are not really PuG friendly, my shaman is residing in a dead guild and I have no will to move her, my druid is in a very active guild that I'm really not up to standards to raid with (yet), and over all I'm just having a hard to engaging myself in the "end game content" that is currently offered. I know quite a few of my crew members are also feeling the summer doldrums a bit, so a few weeks time away from our beloved pixelated selves is probably a good thing in the long run. At least I think and hope so.


Saz IRL
Things aren't too bad all in all. Health is improving, summer is more or less here, and there very well may be some pretty fun events going down in the fall. I really don't have any complaints other than I wish I was still in the habit of writing a bit more. That one complaint is a work in progress though. I can and WILL start writing again, one way or another.


I think that's enough useless babble for now. I hope you all have an excellent rest of the weekend!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Fortune Fridays!

They're quirky, they're fun, they're random Azerothian fortunes! Every Friday you will see a different fortune (either from our beloved Darkmoon Faire or the new fortune cards) featured here at World of Saz. Enjoy!

Fortune Card: "Never stand in the shadow of dragons."


Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Premium Service Dungeon Finder: "Yarly" or "Walk Thee Plank?"

It's been a good few weeks since I've participated in a shared topic from Blog Azeroth, but today I finally got the itch again. Funny enough it also just happens to be Wednesday, which I find completely odd. Perhaps now that WoW is back out of the picture for a few weeks my internal blogging clock is back in sync with itself. Hmmm...aaanyways, this week's topic is brought to us by Corath from Corath's Blog.

(Speaking about the "Premium Dungeon Finder")  
What are your thoughts on not only this new feature, but "premium" features being added into the game?

I won't even beat around the bush on this topic: I am 100% on the fence about this service. I love the fact that they're making it so that you may hook up with your Real ID friends from different realms, I hate the fact that they're trying to tack on a "premium charge" to this feature. Already there are multiple micro-transactions available for World of Warcraft and I don't care for most of it. I don't like how you must pay in order to move your character, rename a character, or even change your character's face (or sex in some cases); as a collector I'm certainly not a fan of how I must put forth real world money in order to get my hands on certain pets or mounts. Don't get me wrong, I do love how they on occasion do charity pets through the Blizz store, but for the fluffy money generator items? I'm really not a fan.

This isn't about character customization though, nor is it about vanity items that we can honestly live without. No, this is about a supposed premium service for a product we a) already paid for and b) pay to play. World of Warcraft, as much as I love you to pieces, you're beginning to sound like a nightmarish phone contract. "Buy this phone (the game),  purchase this phone protector (the authenticator for those of us bums without smart phones), pay for the service so you can make calls (our subscriptions), oh and in order to have voice mail and texting, you must also pay x amount of dollars (transfers and now the ability to play with your real life friends cross realm without having to leave the WoW friends you have made while stuck on your server because you can't afford to actually transfer your main with the 10 alts who all have the professions that make life in Azeroth convenient to you)." One thing can be said about the premium service: excessive.

Obviously I'm not in the demographic of those who would make use of such a service. I simply cannot afford something extra in order to play with my real life friends who just so happened to get their start on different servers. Did I also mention that 90% or more of my RL friends playing WoW play horde? Last I checked Night Elves and Orcs didn't play too nicely together even if the non-pixelated versions of themselves do, and the premium service doesn't go cross factions like that (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this).

While on paper this premium service looks quite nice (minus the price tag of course) and I'm rather happy that they're making such a thing available, I'm going to have to say "Walk thee plank, matey!" to this idea. I know there are some folks who may make use of such a service, and more power to all of you who choose to, but I personally couldn't give two shakes about yet another money making gimmick put forth by Blizz. Cool idea but the premium service certainly is not for me.