Badges of Nerdom

You have read that title correctly, this post is all about the nerd badges that we all, or in this case I should say I, tend to carry around with us to promote our nerdiness. This also happens to be this week's Shared Topic over at Blog Azeroth.

What exactly is a 'nerd badge' anyways? To me personally it can be anything ranging from a habit to a physical item. I'm fairly convinced that no matter what you tend to label yourself in life, be it computer geek or jock or music junkie or whatever, you will in some way sport your nerd love for that in which you obsess over. For the record, yes sports jerseys count in my book towards nerd paraphernalia.

Let's chat about my pile of nerdy items. Prior to my move into Azeroth I was a music geek. My free time was consumed by musical activities: marching band, pep band, concert band, pit orchestra (in high school), orchestra, music festivals, and I was a bass drummer in a pipe corps. I played all sorts of instruments, mostly those in the bass range. I played bass clarinet/Eb contra alto bass clarinet for concert band as well as for a few summers in the city band, played baritone sax for pit orchestra, usually played bass drum for marching band, did cello in orchestra my senior year of high school and studied double (upright) bass during college, played various percussive instruments in my percussion ensemble group and played electric bass for college pep band. Yes, my tiny little self could pretty much always be found hauling some sort of overly large instrument around. To this day my car still has a set of drum sticks tucked into the back of my driver's seat, and a set of mallets in the trunk along with a folder with bass drum music (hand transcribed by yours truly) and spare sheet music. I can't seem to open a box without finding something music related in it. The physical collection of my nerdom has outlived the years of my neglect to my once passion, and it's not something I think I'll be shaking anytime soon.

...I just looked down at my pants and realized that they're marching band sweat pants. /sigh

I do not think that our nerdiness is always a physical item though. On the first day of try-outs for college marching band I was meandering in circles, waiting for my turn to come. As I meandered, I was drumming on my belly. Typical drummer habit really. One of the guys came up to me and said "Hey! I noticed you're drumming on your stomach. Our drum instructor does that all the time too!" I of course internally rolled my eyes a bit, thinking to myself "How nerdy..." without realizing that I too was a huge nerd with huge nerd habits.

I do have a few physical tokens outside of music memorabilia (aka items I once used on a daily basis) that belts forth my epic amounts of dorkdom. My pile of keys that I tote around? Yeah, attached to my drum key is my WoW authenticator. Yes, it goes EVERYWHERE with me. There's also a mood ring that is nearly in a permanent state of brown, not quite sure what to make of that. I have yet to acquire a WoW shirt or hoodie, or really any other sort of real world physical WoW collectable item outside of a few booster packs of TCG cards, but I'm sure I'll get a few of those items in time.

Of course, my nerdiness doesn't like to stick to one genre. Many of you who follow me on Twitter, or have been in a guild with me in the past, or have any knowledge of my guild Battle of Serenity (now slightly defunct, but still epically awesome), may know that I have a mild obsession with the Firefly series and Serenity movie. Yes, I have a paladin named Kaelei (Kaylee and Kayleefrye are both taken on my realm), who happens to be an engineer/jewelcrafter. She doesn't have a firefly pet yet, but you can be assured that she will only be using that pet once they become account wide items.

Honestly, I'm just a huge nerd/geek/whatever, and I've learned to embrace this side of me as I've grown older. Once upon a time I probably would have scoffed at you and pushed you off of the couch (Inside joke - I once had a boyfriend who thought it was ludicrous that I didn't know who Boba Fett was. He proceeded to make fun of me for my lack of Star Wars knowledge - the one area of geek culture that I've never really gotten into - and he wouldn't cease his jabs. I pushed him off the damn couch for it.), but now I just say "Yeah, I'm a geek. What of it?"

So what about you, reader? Do you have some sort of nerd badge that you tote around in hopes of striking up a random conversation with a fellow geek? Or are you one of those more secretive nerdy types?

Grind Baby Grind

I've really come to love participating in these shared topics from Blog Azeroth. There's nothing like a good prompt to get the creative juices flowing. This week's topic is brought to us by that one dang fool from Kallixta's Notes.

Normally the words "Best" and "Grind" are not found this close together and there are plenty of grinds to hate. However, I'm interested in the flip side:

Was there something that required sustained and prolonged effort that you found interesting or rewarding? Was there something that was not just a chore to work on?

I'm assuming most grinds are for Reputation, but maybe you have a novel definition?

I'll be quite frank here and fully admit that I do love me a good grind. No, not that sort of grind you pervs...well, maybe that too but that's not the subject at hand!

*Ahem*

For me there's two sorts of grinds in WoW: the "OMG I need a spork RIGHT FRIGGEN NOW so that I may gouge my eyes out." and the "Dude, I've had a hella rough day and I just want to mindlessly run in circles while killing some ogres. If you need me, leave a message with my secretary, Fabio. He'll relay them to me once I'm done here." Let me lay out some examples for you.

The type of grind that I absolutely cannot stand is the sort where you have no control over how fast or slow the pace is. The prime example for this would be the Argent Tournament. I could probably run off on a ranty tangent right about now and give you thirty different reasons as to why I hate the Argent Tournament, but the number one reason would be that...well, it just sucked, okay? You had to do this quest grind to open up that quest grind, which in turn eventually opened up this quest grind that granted you the seals. Once you were able to obtain seals you were essentially a slave to those *insert a line of explicit words here* quest givers until you were able to purchase every last good that you came to collect. For me it was all of the mounts, a tabard, and the pony bridle. Granted I took many breaks since the tourni came to town, but it was essentially over two bloody years before I managed to collect everything that I came for. It's a good thing I found good deals on the auction house for all those darn pets...

*Big deep breath in, slowly exhales.*

Now, the type of grind I love is one where I'm allowed to set the pace. Generally these grinds tend to be out-of-date reputation grinds but I suppose even fishing on occasion could fit into this category. A prime example of this would be the Kurenai reputation grind in Nagrand. I loved that grind so much that I did it not once, but twice. Why did I love it though, you wonder. For one it was quiet. It was fairly rare that I'd run into another reputation seeker or quester out on the western side of Nagrand, so I was left to kill ogres as I pleased with little to no interruption. For two, people rarely mess with you when you're on a mission. My guildies always new enough at the time that if I wasn't sitting in some city I was out working on getting new mounts; they usually didn't get between me and my mounts. Sure I'd get the occasional person asking me to invite their new alt in or whatever, but there wasn't any "Saz, let's run this!" "Saz, lead this raid." "MOOOOOM TIMMY ATE MY CANDY BAR." stuff to deal with. It was my quiet time to do as I pleased, and no one messed with it. Ultimately though the rhythm and pacing of gaining the Kurenai rep was such that it relaxed me, smacking multitudes of ogres upside the head with my axes was just an added stress reliever. It was redundant, predictable, and very much allowed me to clear my mind.

Now that you get the general idea on what I think is a good or bad grind, let's get to the actual question. Typically what I look for when I'm searching for the next ideal grind is one of or a combination of the following:

1. The pace must be able to be set by the participator, at least in part.
2. In the event that the participator cannot choose the pace in which the grind takes place, the quests locking said participator into a time frame must have some sort of comic relief to help enhance enjoyment of said grind.
3. The grind must have some sort of grand award at the end making the grind worth the effort. (Current viable gear is excluded from this category.)
4. While mental challenges are welcome on occasion, if the participator fails after multiple attempts even after consulting the Holy Reference Book of Azeroth (aka Wowhead), the grind has ceased being enjoyable. The participant must enjoy said challenge or must simply be able to finish their task in an efficient manner. To help alleviate this situation, please refer back to the second part of statement number 2.
5. I don't want no scrub, a scrub is a grind that can't get no love from me.

Saz's Grind Worthy Recommendations
- Oh My, Kurenai! Mounts, Achievement, Tabard
- Netherwing Mounts and DA BOOTERANG!! Okay, you can't keep the booterang, but maaaan is it fun to use. Prime example of comedic relief helping to break up the monotony of having to quest day after day.
- Wintersaber Trainers (new version) I'm not to familiar with the Horde's version of this line They Grow Up So Fast, but the quests for the Alliance to get exalted with the Wintersaber Trainers are completely adorable. Definitely worth the 20 days it takes to complete vs the 20 days of actual grinding you had to do, even post nerf of difficulty.
- Loremaster This is one of those grinds best done in pieces. Thanks to the new Cataclysm revamps you can do just that. Even if you're not one who typically likes questing, like myself, you may still find many of the new zones well worth your time.
- Scepter of the Shifting Sands Soooo, you can't do this quest line/grind anymore. My recommendation though is to get in good with Chromie and travel back in time. Seriously, it was that good.

The "Dude, don't grind that..." List
- Anything that has less than a 1% drop rate. Save your sanity and stop now.
- The Argent Tournament. Really...just...no.
- Bloody Rare/Frostbitten Sure, these are a bit easier to obtain than what they were a year or two ago, but still. Save your mind. Stay away from da voodoo.
- Don't sit around for 12+ hours waiting for a rare spawn. If you do, side effects include: sleepiness, nervous twitching, irritability, explosive nerd rage, A.D.D., involuntary noises, numb butt syndrome, starvation, and an excessive need to pee.
- The Insane It has this title for a reason people, beware.

Do I take my advice ever? Nay, which is all the more reason to balance out the bad grinds with the good. The bad grinds are necessary, even though they're painful. In a way they highlight just how good you had it when you were grinding x faction rep while you're pummeling your forehead with a crayon with faction rep y. Sometimes those crappy grinds yield great things though, giving us a sense of completion and elation that gives us a very positive release.

What was my point again with this closing? I haven't the slightest, my brain went straight into the gutter. Since I am now thoroughly brainless, I shall leave you with one final thought:

Any guild master, raid leader, parent, and/or average Joe knows that clearing one's mind is an absolute must from time to time.  Some people like to do that with a glass of wine, a hot bubble bath, maybe a bit of quiet music. Me? I like a nice, steady grind that will last me through the night...just so long as it doesn't go on too long. If it does, things start to hurt.

Quest Dread in the Cataclysm

Blog Azeroth. Shared Topics. Topic by Oathblade. Let's do this!

"We all have the ones we hate to do. The quests that make us froth in rage to see their name in our quest log. So what quest do you hate above all others? If you can break down why its so horrible and rework it so it works."

I'll be quite frank, I'm not one who really cares for questing. I do it because I need to either level, unlock a faction, grind up a faction (oh how I loathe dailies), or because I got it into my pea-sized brain that I must have the Loremaster title regardless of the fact that I'm not so much a lore nerd as I am a hoarder of useless things. However, since the arrival of Cataclysm I have found myself questing a bit more than I had pre-zomg fire and dragons are destroying the world-ness. Zone redesigns, new interactive questing, and new achievements have tugged me outside of the safety of Stormwind into the wild woods of Azeroth. Curiosity, it's a weakness.

While sure, a good chunk of the new quests are still a bit grindy, the Cataclysm revamps have thankfully added a dash of humor here and there. For example let's look at Redridge. The storyline of John J. Keeshan is, well, badass. It brings in a certain flair to the zone that it had been missing previously. Sure there's still a lot of "Omg, I gotta kill how many orcs and murlocs?", which naturally cause your eyes to glaze over in boredom, but then Keeshan suddenly reappears onto the scene to spice things up. Needless to say, for the most part quest grinding has become a *little* more bearable for those of us who have short attention spans.

Regardless of the positive changes, the quests that I hate the most still unfortunately exist: escort quests and buggy vehicle quests. Let us start with escort quests, shall we?


Escort Rage
From the time that I attempted that damn turtle escort quest in Tanaris back when I was trying to level Saz to present day, I have loathed and tried to avoid any and all escort quests. I'm sure you're wondering why I'd do such a thing.

Well, for one I despise the fact that the NPCs can't even move at remotely the same speed you do. Normal "running on foot" speed is always too bloody fast, normal "RP walk" speed is too slow. The result? Your character looks like it's doing a jerky two step while he or she is taking the robotic chicken out for a walk.

Reason number two as to why I hate escort quests: the random mobs that pop out of no where plus the mobs on the pre-determined path that are completely unavoidable. Alright, as a level 85 who is going back to lowbie areas to quest this really isn't an issue anymore. While this isn't really so much an issue for me, I'm thinking of the "children" of Azeroth. Please recall that my anger issues towards escort quests stems from that one turtle escort situation that went down in Tanaris all those many years ago. I so desperately wanted to help out Mr. Tortoise get back to his wife, I really did. It broke my heart that these two were separated and I wanted to help them find each other once again (please note, I took quests much more seriously back then...the story about little Pamela in the Eastern Plaguelands disturbed me so much that I refused to quest in the area anymore and resorted to getting lost in the buggy dens of Silithus). Even though there was two of us on the quest, we couldn't defend/keep Mr. Tortoise close enough to us to ever complete the escort.

I'm sorry for failing you all those years ago, Mr. Tortoise, I really am. I was more noobish than your average noob, as was the druid who was with me. I really hope that you managed to find your wife on your own.


Let's Blow Things Up
Now we get to a really fun mechanic that Blizzard has implemented into the game that I absolutely hate some days: vehicle quests.

I'll be honest, I think many of the vehicle quests are pretty neat. I mean, I swing axes all day long; any chance I get to rest my arms and run people over with a tank instead is fine by me. The downside to vehicle quests? They're often clunky (siege engines, I'm looking at your turn radius...) and unfortunately riddled with either functional or UI bugs.

Hopping into a siege engine Wintergrasp was a blast. Not being able to bail out of said siege engine when you needed to was not. Getting a vehicle quest where you need to run over a bunch of baddies with a tank, mondo fun. Not being able to navigate around that tree stump and getting yourself hung up on it with no escape, kind of a pisser. Finding an epically hilarious character who pulls you onto the back of his horse so that you may pelt rocks and armor at a giant freaking dinosaur, so much epic potential. Having the bastard bug out and only give you pebbles to chuck at previously mentioned dinosaur, thirteen minutes of absolute boredom.

I love the fact that Blizzard thought outside of the box and gave us vehicle battles, quests, and mounts. Really, I do. I hate how so many of those vehicles are still buggier than a forgotten fast food garbage bin after so much time.


Needless to say, slow-poke escorts and buggy vehicles tend to really grind my gears.

Play A Little Song For Me

It's been a while again since I've done up a shared topic from Blog Azeroth. I decided since I want to try and get back into the groove of things around here, I'd participate in this week's topic instead of doing a belated Hoarders post. For those of you wanting a new Hoarders: Azeroth Edition post, I promise that there will be one this coming Thursday. If there isn't, you can hold my beloved baby moonkin for ransom, or something.  

~A warning before we get into this too far - Some of the links/videos shared here will have explicit lyrics. If you're reading/listening to this post at work, beware!~

This week's topic is presented to us by the ever lovely Saga from Spellbound.

The WoW in-game music is awesome, but there are times (at least for me) when I'm listening to my own music instead. Are there any specific songs that you connect with WoW? Whether it's tied to your own characters in some way or simply because it reminds you of WoW. Please share!

I'm definitely one of those creatures who finds a song/album/artist that they like and will listen to said song/album/artist until they can no longer stand the sound of it. Because of this habit I often end up ingraining certain songs or artists to different scenarios, mainly video games. I have to admit that anytime I hear anything off of Creed's Human Clay album, more specifically What If, I tend to flash back to my days of playing Pokemon Red and Blue on my Gameboy Color. I was an Eevee fanatic and my Jolteon could rock your world.

Oh, this is about WoW? Right.

The Identity

Pick up a topic of interest, pass it around. Ponder, discuss, share. That's right folks, it's time for another shared topic from Blog Azeroth. This time around it's Akabeko who gives us the topic of which we are to ponder on.

Straight from my eventual post on the matter:

How does your character define themself? What part of their identity is most important to their personality and self-presentation?

In meatspace, we have so many affiliations, it's anyone's guess whether we consider ourselves a tuba player first, or a student, a Gators fan, a New Yorker, a mother, a nerd, a liberal. Our identities are comprised of so many different aspects of life that it's hard to tell which parts different people will choose to define themselves.

In game, there are less game-related ways to identify.
You can identify as:

your class - your spec
your race - a particular subgroup (Mag'har, Wildhammer)
your faction - a faction other than Horde/Alliance

Disclaimer: I don't typically read other posts on these topics prior to writing my own opinions! So if the topic seems a bit off of it's original intent, my apologies.

While I think Akabeko had a bit more of a role playing angle in mind for this shared topic, I'm going to take a touch more personal approach to it. Think of it as a "meatbag meets pixelself" type of fusion post, and by that I mean I'm going to tackle this from the view point of a non-RP player. Sure even us non-role playing types will be identified as "that one enhancement shaman" or "that one affliction lock" or what have you, and naturally we identify to some extent with our faction (insert "FOR THE HORDE" or "FOR THE ALLIANCE" here), but often we don't bother affiliating with our races. We non-RP types tend to choose races based either stats or pure looks, rarely do we know the histories and personalities behind the races that we play, unless we happen to pick up the information over the years.

Regardless of play style though - be it RP, PvP, PvE, RPPvP, or whatever other variation there may be - all players have something in common. All players will 1) project some sort of personality when interacting with others, be this their own personality or one they had in mind for a specific story/character 2) choose to either identify with a certain guild/clan that shares a likeness in thought processes to themselves or will fill the lone wolf type role. Naturally there are all sorts of shades and variations in what you may find a player identifying themselves as, but this is the general concept that I've gathered thus far.

The fine little details though are what make a character and player one. Like Aka stated, in the real world we often identify with being the bass player, the Packer fan, the couch potato, the reader, but how about in game? For me personally, on my shaman at least, I have always seemed to gravitate towards guild mom, raid leader, the negotiator between two butting heads, the soother, the stubborn "bitch", that one dead shaman on the floor. I've always tried (keyword) to be rational and to take care of my people. I've always tried to make sure folks were happy and tried to do right by my guild. These days though? I'm the bum who spends her time farming for mounts for an obscene number of hours at a time. I started my item hoarding long ago, but the habit seems to have exploded ten fold since my departure from the official raiding scene. I'm the lost girl in between guild homes, who even though finds this frustrating and lonely at times, is quite happy to have her little crew just a chat channel away. /join [channel name] is pretty much one of the best things ever.

Now, while I say "Oh, I don't RP" I do believe I have a bit of RPer in my blood. We've been over this a few times here at WoS already I think.  I don't really have a huge story line for my shaman like I am beginning to develop for my druid, but she has been a huge part of my life for the past four years or so. Because of this she fits like a glove. She is the more confident me, the me that I was many moons ago. Her and I have been through a lot of good times and bad together, and she's very much become my online identity. That icon that I use everywhere? Yup, Saz at level 80 in Naxx 25 gear. Heck, I think I even had a picture of Saz for my Facebook page for a while (no you may not have a link!). But it isn't just I who identifies with my Saz personality, but it's my WoW friends as well. A friend of mine has dropped a few good lines that I'd like to quote "Every time I see a shaman, I do a double take and think it's you." and "Well, now I have to get used to your real face. Every time I think of you I see your shaman in my head." Kind of funny to think about how much her and i have become one in the same, or nearly so. I project myself through my pixel form, my pixel form represents who I am or who I'd more or less prefer to be. Well, maybe minus the horn and hooves, though those may be fun change.

To get back to the original question about how Saz defines herself. Essentially she and I identify as one in the same. We are aggressive when need be, protectors of our packs, we like to heal the wounds of our friends, and remove our foes from our paths. She may be a dark skinned alien with horns and I may be a pale ginger with glasses, but personality wise we are not so different. We are friendly to those whom are deserving, will ignore those who are not. We are fiercely loyal to those who show loyalty in return, though we are quick to sever ties if we feel we have been abused in some way. Always observing, always listening.


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. WoWWiki



Of course the entry doesn't even begin to cover my association with my various of alts, for yes, they all do have a somewhat individual personality, though they all do very much have an infusion of myself. If you'd like to read more about the personalities of my alts, their associations with each other, and to try to get a gleam of my personality showing through them, take a gander at this previous shared topic, Behind the Faces.

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.

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.

Who's the Boss?

Wednesday (alright, it's Thursday now...) is once again upon us ladies and gents, and that means that we have ourselves another shared topic from Blog Azeroth. This week's topic of interest is brought to us by Nube.

Since Cata started Guilds, matter more. In order to recieve Guild beneffits. everyone most work for them. In Wotlk, Leaving a Guild meant, changing Guild Tags, in Cata means TIME.

Does a Guild belong to those who lead it?. Should we check Guild Etiquette?

Cataclysm has indeed changed the value of a guild to a hard working member. No longer are you simply there under some guild tag to come and go as you please, but now your time and efforts are actually put towards something (ie rewards such as BoAs, mounts, pets, and recipes, among other things), and thusly it now takes some actual thought prior to jumping ship.

With that said, even prior to guild reputation and the perks that come along with it I personally believe that a guild belonged to its members, and that management is simply there to keep the environment healthy. A guild isn't a guild without its members; a guild would potentially run amuck without some sort of management system in place to weed out those personalities that do not fit with the general tone of said guild. Now-a-days this is further emphasized in a way via guild reputation. Someone in your guild who has managed to get themselves revered or even exalted with your guild has obviously put in quite a bit of time and effort. Either they were gathering their butts off (which in turn gives the guild an achievement after a time), crafted their butts off (again, eventually gives the guild an achievement and may unlock some perks), quested like mad, did their dailies, and/or has been a faithful raider to the guild. Obviously this person should be seen as a valued member on some level.

What this basically means is that guild kicking or guild quitting now requires a bit more pause. Sure, a brash player should be tossed out on their bums if they're causing issues within the guild, but I'm sure that hardcore raiding guilds may now keep a few more socials around instead of kicking those players out of their environment once they retire from raiding, just because there are the perks of said players still possibly farming/questing/etc. Likewise, a retired player may not feel the need to leave a guild once they are retired, for they may like the guild perks for leveling alts or what have you. With enough time both you and your guild essentially grow together. Reputation is earned for the player and the guild "levels" through the effort of its guildies.Essentially the new guild perks/reputation system has basically created a certain secure environment for a lot of folks. On the flip side this is semi problematic for those of us who have banker guilds, or perhaps a dead guild that is still used to store alts, but that's a slightly different beast all together.

What all this babbling boils down to is balance. While a guild master technically has the "ownership" of the guild, the guild members are the yin to the guild master's/management's yang. One does not live without the other in a successful guild (your definition of successful may vary), thus I believe that both "teams" have a sort of equal ownership of the guild in question. While I believe that the management team should have the final say, I think that they should always listen to their guild members prior to making decisions on what is best for the guild as a whole. Again, there should be a balance. The guild is a garden, management teams are the gardeners, the guild master is much like an overseer to ensure that everything is tended to properly. While that overseer may hold the deed to the garden, one can never truly own the grass, the flowers, and the bushes. You cannot own the squirrels and the birds. Everything will go if they so please, and if the overseer and the gardeners do well in their job, they shall generate the interest of other animals and plants.. Sure you can remove some of the aspects of the garden, rearrange them, but you cannot go "This is my land! You shall do as I command!" Okay, perhaps you could, but at what rate those pesky squirrels will listen may vary.

Even prior to the guild changes, everyone put time into a guild. From the lowliest alt to the guild master, whether it was a few seconds choosing a name and getting /ginvited or spending twelve hours a day for six years tending to the guild's needs, time has always been a valued thing. I think many folk tend to forget that, and the new systems simply emphasize the time factor instead of allowing it to fall to the wayside. The time spent, the memories earned, the friendships forged, the bosses killed, the loot gained: all of these belong to the guild. No one person can make that happen alone. If they can, they're probably half insane : P

Fidgety McGee

Hello Humpday, we meet again. What's that? Oh, it's time for another shared topic from Blog Azeroth, and it's by Akabeko? Well then, let's get to it!

Most everyone has a routine for when they play WoW, but do you have any habits that are particularly eccentric? Do you always log out in the same place, try on other's gear when inspecting, or obsessively spam a macro or trinket at weird times? Out of game, do you have to crack your knuckles every time you take a flight path, put on your PJs in order to really get into the game, or tab out immediately upon wiping?

I've definitely developed a few little "ticks" over the years with my in game behavior. I don't always log out in the same place, but I do tend to have hang out spots. From the time I rolled Saz until Wrath of the Lich King came out, I was one of those who always sat on the Ironforge bridge (side closest to the bank, left hand side looking at the bank itself). When Wrath hit my first hang out was by the mailbox nearest to the Alliance "inn" place, then it was Southbank and the mailbox near there, and towards the end of that expansion my friends and I ended up lurking by the bank in the sewers most of the time (it was slightly easier on the dinosaur computer to load there). Now-a-days I find myself pacing in the Dwarven District of Stormwind, since that's where all the cool kids hang out.

Now, in real life I'm kind of a twitchy person. If I'm not actively engaged in something I have an incredibly hard time sitting still. I'll attempt to crack my knuckles, I'll drum, I'll fidget...I have to more often than not have something occupying my mind otherwise I go a bit bonkers. I'm much the same in game; if I find myself simply sitting in game without anything to do, I will start to bounce around in circles. I was one of those people who circled Dalaran, and lately I've taken to making figure 8s around the Dwarven District on my new Raven Lord mount. Happy feet, I haz dem. If I'm waiting for a raid to begin I will either pace, harass fellow raid members with emotes (I do it out of love, I swear!), or I will sit my character down and find something to fiddle with in real life. Yes I actually sit my characters down quite often when I'm forced to wait. I tend to do this more so while in wolf or kitty form; I always run way ahead with my Shaman and Druid and sit at the last moment before getting to whatever mob or boss we're going to tackle next. I like to make my tanks nervous some days : P

I'm also a chronic screen shot taker. I have it hot-keyed to the ' button since the print screen button hasn't always been available or accessible to me through the years on various different machines. I am always tapping that damn screen shot button. Every achievement, every time I see something that makes me go "woah", whenever I'm feeling pretty that button is hit. The last time I checked I had over 17k screen shots since late BC and I yet to factor in all of the shots I've taken in the last couple of months. I'm honestly a bit concerned about being back on a Macbook because of the whole built in record feature. Yeah it's not that great (certainly doesn't hold a candle's flame to the bonfire that is Fraps), but I have a feeling that my hard drive space is going to hate me in a few months. The obsessive need to record everything because I'm so forgetful strains my storage space greatly.

I think I have a few other quirks as well, but I'm currently drawing a blank on them so I shall end this post here.

/lick

Behind the Faces

Shared Topics. Blog Azeroth. Perhaps you've heard of these things? If you haven't, you should check them out. Every Sunday (or near every Sunday, depends on the participation) Twisted Nether does a round-up of all the participants. You should check out all those as well.

This week's topic is brought to us by Kamalia from Kamalia et alia.

Whether you have many alts or just a few, do they know each other? Do they have some sort of relationship as people living in Azeroth, or is sending materials and money between them just a game mechanic for you? If your characters do know each other, what kind of relationships do they have, and how did those relationships come into being? If they don't, what functions do your different alts serve?

Outside of my incessant need to use /emotes, I don't even remotely consider myself to be a role-player. My characters live on a strictly PvE server and generally they live to destroy and/or heal other players and NPCs. However, I have been as of late thinking about story lines and backgrounds for some of my characters for writing purposes. I mean, I have spent how many hours over the past three years vicariously living in this fantasy world wearing the names and faces of these characters? At some point I'm bound to think of a story about why they do what they do. I'm a crazy writer after all, my brain tends to do off the wall* things sometimes.

I think my characters know each other in a very general sense. Most of them are simply co-workers for missions or general contractors simply hired to make my main character's life a tad bit easier. Many of them simply trade their skills between each other. Some of my characters are very close, others simply live on the fringes on each other's lives. Perhaps I should just do a break down on all of my characters and their relationships to each other. Hopefully this isn't shooting myself in the foot with giving away how everyone interacts by writing this, messing up vital "a-ha!" moments for potential future stories. Oh well, here we go!

Draenei Tail, I Choose You!

It's Wednesday, which means I'm writing about this week's shared topic from Blog Azeroth. Our topic this week is brought to us by Garona from PVE Rogues. PVE Rogues is a very excellent site for all you Rogue-types out there by the way. If you haven't heard of it before, it is well worth your time to give it a look-see. If you'd like to see what others have to say on this topic, watch for the Sunday post over at Twisted Nether.

"What is your favourite race in wow?"

Before I really dig into my personal answer on this topic, I'd first really like to point out the impeccable timing on this shared topic. For the past month or so I've had a poll up on the side of my blog asking folks what their favorite playable race(s) is(are). For a while I had a bit of a concern for out little Gnome footballs (*ahem* friends) but it turns out that at least one person likes them.

Here's a shot of what the poll looks like shortly before it closes. I'll be replacing this image with the final poll in the next few days.

Alright, so what about me? What race or races do I really dig? The answer to this quite frankly a tad bit complicated.

Aesthetically I prefer playing a female Draenei. My Shaman, Hunter, Priest, and Death Knight on Aggramar are all Draenei. Keep in mind that I'm primarily an Alliance player, so the physical attractiveness of some of the Horde genders/races really don't register on my map of preferences. However, if I sit here and think on it hard enough, I do rather like my female Trolls, and the new Goblin gals are rather foxy despite their lack of height. I haven't toyed with Goblins as of yet, but they just *might* give my beloved Draenei a run for their money.

Lore-wise I tend to favor the elves, both Night Elf and Blood Elf alike. Granted I've been working on a lot of side project, elven-based story lines over the past several months, so that just may be a product of over saturation of the elven culture. I have developed a great love for Night Elves over the years despite the females having the desire to bounce in a ditsy fashion, so they have definitely moved up on my list from the "Errrrrg, I hate Night Elves." to "I guess these guys don't look so bad. Interesting twist: they have been noble twats in the past...intriguing." Or something along those lines. Hmm, let's just go with the fact that they have some interesting dynamics going on. Yeah, that's it!

Brain-farts whilst trying to explain something and then being unable to recover from it (ie revising and being able to hide the brain-fart trail so people don't think that you stink at this whole writing game) are excellent, no?


Saz's conclusion to the question of the week:
I love almost all of the races to some degree. Each have their own look, vibe, and have an interesting story to tell. I find it to be very difficult to simply choose one race to favor above the rest since all races have something different to offer. It's true that I tend to gravitate towards Draenei simply because they have that sexy, irresistible waggle when they run, prefer Night Elves as my Druids of choice over the alternatives, and attempt to avoid Gnomes at all cost simply because I have a hard time dealing with being so short (plus if I had a nickle for every time a male Gnome has looked up my skirt, I'd be bloody rich), I still hold a certain love for all races. Even those smelly Undead. I kinda like them too.

*Sings* He's got the whooole world, in his hands!

It's that time again folks! Time for another Shared Topic from Blog Azeroth. This week's topic is brought to us by Ringo Flinthammer. If you're curious about what others have to say on this subject or any of the Shared Topics for that matter, keep your eye on Twisted Nether for they list all of the participating blogs there every Sunday.

Deathwing may have caused the Cataclysm, but the leaders of the Horde have been quick to take advantage of the chaos.

The lands north of the Thandol Span now almost entirely belong to the Forsaken. The Alliance have been expelled from Azshara and the Stonetalon Mountains. Only in the Southern Barrens are the Horde losing any ground.

Is the war between the Alliance and the Horde close to an end, with a Horde victory? Are Sylvanas and Garrosh close to conquering the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor between them?

What, if anything, can stop the Horde warmachine?

Before I get into this topic, I first must state two things: 1) I am not a lore buff and 2) I am generally terribad with politics. Most of my arguments presented in this post are based off of what little I know/have heard, and what common sense tells me to be true. If I get facts wrong somewhere in here, by all means feel free to debate me and/or point me in the direction of a source or two that will help me in my Azerothian political education.

With that said I can how begin to debate the question presented to us: Are the Horde taking over Azeroth?

While they are indeed gaining some footholds in Azeroth, I don't think we (as in the Alliance) are in imminent danger of the Horde "taking over the world." There is always give and take of ground in contested areas. The two sides continually struggle over a territory to grant their side better resources or better positioning that helps them in their strategy of war against their opponent. Give and take of footholds will happen.

It just so happens that currently the Horde may have a bit of an edge over the Alliance. They have a new, more aggressive warchief at the helm. Sylvanas now has the Valkyr in her arsenal and is raising more new Forsaken at any chance she gets. The Horde recently also brought the rather crafty and almost sinister Goblins into their ranks.

What major changes have the Alliance received lately? They got the Worgen to join their team, who have a furry situation of their own with trying to deal with the Forsaken. Nothing else of note really comes to mind for me. Varian seems like a bit of a badass, but from what little story I've gleamed from him, he's not really stirring up a whole lot of...anything really...like Garrosh is for the Horde.

So currently the Horde have the bodies that enable them to make that push into the territories that the Alliance have been holding onto for so long. But - oh yes folks, there is a 'but' in here - while the Horde are able to currently push back the Alliance and gain new territories, they're having some pretty severe issues within.

- Many of the new Forsaken being risen are being done so against their will. They're not too happy about it.
- Some of the members of the Horde are somewhat horrified at the slaughter that happened in Ashenvale.
- Garrosh doesn't care for anyone it seems. Likewise Sylvanas doesn't seem to care for Garrosh, Vol'jin certainly isn't impressed by him, I'm sure Baine isn't a huge fan, and who knows what the Blood Elves think currently. A leader without the respect/trust/aid of his officers...problematic.

Thar be a great rift in the ranks, mateys.

While the Horde may be able to advance into the Alliance territories now, I don't think over all we'll see the Horde being able to hold it as a team for very long. Horde politics right now seem like they're shattering, or at the very least under a ton of pressure and are about to split apart at the seams. I touched on this topic last week, talking about the inner issues of each of the races, and how greatly the politics of the Horde have shifted in such a small amount of time. There may still be a lot of things going on internally that we're simply not aware of yet. I may have been mostly speaking about the moral values of the general Horde membership in that post, but I think that the moral differences will definitely play into whether or not the Horde is able to stick together as an alliance, and whether or not they will be able to claim these newly gained territories in the name of the Horde itself.


TL;DR version!
No, I do not believe that Garrosh and the Horde will take over the world and make Princess Leia slaves out of the ladies of the Alliance any time soon. They'll probably will however take over a few more areas before ultimately crumbling under the asshole/I'm-better-than-all-of-you leadership of Garrosh. Just a hunch. We shall see if I'm right or not by the next expansion or two.

Nitro Boosts and Saronite Bombs

This week's shared topic over at Blog Azeroth is brought to us by Ama of Specced for Drama.

What is your favorite profession and why?

Hmmmm...


I'm inclined to say that if I so happened to be playing right now, my favorite profession would probably be Archaeology. What can I say, I'm a sucker for painful professions and their achievements (have you seen my Salty title?), grinding out items with horrible drop rates, and anything that keeps my idle hands busy earns a big plus in my book.

Since I haven't actually experienced Archaeology first hand yet - only vicariously through friends and the interwebs have I felt the pain of trying to farm for the Crawling Claw or felt my world destroyed by Zin'rokh, Destroyer of Worlds - I suppose I shall choose my known favorite profession.

Engineering

Why do I love Engineering? In real life, I like to tinker. I like figuring out how things work. I come from a family of handy folks and mechanics. Grabbing a wrench in game and building a Chopper just makes sense to me. I also had a long running joke about chickens with an old friend of mine back in BC...and if you ever dueled him or came against that little Dwarf Shadow Priest in a BG chances are he would sick his hordes of Gnomish Battle Chickens on you. Seriously, if you saw him running up to you and you just so happened to be Horde, you have found yourself chickenified. Cluck!

Between sweet looking goggles, bombs, wormholes, and things that makes things larger in the world (bigger is better, or so I hear), you really can't go wrong with Engineering. Unless of course your rocket boosts fail when you're trying to run out of a group while wearing a debuff of doom. Also, being the gravity-prone klutz that I am on my Shaman, my parachute has come in mighty handy and has saved me several repair bills.

Really, I could go on and on about how much I love this profession. I absolutely, positively adore this profession. There's just so my random crap - *ahem* I mean useful items - that you can make with Engineering, I honestly think that anyone who is a hoarder at heart would have a difficult time passing this profession up.




I may just like it cause things tend to blow up.





Shoulda been born a Gnome Shaman. At least I got the electrical issues covered.

Horde: Are they really the bad guys?

The shared topic over at Blog Azeroth this week is certainly one that makes you stop and think. Whether or not you really get into the lore of Azeroth, more than likely you have some basic opinion about which faction is good or evil. I'd like to explore the idea of the Horde's moral position with you all.

This week's topic is brought to us by Ringo Flinthammer.

For years, fans of the Horde have described them as noble savages or, at worst, misunderstood people trying to make their way in a hostile world.

But that may have changed in the wake of the Cataclysm. The Forsaken have rolled across the northern lands of the Eastern Kingdoms, slaughtering all enemies in the Hillsbrad Foothills and seek to claim Gilneas for their own. The orcish war machine is rolling across Kalimdor, unleashing fire and devastation in Azshara and the Stonetalon Mountains. Horde NPCs even argue amongst themselves about the brutality of their methods.

Has the Horde changed? Is Blizzard merely clarifying the way they've always wanted to portray them? Or is this merely the start of a story about the soul of the Horde?

As a fair warning, I am by no means the biggest lore enthusiast out there, but I have done some minor dabbling. I know generally who was jilted by who, why one faction may have a chip on their shoulder about the other, the reasonings behind why some races allied with which side, so on and so forth. When asked the question "Is the Horde the evil faction in WoW?" I'd have to be inclined to say no, even as a member of the Alliance. In order to convince you why I would say this, let me lay out my rational via giving a minor break down as to why the Horde is aligned the way that they are. Feel free to correct me on any points I may accidentally have gotten wrong.


Orcs - These guys are given a bad name mainly due to their tempers. They were enslaved, tampered with by demon blood, hunted by the Humans...they've been through some pretty nasty situations. I think they have some right to be rather defensive. Did they go overboard with some of their killing rampages? Probably. Thrall has done wonders to calm the blood lust of his people though, bringing them back to what can be considered "civil." It will be interesting to see what kind of influence Garrosh has over the Orcs. We may need to hide the Shaman while he's doing the leading.

Are Orcs evil: Depends on which branch of Orcs we're talking about. The one's in Hellfire Peninsula? Yeah, I'd toss them in the evil pile, but the last I knew they weren't a part of the Horde. The typical green guy we see strutting on Orgrimmar? Nah, not evil. Having a temper does not make one evil, demon blood on the other hand...yeah, that could do it. It may be possible that Orc Warlocks are evil, but you'd have to question one's motives before casting that judgment.


Tauren - Sweet, giant, land loving cow people. The Tauren needed help, the Orcs came to the rescue. Because of that simple act the Tauren are allied with the Horde. It seems to be an alliance out of a sense of debt more than anything else, but it's what you'd expect out of such a noble race.

Are Tauren evil: Not in the least. Except for those flower-picking druids who get a kick out of ninjaing nodes. Their moral values are debatable.


Trolls - These guys kind of have a sketchy past. They deal with da Voodoo mon. Trolls have been known to be vicious. The Horde's brand of Troll though? I'm not convinced that those guys are evil. They simply want a place to call their own. They needed help, the Orcs lent a hand, now the Trolls are allied with the Horde. Heck, they shared a home city with the Orcs for the longest time. That brotherly outreach from the Orcs was certainly compassionate in my eye.

Are Trolls evil: Dey may mess wit da Voodoo mon, but dey jus be wantin' a place to call 'ome. Dun cross der paths, and dey not be harmin' ya.


Blood Elves - Shunned by the Night Elves, cast aways who landed on the shores of northern Eastern Kingdoms, sufferers of a severe magic addiction, devastated by a vicious attack launched by the Scourge. They lost part of their beloved Silvermoon City, they lost Sylvanas and many of their fellow people, eventually they lost Kael as well. The Blood Elves have been through some stuff. They're a bit callous, somewhat vicious, and I can't help but have my heart go out to them. They have known suffering. They're the drug addicts of WoW who have witnessed their families being massacred by the undead scourge. They needed help, and because of the past actions of the Alliance, they turned to the Horde (whom they found out Sylvanas was a part of, so they reluctantly joined up).

Are Blood Elves evil: As much as one would like to hate their vicious beauty, you cannot really call Blood Elves evil. They've been wounded as a people badly, and they're defensive because of it. It's a coping mechanism, and I certainly cannot consider them evil for using it.


Goblins - They're sneaky, thrifty, shady little devils. They're the new kids on the block as far as team Horde is concerned, and quite frankly I don't know a ton about them yet. So yeah, I got nothing.

Are Goblins evil: Depends on if they steal your socks or not to make a quick buck. They're kind of shady, so they *may* be evil...but are they Deathwing evil? Nah.


The Forsaken, aka the Undead - Out of all of the members of the Horde, the Undead would be the group that I'd consider to be the most likely to be "evil." They're a sketchy, baggy boned bunch raised from the dead for one purpose: to be an army. Ever since Sylvanas has been brought back from the dead (again) and the Val'kyr have joined the Forsaken, the Undead ranks have been swelling. Frankly, I think something has been done to Sylvanas to cause her to raise resting souls unwillingly from the dead. Before she had a right to be miffed at the world; she was captured by the Lich King, killed, and raised as a banshee slave until she managed to free herself. Now though? Something bigger is at play.

Are the Undead evil: At best I give them a possibly. The vast majority of the Forsaken have been turned or risen from the dead unwillingly, and rallied under Sylvanas to take down the causes for their creation. There's something more sinister going on within the Undead ranks now though, and while many of it's people are not at fault, something fishy is definitely going on.


So, do I believe the Horde are evil? As a whole, no. There are some rather sketchy characters within their ranks, but just because you have a few bad apples in the bunch doesn't mean that the fruit as a whole is bad. The Horde are by no means more "evil" than the Alliance, who - I say this despite my great love for the Alliance, her people, and it's cities - have done some pretty incredibly shady things themselves because of politics and in the name old, terrible, pointless, and often misguided feuds.

Has the Horde changed as of late? Most certainly. Garrosh is now at the helm of the Orcs, Sylvanas seems to have been tainted somehow, Cairne is dead, and the Goblins have aligned with the Horde. Politics have changed drastically within that few year jump that Cataclysm gave us, so of course things have changed quite a bit for the Horde. I think Blizzard's story line is simply progressing very similarly to how things would change in real life had this political shift happened. I don't really think it has anything to do with how they want the Horde to be portrayed, nor do I necessarily think that the current or future actions have anything to do with the "soul" of the Horde as a whole. Each race has their own reasonings for choosing the side that they did, and even the NPCs are nervous as of late about the actions they are forced to take.

It all boils down to politics and misunderstandings, neither of which I'm a big fan of, but they seem rather unavoidable. The plot is thickening dear readers, and it shall be interesting to see how the Horde keeps its fragile alliance together.

Saz's Weaponry of Choice

I really do enjoyed the shared topics over at Blog Azeroth, so here I am participating once again! This week's topic is brought to us by Kallixta.

Is your favorite weapon something with strong memories for you? Is it something that just works well for RP purposes? Or maybe the balance of abilities meshes better than normal to your spec and play style?

Now, I've had numerous favorite weapons over the years. I typically love certain weapons for how they look, as opposed to how they perform. Take for instance my Pride/Greed set. I love these two fist weapons to death. I received Greed on my first run through the Culling of Stratholme heroic, and prior to that I had no knowledge of this fist weapons existence. Soon after I discovered that Pride was purchasable from a vendor. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. I wore my "oven mits" for many many months, until I managed to snag Calamity's Grasp from Kel'Thuzad in Naxxramas and had replaced Pride with Angry Dread. All four of these items were not only rather incredible for my Enhancement Shaman self, but most importantly I thought that they were incredibly neat looking. It's all about the looks, right? Right.

My ultimate favorite weapon though? Hammer of the Naaru.

Yeah, I was a bad Shaman back in Burning Crusade. I was dual wielding all the way through Karazhan, but once I got this bad boy out of Gruul's Lair, dual wielding was done with until I got my paws on my afore mentioned oven mits in Wrath of the Lich King. Matter of fact, I was still using my Hammer of the Naruu the first time I stepped into Naxxramas. Very, very bad Shaman indeed.

I eventually learned the importance of dual wielding as an Enhancer though, and thanks to my oven mits I have have a very soft spot for fist weapons to this day. I also have a pretty huge weakness for axes. Mmm axes.

Now, if we're talking about my Druid, I'm all about my staves. Sure, there are some pretty neat polearms out there, don't get me wrong. Most staves that you run across though are just...sweet looking. Journey's End is by far my all time favorite staff.

I managed to snag JE on my second run through Naxx, though only because a very sweet hunter decided to give it to me. Once I leveled up my Druid I began to set up Naxx runs for our alts in the guild. Ulduar was out at the time, but we needed something else to do for a bit, and quite frankly I really wanted this staff for my Druid. First time we ran through, it dropped and I was out rolled by a Hunter. Next week we ran Naxx again, and it dropped A SECOND TIME (enter huge squees here...that sucker had only dropped once in all the months I raided that place with my Shaman) and upon rolling, I once again lost to a Hunter. He was incredible though, and said "Here Sazzy, you can have it." So I managed to get my favorite staff that I had lusted over all through Naxx (my Druid may have been a baby through most of Naxx's peak raiding time, but I still loved that staff!) and I will forever be thankful to that one Hunter for being so sweet.

Second favorite staff I've acquired thus far would have to be Twisted Visage. I managed to get this bad boy on my first run through Ulduar 25. A PuG run none the less! I was over the moon, and I used that staff for PvP well to the end of Wrath (hey, I needed hit and wasn't able to get my kitty paws on a proper PvP staff).

There are of course numerous other amazing weapons that I have stashed away across various toons that I've failed to mention, and there is a fairly amazing assortment that I have yet to discover. For now though, the weapons mentioned above hold very special places in my heart.

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!

The Most Epic Fight in the World

It's that time again already for another shared topic entry brought to us by Blog Azeroth. Apparently I had been a bit short on time with the deadline for the Legendary Weapon topic without even realizing it. It's all good though! This week's topic is brought to us by the blog creator of One More Alt.

"If you were a developer being asked to design a boss for Cataclysm, what boss would you create? Would it be a vicious warrior, a crazy shaman, a cheating rogue, an overpowered mage, or a mix of all of these? What would his more lethal skill be? What type of lair would he have?"

Boss fights: no matter what we do in World of Warcraft, most of the gaming population has experienced a boss fight on some level. Whether it's defeating Deathwing, taking on some lesser known dungeon boss, or simply attempting to down Hogger, we've all have come across some foe that was bigger, badder, stronger, and supposedly smarter...it usually takes five or more folks to down a boss after all.

Now, if I were to design a boss, how would I go about it? What could I give this boss that would sincerely mess my day up, but not be completely impossible to beat? What kind of creature could I concoct to make me salivate at the thought of having to get to that fight...the fight of the night?

I could make some kind of plant abomination (for a model, think Princess Theradras but more plant like than a four-armed pig) that pooped out beds of flowers...flowers that resembled roses, but quickly grew out in vines, entangling players, causing thorn damage and incapacitating the player until damage was done to the vines.

Maybe I'd make some kind of water spout boss (think Ichoron, but more epic and less obnoxious). His big moves could be Hydro Pump-which would toss people randomly into the air, and Bubble Beam-which would blast people in the face with...well, bubbles.

Sure, I could rehash a ton of the numerous other bosses that already exist in WoW and just give them new skins, new abilities that have already been used somehow but have different names, and new loot. That's not quite what I have in mind though.

By this point you're more than likely thinking about the image that's posted up near the begging of this entry. My dear reader, you are on to part of my plan. Please don't get ahead of me quite yet though!

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Picture, if you will, an Emerald Dream raid. Now, I could easily begin to design a whole raid around the Emerald Dream (or more precisely, the Emerald Nightmare), and it would be horribly fun, but that is sadly not the focus of this post. No, I am here to lay out for you but one fight in this raid. This encounter would be the prequel to the actual end boss to this raid...think of it as the fight against Sara just before you get into the main part of the Yogg-Saron fight in Ulduar, but better. Much better.

To begin this encounter, you and your team simply walk into a room and someone speaks with an NPC. From a story perspective, the player(s) are expressing the need to slip into the realm of the Emerald Nightmare of their own mind to defeat the nightmares that have been driving the player mad. In order to ready themselves for the actual end boss they must first defeat their inner demons, for if they don't, they'll surely go insane and never manage to save the world from the terrors of the Nightmare.

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Phase One
Once the encounter has begin, each player will be phased out from the rest of the group. Yes, this encounter is on an individual basis at first. They leave the brighter, hazy green of the encounter room and slip into a much more sinister, darker area.

Once the player has slipped into his or her own "mind" they will be pitted against none other than themselves, albeit the other "self" will be shown as either a member of the opposing faction or perhaps simply a more sinister rendition of the player. The NPC will have identical stats/gear/specs to the player, and will likewise utilize any and all abilities the player would/could use. Essentially, this fight would be a PvS (Player vs Self) type of deal.

"This idea sucks, it sounds almost like that crappy ToC encounter..."

I hated the Faction Champion encounter too. Believe me, I'd be happy never to see that encounter again. RNG was horrible, and even though they had the disadvantage in numbers, they were OP as all get out maneuver wise (I'm looking at you, Mr. Rogue). Never, ever again do I want to deal with that again. To help combat the issues of making this too much like the Fact Champs fight, the NPCs will always be on par with your character. They won't have a more powerful advantage stat wise, they will follow any PvP rules (such as those exist for CC...likewise your character will follow the same rules), but they will have the advantage of computer calculation. You are fighting an AI version of yourself after all.

For this fight players must rely on the knowledge of their class and quick reflexes. Now, this event would have some sort of time cap on it, for if there wasn't Malcolm the Mage may be done in under a minute, while Sandy the Resto Druid may be trying to out do herself with Insect Swarm but is stuck in an endless battle thanks to HoTs, and half the raid would be sitting there impatiently. I'm thinking maybe of a 7-10 minute cap (perhaps lower) for phase one. All players must defeat their corrupted selves in this time limit. If they do not, they will become mind controlled, enter an extreme rage state, and wipe the raid.

The specs/roles required for this particular encounter would not have a requirement. What this means is that just because the rest of the raid requires (for a ten man instance) 2 tanks, 3 healers, and 7 dps, this fight will allow players to play in any spec they desire. You could have 9 healers and a DPS if you so chose. Whatever people feel most comfortable with spec wise, they may play as.

Once all of the players in the raid have defeated each of their individual demons, phase two can be engaged.

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Phase Two
This would be the actual "boss" fight. I'm thinking something along the lines of the end boss being N'Zoth (or is it N'Zath?), the old god that is possibly behind the Emerald Nightmare itself. He'd be a tentically pile of soup, much like how Yogg and C'Thun are, but he'd have a bit more of a Shadow Priest look/feel to him.

Abilities:
Mind Control - N'Zoth has gained control of your mind. Just like Yogg, you have a certain "sanity" thresh hold. If you fail to keep your sanity above a certain level, you will become mind controlled and will begin attacking your raid mates.

Wither - causes all vegetation to wither at a x% rate (the vegetation is part of the mechanic that leads to his defeat).

Day Terror - creates a small nightmare portal beneath the player's feet. If the player fails to move out of the portal in x seconds, he/she will be ported into the "nightmare realm." If this happens, the player must defeat three apparitions that resemble themselves and their class. These apparitions are relatively weak. Must defeat all three apparitions before reaching the "insane" thresh hold (similar to Yogg's insanity mechanic).

Mind Freak - temporarily causes everything to seem as it is not; friends become foes, plants seem to attack. Must find a Seed of Sanity (looks like an acorn on the ground) and consume it before losing too much sanity. 

Fear Lash - a raid wide fear effect. During this time N'Zoth will lash out with his tenticles, randomly grabbing and squeezing various members of the raid.

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Okay, so how do we defeat this baddie?

As I said, the vegetation is the true key to ending this fight. Around you in your raid setting there will be various trees, vines, and flowers. These need to receive healing effects in order to "grow." Once fully grown they will imprison N'Zoth, digest him, and ultimately destroy him. So...if your raid set up doesn't have any healers thanks to phase one, how are you going to heal the plants?

Ah hah! This is were class mechanics come into play, as well as using your surroundings. Yes, healers may directly heal the flora around them, but other classes have splash healing effects as well. If a Enhancement Shaman brings out her Spirit Wolves, not only will they heal her, but they'll help heal the plant life around them. Likewise with a Shadow Priest's Vampiric Touch, a Feral Druid's Leader of the Pack, etc. Essentially, if you're not specced as a healer, any abilities that heal you will also help to heal the vegetation.

While your team is busy trying to heal up plants, you must also be aware of a few other things. The big problems will be Day Terror (for those who are void zone impaired. The void zones also tend to spawn a bit fast, so players must always be on their toes) and possibly Mind Freak (you lose the ability to control your own abilities, but you still can move your character and click on a Sanity Seed...you may still end up throwing a spell or two at a raid member if you happen to be facing them). Fear Lash could also cause some issues if the tenticles are not DPS'd down fast enough after the initial fear wears off.

Added onto all of this, N'Zoth must be at a certain weakness level for the flora to be able to properly encapsulate him. Tanks are not needed for him, but if one of your raid members happens to take on this encounter as a Tank, and there's concern about how much damage he/she puts out, there are other means for them to apply a bit of damage pressure to the old god. Perhaps some kind of giant vine sling-shot can be made available so that Tank-types can hurl large bolder at one of N'Zoth's many eyes.

N'Zoth would have an eventual enrage timer. If he's not defeated in x number of minutes (maybe like 15 or so), he will get royally miffed at the raid, become huge and red, sprout a bunch of extra tentacles that shoot out at the raid, and squeezes everyone to death.

Image "borrowed" from wow-europe.com, thiefed from Google Search.

Essentially the fight break down is this:
- Fight with yourself, win
- Weaken N'Zoth
- Heal the plants so they can capture and eat N'Zoth
- Watch out for void zones
- Eat acorns
- Don't lose your sanity
- Kill off N'Zoth's tenticles
- Don't lose your sanity
- Moar healing!
- Pew Pew
- Watch plants eat N'Zoth
- Profit with shiny epics.

Not necessarily in that order, but I think you understand what I'm finally getting at ^_^

All in all, this would be an epic (pain in the ass) fight in my book...as it should be. You'd be fighting a bloody old god, one that's caused all kind of havoc for thousands of years! It would be a long and tedious fight, but I think it would be pretty awesome. I'm also a huge fan of the mechanic that would allow you to be able to fight a boss as your chosen spec. I know it always bums me out a bit when I can't DPS like I want to, so the off kilter mechanic of this fight allowing anyone to more or less do anything would kind of be really, really neat.

Anyways, that's my idea!

If you accidentally read "testicles" anywhere in this entry instead of "tentacles," I'm very sorry. I had been running a spell check and uh, accidentally used the wrong word replacement for my horrible attempt at spelling tentacles. Anything dealing with an old god's testicles would be awkward, to say the least...