Wanderings

I've been wandering around the Internet, looking for things to do. It is the typical lull in interest between expansions, I think, but I don't like it. I miss all the fun things like weekly raiding and just chatting with friends while running around in Ironforge.

I miss WoW.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A Beggar No More

We've all seen them, we've all been whispered by them, beggars asking for silver or gold. I've seen many solutions to the beggar problem, anything from telling them where to go, telling them you aren't a bank or opening a trade and then leaving to make a sandwich...but this solution, is the best I've ever heard.

Big Red Kitty has got the right idea, on dealing with beggars. This is a brilliant idea. While carrying out this request, the young adventurer would stumble across quest hubs, several new zones, and collect a fair amount of random drops and pocket change.

This has got me thinking, are there similar type things one could collect in the other sub level 20 zones? No more will I send beggars away without a spark of hope. If they can work for it, the gold can be theirs. Not to mention the fact that a small pile of gold like that would easily cover the cost of a shiny new mount at level 30.

Brilliantly done BRK!

Beta Patch Highlights

The WotLK beta has begun, and it brings with it some pretty interesting patch notes.

Druid
- Entangling Roots: Can now be used indoors.
- * New Spell: Revive - Returns the spirit to the body, restoring a dead target to life with health and mana. Cannot be cast when in combat. (Ranks 1-7 added)

These are my two favorite changes to druids. Indoor roots will come in handy for a variety of situations, from temp CC in a regular group, to separating enemies that must be cleared in stealth runs, making multiple pulls more manageable. Revive can't get here soon enough. I've always hoped they would give druids a "real" rez, as it can be quite the challenge to heal a 5 man group with only a druid battle rez. No mention of changing or removing the battle rez, which may sound a bit over powered, but I think will work out just fine. Druids can help rez at the end of a fight, but they retain their utility in battle as an emergency rez too.

Hunter
- If a hunter tames a pet that is more than five levels beneath than the hunter's level, then the pet jumps to five levels beneath than the hunter's level.

There are lots of hunter changes that I'm happy about, but this one, I really like. So many times I've wanted to go back and tame a pet of lower level, but find it really hard to level it up. This is still 5 levels to work on, but closing the gap should really help those of us that like to collect interesting pets. Now...about that stable size Blizzard!!

Changes to buffs, auras and totems that make them into proximity, instead of party benefits are really exciting. It makes much more sense for them to apply to those around the caster, rather than having to stack groups and force a healer to keep the tank (for example) in range.

I'm happy to see that the Death Knight still sounds like it's balanced to be able to choose any tree and be effective, I truly hope the nerf bat isn't hitting them too hard anytime soon.

How about those Achievements?

This system is one I've wanted to see in place for a while. It's fun to have a list of things you've done to look back on, and for others to see. I'm hoping, for the sake of not only myself, but others that like to collect things like this, that most of the old world stuff is going to still be unlock able in Wrath. I also hope that things you have done in the past will count! The only down side to this system that I can see so far is the fact that it announces to guild when you unlock something. Now, as nice as that sounds...I've got a big guild...and a lot of people who are going to be working on stuff like this. Think of a boss achievement...and the 25 people who unlock it at the same moment. Spammity!! Perhaps there's an option to disable it...guess we'll wait and see.

Shave and a haircut anyone? I'm looking forward to seeing what new styles are added for each race. A couple of my characters could really use a makeover...who knew when I created them that I'd still be playing years later? It's not something I plan to change often, but I can see it being a pretty effective gold sink if Blizzard continues to release new options with content patches. Now all we need is a groomer for those shaggy druids!

New Healer Community

PlusHeal.com is a new healer forum community started by bloggers who frequently discuss healing on their blogs. The idea is to get all the good info in one place, and also have a spot to discuss healing issues together.

I'm not a healer primarily, but my druid knows a thing or two, and can cast some mean HoTs when called upon. I think this new forum will be highly useful, and hope to see it do well. I've pointed all of my guild's healers over there and plan to look there first when anything healing related comes up.

Patch 2.4.3 and Hunter Love!

Grab your level 30 alts and head for the riding trainer! Patch 2.4.3 is live and apprentice riding is now available to level 30 characters. This goes for the Paladin and Warlock trained mount spells as well.

Wowhead has a handy, fully linked, version of the Patch Notes.

Wowhead has also announced the launch of some really cool new features for hunters, including a pet training calculator and a great chart for pet comparison. I personally love the 360 view of each pet model. All of these can be found here.

Screenshot Errr...Monday - Cowrock

Protected

The Blizzard Authenticator has really helped to put my mind at ease when it comes to account security. It has always been a big issue for me, since I would feel horrible if anything happened to the guild through some hacker getting their dirty hands on my account. Sure, characters are restorable...but I've heard horror stories of guilds being disbanded. That would kill me. Not to mention the fact that I now feel safer in having only my account have access to the guild funds in our bank.

I was a tiny bit worried that it would be irritating to have to put in an extra number each time I wanted to login, but it's really easy and no trouble at all compared to the peace of mind it offers.

I'm good to go, authenticator is setup and working...now we all just hope the battery has a nice long life expectancy!

Horde Alting

So, over the holiday weekend I decided to check up on Annarchy's horde side guild. It was started back in January by myself, and a member of Panda Attack (our counterpart horde guild on Dark Iron) as a place for the members of both guilds to hang out together, if they so choose.

It hasn't been super active, as members of both guilds usually focus most of their play time on their main characters, however we do have a few people who play there a lot. After our recent horde newbie event, interest has been sparked again, and a few people have started playing new horde alts.

I decided to join in the fun, rather than just check the bank and roster and logout like I have a tendency to do on most occasions. I rolled a new druid.

Now, as is clear from my character list here, I already have a druid. In fact, I already have just about every class. But druids are different. My druid is currently resto and geared for raid healing. This new horde druid? Totally Feral.



This is my new moo druid, also named Feathermyst, grinning for the camera. She reached level 20 last night, and can now turn into a kitty too. Adventuring through the horde content has been a fun and refreshing change of pace from the all to familiar alliance quests and leveling process. I don't know if this druid will reach the level cap, but for now she is a fun addition to my alt collection.

Screenshot Sunday - /Sneak

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July to everyone who celebrates this holiday, and happy Friday to the rest :)

To celebrate the three-day weekend, Winter and I, plus our 5-year-old have turned to our wild side and rolled three horde side druids. Annarchy has a horde alt guild over on Sargeras called "Pink Pandas" that we share with our Dark Iron rivals, Panda Attack (horde). Since my alliance druid is resto, this one, of the same name (Feathermyst) shall be ferlol. I've already got my level 10 bear form and am quite happily bounding around the barrens mauling raptors and striders alike.

Winter says that since his alliance side druid is feral, he may go resto or balanced with this one, though he managed to name his differently from his first druid.

Overall our 4th of July weekend should be nice and relaxing with much fireworks and ice tea and mauling of creatures.

Is My /DND Showing?

I've been a guild leader for three years now (ok, not officially until the 6th of next month, but still) and in that time I've talked to many people. I talk to people all the time, sometimes several at once (which can lead to interesting mistells), or while raiding (but that's another story). I like it.

Yes, I like talking to people. I like to listen to their problems, and help to solve them when I can. I also like to talk when there isn't a problem. For some reason though, people seem to assume that I either don't want to hear their problems, or am too busy.

Granted, I am busy. The guild is large, there are a lot of things on my todo list, and I have a couple of adorable 5 and 2-year-old distractions, but I choose to be the guild leader. I volunteered for this job. Nobody pushed it on me, and let me assure you, I'm not in it for the money :P I may not always answer right away, occasionally I miss a tell, but I care, and I do want to listen.

I often feel as if I must have a /DND tag up. I'd say about 90% of my conversations in game begin with some variation of "Sorry to bother you" "I don't mean to intrude" "I know you are busy" and the most boggling? "I know you're on your alt" Hold it just a second...I'm an altaholic, I'm *always* on an alt. But that doesn't mean I don't want to do my job as guild leader...all my alts are guilded and at officer rank in either the main or alt guild. They all have "feather" in their name. If I want to have some quiet time, I'll logout. And even then, my officers have my phone number, and my forums have a PM system.

Perhaps my perspective is just a bit different than most people's. Yes I play the game to have fun, but guild leading and talking to people *is* that fun. Some people play for the pvp, some for the raiding, a lot of my guild members play for the community (I think...) and all of those are great, but I'm not going to resent someone for telling their guild leader when something is up! I certainly wouldn't have started a guild if I didn't want to do the job. I knew what I was getting into. Ok, maybe I didn't know it would last this long, or be this wonderful community that it has grown into, but I've been in, and led groups before, and I knew what to expect as far as work/dealing with stuff is concerned.

Anyway, my point is this: A guild leader is there to help the guild members. As are officers. These are not jobs they are forced to take, they make a choice to be available to help people. Their goal, in these roles should be to help make the guild community run smoothly, and stay content while following the rules. They are there to help with conflicts and drama, not to avoid them. Don't be afraid to talk to your guild leader and officers, they do the job because they care.

Illidan...Dead.

Congrats to Annarchy's Raid: Nascent on their very first Illidan kill!!



This was a major accomplishment for the guild, and I'm so proud of all our raiders!

This kill was dedicated to our very own Eshana, who logged in for his last raid on the night of the kill. Good luck in real life man, we'll miss you!

Screenshot Sunday - The Beast

Into Karazhan

Last night was my Pally's second Kara raid, and the first full clear! Being back in the tanking role again is proving to be really great. Winter and I have joined a few of our guild mates in what we've dubbed "Couples Kara." The group is made up of couples within the guild, intended to get some of our significant others some experience with raiding, and gear. Each couple has someone who is playing a well geared (or "experienced") character, and someone either new to raiding entirely, or playing a new level 70 alt that needs gear. So far it's been a great experience, we're playing together, moving through the instance at a really good pace and getting loot and badges all around.

Winter and I aren't exactly "new" to the raiding scene, however this has been a great way to gear up my pally without feeling like I'm just dragging her through an instance with a group that's done with the zone.

As with any raid group, there's some variation from week to week on raid makeup. We're open to anyone who wants to signup, it was actually by chance when we first set out that mostly couples signed up. The concept just tickled us. Whenever we do bring someone who isn't an SO of anyone else in the raid, we teasingly pair up the unattached and they are each other's date for the evening. This of course has led to some pretty hilarious teasing and commenting over Vent.

This week a new couple joined us, and the mage was raiding for the first time ever. She made out like a bandit getting 5 pieces of loot, including the [Nathrezim Mindblade]!

I did quite well for myself as well, picking up both the t4 glove token from Curator, which I turned in for [Justicar Handguards], and the [Shield of Impenetrable Darkness]. I really feel like a tank now!

Diablo 3

Well there we have it, the new Blizzard game will be Diablo 3.

It would appear that all the ice, blue eyes and stars were just an evil misdirect to keep us all guessing.

The site is up and there is a lot to see. While the view is still a top-down type perspective, the graphics are quite clearly 3d and much improved. This game looks awesome. Fortunately for WoW, Diablo 3 is at least a couple years out at best still.

Now what was up with that penguin and the LOST numbers?

Sources: Blizzard, Diablo 3

Tease! (Part 2)

We find out tonight! Or, really...in the morning for most people. I'm really tempted to get online and check when the announcement is made around 2:30am my time. I know, that makes me pretty nerdy sounding, but I hate waiting! The suspense is driving me nuts, just as I'm sure Blizzard hopes it will.

So what do we have now? Ice, Stars, Runes (from every game so far), and Eyes. Clearly defined eyes and a prominent brow now, as opposed to just hints of eyes yesterday.

I'm just not getting Diablo from this picture. I know a lot of people want it to be Diablo...but I really think it's something to do with Starcraft (world of...pretty please!) or WotLK at this point. The crazy rumor that it might be an early release of the DK sounds great, but seems doubtful. The Death Knight is a pretty major component of the WotLK expansion...the only reason I could see to release it early, is to allow them to level up and experience the content from 70-80 with everyone else. But it doesn't seem likely to me.

And those secret numbers and the picture? Ha. A penguin..which looks like an artistic recreation of the new ones we'll have in WotLK to me...and the numbers from LOST? Yeah...Blizzard is toying with is.

Only a few more hours and it will all be made clear. I hope...

Security Measures

The realm of Bloggerdom is a-buzz with Blizzard's announcement of it's new (optional) security feature. The Blizzard Authenticator will add an extra layer to WoW account security by providing a device, sync'd with your wow account, that generates a 6-digit key that must be entered with your username and password on login.

I'm actually excited about this, because as a guild leader, having my account hacked is a constant worry for me. I know it's a nightmare for anyone, but someone with access to my account would have access to all the guild controls. Now, I don't have much by way of exciting items or that much gold, so my account isn't a high risk target, however if hackers are willing to delete characters for no apparent reason, what would stop them from disbanding my guild?

I found it interesting that this device can be linked with several accounts. I can't even begin to figure out how that works, but this means people with multiple accounts in the household could just buy one device, saving a bit of cash, but securing all accounts.

At this point, I'm leaning heavily towards buying this device, even with the added annoyance of yet another thing I have to enter at login. A little peace of mind is worth typing 6 extra digits every day.

Sources: Blizzard, Official Announcement

Tease!

What does Blizzard mean by this teaser?

My guess is that it's the announcement of the WotLK release date, and beta. I know that the argument is that they've never teased a release date, but there's a first time for everything. I don't think it's starcraft, only because it's just a picture of ice.

I guess all we can do is watch and see!

Annewbie Anntics Event

Yesterday my guild had a just for fun (or "Anntics") event. Our event crew rounded up as many guildies as we could find, and went on a field trip to the horde side.

We visited each horde newbie zone, rolling a new character for each one. Various games and activities were setup ahead of time, and even if they didn't all go according to plan, they were still tons of fun.

Bloodelf:

In the bloodelf zone, we were all emo, so we went and jumped off the tower, trying to see who could get closest to the center of a round platform, far below.
Next we had a race to see which team of 5 could collect the most [Smashed Petal] in five minutes. The winning team came up with 12. Pretty impressive for level one BElfs! After that, still in teams, we kited mana fishies "back home" to the lake. Tricky! And to top it off, we had a footrace down the scar, followed by packs of skellies and ghosts.

Tauren:

In the tauren zone, we all were told to pick names with "moo" in them, and then voted on the best name. "Barackobamoo" was our winner. That was followed by a quick game of hide and seek, with our Moo winner hiding, and everyone else seeking. Next up we ran over to Bloodhoof Village to the warrior's circle for a duel tournament. The winner of that event was "Mahmooshake." To finish off the zone, we all ran over to Thunderbluff and jumped off the Elder Rise.

Undead:

In the undead zone we had some crypt dancing, a race to see who could die the fastest, a corpse eating contest (first one to cannibalize wins!) and a team contest to collect a full set of armor. We then attacked the pumpkin patch in a massive undead assault, resulting in a pile of bodies scattered around the scarecrow.

Troll/Orc:

In the troll/orc zone we played piggy ball! Orcs vs. Trolls in a fun game of football, using the pigs as the "ball." We had to move that event out of the newbie zone though, since the level one pigs don't last very long with 25 newbies fighting over them. Level 7 piggies were the key...along with the removing of all weapons and armor. The winners, after a very close 5 point game were the Orcs.

To top off the night, we ran our trolls and orcs over to the island and zerged Zalazane.

Altogether the night was a huge success and I'm looking forward to whatever our crew can cook up for us next month!

Screenshot Sunday - Vargoths