ϐOΩM

Toon updates... hoooooo!

2010-03-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a helluva while since I had anything to say.

I'm not even entirely sure right now that I have much worth blogging about. But... I'm going to do it anyway, because I can.

I guess first of note... I managed to get my 2nd level 80 toon this December! She's another moonkin - Raynn, on the Kirin Tor server. The sole purpose of this toon was actually to play on the same server as my long-time closest friend, who in fact got me interested in the World of Warcraft in the first place!

I server transferred and then faction-changed my second (horde) druid over, so that we could spend some time playing together again, as I'd missed her company. Unfortunately she happened to get promoted in her guild to main 25m raider right after I hit 80... so rather than get to play with her, we occasionally get to chat while she does 25m content and I work on 10m content. Heh. But, it's worth it, because after 12 years (we met my freshman year in high school!), what wouldn't I do for that crazy blond? Haha.

On a less personal note... I also managed to scrounge up a THIRD 80...! My little baby huntard Rinoak. And she is a huntard indeed! I admit, I knew absolutely nothing about hunters, up to and including the point where I hit 80 on her. I would cast hunter's mark, my fancy schmancy macro would send in my faithful and loyal cat, Cow, at the target, and I'd basically play whack-a-mole with my shot cooldowns!

I've not gotten much better, but at least I've begun to learn a little about the rotations and things, and I've managed to reach the hit-cap. Heh! Thanks for all your help, Tunac! That said though, I still vastly prefer my moonkin. There's really nothing I like more than hopping onto Syri and seeing 20k crits popping up on my Mik's Scrolling Battle Text.

Not a lot else going on in the toon department, really... However, seeing as this has become an update about all that, I guess I'll continue in that vein.

I've also been working on a few other toons. My paladin, Irael, has reached level 70, and recently got herself a dual spec as Holy. I had an awful lot of fun doing nothing but healing in a couple AV's last night, and managed to do fairly well all told, despite her grand total of something like 400 spellpower! Then again, I guess when you're the ONLY one on your side doing much healing... any healing will look good! Hah!

My mage, Jori, has also hit 71... I think she's probably one of the few alts I actually enjoy playing. Probably because she reminds me so much of my moonkin.

My little priestess Caele, and my warlock Xalia both hover around 60, where they stalled out, as did my Rogue Siun, who has been relegated to packrat and alt-bank status. I never did like melee much! However, I did recently start a Warrior, who has reached level 43. I'm working on picking up a couple of pieces for her before I try my hand at Tanking in order to level her. May Elune have mercy on her group's souls, because I haven't tanked a damn thing before in my life!

I guess that's it really on the Character update front... not particularly interesting, but hey, it's what I've been up to in between raiding and making moonkins or painting boxes! :)

And I think I'm going to go ahead and leave it there for now. Until next time!

Why you dead?!

2009-06-26T12:25:00.001-07:00

How many times have you heard someone ask, "What?! Why am I dead?!" Well, today's your lucky day. Saveyoursanity over from Livejournal.com and the Wow Ladies community has an answer for you.

Next time that idiot dps or the annoying tank whines because they don't understand why they died, well...

You know what to say!

3.2, Tier 9, and and 10m Ulduar Hard modes, oh my!

2009-06-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

As many of you may have heard, 3.2's patch notes have been released, and the PTR has been opened once more for trial. So far I'm relatively pleased with the direction that moonkin are now moving in, though as Graylo mentions in his blog, there's still a few kinks that need to be worked out, and I'm desperately hoping that the 4-piece tier 9 set bonus is just a place holder! Eep!

Anyway, I must say I am pretty excited overall however. Blizzard has made a few good strides toward improving moonkin dps so far with the current patch notes, and I'm pretty eager to see what else is coming.

On another note however... the release of the PTR patch notes and the flood of information regarding 3.2 has started to worry me slightly. As you may remember, my guild worked toward (and succeeded at!) getting the Glory of the Raider achievements completed with 3.0/naxx/eoe/os. However, when 3.1 came out, the ability to complete that meta achievement and get a Plagued Proto Drake was removed, leaving a few of our group shy ONE measly achievement (gonna go when the volcano blows, of all things!) of getting their drakes.

I would absolutely hate to see something like that happen again when 3.2 comes out... I want to see more of my guildmates sporting the Rusted Proto Drake so I am hoping that the patch will be a good while longer in coming.

However, we did get started on our achievement runs last week! We "built" a group of raiders and took them into Ulduar 10 with the desire to work on some hard modes and tackle a few achievements. In about 3 hours, we managed to do Flame Leviathan 2/4 towers, 1/3 Freya's elders, as well as get the Crazy Cat Lady, Stokin the Furnace, Lose Your Illusion, Heartbreaker, and I Could Say That This Cache Was Rare.

Pretty proud of the crew, and we're going in tonight for even more attempts, and I think we're going to try our hands at 3/3 elders, IC hard mode, and possibly the 25 dwarves on Razor. We'll see how it goes!

Multi-Boxing World of Warcraft and Auto Hot Key

2009-06-15T22:15:00.000-07:00

Wowza, has it been half an age since I last updated! Among all the other real-life emergencies, events, and activities going on in my days, something had to give and it was the Blog. And for that... I'm sorry!

Recently I've begun a Refer A Friend drive, where I have "referred" a friend to wow and we level toons together. In the spirit of that, I decided I wanted a few horde-side toons as well, so I took advantage of a 10-day trial period to give Multiboxing a shot. Whew, can it be tough! But it's FUN!

Right now I'm running around with a warrior, and a healbot druid tagging along behind her. To make this whole endeavor more simple on me (as well as to save time and frustration!), and minimize the amount of tabbing back and forth between wow applications, I downloaded a program called AutoHotKey (AHK), which allows you to send keystrokes to multiple applications on your machine.

Before you ask, yes this is PERFECTLY legal with Blizzard (as you can see here and here!), so don't worry, I'm not doing or advocating anything against blizzard policy!

The only problem I ran into when choosing to multibox was that I was struggling to control both toons, and downloading AHK managed to solve that... after doing quite a bit of research. You see, AHK doesn't come automatically equipped to handle your wow-playing, and you must then take the time to create a script pertaining to your wow applications that detailes what happens when you push each key! At long last, I found one on Elitist Jerks that worked nearly perfectly... except that it did not include an Alt+key command in the script.

Eventually, I figured out how to add in the alt commands, and so here I give you the perfect AutoHotKey World of Warcraft script for multi-boxing your toons!

;ClonesPush(strKeys)
;{
; global WowWinId1
; global WowWinId2
; global WowWinId3
; global WowWinId4
; global WowWinId5
; IfWinNotActive, ahk_id %WowWinId1%
; ControlSend, , %strKeys%, ahk_id %WowWinId1%
; IfWinNotActive, ahk_id %WowWinId2%
; ControlSend, , %strKeys%, ahk_id %WowWinId2%
; IfWinNotActive, ahk_id %WowWinId3%
; ControlSend, , %strKeys%, ahk_id %WowWinId3%
; IfWinNotActive, ahk_id %WowWinId4%
; ControlSend, , %strKeys%, ahk_id %WowWinId4%
; IfWinNotActive, ahk_id %WowWinId5%
; ControlSend, , %strKeys%, ahk_id %WowWinId5%
;}

;ClonesClick(strKeys)
;{
; IfWinNotActive, ahk_id %WowWinId1%
; ControlClick, , ahk_id %WowWinId1%,, %strKeys%,
; IfWinNotActive, ahk_id %WowWinId2%
; ControlClick, , ahk_id %WowWinId2%,, %strKeys%,
; IfWinNotActive, ahk_id %WowWinId3%
; ControlClick, , ahk_id %WowWinId3%,, %strKeys%,
; IfWinNotActive, ahk_id %WowWinId4%
; ControlClick, , ahk_id %WowWinId4%,, %strKeys%,
; IfWinNotActive, ahk_id %WowWinId5%
; ControlClick, , ahk_id %WowWinId5%,, %strKeys%,
;}

ClonesPush(keys) {

global WowWinId1
global WowWinId2
global WowWinId3
global WowWinId4
global WowWinId5

Loop, 5 {
win := WowWinId%A_Index%
IfWinNotActive, ahk_id %win%
ControlSend, , %keys%, ahk_id %win%
}

}

ClonesClick(button) {

global WowWinId1
global WowWinId2
global WowWinId3
global WowWinId4
global WowWinId5

Loop, 5 {
win := WowWinId%A_Index%
IfWinNotActive, ahk_id %win%
ControlClick, , ahk_id %win%, , %button%,
}

}

;Grab unique window ID's
WinGet, WowWinId, List, World of Warcraft

; *******************************
; *** Only if WoW is in focus ***
; *******************************
#IfWinActive, World of Warcraft

;*** Special Functions ***

; *** Makes clones follow main ***
^-::ClonesPush("{- down}{- up}")

; *** Makes clones assist main ***
^=::ClonesPush("{= down}{= up}")

; *** Makes clones jump with main ***
~Space::ClonesPush("{Space down}{Space up}")

; *** Suspends HotKeys while typing on main ***
~Enter::Suspend, Toggle
~/::Suspend, On
~Escape::Suspend, Off

; *******************
; *** Hotbars 1-0 ***
; *******************
; *** Hotbars 1-0 ***
~1::ClonesPush("{1 down}{1 up}")
~2::ClonesPush("{2 down}{2 up}")
~3::ClonesPush("{3 down}{3 up}")
~4::ClonesPush("{4 down}{4 up}")
~5::ClonesPush("{5 down}{5 up}")
~6::ClonesPush("{6 down}{6 up}")
~7::ClonesPush("{7 down}{7 up}")
~8::ClonesPush("{8 down}{8 up}")
~9::ClonesPush("{9 down}{9 up}")
~0::ClonesPush("{0 down}{0 up}")
~-::ClonesPush("{- down}{- up}")
~=::ClonesPush("{= down}{= up}")

; ***************************
; *** Hotbars Alt(!) 1-0 ***
; ***************************
~!1::ClonesPush("{Alt down}{1 down}{1 up}{Alt up}")
~!2::ClonesPush("{Alt down}{2 down}{2 up}{Alt up}")
~!3::ClonesPush("{Alt down}{3 down}{3 up}{Alt up}")
~!4::ClonesPush("{Alt down}{4 down}{4 up}{Alt up}")
~!5::ClonesPush("{Alt down}{5 down}{5 up}{Alt up}")
~!6::ClonesPush("{Alt down}{6 down}{6 up}{Alt up}")
~!7::ClonesPush("{Alt down}{7 down}{7 up}{Alt up}")
~!8::ClonesPush("{Alt down}{8 down}{8 up}{Alt up}")
~!9::ClonesPush("{Alt down}{9 down}{9 up}{Alt up}")
~!0::ClonesPush("{Alt down}{0 down}{0 up}{Alt up}")

; ***************************
; *** Hotbars SHIFT(+) 1-0 ***
; ***************************
~+1::ClonesPush("{Shift down}{1 down}{1 up}{Shift up}")
~+2::ClonesPush("{Shift down}{2 down}{2 up}{Shift up}")
~+3::ClonesPush("{Shift down}{3 down}{3 up}{Shift up}")
~+4::ClonesPush("{Shift down}{4 down}{4 up}{Shift up}")
~+5::ClonesPush("{Shift down}{5 down}{5 up}{Shift up}")
~+6::ClonesPush("{Shift down}{6 down}{6 up}{Shift up}")
~+7::ClonesPush("{Shift down}{7 down}{7 up}{Shift up}")
~+8::ClonesPush("{Shift down}{8 down}{8 up}{Shift up}")
~+9::ClonesPush("{Shift down}{9 down}{9 up}{Shift up}")
~+0::ClonesPush("{Shift down}{0 down}{0 up}{Shift up}")

; **************************
; *** Hotbars CTRL(^) 1-0 ***
; **************************
~^1::ClonesPush("{Ctrl down}{1 down}{1 up}{Ctrl up}")
~^2::ClonesPush("{Ctrl down}{2 down}{2 up}{Ctrl up}")
~^3::ClonesPush("{Ctrl down}{3 down}{3 up}{Ctrl up}")
~^4::ClonesPush("{Ctrl down}{4 down}{4 up}{Ctrl up}")
~^5::ClonesPush("{Ctrl down}{5 down}{5 up}{Ctrl up}")
~^6::ClonesPush("{Ctrl down}{6 down}{6 up}{Ctrl up}")
~^7::ClonesPush("{Ctrl down}{7 down}{7 up}{Ctrl up}")
~^8::ClonesPush("{Ctrl down}{8 down}{8 up}{Ctrl up}")
~^9::ClonesPush("{Ctrl down}{9 down}{9 up}{Ctrl up}")
~^0::ClonesPush("{Ctrl down}{0 down}{0 up}{Ctrl up}")

; *** Move clones ***
~Up::ClonesPush("{Up down}")
~Up Up::ClonesPush("{Up up}")
~Down::ClonesPush("{Down down}")
~Down Up::ClonesPush("{Down up}")
~Left::ClonesPush("{Left down}")
~Left Up::ClonesPush("{Left up}")
~Right::ClonesPush("{Right down}")
~Right Up::ClonesPush("{Right up}")

; Quest Turn ins
~[::ClonesPush("{[ down}{[ up}")
~]::ClonesPush("{] down}{] up}")

; Healing
~H::ClonesPush("{H down}{H up}")
~+H::ClonesPush("{Shift down}{H down}{H up}{Shift up}")

; Buff Weapon
~V::ClonesPush("{V down}{V up}")

; Totems
~F1::ClonesPush("{F1 down}{F1 up}")
~F2::ClonesPush("{F2 down}{F2 up}")
~F3::ClonesPush("{F3 down}{F3 up}")
~F4::ClonesPush("{F4 down}{F4 up}")

; Attacks
~t::ClonesPush("{t down}{t up}")

; Formation
~Delete::ClonesPush("{Delete down}{Delete up}")
; Misc
~\::ClonesPush("{\ down}{\ up}")

; Clicks
;~XButton2::ClonesClick("X2")
;~XButton1::ClonesClick("X1")
^x::ClonesClick("X2")

Voila! Enjoy, and feel free to ask if you have any questions!

Wow... PEGGLE?!

2009-04-23T12:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know this isn't exactly moonkin related... but I just had to share it!

Are you one of those gamers who just has WAAAAAY to much free time? Did you fly circles around Shattrath? Do you find yourself picnicking or dancing on the bank stairs in Dalaran or showing off your mount in Kraseus' Landing with nothing else to do?

Or maybe your guild refers to strat-explanation as "Story Time with (insert your own raidleaderhere)!" (Ok, or maybe that's just us...)

Well... if that sounds like you, you ought to check out the new Popcaps wow addon, Peggle for WoW!

Ok, I know I know. What's so cool about a game within a game? Why would you want to do that? I don't know. But I do know that peggle is disgustingly fun, and a great way to pass 15m where you really just have nothing better to do. Fishing for your turtle mount? Peggle while you cast!

Anyway, there's an amusing little write-up on it over at The Escapist, as well as a direct link to the game (as well as wow-bejeweled!) over at PopCap! Enjoy!

Flame Leviathan?

2009-04-14T21:42:00.001-07:00

Well, after waiting most of the day, we were finally able to log into Emerald Dream around 9:30pm EST. I was suitably impressed when the servers remained stable long enough for us to get two 10-mans going (sadly, we were short about 6 people for a 25), and despite an accidental miss-start (whoops!), we were able to begin the first event.

And I just have to say... that was so much freaking FUN! I haven't enjoyed a raid encounter as much as I enjoyed the time up to Flame Leviathan and the ensuing boss fight since... Vanilla WoW.

The dual-aspect of teamwork required for the vehicles was a blast, and I've since learned that I am one damn fine shot with an anti-air missile! Somehow, despite not knowing what in the bloody-feathered moonkin hell we were doing, we managed to down him on our first attempt, and get "Shutout" as well.

Sadly, the two giant lava-rock-golem type trash mobs at the start of Ignis' room wiped us, and due to server issues, once dead, you could not re-enter the instance. D'oh!

However, after seeing how amazing the instance looks right from the start, as well as how incredibly fun the first encounter was, I and the rest of the guild can't wait to get back in there and continue. It's gonna be great!

3.1 and Ulduar Releases on 3/14

2009-04-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, there's been much skepticism about when 3.1 and Ulduar would be coming out; well, according to Zarhym, it should be going live tomorrow.

This will also herald in the end of season 5 for arenas; enjoy your Frost Wyrms if you are so lucky!

Last but not least... Extended Maintenance!

We will be performing extended maintenance on the below realms beginning at 1:00 a.m. PDT, April 14. Maintenance for all US and Oceanic realms not listed below will begin at 3:00 a.m. PDT, April 14. We expect all realms to be playable again by approximately 11:00 a.m. PDT.

Antonidas
Anub'arak
Blackwater Raiders
Bladefist
Borean Tundra
Cairne
Cenarion Circle
Cenarius
Darrowmere
Drak'Tharon
Drenden
Echo Isles
Farstriders
Fenris
Garrosh
Hydraxis
Hyjal
Korialstrasz
Lightbringer
Maiev
Misha
Mok'Nathal
Moon Guard
Nazgrel
Nesingwary
Nordrassil
Quel'dorei
Ravenholdt
Rivendare
Shandris
Shu'halo
Sisters of Elune
The Forgotten Coast
Tortheldrin
Uther
Vashj
Winterfhoof
Wyrmrest Accord

Enjoy the patch, you've got about 4 hours to finish off your achievements! Good luck, and see you in Ulduar!

Syrilrian of the Nightfall!

2009-04-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

So, as you know we've been working on getting the Glory of the Raider achievement. Well, last night we finished what we set out to do!

Last night, after over 200 attempts and at least 20 hours worth of work, we finally got our sexy Of the Nightfall titles for completing the Twilight Zone achievement!

Due to the complete bloody randomness of
Gonna Go When the Volcano Blows, we have 5-6 people who are still *just* shy of their proto drakes. We did however get four of them! So long as 3.1 holds off another week, we'll be able to get almost all of the 10man group their 310% speed mounts. Wahooo!

Unfortunately, I forgot to turn on fraps, but perhaps when we go back to farm for the drake, I'll get a video of that up.

For those interested, our composition was:

Holy/Prot Pally

Enh/Ele Shaman
Unholy Death Knight
Survival Hunter
Shadow Priest
Fury Warrior
Boomkin
Rogue

Absent "R" You? Well, quit it!

2009-04-06T13:53:00.000-07:00

I dunno about you, but I'm ready for 3.1; something about an upcoming patch makes putting raids together harder and harder, the closer the patch and it's new content gets.

People just seem to... lose interest in the current content. Which sort of brings me to a problem that's been pissing me off, of late.

I've been noticing an issue more and more; I call it "Only If I Need It" syndrome. Everyone has them in their guild. Everyone knows people like this. They're the ones who show up ready for a raid at the start of content, but as soon as they've got what they want for their toon, they're nowhere to be seen, regardless of whether or not anyone ELSE in the guild/group is still looking for something.

They're the people who are steadfastly on an alt if you need one more for a raid.... until that alt hits 80. And then it's, "I'll go! ...If I can go on my alt!" Or the ones who will *gladly* help work toward an achievement or title... until they've got everything they need, and then it's "Well... I don't really need anything else. Can you bring someone else?" or "Can I come on my alt instead?"

I don't know about you, but man does that piss me off.

I have 1 level 80 character. She's geared nearly to best in slot and hasn't really been looking for much of anything for the last 4 months. And yet... you can be damned sure that I'll be there or offer to come if there's a 25man raid scheduled, or if it's a 10man (organized in our guild by the members at will), you can bet I'll be willing to come if I'm needed. No, I don't need anything from Naxx anymore. But yes, I'll still go because we just had a healer hit 80 and he needs some gear... or because one of our ret paladins was asked to make his enhancement shaman his main to utilize as many buffs as we can, and he needs to spend some time in Naxx etc for that.

Now... all in all, that whole situation wouldn't bother me *quite* as much as it is, except that it seems to be coupled with another little disease called, "Oh... I must've forgot." This insidious malady often presents with symptoms such as, accepting or signing up for a raid invite and not showing up, or getting there 1-2 hours late.

WHY DO YOU THINK THAT'S IN ANY WAY OKAY?!

Newsflash, people. It's NOT.

If you accept a raid invite, or sign up to be there, you are making a commitment to not just the raid leader (who then gets to scramble desperately for a replacement when you flake out), but to the 24 other people who also committed their time and efforts to the run!

Yes, World of Warcraft is just a game. And you can bet that Real Life always comes first... but come on. If for some reason you can't make a raid, email someone. Post on your guild's forums. If you're like my guild and many members are RL or very close net-friends and share phone numbers, for pete's sake CALL and let someone know to pass on the message! Show a little respect for your guild tag and the people who wear it.

I often find myself wishing these types of people would be g-kicked, but sadly they are necessary to keeping many guilds operational. There's only so many people you can boot for petty and irresponsible behavior like that, especially if the applications aren't flooding in by the 10's.

So cut it out, people. Seriously. Mkay?

3.1 and Ulduar just can't come fast enough, at this point.

An Eternity... Do You Has It?

2009-03-27T23:07:00.000-07:00

Well... we did it! We managed to get You Don't Have an Eternity (normal)! It took a few attempts (about 10), and a little bit of an unconventional group, but eventually RNG favored us and we managed to get him down!

Sadly, I didn't get to participate in phase three.... the Scions decided to light my feathers afire three times in a row at the very end of phase two, so I spent the rest of the attempt laying on my back watching the others fight Malygos.

Way to go, Legion! I'm proud of you!

3D Sarth, HERE WE COME!

For those who are interested, we used:

1 Prot Pally
1 Ret Paly
1 Arms Warrior
1 Shadow Priest
1 Boomkin
1 Rogue
1 Arcane Mage
1 Survival Hunter
1 Elemental Shaman
1 Resto Shaman

Malygos

2009-03-12T14:51:00.000-07:00

Well, we didn't get a chance to try <6m Maly, but we did manage to do 8-man Maly, which was also on the list of required achievements for Glory of the Raider. We also made several attempts at Sartharion after finishing off all the Naxx10 requirements, but due to general exhaustion and lateness of hour, we decided to call it a night.

It was our first real attempt at doing sarth with more than 1 drake, and we skipped straight to 3, so I'm not terribly surprised that we didn't get it right away. Our strategy and group makeup wasn't quite ideal:

prot paly on drakes
frost DK on Sarth
fury warr on adds
ret pally
boomkin
ele shaman
surv. hunter
shadow priest
resto shaman
holy priest

However, we hope to try again next week, and we're switching the strategy and a few spec's around. This time we're looking to do:

Prot Pally on Drakes
Blood DK on Sarth
Prot Warrior on Adds
Holy Paly
Resto Shaman
Holy Priest
Boomkin
Ele Shaman
Surv Hunter
Shadow Priest

With 2 less DPS it will become more difficult to bring each drake down quickly, but the warrior just wasn't strong enough as fury to hold on to and survive the adds, and neither healer felt entirely comfortable in keeping the raid up with just them. I think this will work much better, though we'll have to wait and see.

Syrilrian the Undying

2009-03-07T09:36:00.000-08:00

I know it's been awhile since I posted last... it's been a hectic few weeks!

As many of you may have heard in this announcement, "When 3.1 goes live, the rewards for “Glory of the Raider” and “Heroic: Glory of the Raider” are being removed." Being an avid achievement (and game mount) whore, you can imagine that this caused some gritted teeth on my part, and some flailing on the parts of several of my like-minded guildmates. We have accepted the fact that The Immortal is likely out of reach of the skill level of our raiders, but we figured Undying (and the plauged proto drake!) were plausible.

So a few of our guildmembers began putting together a 'custom' group to try to get a few of the achievements, and both Ballian and I were invited. Last night, we decided to head into Naxx in an 8-man group to try to get The Dedicated Few out of the way. We ended up walking out with Undying as well. WAHOOOOO!

None of us expected it... and it wasn't until Sapphiron that we realized we'd yet to have a single death. As you can imagine, the entire 8 man group was shaking like a leaf at the end of Kel'Thuzad. But we did it! I am so proud of these guys!

And to boot, we managed to break several of our "time" records on several of the bosses... even 1 healer and 1 dps short. *shock* How cool is that?!

For those interested, the group makeup was:

Prot Pally
Resto Shaman
Ret Pally (who then went holy for Sapph and KT)
Boomkin
Elemental Shaman
Arms Warrior
Survival Hunter
Shadow Priest

Was an awesome night. Hopefully next week we'll work on Sartharion +3 drakes and/or <6m Maly. *crosses fingers for good luck!*

The Basics

2009-02-17T11:59:00.000-08:00

So, last time I told you a little about what I played. All told, a very little, actually. Guess it's time for a little bit more of an in-depth look.

First, I am a (very nearly) 25 year old woman living in southern Florida with a man and a cat. The Man, who shall from here-on in be known as Ballian, and I, actually met through World of Warcraft two years ago. We currently live together and intend, at an as yet unspecified future date, to be married. So to those of you non-believers... yeah, you really can meet someone while gaming! =P

And now on to the important stuff. I've been playing World of Warcraft for roughly three and a half years now, thanks to one of my very best friends. I began to see less and less of her as the days went on, and when I finally asked what on earth she was so busy doing I was told, "WoW!"

"Wow what? What's so wow?" Yeah... I was confused. But she explained to me about the World of Warcraft, and I figured 'why not?' and went to Wal-Mart to see what a copy of the game would cost. $40 and several hours later, I was installed, patched, and staring at the character creation screen with a stupefied expression on my face.

Being my first MMO (or my first online game ever outside Neopets... and let's face it, that doesn't count!), I was a little overwhelmed, and a lot confused. I allowed the game to pick a server for me, and of course ended up calling my friend to ask how to add her to my friend's list only to learn that of the umpteen servers to pick, I of course landed on the wrong one.

Eventually, I am guided to Emerald Dream, where I eagerly begin flipping through the kinds of classes and fell in love with the Gnome... only to be crushed when I was told by my friend that I could not create a gnome druid... and if I wanted to be able to chat with her in-game, I couldn't make a cow either. *siiigh* And so Syrilrian the Night Elf was born. And left, as I then rolled a hunter because I couldn't decide if I wanted to BE the animal, or have it as my pet.

Eventually I got to leveling Syri (uurgh, the first 20 levels as a druid are pure torture and don't believe it if anyone tells you otherwise!), and was promptly invited to a guild called Crimson Alliance. I had no idea what a Guild was, only that some popup had flashed onto my screen saying that someone had invited me to one. I spent all of about ten minutes there before I got annoyed, asked how to leave, and /gquit.

Not long after, I found myself in Astranaar and surrounded by a group of Roleplaying Night Elves. After spending a few hours RPing, I found myself invited to another guild; the Shanre lo dor Talah, which I later learned meant "Council of the Stars." I spent nearly a year with those fine people, roleplaying and leveling my toon. Eventually the drama and lack of a close friend being allowed into the guild led to my leaving... for another roleplay guild called Alshar lo Dorano, aka "The Shadows of Azeroth." You'd think I'd have learned my lesson... but nope.

While in the Alshar, I continued to roleplay, and got my first taste of raiding; due to the guild not being a raiding guild (and the incipient roleplay drama) however, I eventually moved on and was invited to join the small guild Insomnia.

By this time, I'd about had it with roleplay, and was ready for some drama-free raiding fun. BC came out, we entered into Karazhan, and someone new entered the guild; his name was Ballian. And I fell into e-love. Heh!

Ultimately, Insomnia chose to move off the server when free transfers opened up, but because Emerald Dream was our home, Ballian and I decided to stay, where we then applied for and were accepted into Legion... and we've been there ever since. Over a year has gone by since we joined the guild, but we both love it just as much as the first month we were invited. Somehow, I was promoted to an officer-type position, wherein I keep track of the guild's dps, help out with DPS-type questions guildmembers may have, etc.

Currently Legion is a non-rp (but RP welcome) raiding guild focusing on end-game content, and we have cleared everything but Sartharion+2 and 3 drakes. We're a pretty tight-knit bunch, many of us real-life friends; and those I don't know in real-life, I would be proud to. We send Holiday cards, and spend our evenings together inside that pixeled world known as Azeroth, playing the World of Warcraft.

Beta Omicron Omega Mu - ϐOΩM!

2009-02-10T10:05:00.000-08:00

Hello all, and welcome to my World of Warcraft blog. Yup... another one of those. Hah!

I've always wanted to create a blog about this game that I love so much; and so here it is. This blog will mostly be my thoughts about the game in general, my characters, my guild, and my experiences while playing.

To start with, I guess I'd better get the standard stuff out of the way first!

Characters:

Syrilrian - L80 Nelf Moonkin; she is my main toon, and the one I play on almost daily. She is on the Emerald Dream server. I'll probably tell you more about her later.

Rinoak - L73 Nelf Huntard; yes, I said it. Huntard. Rin was the second character I created when I started World of Warcraft three years ago. Until recently, she was on Emerald Dream, but is being transfered to Kirin Tor to play with one of my very closest friends.

Xalia - L41 Gnome Warlock; I always loved gnomes, and was absolutely crushed when I realized I would not be able to create a Gnome Druid (curse you, Blizzard!). I began leveling her along with the dwarf paladin Xaliana during the Refer a Friend bonus period I had, due to my desire to obtain a Zhevra Mount.

Jori - L34 Gnome Mage; created her a few years ago when I got tired of listening to how badly people thought caster druids sucked. I still play her now and again.

Adaire - L41 Nelf Druid; yeah, another one. What can I say.... I love druids!! This'un's feral, though. And I am completely lost whenever I play her. I always feel I should get up on my 'back paws' and start shooting balls of green energy from my claws! Hah!

Dæz - L62 Nelf Death Knight; I followed the craze. Just had to create one when wrath came out! I don't play her much, however... Mostly because I am dissatisfied with the name. Someone else got the name Daez (grrr) and well, I couldn't think of anything else. That and the fact that I've always been more of a ranged player.

That about sums it up for my toons over level 20. I have a few other random alts spread throughout many servers. Ok, I lied... it's more than a few. I have something like 40. However, very few of them ever made it past 20 for one reason or another. All but Rin currently reside on Emerald Dream with Syri.

Additionally, all but one toon are happy members of the not-so-hard-core raiding guild, Legion. Probably the best group of folk (barring a few exceptions, of course!) that I have ever had the pleasure of spending my e-time with. I am currently one of two guild 'officers,' and am generally "in charge" of the DPS portion of the guild. Poor bastards.. they're screwed! Hah!

Anywho, I suppose that's enough for my first post; the Finger-Lickin' Crit Chicken is at your service, and ϐOΩM is born!