As we inch ever closer to Warlords Day on the 13th, I find myself engaging in an end-of-expansion sort of ritual, one I’ve been doing since the Wrath era: taking last minute ‘school’ photos of my toons (semi-awkward, fancied-up sorts of affairs), as they stand at the end of one expansion, before heading into a wild, untamed new world where everything will inevitably change and they’ll look like they dressed themselves in the dark (in a clown’s closet no less!). Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve made an effort to find some transmoggable sets to put my toons in so they look reasonably well-kept after whilst questing in WoD, and I think I’ve reached some modicum of success. I’m in a happy place, and it’s time to do very last minute preparations: shoving everything into reagent banks, clearing out the last of the vendor trash/crap, grabbing some food for leveling purposes, redistributing wealth amongst my toons so they’re all reasonably comfortable for the foreseeable future (I never did quite make 200k–195k more like, which is fine for now).
So, without further ado, a Warcraft Yearbook of sorts (apologies if any of the screenshots look like crap–not my fault, they looked fine before :x). I’m so happy to be able to share this new beginning with the amazing people in this community (I’m always seeking the good people out while setting the baddies on fire), and with awesome friends I’ve made in the past eight years. I’m excited to be able to share it with you all, for everyone who reads this, and comments, who stops by my little space of the internet. I’m a very lucky mage.
If you see me stumbling about in Draenor, desperately trying to get a grip on things with a very persistent, blue Darkspear troll hunter in tow (The Husband), don’t hesitate to give a wave, or say hi–or even stop buy for a cuppa in my Garrison once it’s built (or more like conjured water and mana buns, but we’ll pretend that it’s tea ;D).
Time to go save the world–see you on the other side, brave adventurer. May the wind be at your back, your mana plenty, your quiver full, and your blade sharp.
[Content note: I’ll take this opportunity to excuse my fairly long absence from this space. In August, my main PC kinda died; we’re 99% certain it’s a motherboard meltdown, and have been struggling to replace it since then, so I was without my own computer for a few months. I took that time as a break from WoW as well, since I was once again feeling burnt out. Last month I was able to get a reasonably priced PC to replace my old one for the time being, and I was able (and willing) to come back to Warcraft. Just wanted to throw it out into the nether, in case anyone was curious.]
As I write this, it is exactly a week until Warlords of Draenor releases. This time next week I should be patched up, and fingers crossed servers are stable (as of right now, in the EU…they’re not, to put it mildly). To say I’m well and truly ready is an understatement of sorts; I’m somewhere in the camp of ‘I don’t think MoP was horrible, but it’s been around for far too long’, and I’m able to tell I’m more bored than dissatisfied with this expansion. It was great in many ways (Pandaren are adorable), and kinda poop in many ways (I’m looking at you, gated dailies/rep/valor upgrades, those were terribad). I got this way with Cataclysm as well, and to an extent Wrath, and once I put some distance between myself and MoP, I’m sure I’ll be able to look at its content in a hazy, nostalgic, rose-coloured glasses sort of way.
But for the time being, I won’t be particularly heartbroken to leave Pandaria (at least until I level my next alt). I feel I’ve done just about everything I can feasibly do with the current content, considering I don’t raid with a guild or get too terribly involved in PvP. Much of the last…six months or so, I’d wager, has been on and off faffing (between breaks, of course). I can look back, as we look forward to WoD and say I accomplished much of the tentative ‘to do’ list I had in my brain. I got my mage Alyzabeth as far as I reasonably could; the only part that still bothers me is I was never able to get an upgrade on her gloves (they’re ToT knock-offs), but she’s sitting at ilvl 556, and that’s not too shabby. I’m happy. My alts are in a reasonably good-ish place, though I’m not stressing about their gear–it is what it is, and I’m sure I’ll find replacements in WoD. I got a full server of 90s; my last straggler, Spindlelegs, got 90 a few weeks back, and that makes 11 fully-functioning farms on Hellscream. I wasn’t quite able to finish getting off the MoP-era mounts I still need (namely the 120k Tundra Yak and the two engineering rockets), but I know I can go back to those once I’ve gotten properly stuck into WoD content.
That said, the next week is COMPLETE faffing around these parts. I have no definite plans, no Must Do list. The best laid plans and all that (I know I sound like a broken record, but it’s true–me and plans/commitments don’t really get along). I have managed to knock off a few things I’ve been meaning to do for literal ages, but kept being lazy about:
Finally managed to kill Sartharion & Malygos (25m) for my Champion of the Frozen Wastes title. Yes, I know this achievement is as old as the Titans, but I just never quite managed to complete it. Once I saw I only needed two bosses, I felt like somewhat of a dork and decided to finish it off.
Also managed to finish the Wrath-era dungeon achievements (namely, Occulus) to get my Red Proto Drake. Another thing I got super super close to finishing it off whilst it was current, but then got away from me over time.
Got a shed load of easy achievements out of Wrath and Cataclysm era raid material whilst trying to get easy money/cloth/items to disenchant for bags. If you’re sensing a trend here, it’s that I didn’t do much raid content before LFR was invented.
I’ll probably do more dungeon/raid crawling now that servers have reset for more gold and (possible) mount drops. I’d love to get to an even 200k gold on Hellscream before next Wednesday, but I won’t sweat it if I’m a bit short. I’m also grinding away at leveling another set of rare pets up to 25 so I have more flexibility (family wise) against various trainers; I’ve majorly slacked on my pets this expansion, and for some reason I have the urge to tidy that up while I have nothing else super pressing on my schedule. I’m quite close, and if I pull my finger out, I should be able to tick that off my bucket list before WoD.
Between Warlords, and the 10th anniversary celebrations later this month, and Blizzcon this weekend, it’s going to be a very exciting month for yours truly, and I’m desperately looking forward to the influx of new content to get tucked into. My mage is super thirsty for some leveling–she wasn’t born to be a farmer, and I’m eager to see how well she plays in proper leveling content after all the class changes in 6.0.2.
It’s exciting to be able to share this collective experience with so many people. Sure, I don’t personally know any of you face-to-face, but we share the Warcraft experience. So much of the community can be harsh, and toxic, but I’ve found some amazing people in the 8-ish years I’ve been playing, and feeling the proverbial buzz from so many people…I kinda can’t help but get carried along with it.
If you need me anytime between now and next Wednesday, I’ll be over here in the corner, brushing up on my frost spells and doing a right proper clear-out. I look forward to seeing you all beyond the Dark Portal–the Iron Horde doesn’t stand a chance with us around ;D
see you on the other side (yes, this was taken before 6.0, I know it’s red now x.x)
[A/N: this is based on the super awesome project The Godmother has started over on her blog, which was the perfect opportunity for me to tackle the writer’s block I’ve been battling recently–current players, ex-players, noobs, veterans, casuals–whatever your style, you’re welcome to participate. The more the merrier! Check out her blog for details, and general read-age, because she’s an amazing writer and has been a huge inspiration for my own blogging :D]
1. Why did you start playing Warcraft?
Short version: I caved in to peer pressure.
Long version? A friend of mine at the time knew I was interested in MMOs (I was playing Guild Wars at the time, way back in 2006 or so?), and he mentioned I might like WoW. I was on the fence about it, mainly because it was a subscription-based game and I didn’t have any income at the time. I kinda sorta gave in when Christmas rolled around that year, and I found it for $20 at Gamestop xD He was kind enough to gift me with a few months game-time beyond my initial free month–and the rest they say, is history.
2. What was the first ever character you rolled?
I can’t recall her name (it was something nonsensical, that much I know), but it was a wee human mage on Alleria-US.
3. Which factors determined your faction choice in game?
For the most part, it’s the close friends I play with. Initially I rolled Alliance because my friend (the one who got me into WoW in the first place) was Alliance, and it was far easier for me to go play where he was–he was able to help me figure the game out, get me into his guild on Alleria, etc. When I rerolled on EU servers with my then-boyfriend (who’s now my husband :D), he was quite keen to roll an orc (and later an undead), so I went Horde to play with him (and let it be stated for the record, that us playing WoW together was vital to the survival of our 3 year long-distance relationship). Nowadays, I stick mainly with Horde because that’s where I’ve invested so much of my time and effort, and Alliance is just side projects/faffing about, really.
4. What has been your most memorable moment in Warcraft and why?
I’m going to cheat a little, and give two moments, because I just can’t choose between them xD
1.) The first time I ever logged into the game–EVER. I’ll never forget the sheer amazement and sense of awe I felt when I zoned into Elwynn Forest on a tiny level one mage. I remember standing in Northshire Abbey, trying desperately to take in everything around me–NPCs, other players, those scary ‘yellow’ wolves (who I was convinced were going to attack me). I didn’t even know how to use chat, I was that big of a nooblet. It was a brief moment of time when I had no idea what I was getting myself into, with no real concept of just how immense this world I had entered really was. I’ll never be able to recreate that moment (at least not in WoW; I do get that in other MMOs when I first play them).
2.) The time I spend raiding ICC with my guild during WoTLK. This was before the advent of LFR, back when I was in a proper guild (some of my best gaming days were with these people, before they abandoned the game during Cata). I can distinctly remember how much fun I had running with these folks, who were friendly and chatty and helpful, and how welcome I felt coming along on their 25 man ICC runs. I saw some amazing content that at the time, I wouldn’t have otherwise seen; I made some amazing friends during those months, and I find I’ll always have a soft spot for ICC (and WoTLK content in general I suppose) mainly because of those amazing guys and gals I played with.
5. What is your favourite aspect of the game and has this always been the case?
My favourite aspect in WoW would most likely be ‘leveling projects’, I think, in which I always have an alt to fall back on to level with (I have a really bad case of altitis xD). I’m the type that can get easily burnt out/scared off by too much socialization–LFR and dungeons mainly, where I reach a point of sheer burn-out, or just stress. Having an alt to go level on, solely by myself (unless I choose to throw myself into LFD) is comforting, and I like knowing I always have something to do, even when my main is as complete as I can reasonably get her. I think I’ve been like this for most of my time in WoW (I’ve had altitis for as long as I can remember), but I don’t think I ever recognized it for what it was till this particular expansion.
(And I’ll also note: when I was playing GW1, I pretty much got stuck at level 19 or so because I couldn’t physically progress any further, at least playing solo with a party of mercenary NPCs, and it was intensely frustrating. A lot of people poop on how ‘faceroll’ leveling is, but getting stuck at X level and needing a party to progress isn’t particularly fun either xD)
6. Do you have an area in game that you always return to?
Every time I go to level an alt, I always do Icecrown, even if I could feasibly finish leveling to 80 in another zone, or in dungeons. I’ll forever be in love with that zone–the landscape, the music, the quests (especially Bridenbrad’s questline, that makes me cry every time and I make it a point to do it on every character), the lore…I always find myself back there at 77/78 to finish my Northrend questing off.
I always crey, every time :x
7. How long have you /played and has that been continuous?
It’s a bit hard for me to get an accurate /played, considering I jumped from US to EU servers, but for the record, I’ve been playing since Christmas 2006, and fairly continuously. I think the longest ‘break’ I’ve taken is about 3 months? (the one I took earlier this year, actually)
8. Admit it: do you read quest text or not?
This entirely depends on if I’m questing with someone or not xD If I’m by myself, and it’s a quest/zone I’m not familiar with, I’ll ghost over the quest text (I’m a fast reader!). If it’s one I’ve done a few times before and I’m more familiar with the quest requirements/lore of the zone, I’ll just grab and dash.
If I’m with other people, I almost exclusively skip it, just because I don’t want to hold anyone up whilst I’m reading.
9. Are there any regrets from your time in game?
Not being awesome enough to get Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa’s Rest–it would of been perfect for my mage, and I probably would of sold my soul to the Burning Legion for it xD Alas, I wasn’t (and still am not) nearly leet enough to get anything like that, so it will be a Forever Regret of my gaming career.
10. What effect has Warcraft had on your life outside gaming?
Hands down, it’s been the friends I’ve met who I’m still extremely close to outside of the game. I joined an amazing guild during Wrath (Ebon Phoenix) and made a number of good, close friends who, even after they left the game (boredom, life changes, etc), I’m still in contact with via FB, or twitter. Sure, I might not have met any of them IRL (many of them are scattered about the UK/EU), but I consider them just as good friends as I would anyone face-to-face; these are people who have let me into their lives, and I’ve let them into mine, and we’ve forged amazing relationships outside of the game itself :D
have a random dancing blood elf hunter. because of reasons xD
There’s no good way to reintroduce myself back into my own blog, so here goes:
I’ve obviously been…afk for a while. I hit a wall of sorts back at the end of January; I was planning a trip back to the States to visit family (where I wouldn’t have access to WoW for the duration of my stay). I was burnt out on my daily grind in WoW. I was in a funk of sorts.
It all collided into a delicious mess of ‘meh, can’t be bothered’ and just general malaise. So I made the decision to unsubscribe for a while to give myself a break. I’ve harped on about it before, but I don’t see the point in playing (and paying to play) if you’re not enjoying yourself…and I definitely wasn’t. I don’t take breaks very often, and this last one was the longest I think I’ve taken since I started playing in 2006.
All told, I was gone from WoW for about three months. I was meaning to resub once I got back home, but I kept putting it off…I just wasn’t feeling the urge to log back in.
So what did I do? I have quite a few games installed on my PC, and all F2P, so I dabbled a bit. I played an awesome dual lightsaber-wielding jedi in The Old Republic.. I indulged in my inner fangirl and rolled a Brienne (of GRRM’s A Song of Ice and Fire fame) lookalike in Guild Wars 2.–and there’s something absolutely satisfying about running around as a Norn covered from head to toe in plate and mail wielding a sword bigger than you are, taking no shit and tearing through Tyria.
I kinda somewhat really love my jedi knight. She’s looooooovely.bro do you even lift? (also, this game is too gorgeous for words, screenies can’t do it justice)
(I’ll stop there, and save the fangirly flailing and rambling for another post)
That said, I recently resubbed–I’m buying game cards from now until WoD drops, since you can automatically apply them to your b.net account, and that way if I decide one month I don’t want to play, I don’t have to worry about a reoccuring payment coming out every month.
And I think that’s how I’m going to have to play it until the expansion drops this fall (by all reasonable estimations…and considering we don’t have a bloody beta yet, it’s likely IMO). I can’t promise I can stay fully engaged from now until then–or at least engaged enough to justify the sub cost. I know I’m able to walk away from WoW for bits and bobs of time and not have a problem getting back in the saddle…and it’s a good feeling. Liberating, really. I have no real plans right now, except to play it by ear. I’ve tried making bucket lists before of things I want to do before WoD drops, but those always work out super well (read: I don’t accomplish a damn thing on them), so I’m not going to bother.
What have I been doing in the past week or so since I resubbed?
awwww yea ;D
For one, I finally sorted out my jeweled onyx panther. I’ve had the mats and the gold for ages, but never actually got around to putting them all together. I decided there was no time like the present, so this last weekend I shuffled money and mats around to my warlock, who’s my jewelcrafter. 76k gold later, I had a lovely new mount, and a bit of a hole in my pocketbook. I won’t cry too much, since by my best estimation I’m still sitting on 100k gold on the server, but if I can slowly recoop the costs via selling off my farm mats, then hey ho. But it’s not a concerted effort; I’m back to using the remote AH app to list auctions for super cheap, and make back whatever money I can before WoD.
dis is gorgeous
I also managed to finally snag a Hearthsteed…with some ‘help’ (read: hand-holding) from a third party, who’s a total pro at Hearthstone (at least compared to me, Queen Nooblet). It really is a lovely mount, and is the perfect shade of blue for my mage. And considering it didn’t cost me anything, I can’t complain.
My shaman, Zanzeeli, finally got to 90 as well. It was a bit painful towards the end just because I’ve gotten utterly sick of Pandaria by this point, but questing is still my fastest method of leveling (I get dungeon anxiety whilst leveling, and my pet battling skills are abysmal). I dragged myself from 89-90 in one evening of rum and Pacific Rim (an amazing film by the way, if you haven’t seen it!), and she’s one day away from having a fully functioning 16 plot farm. By this point I’ll have 9 level 90s with 16 plot farms (not counting my Ally DK on Shadowsong), and you’d think I’d have mats pouring out of my ears–and you’d be right. 99% of everything is being sold in the end, though when we get closer to WoD (or at least when we have a drop date in mind), I’ll hide some mats away in my banks for safe keeping, just in case.
I have two Horde toons left on Hellscream to level: Wensicia, my monk and Spindlelegs, my warrior/bank alt. The monk is kinda sorta being leveled with my husband’s warlock, but the warrior is a free agent, and I blew through the first 20 levels quite easily. Last night I finished the storyline in Silverpine Forest, and I gotta say…I get into quite the mindset while playing a Forsaken. Like, I totally become Team Sylvanas when I’m playing Spindlelegs, so it was quite enjoyable questing through content I wasn’t super burnt out by (I think I’ve leveled through post-Cata Silverpine maybe once).
they just had to play lament of the highborne during this for max feelage
There’s not much left to do on my mage, Alyzabeth. I don’t have any goals with her regarding gear–it’s good enough for now, and I’ve got stuff to mog with. The thought of running any sort of LFR content makes me want to vomit all over myself, so I’ll avoid it for the foreseeable future. I may flick through her achievements and see if there’s any easy/entertaining ones I can get out of the way. Maybe more pet battling. Who knows. Like I said, I’m making no real plans, and just seeing where my mood takes me at any given moment.
Before I begin my post in earnest, I have to mention this, because it’s just completely ridiculous and I’m not even sure how I managed it. But I did.
This last weekend I shuffled all my games over onto my external HD that I have set up, but was going relatively unused (1TB, inherited from my husband when he bought a newer model). I was clogging up my internal memory quite horribly (having Guild Wars1/2, Rift, Star Wars, WoW, Diablo, etc will do that to you). The ‘easiest’ way to do it was to do fresh installs on the external since pretty much every online game/MMO has an option to download the client directly from their websites. Had to reformat the HD itself to get it to accept Guild Wars 2 (which needed a NTFS platform, and the HD was set for Fat32) which was pretty annoying, but it got done. I patched all my games up again whilst watching back-to-back episodes of MST3k on Netflix (the best show ever, by the way). Then, I proceeded to uninstall ALL the games from my internal drive, giving me quite a bit of nice shiny space left over. Huzzah!
Till three days later, when I was messing about with my theme for this blog. I can’t seem to settle on anything, but sometimes if I go through my screenshots folder I’ll find something just by chance that will make for a good background or header…
Imagine my surprise when I find approximately five shots in the screenshots folder. Normally there are loads because it goes way back to when I first got this PC in 2010. Pictures from my time in Ebon Phoenix. Pictures from end-of-Wrath, and Cata, and everything in between. Most of them were kinda bullshitey, just random pictures I took while faffing about.
Muggins here forgot to back up her screenshots folder before deleting it from her internal HD. Completely and utterly forgot to do it. Years of memories lost because I was a complete dunce and forgot I even had a screenshots folder to begin with (this is why I love GW2 because their screenshots folder ends up in My Documents, so it’s hard to miss). To say I was mad at myself could be considered understatement of the year for 2014; the cats were privy to a string of curses that would make a sailor blush as I just sat at my computer, staring at a very weaksauce screenshots folder.
I can look back on it now and laugh I guess, because we’ve all been there–all done something so incredibly dumb, a ‘how did I even manage THAT?’ moment where our brains just up and fail us. If there’s an ‘up’ side, it’s that I do have some shots I put on FB which I can try to retrieve (‘try’ being the operative word here, since it might muck up the quality compared to the originals), and wordpress has saved what I’ve uploaded to use here on the blog. So there is some stuff left, but much more gone the way of the digital wind. There might be some really high-tech way of getting it back, but it’d require more effort and brainpower then I can muster–I’m a proper dunce I am :D
Arse biscuit.
And now on to your regularly scheduled programming:
I want this for a transmog. Seriously badass piece of kit…but unfortunately, it’s only a disguise
I’ve been working on pushing my shaman, Zanzeeli towards 90. Last I spoke of her, she was stomping all over the Outlands, and despite not having any heirlooms (I do things the hard way obviously, including leveling–I don’t really mind the grind most of the time), she made short work of Northrend. Cataclysm was a tiny bit slower just because urgh, Uldum, but lo and behold she dinged 85 last night mucking about with the shamans up in Twilight Highlands. Whilst working through Cata content, I’ve been trying to keep her gathering professions up to date, which is a bit difficult when you’re boosted through content at a faster pace than intended.
With most of my professions (okay, ALL of them) I try to use profession guides to keep me on track, and to keep me from wasting my time and efforts and mats doing ridiculous shite that won’t give me any progress. I also use them if I’m stuck in a spot with mining/herbalism/skinning and need a reminder of a level-appropriate grinding spot. This happened with my mining, where I was a few levels short of being able to mine elementium, which was getting super annoying since I seemed to be tripping over it whilst questing in Uldum. The guide I consulted suggested some spots in Vash’jir to go to level; normally I wouldn’t bother with it and just go to Mt. Hyjal, but 1.) I’m frankly sick of Mt. Hyjal, and 2.) I had already quested in Vash’jir and had flight points, plus it’d give me another excuse to use my sea horse.
So, out I went, trying to follow the path outlined by the guide. Long story short, I found myself in this particular bit:
It had mining nodes…but not much else. No mobs. No quests. No NPCs. No battle pets. It’s just a spot on the map in Vash’jir that, at least to me, was unknown and unexplored. I most likely went far enough to get the exploration achievement for that zone, but I obviously didn’t go any further since all this was new territory to muggins here. It was completely empty, devoid of any obvious life*, on the very edge of the zone map.
Can I put my Garrison right here? It’s a good spot!
And once I had finished with my mining, I just stopped and looked around, taking in this ‘new’ area. I realized that wasn’t something I was used to doing anymore; exploring, taking in the world around me wasn’t a part of my gaming experience anymore, at least in WoW. It was going from point A to B, running along the rails and never deviating from the course set out for me. I had stopped putting myself out there, exploring for the sake of exploration, just to find something new. It had been something I had done in Vanilla–back before exploration achievements (where it’s become more about ticking the objective off rather than consuming the content itself), back before you could fly in Azeroth–this is kinda sounding like I’m shaking a fist at Blizzard because they totes ruined the game. I’m not. They haven’t ruined anything, or else I wouldn’t still be playing, seven years after I started, with very few lapses in my subscription.
This is more a personal thing, where I’ve slacked. I need to make more of an effort to color outside the lines, to give myself permission (and ambition) to explore the world, no matter what expansion we may be in. Of course so much of it has lost that awe because I’ve been playing so long, and there’s a finite amount of what you can see, I’ve accepted that reality. But once and a while, there’s a spot that pops up that catches my attention like that, where I stop and smell the roses (metaphorically speaking, obviously).
That said, this bit of the map–known as the Abandoned Reef (according to WoWWiki) is a very comforting place for me and my shaman. I’d like to think she’s the type much better suited to a more solitary life, and you can’t get much more solitary than this spot. It’s calm, and serene, and you could just…float, just commune with the spirits, get away from all the distractions and anxieties that life likes to throw at us (and our characters!).
In short: you could send me to the Abandoned Reef, with this 8tracks playlist (http://8tracks.com/8cvetko/pure-chillstep) playing in the background and I’d be one very happy shaman. I’ve been dealing with personal issues lately, various levels of anxiety and depression popping up to kick me in the face every so often, so finding this particular spot in-game was quite apt timing, in the grand scheme of things. I found it just when I needed to. It’s now my place to just go, and to just be. Nothing about the past, nothing about the future, or even the present really; just existing for the sake of existing, floating along without a weight in the world.
That’s rare. And I cherish those spots, and those moments with every ounce of my wee troll heart.
This is Zanzeeli’s heaven.
*A/N: I learned that the Abandoned Reef is where Ghostcrawler (the rare spawn) pops up. I didn’t see anything when I was out there, and I was on my shaman anyway, but Applecore might make a trip out just to see. I knew he spawned somewhere in Vash’jir, I just wasn’t sure the specific subzone. The more you know!
In my real life away from WoW, I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I’ve had almost 30 years to learn that I’m absolutely rubbish at making plans, ones where I’m so convinced I’ll do X, Y and Z and I’ll be super organized and prepared and ambitious…and then I’m not. And then I get really disappointed in myself, and cue the self-loathing, and a cycle of beating myself up over stupid stuff. So, for the most part, I avoid them like the plague. I instead try to focus on just being happy in the coming year, whatever that might entail on a personal level, adjusting to the spanners that tend to get thrown in the works and muck everything up.
For the most part, I try to avoid making big huge sweeping plans in WoW as well. I’ll tell myself I’ll sort everything out and attack my goals with an almost surgical precision…and then I don’t, choosing to faff about with whatever takes my fancy at that particular moment. And then I feel bad because I’m not working on what I ‘should’ be working on.
See a pattern here?
That said, I was reading the most recent WoW Insider Community Blog Topic, which concerns WoW resolutions, and reading the comments and blog posts got me thinking about making my own resolutions in the game. I tried to avoid super specific goals and focus more on general Things To Be Accomplished, preferably before WoD drops (which is hopefully SOON).
Without further ado, and in no particular order:
1.) Be more engaged in the WoW blogosphere/online community. I’m a very shy, introverted person by nature, both IRL and online (in some respects–I’m quite foot-loose and fancy free over on my FB). I tend to scurry away from engaging with other people even in Warcraft; the bad encounters in-game far outweigh the good, and it’s been difficult for me to make battle.net friends or have anyone to faff about with in-game. That said, I look fondly on the interactions I see between my favorite WoW bloggers/personalities, and a part of me wants to chime in and sit at the table–but I don’t. I desperately want to try and resolve that a little; I don’t need to be a super social butterfly, but I’m also quite keen to get over my almost primal fear of other people. It’ll require lots of work, and unpacking of deep-seated issues, but I’d at least like to make a more concerted effort in 2014.
(And on that note, I try to read as many WoW blogs as I can, but I’m always terrified to comment. But I’m lurking! Hopefully that’s not creepy or anything *shame*)
2.) Finish getting my Hordies on Hellscream to 90. I’ve got 8 so far, with three to go–my shaman (who’s sitting pretty at 82.5), my monk (at 41) and my wee warrior Spindlelegs at 9. I’m not sure I have any particular order in mind as to which one to level per se; I just work on what class I fancy playing at any particular time. Most likely the shaman will be next just because the finish line is so bloody close. I’d love to get them to 90, with farms if at all possible, because it’s almost a compulsion of mine at this point.
3.) Get at least one Alliance to 90, if not more. This really shouldn’t be difficult at all, but I find myself focusing quite a bit on finishing up affairs on Hellscream, that if I work on Alliance on another server I’m screwing around or not being productive or whatever. I have a worgen DK at 86, so this goal is very feasible as it stands right now. That said, getting a few decently settled Alliance characters would be a huge bonus. The DK is on Shadowsong EU right now which seems to have a decent Alliance population, and if that continues I’ll most likely make it my ‘permanent’ home for Allies–this is always something I’m sore about, just because I’m stuck on Hellscream with an abysmal Horde population, and it sucks. Building up a few Alliance toons will also benefit not only my social life (hopefully), but it’ll be easier to farm for pets and mounts, and to buy things off an AH that is eleventy billion times more lively than on Hellscream.
4.) Don’t hesitate to play something other than Mage. I find myself afraid of stepping outside of that comfort zone, of really giving anybody other than Alyzabeth real effort and work. I’m taking baby steps with my hunter Applecore, taking her into LFR and flexing my brain a bit more in the process. Sometimes I get burnt out on Alyzabeth, and having a couple other toons who I feel comfortable playing with at max level would be nice. I’m thinking Applecore is a good second choice, since I’m vastly more comfortable playing ranged rather than melee, and Apple is SoO ready. That said, I would like to try and get better with someone like Yulianna (my DK) or Antebellum (my pally that just dinged 90, wheee!), for a change of pace when the norm gets to be a bit too boring even for me. Doing that means not tunnel-visioning my DPS meters, or letting performance anxiety get the best of me, and just giving it a shot–let LFR do what it’ll do, and knowing that I can always leave if it becomes detrimental to my mental health. With this goal, I HAVE to give myself permission to fail, if need be.
5.) Maybe not strictly WoW-related, but in the same hemisphere at least: work more on my WoW based fiction writing. A million good ideas, and brilliant scenes I play out in my head whilst trying to sleep. Nothing to show for it. I talk a good game about how I want to do it, but I don’t. That has to change. Many of my characters have backstories I’d like to flesh out, and again, it’s about confronting some very big fears I have, and just letting go. And, sharing what I write! I feel reasonably comfortable now with my blog writing, but I feel much more dressed-up and formal when it comes to fiction, hence the stage fright.
6.) Get Ashes of Al’ar. This is strictly RNG based, but by Riker’s beard I want it! Alyzabeth is the only toon I feel comfortable and capable on whilst solo’ing it; I know others run multiple alts a week through Tempest Keep…but I can’t. I just have to take what the WoW gods give me, but words can’t describe how badly I still want this stupid mount.
Again, these seem like quite vague resolutions to me, but it’s how I work best. Of course, I have some specific WoW goals in terms of achievements and such I’d like to clear up before WoD (achievements concerning Pandaria content at least), but I think this is a reasonable list to work with for now.
To those fellow WoW’ers who are reading, I hope you have an amazing and prosperous 2014 in Warcraft, and may you get all the mounts and pets and cool achievements and gears and golds you’re lusting after :D
Yes, I named my pet dinosaur after Mexican food. I was hungry at the time, and it sounded really good. (And ignore that DPS meter plz, not even in the top ten lmaoimgonnagocry)
The range of emotions I experienced during the Legendary quest chain. There was no in-between for me.
Alyzabeth dinged 90 on 8/10/12, according to my achievement date–so well over a year ago. It was then that she embarked on the Legendary quest chain, picking up a Mysterious Note and coming into the service of the black dragon Wrathion. Over the past year, she collected sigils and runestones and valor points and reputation and trillium. She flagged herself PvP and threw her squishy, magey self into the mercy of MoP’s battlegrounds, somehow squeaking out a couple nifty victories. She queued herself for countless LFR runs, sometimes finding riches beyond her greatest expectations (wow, two runestones in one week?! neato!) and very often walking away with nothing more than some spare valor that she doesn’t need.
There were weeks when Alyzabeth didn’t bother at all with it. The quests, in their varied stages, stayed in her quest log, mocking the mage. It was a constant in her life, something that she should probably get around to at some point but kept putting off. Eventually though, she’d complete another stage, and run back to the Tavern in the Mists only to be told by Wrathion that there was still loads to do, and Alyza was sent packing back into ToT or SoO to dirty her hands once again.
The moral of this story is that I don’t do well with ‘forcing’ myself to do things, certainly not on any sort of schedule. I can make lists, and the Best Laid Plans, but then I toss them all away and throw a hissy. I’m the type that does things in my own time, when my mood and anxiety allow me to indulge in certain things–LFR, PvP, etc.
Basically, I dragged ass all through the Legendary quest line. Plenty others raced by me and completed it as soon as they were allowed to, slaying the four Celestials on the Timeless Isle and getting their shiny new cloaks and all that jazz. And I didn’t.
It required me to finally get my finger out, and to realise just how close to the end I was getting. It helped that my husband was on pretty much the same step as I was with his hunter, so he was able to encourage me, and give me some tips along the way. After helping Wrathion and Co. forge that stupid spear on the Isle of Thunder, I was sent to talk to the four Celestials in their respective temples, and to battle Wrathion in the Jade Temple; much like the solo scenario on the Isle of Thunder, I smashed my way to victory. There were a few defeats as I got a feel for what I needed to do (I’m very good at reading strategies, but not comprehending them until I actually get my boots on the ground), but with some luck and a few tricks I won. I then found myself with the ‘daunting’ task of defeating all four Celestials on the Timeless Isle; I say this is daunting since on Hellscream EU, Horde-side is quite tiny compared to the Alliance, so getting a group through more traditional means can be hard. I tried doing it the old fashioned way, but we only got three people together before people started dropping.
Bugger that.
I was then reminded that we have a nifty Raid Browser tool, and that it now includes world bosses–including the Celestials. It took me queueing up several times before I was able to get groups to defeat all four, and lots of back and forth between various servers (which is quite disorienting, not to mention depressing when you zone into another server and they actually have PEOPLE talking!). There were a few instances of accidentally getting flagged and steamrolled by the Alliance, but oddly enough I kept going. I just tried to let it go, to not get frustrated or disheartened.
I loves me some acheesements!
And I did it! Alyzabeth’s very long journey came to an end last night on the shores of the Timeless Isle, in the heart of the Siege of Orgrimmar, and in the Tavern in the Mists. Hours spend collecting and button-mashing and running back and forth culminated in that tiny inn tucked away from the rest of the world where she received her upgraded cloak, a few handy achievements, and a very angry Wrathion (what a turd, seriously). Not only had Alyzabeth finally crafted her Legendary cloak, but she also managed to defeat Garrosh in LFR, something I had been struggling with for the past few weeks–yes, I know it’s old hat, but muggins here got groups that couldn’t get past the first boss. Technically that’s another weight off my shoulders, along with the Legendary, since I wanted to defeat Garrosh at least once before going into WoD.
It’s a tad bit bittersweet to come to the end of this journey. It was frustrating at times, triggering some long-held anxieties I have regarding this game (mainly the PvP aspect, but also just socializing and LFR and such). There were times where I wanted to wring Wrathion’s scrawny little neck when he sent me out on some stupid bloody quest (Lei Shen’s heart in particular, especially considering I had already been in ToT right before that). It may have taken me a while to get there, but it’s not necessarily about how fast you complete the journey–it’s about the journey itself. I stuck with something long enough when it was quite easy for me to just give up, and got my reward in the end. To more ‘hardcore’ players, it probably isn’t a big deal; there’s plenty of debate on the intertubes about whether or not Blizzard went in the right direction regarding this particular Legendary (a debate I’m not keen to throw myself into, by the way). But to me, and my wee mage Alyzabeth, it’s a pretty big deal. It’s something to cross off her bucket list, a heavy weight pulled off her shoulders heading into the next expansion.
oooooooooh! ahhhhhhhh! So shiny! Much impress!
I suppose the inevitable question is ‘what’s next?’ for her, and I’m not sure. I reckon plenty of faffing is in order, since there’s plenty of achievements she has left that could be done. She still doesn’t have Ashes, so there’s plenty more TK runs in her future. Pets need collecting. Alts need leveling. Golds need to be hoarded, farms tended to. There’s still some upgrades to be found in LFR, something I can do as and when I feel like it, without the spectre of the Legendary hanging over my head.
What a long, strange journey it’s been*. For now, it’s a rare moment where I’m quite chuffed with myself, and I’ll try to hang onto that feeling for as long as I can.
Time for her Riding Off Into the Sunset moment I reckon.
*Another achievement which I consider among some of my finest. Another example of sticking with something long enough, and confronting my fears (Children’s Week!11!) in order to achieve something I really, really wanted.
**Yes, I love my Time Lord set from Cata. It’s one of my most popular transmog sets, just because it has that funky steampunk-esque feel, and it matches, and I love the headpiece <3
[A/N: I know it’s been a couple weeks since my last post. I just haven’t had the will to write, really. And I haven’t been doing anything particularly spectacular in-game. Aaaaand, I’ve been suffering from a wonky sleep schedule, so I blame that as well. Like I mentioned on twitter, I’d rather not write at all, than to write something that’s so obviously crap. But this is a good attempt, I suppose.]
This has been me lately. It’s been one of those days/weeks/months/years/lifetimes.
I suppose a tad bit of a progress report is due, considering it’s been at least a fortnight since my last post (way back during Thanksgiving, whoa!). I have made some decent headway in some of my ‘projects’ on Alyzabeth. In no particular order:
*Managed to knock out quite a few of the Burning Crusade reputations I had been grinding out. The only one I had left is Scale of the Sands, which is basically me flailing around the Battle for Mt. Hyjal whilst spamming Arcane Explosion and racking up the reps. It’s not terribly difficult–more just time consuming, since the enemies come in waves, and it can require a bit of running back and forth between mobs (mostly with Thrall, Jaina’s pretty simple). I also need Ogri’la as well, but their dailies has always left a really bad taste in my mouth, so I’ve constantly dragged my feet on making a concerted effort to work on that rep. I know I SHOULD do it, but it’s one of those things I conveniently avoid doing.
*Managed to gain my 20 Secrets of the Empire, after what felt like a million years. I wooshed off to find Wrathion to turn them in, after which he sent me back to the Isle of Thunder to complete <The Thunder Forge>. It requires you to protect Wrathion whilst he forges some fancy-pants lance thingy; the first part is fairly easy, where you fight off some mogu while Wrathion’s busy tinkering to get the forge started. The second portion though…oh my gods, it made me want to throw my computer out my window. You have to help protect a Celestial Blacksmith NPC who’s charging up a room full of anvils, while little (and sometimes big) sha’s come at you. You have a Celestial Defender NPC to help you…but it didn’t really help me. My camera angle kept going wonky, and I couldn’t keep up with the enemies to keep them off the Blacksmith, and I couldn’t seem to get to the charged anvils fast enough to stop Insanity going off (a nifty little spell that completely fecks you up, and you NEED to interrupt it). Needless to say, I had to leave the scenario a few times in order to maintain my sanity (and to keep my computer safe). Somehow, eventually I managed it though (after many tears on Alyza’s part)! Not entirely sure how I did it, and if you were to ask me for tips or tricks, I couldn’t give you any–it seems I managed to spam my buttons well enough to keep the NPCs up, get the lance, and finish off the Sha Amalgamation.
(I did take some comments to heart from the wowhead page for this quest: http://www.wowhead.com/quest=32593#comments, if you should need it. I still reckon it was blind luck that saved me.)
No matter how many times I do this bloody boss, I will never completely suss out this bit. I’ve survived maybe twice out of the eleventy billion times I’ve run it. Le sigh.
I finished that scenario off, and ran back to Wrathion to get the next part…oooooooooooh, I need 12 Titan Runestones now. Great. Basically the same thing I did before, just different stones? Seems to be a theme here, but off I went. I managed to get lucky the first week I had the quest, and got six or so from LFR (the last two ToT and the first two SoO). It took a bit of blood, sweat, tears (and wine), but I managed to get my 12. I ran back to Wrathion, with a super excited mage–I’m getting closer to the end of the chain, aren’t I? I’ll have a shiny cloak?!
Yes, I am the spark, the fire that will spread across the world, but first I must fetch him more stones! Somehow I think my mage is above this shit.
Now I need the heart of Lei Shen. Oh.
Well.
I might of audibly sighed at my computer when Wrathion told me that. I know it’s a Legendary quest chain and all, but one can’t help but feel that this ‘friend’ of ours is taking the piss. Thankfully you can loot the heart if you’ve already killed Lei Shen for the week (which I’ve done), so I’m gonna take a stab at him tomorrow–thankfully, the ToT groups I’ve run into have been fairly seamless now that the content is a bit older, and people are better geared/more knowledgeable/more comfortable with the content.
From what I can tell, I’m quite close to the end. My husband is a step ahead of me, but he’s run into some problems defeating the Celestials, so he’s put it off for the time being. That doesn’t bode well for me, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. All Alyza wants is a shiny cool cape–she doesn’t care about it’s Legendary status, or its stats, just that it LOOKS awesome. But to be fair, on a personal level, this is something I want to finish before WoD drops.
*Managed to FINALLY get a couple pets to 25. I’m the world’s slowest pet leveler, and battler–I do it when I feel like it, and I get very easily distracted, hence why it’s taken me so long (/embarrassed). The first one to make it to 25 was Yorrick, the disembodied floating skull that Alyzabeth talks to (don’t all mages go a bit squirrelly at some point?). I’m hoping to get one of each family to 25 within the week–the rest I need are in the 23/24 range so it shouldn’t be difficult, so much as time consuming. My brain isn’t made for pet battles, but it’s something I do want to do more of, and knock out some achievements in the process. That, and I’d love to open up the Beasts of Fable and Pandaria dailies, and take a stab at the Celestial Tournament (ahahahahaha, like I’ll ever defeat that! But I’d like to try XD).
When you’ve been playing with magic as long as Alyzabeth has, you start to become…weird. No one has the heart (or stones) to tell her that she has a problem. He’s a great listener though! And yes, Yorrick with two r’s, because he’s ~*special*~
*Managed to get the achievement for the second wing of SoO. Every time I got thrown into it, it was right smack in the middle. I constantly needed the first two bosses in order to get the achievement and progress, but I couldn’t…until I could! I might of nearly wee’d myself in excitement when I saw not only Lor’themar, but Aethas there for the Galakras fight (especially Aethas without his cowl/face mask…thing! Very surprising). Also managed to get the third wing completed as well, so I can technically take a stab at Garrosh…except all the groups I’ve been in so far have been fail. I’ll have to wait for the reset and see what kind of luck I have on that front.
Alyzabeth has the biggest girly mage crush on Aethas (even though she could probably wipe him out on the DPS meter–look at his armor?!)
*Made progress on a couple of leveling toons: my shaman Zanzeeli, who had been stuck in the Outlands has finally progressed into Northrend, and sits pretty at 72. I also did a bit on my Alliance DK, Aveshka, on Shadowsong; I underestimated the advantage of having access to two separate AH’s in terms of looking for pets and other Things Made of Awesome. Hellscream’s AH is pretty abysmal at times, but Shadowsong can have some decent deals–if you have the money for it. Which I don’t. At least I don’t until my DK hits max level, and can start a farm, and I can start flogging stuff on their AH. It’s been kinda fun questing from a different perspective; she’s 84 at the moment, and I hadn’t done Cata content Alliance-side, and I’ve been making an effort to read the quest text. Sometimes I get so stuck in with my characters on Hellscream, I forget there’s a whole other half of the game that I’m not familiar with :D
I might of facepalmed when I saw this. Memories flooded back of when my husband and I slogged through all the episodes of ’24’ on Netflix. Just no.This, on the other hand, made me laugh. Quite hard. It’s the first time I’d done these quests, and then to find a fecking dwarf in a box…lols forever.
Even though I’m currently living in England, as an American expat, I find time to celebrate Thanksgiving (or as the English refer to it, Thursday). We have our own type of dinner (sometimes it includes yorkies instead of rolls, and there’s custard involved in some point), and despite my snarky, cynical nature, I try to keep the spirit of the holiday at heart–to be thankful for what I have, to see where my privileges are, and to be appreciative of them.
In Warcraft, there’s no exception. This year, I find I have a lot to be thankful for in-game. It seems I’ve run into a decent streak of good luck in the game in the past fortnight:
Awww yeah!
Managed to snag the Raven Lord’s mount after countless times running that depressingly fugly dungeon.
Awww yeah Part 2!
Managed to get the White Hawkstrider off of Kael’Thas (ahahahaha suck it you were a sucky prince anyway!).
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND:
My mage has now adopted a new puppy for the holidays. Comes with unlimited supply of brandy. And he drools! XDScreenshots don’t do this mount justice AT ALL.The blue version <3And it’s yellowish/brown/tan version!
I was extremely fortunate to have a generous husband who gifted me the Enchanted Fey Dragon AND Alterac Brew Pup from the Blizzard store, for an early Christmas present! He knew how badly I wanted the mount, and how I would of been willing to sell my soul to whatever Old God I needed to in order to get it.
But to top it all off:
Wat dis?Good gods this mount is huge. Look at my mage derpin about at the controls XD
When I logged onto Alyzabeth to go do my farms this morning, I saw I had mail from my husband’s engineer alt. I thought he made me a pet or something–sometimes he does that and gives me an extra because he knows I don’t have a max engineer to do that stuff with. I may have almost peed myself when I saw a Sky Golem sitting in my mailbox; I immediately started trying to get him to take some gold off of me, or to post it onto the AH so he could make some gold for himself. He refused, and made me accept it after assuring me he wasn’t worried about the gold, and he knew I needed it, blah blah blah.
He’s a bloke I don’t deserve, but I’m extremely thankful to have in my life :D I’m thankful that I’m privileged enough to be able to play this amazing game for as long as I have; to have the computer and internet and hell, even electric to be able to actually play the game. I’m thankful I have the financial means to pay for a subscription without sweat or hassle (again, thanks to my husband for that!). I’m thankful to be a part of the WoW community, and to have been met with support and camaraderie by the WoW blogging community when I first started this venture*. Over the course of 2013, I’ve become acquaintances and friends with some AMAZING people; over my course of playing WoW, I’ve met people who I consider my best friends (without having met them face to face even, but that’s irrelevant to me).
In my real life, I’m extremely thankful to be so privileged to be living in another country, to be able to still be with my husband despite the hurdles of immigration and distance and money. I’m thankful I have my friends, and my cats are safe and warm. I’m thankful for my mom, who even though she’s 5,000 miles away (which makes this time of the year wicked hard, I’ll admit), is still around despite having several health issues pop up after I moved away from the US. She’s still a phone call away (and a plane ride away next year), and I’m extremely fortunate to still have her here.
I’m thankful for Mana Buns, for my own little slice of the internets. A place that I can call my space, and my virtual home. And I’m thankful for everyone who reads my posts, and likes it, and comments on it, and RTs it over on twitter. And hell, I’m thankful for the people who follow me over @blanket_burrito, who’ve been nothing but supportive and friendly.
I’m on deviled egg duty today, so it’s time for me to sign off. See you on the other side <3
I remember buying those bags–they were Quite A Big Deal back in vanilla.
Back in my halcyon days of WoW, I remember how difficult I found it to make money. Having one gold was something for me to brag about, an achievement that felt like a milestone. That said, I still needed help buying my first mount at level 40, a beautiful plain brown horse for my human mage; my guildies were very generous, and knowing I was new to the game, loaned me the difference so I could finally ride with the big kids. I still remember how bloody excited I was after I got it, so much so that I just ran back and forth between Eastvale Logging Camp and Stormwind. I didn’t need end-game raiding or shiny armor to make me happy then. That brown horsey was enough.
I digress.
Back in the days of Vanilla WoW, making gold could be considered quite difficult–at least it was for me. Dailies hadn’t been implemented yet, and flying mounts were an expansion away still. Options were limited once you hit level 60, and since I didn’t really raid or PvP much, my mage found herself desperately grinding elemental mobs in Silithus for common quality items to try and flog on the AH. I traipsed across the Burning Steppes and Eastern Plaguelands scavenging for items I thought had value. Every scrap I could get my grubby mittens on got sold, no matter how little I got for it (like the Tesco advert says, every little bit helps!). It was in a desperate bid to get my epic mount skill at level 60, which back in that day was nigh on impossible unless you were either 100% super dedicated to making money, or lucky. I never did get that mount–I kept my level 40 horsey all the way through the Dark Portal until I stopped playing at 68 and switched to my EU account.
Nowadays it’s a million times easier to make money, and I don’t blink an eye when my new alts manage to come up with several gold without having to exert any effort. Dailies are a HUGE boon in this respect, giving us another option besides mindless mat farming in order to generate gold. I admit I get super burned out on dailies, and haven’t touched any of the MoP ones in weeks (besides the 20 elites on the Timeless Isle for my mage, and the dailies to get my Tillers rep to exalted on new 90 alts so they can get a proper farm). That said, having the choice between money-making options is brilliant, and has made my WoW life infinitely easier.
Basically, kids these days. You don’t know how easy you have it blah blah fart blah ;D
Last night I noticed my ‘bank alt’, Spindlelegs reached 50k gold on her. That was never an official number. I never set out to get X amount on her, it was just a number that popped out at me when I was sorting through my affairs. I didn’t have a celebration or anything (well I was drinking a beer so that might count), but it was a pleasant surprise. Alyzabeth has a cool 38k on her at the moment–it was 40k yesterday, but I found a pet on the AH I wanted and 2.5k wasn’t a bad price. See, I don’t hardly blink at spending a couple grand, as where my old self would probably die at the thought of shelling out that kind of gold for a bloody pet (but then again, my old self existed in a world that didn’t have pet battles, soooooooo). I find that for certain things, if the price is right, I don’t mind parting with the gold–my time and sanity are more valuable, and therefore if I can spare the effort grinding a pet or glyph recipe or cut gem, I’ll do it.
I’m always fascinated learning more about how my fellow Azerothians make gold. I’m intrigued by the notion of playing the AH almost like you would in the real world, how the concepts of supply and demand work in a virtual space. Filling the gaps where a market hasn’t been cornered, be they glyphs or gems or enchants, timing your auctions just perfectly to maximize profits, knowing just the right price to put stuff up for–not shooting yourself in the foot and losing profit unnecessarily whilst keeping your product competitive. I stand in awe of the players who reach gold cap via those means, making smart choices on their server, where the gold making business becomes a game all in of itself (a game within a game? O.o).
I ain’t those people though. And I will never claim I am.
I’ve spoken before about how utterly disorganized I can be in this game, despite my desire to be otherwise. I see my husband making spreadsheets, and being very deliberate in the things he does. In comparison to him (and some others), I’m a hot mess, flying somewhat by the seat of my pants in pretty much every respect. Making my money isn’t any different. I utilize about zero strategy when I approach money making. The most ‘organized’ part of the affair (a tip I picked up from my husband) is to designate one toon who I guess could be considered a bank alt of sorts–my warrior, Spindlelegs.
Spindlelegs is unique in that she used to be a level 85 orc warrior in Cata. Whilst I love female orcs, I wasn’t in love with her, and I got the itch to play another forsaken on Hellscream. So, in a spur of the moment decision, I deleted the 85 and rerolled a forsaken warrior, and I don’t particularly regret the decision (in this case, my time and effort isn’t worth as much as the real life money I’d pay for a race change). I have every intention of leveling her, but for the time being she serves my purposes fairly well, parking herself in front of the Undercity AH. Everything gets funneled through her, and she collects all the gold which she distributes when my other characters want/need some money. It keeps things reasonably neat and tidy, my focus directed in one place, which my poor muddled brain needs.
Another thing I use is the Remote AH via the Mobile Armory, which has been a complete lifesaver for yours truly. Even though I’m at home and have access to the proper game, I’ll use the mobile app right before I go to bed and set up all my auctions (except on certain days when I know my husband will be selling, since I don’t want to undercut him–keeps our marriage solid ;D). I can easily switch between things I have on Spindlelegs, her bank, and her mailbox so I don’t even have to fuss with picking up my mail THEN posting it. I set the app so it takes a flat 5% off the lowest price so I can undercut people without even having to do the math. I don’t even LOOK at the prices; I just set my stacks and make sure those are good, and then press sell. I even collect all my gold from the app since it’s a one-click affair. I hardly use the in-game AH anymore except when I’m browsing for stuff to buy.
But what do I sell? It’s easy to find stuff when you have 7 farms that produce mats on a daily basis–and yes, I’m pretty religious about logging in and collecting my stuff and replanting my crops, even if I don’t feel like doing much else in WoW on that particular day. Most of it ends up being herbs and leather which I end selling at (what could probably be described as) dirt cheap prices, but I have SO MUCH of it that the profits add up after a while. I’m also starting to sell off some of my cloth and dust, and sometimes I’ll sell cut gems if I think they might turn a bit of gold. It’s a bit tricky on my server, since oftentimes I’ll have to repost the gems a few times before someone picks them up, but eh. No real skin off my nose. Golden Lotus is always a good money-maker, even if it’s only 50-60g per piece–I usually put 20 of those up at a time. Again, every little bit helps. I find I focus more on selling raw mats than crafted items for the time being, just because I’m not entirely sure of what will sell–selling crafted items feels like a much bigger gamble to me than just throwing up mats. I may try to break into that part of the AH at some point, but for now I’m comfortable with my methods, and they’re reasonably successful.
There’s a pattern here. It’s basically I’m lazy. I’m also not in any particular rush, nor do I have any set goals in mind which I guess has made it feel fairly…easy I guess.
And do I have anything particular in mind to spend it on? Not really. I’ve been tempted to try and pick up a Unclaimed Black Market Container but I’m not entirely sure what the end price for it is on my server. I see it a lot up for 10k, but with a long time left on the auction, and I have yet to hover around to see what the top bid is–it’s one of those things I may just have to do spur of the moment and see what happens (protip: I’m not a wild and spontaneous person by any means, especially with spending money, so it’s scary). I’d only really do it for the chance to get a fecking awesome mount, like Ashes of A’lar, which means I can die a happy mage whilst flying around on a glowy phoenix.*
Maybe someday I’ll be gold capped. I’m more likely to become the Queen of England but if it happens, it happens. I just reckon my wee warrior’s pockets are a bit heavy this morning, but at least I know I’ll never have to beg a friend or guildie for my riding skill money again.**
This was my entire WoW Vanilla experience.
*My heart might literally explode if I ever get the Ashes. It’s all I’ve ever wanted since BC, and my attempts at farming it myself have been poopy.
**I apologize to my guildies way back when, since I can’t remember if I ever managed to pay off that debt. I feel bad now D:
Mana Buns 