Wyndampryce, level 22 Demon Hunter

Yes, that's right, I've gotten my 'Demon Hunter' to level 22, strictly by grinding on Demons!

Wyndampryce on the Armory

This screenshot was taken after leveling to 22 and heading back to Stormwind to train.
That's 1094 mobs killed, 1094 Demons! (and 1 Deep Run Rat!)


To update on Wesley(his first name), he is a human rogue. At level 1 I ran him to Teldrassil and leveled to 6 on the demons in the Night Elf newb area. Then to level 10 on the demons in the cave at Dolonar in Teldrassil. Much of level 11 was exploring XP. Then I moved him to the demons on Bloodmyst Isle, the ones that are level 12-15, southwest of the main town. At around level 15, I moved him to the higher level demons in the north of the island. Between this and XP from exploring has gotten him to 22. The next demons are in Ashenvale starting around levels 23-24.

He has fully explored most of the zones his level and lower(with the exception of the Blood Elf areas). His herbalism is 154 and inscription is 142. He has lucked out and managed to get both the Sinister Squashling from Hallow's End and the Peddlefeet from Love is in the Air!

I generally let him rest in an Inn for a week to build up rested experience until at least the end of the current level. So far each level then has taken about an hour to gain. I know this will take longer and longer as the levels get higher. And will also change depending on the difference in level of the character and the mobs. The first few levels at the 16-18 Satyrs in Bloodmyst took an hour, with stops every so often to bandage or eat. The last few levels there went very quickly to the point where I had almost cleaned out the whole camp and had to wait for respawns as all mobs were green levels. The next group in Ashenvale will go slowly again due needing to stealth more and stop between fights, but the higher xp/mob makes up the difference, so all in all it comes out about the same in time spent/xp gained.

Also, he has gained quite a lot of money for a character his level simply by getting money dropped by mobs, selling every gray/white item they drop to vendors, and selling stack after stack of linen and wool on the auction house. A few glyphs have sold decently as well. He already has the money for his mount when he hits level 30-as well as plenty left over for snapping up a few bargains on the AH for gear when I can find them.

This has been an interesting expirement so far, and I look forward to leveling him up higher-though there aren't many demons in Northrend should I get him that high. Things may have to change at that point. But I will cross that bridge if I ever get to it!

To Play or not to Play?

Yes. I am still playing. Yeah, playing so much that I don't have time to update this page. Recently I've...

My Warlock is level 70, making my 9th character to at least level 70
My Dwarf hunter is 1 bar from level 70-that will make #10
My BE DK is level 67. 5, at 68 he will be in Northrend and then he will be #11 at 70


I've also done some **shocking!!** PeeVeePee with Kick! It's only Wintergrasp and while I can't say I'm having fun(yeah, I am certain I really suck at it), at least I've gotten some gear that makes her look a little better and slice through those boring old dailies like warm butter. I'd link the gear, but if you are reading this then you know what I am talking about. The leather headgear for WG tokens-the one that looks like the mask Anthony Hopkins wore in "Silence of the Lambs", heh. And in the time it took to get those 40 tokens I got enough honor to buy the Hateful Gladiator wristguards and necklace. And I've helped level hubby's characters who are leatherworking and blacksmithing, so I am also now sporting the Ice Striker's Cloak and Titansteel Destroyer.

What does all that mean? It means that for the first time EVER my main character is wearing more purple than any other color. Yep, not counting my tabard(which is also epic-Explorer ftw), I have 10 out of 16 slots in epics. And only 2 of the others are green-1 is a trinket, which will be the next thing I upgrade from WG making epic #11; and my Idol-which I have no way of upgrading, there really isn't much to choose from and no way for me to get any of the better ones. :/ Oh well.

I've also gotten a few new titles on my druid...Chef, Ambassador, the Seeker(3k quests completed), and Argent Champion(AD and AC exalted).

Again I say, what does all this mean? It means my character looks a little better while running around Dalaran gathering items for the cooking quest. I guess I don't get laughed at as much. But it still hasn't brought my friends back-they still won't talk to me-too busy running off to Naxx to even stop and wave or anything. And it just makes me feel like I have to do more somehow...and I don't want to! But I can't stop.

Seriously, I just stumbled across a website this morning that made me ACHE for the times before WoW when we would take road trips every other weekend to so many random places around our state and the neighboring ones. Taking so many photos I didn't know what to do with them. From having thousands of photos to look at back from 2001-2005, each year after that the number decreases. Yeah sure, the gas problem was to blame too. And exploring Azeroth seemed an almost reasonable sidegrade to exploring Tennessee. But I'd much rather be posting photos I took than "screenshots" I took. My personal website is up for renewal next month. I was seriously considering letting it go, letting it drop and giving that up. After spending 3 hours looking through photos on this other website this morning, I've realized I can't do that-I want to get mine back and going again.

If only I can stop playing all day, every day. Ya know-the old, "ah only 3 more days of these dailies until I can buy such-and-such" and "a few more hours questing here with this character to level up again" and "I gotta farm for a few hours so all of our characters can afford to buy our flying mounts when we hit level 70". I've got to stop.

Maybe today is the day. Maybe.

Still plodding along

I don't know why, but I still play.

Recently got the following achievements with Kick-500 daily quests, Loot 1000 gold, Receive 10000 gold from quest rewards. Exalted with Argent Dawn(8kish to go with Argent Crusade). Only 5 points from 450 cooking(and then suffering through 5 pvp games to get that achievement) and getting the "Chef" title.

And on the other hand...I have officially put our 'former' friends on /ignore. Yeah, the one I talked about before. I thought maybe things weren't as bad as I was making them out to be. They are. ASIDE from the fact that I know he didn't level his own character all the way to 80. And then one day later is being taken to Naxxramas. ASIDE FROM THIS....my kid wants to get all of the Holiday achievements(at the end of the year you get a special mount for finishing all of them). She had the first 2 done. The one for Lunar Festival, these past 2 weeks, involves entering some Northrend instances. It just so happened that he was IN the hardest one to get last week. She whispered him and asked nicely if she could hop in there after they were done to get to the Elder. At first he said 'ok'. He and his JERK of a son invited her to the group after they left the instance. Then they proceeded to (1) Not provide any hint of how to get to the instance entrance-they just left it, how do they not know HOW to get there???? (2) Provide no help whatsoever in explaining how to get to the Elder-though I could see later from their achievements in the Armory that they did in fact GET this Elder, (3) then his son tells her basically to 'hurry the hell up and get out of their group because they were waiting for her to get OUT so they could go into their next instance'!!!

WELL EXCUSE THE F***K OUTA ME FOR ASKING FOR ONE MEASLY FAVOR! Oh no, for the past 3 years we have JUMPED at the chance to help YOU with anything you asked our help with...but ONE TIME we ask for a favor and we are treated like this! If I had a huge red mean face I'd post it right here. I had my kid place the two on /ignore. I then logged into most of my characters and also put them on /ignore. It wasn't until the next day, when I was on my mage(who hadn't ignored them yet), and I saw them standing around Dalaran that I get this whisper "hey kid hows it going I'm headed to Naxx 10" I didn't even answer, I /ignored him right to his face. WAY TO ACT LIKE NOTHING EVER HAPPENED! And way to be HANDED free epix that you didn't even work for. JERK.

So....since we only had the ONE friend in our whole world before, we OFFICIALLY(in my book anyway) now have NONE. And I hate this game even more. But I just can't stop playing it.

/cry

I just can't do it

Play well with others, that is. Okay, it's not the 'play well' part, just the 'play'.

I don't want to raid. Really, I don't. I've already stated many times that purple gear doesn't excite me at all. But that really isn't the reason. Let me list them for you...

• I can't use vent. Not that I don't want to, really. I really have a hard time hearing. I watch tv with the closed captioning on. I would need closed captioning for vent...guess what that is...CHAT LOG. But all guilds that I know of require you to use vent.
  
• Raids happen at night. I spend time with my family at night. We are either watching tv shows, playing other games or playing WoW together...but any way I look at it, family>WoW.
• I don't do well with other people telling me what to do. Especially if that person is 12 and continues to call me a loser. I'm not interested in putting up with that crap just for some GAME that I want to play for FUN.
• I just don't like crowds. I don't like them at big events, even such as football games, I don't like them at the mall, like right before Christmas, and I don't like them in a GAME.
  

Those are the main reasons, really. I think they are pretty good reasons. I can't really see anyone beating those in order to convince me TO raid. Nope.

I'll just keep to my little BoE blues, solo quests and daily rep grinding. Now please leave me alone.

New Year's Resolutions

What do I want to do with my characters this year? To be honest...play them less. Yes, it's true. I'm just not cut out for this game. I kept hoping that I would get better. But noone likes me, and the people who used to be my friends don't talk to me anymore unless THEY want something from me. It really seems like such a waste of time.

Yeah, it's fun. Sometimes. When we do some things. But doing the same stupid quests that I HATE, every day, in hopes of getting a cool reward makes me feel like a mouse who is running in a maze looking for cheese and just not finding it. I just keep hitting dead ends, I am not getting better gear playing the way I play, which means I am not getting better as a player, which means I am basically logging in every day only to just bang my head on a wall for hours. Seems pointless. So no, maybe it really isn't fun anymore.

To be honest, though, I don't WANT to be in a 'raid' guild. Because 'raiding' is too much like having a job. Look this way(spec), be here at THIS time, do exactly what we tell you, spend off time ONLY gathering items you need in order to do the job, and if you don't then you don't get the paycheck. Screw that. I will not have 12year olds ordering me around. Hell, I won't have 25 year olds ordering me around...I will not have ANYONE ordering me around! Not to play a G A M E that is supposed to be fun. Nah, they can keep that crap. I just want to go back to my life before WoW. :(


Oh yeah...resolutions...uhmmmm...get at least a few other characters to 80. That's about it. I don't really care if they get anything else. Not interested in getting the 'phat lewt', not interested in the 20k gold mount, not interested in the also expensive motorcycle mount, not interested in much anymore.

Playing Lord of the Rings today...

Because of extra long maintenance again. Not that I care. My rogue turned 76 last night. One of my Death Knights is 68. My druid is bored and doesn't want to do anything except for the cooking daily. What difference does it make? She doesn't do instances or pvp so I don't really need better gear, do I? No of course not, I mean that is what all the 'raiders' and 'pvpers' say anyway-losers like me don't deserve good gear because we don't do anything with it. Fine, so I will just sit in Dalaran and look like a loser while running around doing my cooking daily because I don't get better gear so NOONE wants anything to do with me. Thanks for making me not want to play this game at all. It's a vicious circle(and not just because that is the name of my human mage's guild). Can't get better gear because I have crap gear, but can't get better gear because I can't GET BETTER GEAR! WHAT??!!?? And I will not lower myself to pvp or arena just to have purples. I hate it and it won't happen. Man I hate this game.

Just messing around with something

I want to see if this updates at any point. I have tried adding it to the top but for some reason it won't accept the web address for the picture, so I have to save it. But then it doesn't update, soo...I'm just trying it here. Just to see. (because the one up there, Rayak, is now level 75-that is a saved version from when I was 70, joy).

edit...well, I tried to link my armory to it, but apparently I can only link to the sight that gives the signature picture. So I will try to log out in bear form later and see if it updates.

edited to remove the picture and link because it either doesn't update or I'm just not seeing it. Oh well, who really gives a flip.

Bored? Maybe, maybe not

Tuesday, maintenance. But wait, NO, not today! Hooray! Only rolling restarts. Which means I log in with my rogue and get him situated to grab the last 2 books for the Kirin Tor achievement/minipet. Except when the realm says it is up, all I get is "Logging in to game server". For an hour. Urgh.

Finally I log in on Draenor with my Death Knight. I get his skinning from 253 to 320 in Feralas and Winterspring on yetis. Then head to Zangarmarsh to finish off quests there. Then to Terrokar for a few more. Get to a few bars from 65. Almost ready for Nagrand.

And then I get bored and attempt to get back on Kael'Thas. Yep, it is actually up now. Who knows how long, really. I don't even bother with my rogue looking for the books. I take Kick to Stormpeaks for the dailies there. Blue chicks-more snowballs and cheese. woot. And then Sons of Hodir. Found an extra ice crystal thing today and am at 10200/12k. Maybe tomorrow, most likely Thursday, I will have my Wooly Mammoth mount. And then I won't go near there for quite awhile. I'd still like a Polar Bear mount from the Blue Chicks, but with my luck it ain't gonna happen. I will be happy with the Mammoth that I can flat out buy. Not that I use my mounts that often. If I am somewhere flyable, I am in bird form, and around Dalaran I prefer cheetah because the streets are busy enough as it is.

So then I rambled on up to Icecrown, where I hadn't even gone yet except to explore. Got started on a few of the Knights of the Ebon Blade quests, just enough to get friendly and open up the quartermaster so I could buy a tabard. It's dark, it looks cool. Look forward to getting my Death Knights there(yeah, sometime in the year 2010>.<). Then hopped over to do the first few for Argent Crusade, enough to get a blue trinket which frankly sucks for a feral druid as far as I can tell.

And then I got bored and logged out. And don't really know who to log in with now. Finish more quests with my druid, make lots of money, farm mats for all of the other characters? Or get another character leveled up? And if so, which one? My Blood Elf hunter or my Human mage or my Death Knight?

Bored. Hmmmm. Work on my website? Maybe...

More achievements...

See that blue up there? That is the Giant Sewer Rat! I finally fished him up! That also nabs an achievement! It also puts my druid at 61 mini pets. And yes, I was transformed into a cockroach at the time-I was just being disgusted at having eaten a Magicfish and turned into this, and BOOM blue catch and the pop-up box! I was not bummed about being a roach anymore. :)

But it was only the last of 9 achievements I managed to grab today.

In order that I got them...

1. To All the Squirrels I've Loved Before -I still needed ewe, sheep, cat, cow, fawn, gazelle, ram; so I went through the portal to Shat, got ewe, went through portal to Silvermoon and got cat; took transporter to Undercity, flew to Arathi, rode to Wetlands tunnels, got ram; rode to Badlands, flew to Grom'gal, rode north(did some other things here, shown later), got cow, sheep and fawn in Elwynn Forest. Later I went to Orgrimmar, flew to Crossroads and found a gazelle to finish the achievement.

2. Deadmines -while in Westfall, I stopped and stealthed quickly through Deadmines to kill Van Cleef and get this one.

3. Fishing Diplomat -had already fished in Orgrimmar many times, so now I needed Stormwind. After Deadmines and loving some animals in Elwynn, I swam up the coast to the Stormwind Harbor; as soon as I hit the zone, I popped a water walking potion and fished up one fish to get this achievement

4. Stormwind Stockade -since I was already here, I though what the heck. So I stealthed on up the harbor and into Stormwind. The only Alliance I saw was a Night Elf rogue(level 70+, I didn't check), on a War Ram(zoiks!) in some sort of Arena gear. He ran past me and obviously caught the stealth sound-YIKES! I quickly jumped into the water, still stealthed(and wearing my Kalu'ak fishing pole-underwater breathing ftw!), and LUCKILY he moved on! Whew! I then made it all the way to the Stockades with no trouble and went in and smacked down this Bazil dude!

5. Scavenger -I still needed the floating wreckage, so after hearthing out of Stockades, I went through the portal to Orgrimmar and flew up to Aszhara. Found a pool I needed right away, fished up one box, got that and headed on.

6. Critter Gitter -It was actually after the Scavenger that I went to Crossroads and loved the gazelle. Then I went back to Org and caught the zeppelin to Borean Tundra. Flew over to one of the nearby icebergs, found a huge group of penguins, and started throwing my Critter Bites to them until I had 10 quickly and got that achievement!

Since my hearthstone was still on cooldown, I took this time to log in to my rogue and gather a few things. I needed Mageroyal and Small Eggs for the Chocolate Cake, and one Zangarian Sporefish. So I went around to get those, mailed them and logged back into Kick, whose hearthstone was now up.

7. Outland Gourmet and the Cake Is Not A Lie -After hearthing to Dalaran, I grabbed the mats from the mailbox, cooked up the Blackened Sporefish(one of last 2 needed), and then ending with the Delicious Chocolate Cake which gave me both achievements at the same time!

Once I was done with all that, I was tired. So I thought I'd fish. Spent five minutes at the coin pool only to get goldfish on every cast. Bah. So I ran down to the sewers for the last 5 minutes on that lure. Started eating the magic fish I was catching, just for the heck of it. Started up a second lure after 5 minutes, ate more magic fish, turned into a roach and just then there was my Giant Sewer Rat!

What a day!

I also did some dailies this morning...

I am honored 9600/12k with Oracles. I love these guys so much, they are so sweet and cute! They tell me how strong I am and how I protect them. And their dailies are not annoying at all, they are actually pretty easy and fun.

Sons of Hodir on the other hand...I hate their dailies, but I am at around 3k/12k and I'd really like that Mammoth at revered. I won't be going higher than that any time soon though.

And those blue chicks with no affiliation-I hate their quests too, but I want that damn polar bear mount! As soon as I get it they can kiss me goodbye.

I've stopped doing the 2 Wyrmrest and Troll Patrol for Argent Crusade, frankly because I don't have the patience lately and I cannot stand that damn alchemist quest for AC. I don't really care if I get rep with them anyway. I am slowly but surely working on Kirin Tor the only way I can, from the daily cooking quest. I like that one at least.

Ding 80...so what

So what now? Yeah, my Druid turned 80 last Wednesday. And I've been doing dailies for rep and money...
Argent Crusade...loads more quests in Icecrown that I have not even touched

Kirin Tor...well I get 250 per day from the cooking quest-the staff at revered may be mine in a few months

Wyrmrest...2 dailies, 500 rep, so yeah, I might have that dragon mount in about 6 months

Oracles...finally managed to get a group for this and to start their dailies-at least this is easy and I only need revered to be able to sit and wait each week for the egg to hatch and hope I get something good(though with my druid's luck, not likely)

Yeah, they have this thing called "Championing" now-put on a tabard and do a level 80 dungeon and you get whatever rep you want. Only I don't do dungeons because I suck, so all the other 80s are running around in epics already(yeah, the game has been out, what 2 weeks?) and are exalted with all of the factions already and I sit in Dalaran and fish-and I even suck at that.

So I log in and play other characters. Yeah, my hunter is 71.5; my human mage is 71; my rogue is 2 bars from 73; my Undead mage is 70.5ish; and 2 Death Knights at 61 and 62. But I am tired. And I don't feel like playing. But I just can't stop. :(

Some of what I've done

Kick, posing next to a K3 Bruiser in Stormpeaks. I like his helm and shoulders. We sorta match. :)

Some of the things Kick has done so far...

Solo:
The Jig Is Up -Howling Fjord, fighting a bear with 28k hp at 72. He wasn't labeled as elite the day I did him. I noticed after a server restart and the next day he was suddenly elite and the quest was labeled group. It was most certainly NOT labeled group when I did it or I may not have attempted!
Harold Lane -Borean Tundra, went back and did this at 74, not too difficult being able to shift out of his traps and charge back at him. Completely forgot to use the Horn they give you.

Wrathgate series -I know this isn't meant to be group at all(except for one in BT), but the end of this chain was amazing!
Drak'uru -ended up at the top just after a NE hunter was starting the fight, I helped a little and got to see Arthas and loot the quest item. Anti-climatic, yes, but the whole series in Zul'Drak, being a Ghoul, was incredible.
Harrison Jones -escorting(or being escorted!) in the quest wasn't difficult(or a group quest), but it was one of the BEST things I've done in this game! Yes, I adore Harrison Ford. :)


Sucked it up and grouped for:
Breaking Through -Borean Tundra, final quest in Taunka village, duo'd with a warrior who asked for help in general. I really wanted it finished and took the chance.
Hour of the Worg -Grizzly Hills; fighting Arugal again was amazing! And a tough fight for someone who doesn't spend time doing tough fights in instances. Duo'd with a shaman who asked in general. Again, a tough fight for two but we managed and it was FUN!
Wanted: Ragemane's Flipper: I had thought about waiting to solo this, glad I didn't. I really, really wanted that staff and when a group was asking I jumped. 3 Death Knights, me and a rogue who showed up right at the end(Ragemane respawned quickly right on top of me). It was tough and I had to pop out and heal myself and a few others, but soo happy to get it done and get that staff!


MOST FRUSTRATING QUEST:
Storm King's Vengeance-Oh my gawd. It started out fine. You ride on top of a Storm Giant's head and control him. Fighting the dragon was easy. Having a hard time finding Scourge to kill(you need 100). Second boss spawns the third. You heal by finding these green clouds(which are few and far between). If you can't get away, well your giant is GIANT and running around and getting caught on trees and other crap was beyond frustrating.

And as soon as you kill the 2nd guy the third spawns. And the first time I wasn't ready. I ran away and he despawned. And then I got stuck on a branch and couldn't control my giant anymore. And I got surrounded by Scourge and he died. No problem, go back and restart him.

But now, for some reason, I had what seemed like MILLIONS of Scourge constantly around me! I make it back to fight boss #2 again, get it done but someone else takes the healing clouds before I can and there is no way I can fight the boss #3-other guy steals my spawn. I run away. There always seemed to be hundreds of Scourge around me, killing them did no good, more just came from everywhere! I can't remember how many times it took killing boss #2 before I finally managed to tag boss #3 with enough health and healing clouds nearby to FINALLY kill this guy.

I swear this one quest took me an hour to do. I was screaming at the screen. But damn that helmet was worth it!

The first two weeks...WoW...

So it's been almost 2 weeks since Wrath came out. And yeah, I've been busy. Maybe too busy. Maybe I need to take a break. No, no, I didn't play my druid non-stop in some sort of marathon. She still isn't even 80(just dinged 79 yesterday afternoon). But I have been doing a LOT.

Druid, Kickingbird

• Leveled to 79
• Mining 450, enchanting 390ish
• Kalu'ak-will be exalted today for epic fishing pole and penguin pet
• have done some tough quests and getting over my fear of grouping for some quests-will discuss later

Rogue, Rayak

• Leveled to almost 73(only grouping with hubby and kid)
• Herbalism 450, Inscription 370 or something-I don't even care

Death Knight, Krevsun

• Leveled to 60
• Mining 224

Death Knight, Boreanaz

• Leveled to 61, nearly 62
• Mining 156, skinning 151

Mage, Wormtongue

• Leveled to nearly 71
• Alchemy 406, discovered Elixir of Major Mageblood

So yeah, I've been playing a lot. Maybe I should take a break.

Well, some interesting observations, quests I soloed, and screenshots coming later.

Tomorrow...maybe

With the realms being down all day yesterday, and still not up today, I'm not sure I'm very confident that there will be much playing in the next few days.

That being said...I will likely be playing my Druid solo whenever I get the chance. I will be posting here anything of interest, such as progress with reputations and any group quests I manage to solo.

I am anxious to get into a Death Knight, but we are going to have our 3 together on Kael'Thas so I will have to wait for the others to do that. I know we also plan on starting one on Draenor, so I may do that if I get really bored and itchy to experience DK firsthand.

Is it tomorrow yet????????

It's almost here...

And so the Lich King is doing what he can to provoke us. If the Zombie event and the Scourge Invasion wasn't enough, now there are giant Abominations and massive Frost Wyrms attacking Orgrimmar and Stormwind! It's a very interesting event, especialy Horde side, seeing many of the big players from the Horde all here in one place. Thrall, Garrosh Hellscream, Saurfang, Sylvannas, all running about fighting the Scourge! At one point I was following Hellscream around assisting him on each of those Abominations that spawned. He didn't really need my help, but it felt almost like an honor to be fighting at his side! (Ok, call me a lore nerd or whatever, but this is awesome!)

And so, today, Tuesday, is maintanence. Is Arthas attacking while we sit idly perussing the forums? Will Orgrimmar be but a shell of itself when we are finally able to log back in? What more is in store for us today and tomorrow?

I guess more importantly, is will I really be able to get anything done in Northrend on Thursday or Friday? Heh.

Taking all characters to one new town or the other. Learn the new level of professions. Set hearthstone and head back to a main city to be near a mailbox/bank/auction house. Kickingbird, my druid, will be my first to level. And when she isn't rested it will be Daneck(mage, WANT to see Dalaran!). And when hubby is home, our duo of his Tauren hunter and my Undead mage? Or our two Shamans? And when our kid wants to play it will be Rayak with hubby's paladin and kid's mage.

I can't wait. Hurry up Thursday!

Patch day 3.0.3 and one week to go

What's left to do? Lots I suppose. So much that I can hardly bring myself to log in with any one character and do something because I am constantly thinking "I should be doing X with Y!". Gah.

What am I doing? Well, trying to make up a little money with Rayak. He blew it all last week on mounts so he could get the Albino Drake. So I suppose I will be a socialist-just like our country will soon be(sob, that is another story...)-and redistribute the wealth. I mean, my druid makes money hand over fist, but my shaman can't do dailies alone for squat. And Rayak blew all his money. So I will probably send out money from the ones who have lots of it, to those who don't have much. Do I think this if fair? Nope, I sure don't. And I suppose I could stick to my values and let each character make their OWN damn money. But really...it is all MY money. I guess I'm thinking like the government now. Ick....

The other thing I am doing is working on Loremaster with Kickingbird. She is realistically the only one I can do this with I think. She is only 15 away from Kalimdor and about 100 away on EK(but I know of TONS of areas I skipped there). She did the Tier 0.5 quests way back when, is exalted with Timbermaw, and has done loads of quest lines that I just can't imagine doing with any other character(the Scholo key, etc). She is the only one who will be able to finish all of Outland I think(eventually maybe). And once I get done doing this with her, I don't think I will want to do this with anyone else.

Oh, and one more thing...with this patch...my warlock FINALLY gets his Dreadsteed without having to do that annoyingly long quest chain! YAY!

Albino Drake!

Yes, last Friday I finally got exalted with Skyguard and was able to blow all of his money on every mount possible JUST so the achievement Gods would send me an Albino Drake! I have to admit, it was TOTALLY worth it! This is an awesome mount and it ticks me off that I can't use it in Azeroth. I'll just have to be content to /afk in Shat for another 2 weeks. Heh

The Undead of the Necropolises...here comes the Lich King!

I really should take more screenshots of this!

Anyway...the Scourge Invasion is back! The last time this happened was June 2006 when Naxxramas was introduced. At that time I only had one character at max level(60), Kickingbird. My next highest was Wormtongue, he was about level 55 and not able to participate as easily.

Now I have 7 characters at the max level and they are taking their turns at fighting back the scourge each time they spawn. They have all equipped their Argent Dawn Commissions and are doing what they can to help win the battles!

The rewards for doing this? Gear of course! Yeah, not that gear really excites me...but since some of my characters have been wearing the same gear since they hit level 70(and most of it isn't that great) and since this is EPIC gear I can get SOLO...how can I NOT love this??! There is a four piece "Undead Cleansing/Slaying" set-chest, shoulders, legs and gloves. The legs drop from several rare Scourge that show up at each necroplis crystal(most of my characters have gotten these). The chest drops from the elite Shadow of Doom that spawns when the crystal is near death(they only spawn when someone spends the runes to summon them, but the summoners can't always bring them down leaving them open to anyone around who can tag them fast enough)-and so far only my Paladin has his chest piece. The gloves and shoulders are bought with the runes that drop from the mass of Scourge mobs around each crystal. Most of my characters have gotten these already too.

Another thing to buy with the runes, the Tabard of the Argent Dawn! Of course, I had this 2 years ago with my druid and was the one tabard I wore most of the time. Now, I could cry and moan, saying "whaaaa I felt special because I had one and NoOne else did and now EVERYONE will have one...waaaaaaaa". Sort of how those who already had the Sinister Squashling cried because it was changed to be available through trick or treat bags. But no, I'm not like that. Frankly because I don't really care what others have. I don't really care if everyone gets all the special minipets or tabard or whatever-it does not affect MY play in the slightest. And having something rare...does NOT make my feel 'uber' or 'special' or 'better than everyone else'.

And that brings me to the last thing that I do want to whine about...a new minipet that I would give nearly ALL of my minipets for but I simply won't be able to get it. It is a Vampire Batling(and I'm not even going to link it, because it is just that painful to me), and it only drops from a raid boss in Karazhan. Great. Thanks. Being vampire-obsessed makes this one really hurt to know that I simply don't know HOW ON EARTH I will be able to get into a group to get one of these awesome little guys. And it will be gone forever after next week and I will probably cry everytime I see someone with this little guy out. Sometimes I REALLY HATE YOU BLIZZARD! Damn you, Damn you all to HELL!!!!!

Another new pet, sort of...

Another new and interesting pet...sort of...can be found while fighting the undead that are sent from the necropolises around Azeroth. This is one that stays in your bags, called a Haunted Memento. It looks like a necklace, but once you have one you will have a Shade following you around! It is very cool! It does show up on Track or Sense Undead, but you can not target it in any way. Sometimes he goes away, but usually zoning or logging in/out brings him back. He also dissappears when you summon a regular minipet.

He is not soulbound and is an item that can be thrown to another player if they have bag space. They are unique though, so if someone already has one and you throw it to them, it will be gone forever.

One other interesting note...he makes bankers vanish! I put mine in the Scryers bank and then watched as I actually waved goodbye and saw the banker go poof right before my eyes! Yikes!

Zombies can be annoying

It started strangely enough. A few infected crates were in Booty Bay, and others had inspected them and then headed for Orgrimmar. After 10 minutes, they were transformed into zombies and began infecting others. Nobody was really sure what was going on.
But finally we caught on. And we learned that both Alliance and Horde zombies become a Unified Zombie faction! With that in mind, I grabbed my Human Mage, and my kid got her Undead Mage, and we headed to Booty Bay to see where it all began. (ok, we took the unique opportunity to do some cross-faction trading without needing the neutral auction house, which was most excellent for my human's pet collection!) And then we headed for Booty Bay proper to see if we could convince the guards there to join us...and then we went on to Shat'trath to take out some vengeance on those trainees who practice nonstop next to the flight path! It was fun for awhile, and then we died...
And while it was fun, it eventually had to come to an end. After 5 days, and the infection going from 10 minutes to zombification to 5 minutes and finally down to 60 seconds(which was almost instant when my Paladin fought a group in Thunder Bluff). And then it was over, with only the mass of the dead lying about as proof that anything had happened. Oh, but it is not over, so I've heard...

Wyl, the Beast Master

Another thing I've done after the last patch is put all of Wyl's points back into the Beastmaster talent tree and tame one of the exotic pets. I had logged him out on Azuremyst Isle before the patch and was ready to go after the servers stabilized. My kid also had her hunter there, a level 35 who wanted a moth.

After helping her get into the starter zone for the moth, I made my way to the cave to get my hands on the Kurken. I had to wait for two others who had come in to kill him for their quests and once they were gone I began taming. Being level 12, he was an easy tame of course. And then I was out of there. Once I was back in Shat, I gave my new big white puppy his new name-one that I had searched and thought hard over...Orthrus. Orthrus was a two headed dog of Greek Mythology and I knew this name was the one I had to choose. I've seen quite a few of the big white dogs running around, but not another one named Orthrus. And that's fine by me!

I haven't had the chance to level him up yet, but plan to grind on Ogres in Nagrand in order to do so. For the time being, when I need a level 70 pet around(such as fighting the Scourge invasion), I go back to my faithful piggy, Briarsting. But I see lots of Orthrus in Wyl's future!