Revive & Rejuvenate: random

Showing posts with label random. Show all posts

Sunday, 23 December 2012

Happy Winter Veil 2012

Happy Winter Veil from R&R!

I hope you have a lovely Winter Veil, and I hope you get lots of time to put your feet up and do some gaming or relax with your family!

Thank you all for being here this year <3

Ps. You may be able to tell that the lovely cinder kitty in the pic above was from Karegina, thanks very much!

Tuesday, 27 November 2012

Call to Arms: Secret Santa 2012

This is a quick call to arms for all you Aussie and Kiwi twitterers and Wow players out there!

Liala, or @Discopriest as she is also known, is organising a Secret Santa for Wow players. She will be pairing up those living in the same country where possible. Here's where I come in - I'm the only Aussie to sign up so far, so I have no-one to send to!

If you're an Aussie or a Kiwi (or you're from any other country for that matter!), you can join in with this exciting event. There's just one catch - the deadline to sign up is November 28th! That's the middle of our Thursday, Aussies and Kiwis, so get on it as soon as you can!

Sorry for the late notice, but I only found out there were no Aussies on the list this morning!

To sign up, enter your details into Liala's mailing list, here. You should get an email or two with some more details about the event, and a short questionnaire to fill out that will be sent to your Santa.

Incidentally, I would be more than happy to adopt a Cinder Kitty...

How Does This Secret Santa Work?
Each participant will send out a Christmas gift package to a randomly selected WoW/Twitter friend. You'll keep your identity secret until your recipient gets their gift. The value of the contents should be around $20. Festive wrapping paper optional.

You will receive your Secret Santa gift recipient's name and a copy of their questionnaire on Friday, November 30th, and will have between then and December 15th to mail your gift to your recipient.

All of the gift givers and getters (Twitter identities only) will be revealed on December 24th on DisciplinaryAction.org, along with links to related blog posts and any images of gifts/happy people enjoying gifts that anyone wants to send in.

What About Privacy?
The only people who will see the address of your package are the person who is sending it to you and @Discopriest. If you would like, you do not have to give your actual name; however, you will have to provide an address where you can pick up your package. Because otherwise, well... it would just sit in package limbo somewhere. If there is someone you definitely do not want to receive from for reasons of security, please let @Discopriest know immediately.

Wednesday, 21 November 2012

Shared Topic: Thankful

I'm taking a little break from my IntPiPoMo posting to bring you this post as part of the Blog Azeroth Shared Topic for this week. This particular topic was brought to you by Amerence!

It's Thanksgiving over there in America this week, and although we Aussies don't celebrate it, it's still nice to reflect on things we are thankful for.

I'm coming up on my third blogaversary here at R&R and although I've been very quiet during this year, I am soooo thankful for all the readers that are still dropping by and saying hello from time to time. I'm not going to name anyone in case I miss people, but you make this all worthwhile! Yes, you! I don't tend to get a lot of comments but I love it when I do, so thank you all!

I hope, whatever you are up to this weekend, you have a lovely time in your Heartland with your family, friends or whomever you spend it with.

The Heartland, Valley of the Four Winds

Geotag from WyriMaps

Thursday, 8 November 2012

IntPiPoMo: Sillies

This post is part of IntPiPoMo: posting 50 screenshots in 30 days.

Hai-pu in a building at Broketooth Outpost, Kun-Lai Summit

Geotag from WyriMaps

Hai-pu in the Grookin' Hill Inn, Jade Forest

Geotag from WyriMaps

I guess I must just have green thumbs!

Bringing the produce to [The Fabulous Miss Fanny], Valley of the Four Winds

Geotag from WyriMaps

Wednesday, 8 February 2012

Why I stopped playing SWTOR

I apologise for the somewhat personal and non-WoW nature of this post. Just this once, honest.

Angelya the Sith Sorcerer

Last night I reached the end of my free month of Star Wars: The Old Republic and cancelled my account.

It's not that I didn't enjoy playing it - in fact I was having a great time cackling as I force-lightening'd everything in sight. I had just got to level 16 and my ship and headed off for my first taste of space combat. I had a few tiny alts that I mucked around on as well.

The Problem
Starting over from scratch in a brand new game requires a certain level of commitment and determination. The levelling process, especially in SWTOR where each quest giver speaks the quest text to you in glorious detail, requires concentration and attention.

At the end of a long day, when I'm back working in a job I'm not particularly enjoying where I'm away from my Sproutling for five days of the week and I've finally got him to go to sleep, I must admit that the last thing I feel like doing is sitting down to learn to play a new character and concentrate for a few more hours. A few times in the last couple of weeks I've sat down at the computer and thought about playing, but then fired up Skyrim and pootled around looking at the mountains instead.

That my main character only made it to level 16 in one month should tell you how long I've been able to actually spend playing the game (that is, very little), but from what I saw, it looks like a very detailed Galaxy and the Sorcerer gameplay and starting quests were very enjoyable (if you're into the dark side stuff, of course). I hope to go back to it at some stage once I can devote some more time to it, but at the moment, I'm just not playing it enough to justify staying subscribed.

But Skyrim is so pretty...

The Alternatives
So what to do instead? Skyrim is still holding my attention, but I may well resub to Wow sooner rather than later. The Wow-withdrawal didn't hit me hard this time at first, probably because I had other toys to play with. Now I find I'm really missing the small goal driven super-casual play I had been enjoying around Christmas time. Perhaps that's all I need at the moment - my attention span has shrunk and I need the small-project approach with a toon I already know how to play. I'll also admit that the prospect of running an old-school raid with a bunch of Twitter-folk sounds like a right knees-up. I'll keep you posted on that, internets.

A Small Yet Shameless Plug
The other diversion I've been working on gradually is a product of my new-found commute reading time - I've started another blog for Fantasy and Sci-fi book reviews at oakenbookcase.wordpress.com. Stop by and say hi if you're interested in that sort of thing!

So, what will I decide to do? I suppose I'll give myself a week or two of MMO-free spare time before I decide. Unless anyone wants to help Aoifen become a Kingslayer, that is. Aaaanyone?

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Nostalgia: #playedinBC

It started with an idle wondering what people remembered most:

Thanks so much to everyone who joined in! It was nice to look back and remember good things, and those not so good.

I do apologise for the formatting, but twitter doesn't play nice with copy and paste. You can see most of the tweets at #playedinBC although I believe protected tweets don't show up in hashtag searches.

There was also a #playedinWrath but that's a whole other subject for another time!

@_Angelya: You know you played WoW during BC when: Points, Emblems, whatevers... they're all Badges.
@DEazeroth: You know you played WoW during TBC when you'd walk over a sewer grate and think of Magtheridon. "Vermin, LEECHES!"
@_Angelya: You know you played WoW during BC when: The sound of Fel Reaver still makes you jump and pan around in a panic
@DruidMain: You know you played WoW during BC when: Your mana regen was based on your strength in bitch-slapping. #PanzerkinFTW
@WowOhnekase: Two words: Flash Powder.
@third_torch: Chain Heal was the only macro you needed.
@hazz0r: you start missing pom pom specced mages
@GimpsGold: hear someone screaming at a fruit vendor in your sleep!
@_Rades: You had to tame the ONE BOAR IN THE GAME WITH RANK 5 GORE OR CHARGE OR WHATEVER, BELLYGRUB #notbitterno
@DruidMain: Idol-swapping meant juggling while spellcasting
@fallen_tree: Consecration was a worthwhile spell.
@fallen_tree: Clown suits were end game fashion
@DruidMain: Caster leather wasn't in vogue
@fallen_tree: Your guild could down Illidan but still wiped on Kael'thas.
@_Angelya: You have a macro to deal with tainted cores
@e_man41: Heroic mode? There's only one mode, and it will make you cry.
@perculia: Raiding was fun.
@_Angelya: Your friends list was full of tanks and healers
@fallen_tree: The Fel Reaver noise still haunts your dreams.
@perculia: You encountered elites while questing.
@e_man41: "Kazzak is up!"
@_Angelya: "Run away little girl, run away!"
@perculia: Engineering had BiS helms
@snack_road: I got spit on for being a warlock - even though I never PVP'ed at the time.
@madsushi: You killed Gruul every week for two years, because someone still needed a DST.
@perculia: Garrosh lives quietly in Nagrand.
@SturgarHawkwind: Clearing the current tier of content took more than one night.
@HayFayFay: You trained weapon skills and did questlines for mounts
@HayFayFay: You had resist sets and farmed gear #playedinBC
@LiteDoctor: Seeing someone on a Nether Drake was a rare and awesome sight.
@Karen_Finn: My rogue had a secret hideout, was difficult to find & had to turn in badges for rep w/ Ravenholdt. She mixed her own poisons!
@_Luthvian: Also, a high-five to anyone that's had a party in Allerian Stronghold with Aeman and Theine Brightsong.
@Mauvanah: I had to pvp in order to do my pve job... the joys of being a bear tank
@taufmonster: I was too afraid to run an Outland dungeon
@tartdarling: You still cringe at getting a PuG for H-Shattered Halls.
@_Angelya: The daily heroic was Shattered Halls: "FTS."
@Druidis4fite: Red Yellow Yellow Red Green Green Blue FUCK
@Achloryn: Feral parry. Leather gear with defense rating. Resilience was USEFUL in PvE.
@perculia: Every melee DPS wanted agility leather.
@fallen_tree: Gear with Strength and Intellect was worn without irony.
@_Luthvian: Resist, resist, resist, resist, resist.
@MostlyBlissful: When it literally took months to down a single boss.
@perculia: 5 minute Elixirs of Demonslaying were essential to progression.
@claylevering: You remember what it felt like to find out DK's start at 55
@zotica: Fucking Corki.
@fallen_tree: Only blood elf paladins got Seal of Blood. Alliance used Righteousness.
@NavimieDruid: having a flying mount was so OMG
@HayFayFay: Mana tap.
@magicbites: Netherwing drake grind, nuff said.
@_Luthvian: Equip: Increases healing done by spells and effects by up to 334. #thatsahealerweapon
@SunnierBear: Feral PvP gear had +healing on it.
@SerenitySaz: Enhancement gear had nearly every stat knowing to man on it, including +Str and +mp5
@tartdarling: "It wasn't my turn to click the cube, I swear!"
@_Angelya: Rolled your eyes at the poser outside the bank wearing Warglaives
@fallen_tree: Summoning Anzu required a Druid who was on or had completed her epic flight quest. It was the only way to get the form.
@WoWMiri: All the good gem cuts came from rep grinds or world drops
@HayFayFay: You summoned the Ice Lord in AV and battles lasted FO'EVA!
@Esoth: My hunter had mp5 on some of his gear
@mwjn: Only one heroic dungeon quest per day and you had to pick up from a guy.
@SerenitySaz: Waiting for sunders so that you could DPS, only to crit one too many times, pull threat, and die anyways.
@perculia: oops Sunseeker Netherbinder summoned adds.
@HayFayFay: Wand Spec
@Achloryn: Ridiculously long questlines just to get keys to the ENTRY RAIDS (i'm looking at you Karazhan)
@WoWMiri: When your crafted cloth gear was BiS for a long while
@SerenitySaz: It took 10-15 minutes to ride a mount across Shattrath because of lag. Lowering your settings didn't always help at peak hours.
@Achloryn: Unlocking all the stations of Shattered Sun Offensive took 6 months cause you were on a pvp server.
@zotica: Arena gear was bear tanking gear.
@Aleanathem: When raiding was good. Attunments were good and WoW was at its peak.
@SunnierBear: Crushing blows.
@WoWMiri: Shattered Sun Offensive: Daily Hub and Honor Grinding location. Come as a party, hope to not get ganked. (Bloodscalp represent!)
@GottaHaveFaythe: Wore PvP gear for the first boss in BT..
@verylemonade: ALL the attunements. ALL OF THEM.
@TassadarWS: Always choosing the wrong entrance for the instances in the Hellfire Peninsula.
@SerenitySaz: Only being brought to raids because they wanted your totem buffs. #shaman
@_Angelya: Spent way too much gold respeccing (dailies in heal spec suck)
@Achloryn: Having a Netherdrake/Nether Ray mounts made you somewhat godlike.
@donaldroeber: Was surrounded by fire, and did not move
@SerenitySaz: Having to visit certain locations to make flasks, potions, or to transmute.
@EWOKinLA: Grabbed the wrong ring at Kara because PVP was all around the Vendor
@ImRonBurgondy: Cried when replaced Benediction/Anathema on first quest in Outlands
@chrisocallahan: Living in BM because every DPS needed an Hourglass of the Unraveller.
@Aleanathem: Knowing a person in epic gear actually put forth effort.
@ImRonBurgondy: Stacked bandages for Magtheridon.
@ImRonBurgondy: I will not move when flame wreath is cast, or the raid....blows....up.
@SerenitySaz: *Shade of Aran casts Flame Wreath* DON'T ANYONE FUCKING MOVE!
@msherretz: keys.
@Pathanther: You got insta queues as a hunter because you would advertise you knew how to CC and kite
@Dakotarik: Anyone up for taking Halaa?
@ImRonBurgondy: Leveled a Shaman for Shade of Aran earth-shock interrupts.
@HayFayFay: Mounts and pets stayed in your bags
@Pathanther: when you could use pvp gear for raiding
@perculia: +Spellpower was different from +Healing.
@fenjayminor: LF1M DPS/CC
@joboy77: quoted Hamlet with Illidan
@riftmaker: Blue trinket was best in slot through 3 tiers
@SerrinneWoW: Fang of the Leviathan went to pally tanks
@chrisocallahan: Every Hunter was BM. Everyone had a Hunter. Hunter pets ruined everything
@NDMiko: You had a stack of weapon oils.
@Skechek: Traps broke early and got you one-shotted before the cooldown was up. Every pull. #stillbitter
@iilusionofchaos: You looked like the offspring of a clown and a hobo most of the time.
@nyxy: Running heroics and praying that the *gem* you needed dropped.
@Pathanther: hunters had mana, and aimed shot would destroy any cloth wearer
@msherretz: Shat killed computers
@DraccusDruid: 15 minute blessings from Palis
@_Angelya: Bags full of Green Hills of Stranglethorn
@SunnierBear: Who could forget this face? twitpic.com/8azj5g
@DraccusDruid: Back when rep was grinded out w/o talbards.
@DraccusDruid: You actually took a break from raiding & played a game of chess in Karazhan before clearing rest of the night
@boozekin: Halaa! Halaa! Murda'd :(
@_Angelya: Wiped over and over to Murmur because one person couldn't get out of the sonic boom
@SerenitySaz: When alien worlds captured the imagination. bit.ly/zGJn0a
@msherretz: Stealth slowed you down
@runycat: Shear through Shield Wall.
@Tainothetank: I had 5 blessings and everyone wanted a different one. Getting Bop'ed removed your blessing.
@Tainothetank: World PvP actually happened.
@DraccusDruid: Leatherworking had 3 distinct specializations: Tribal, Elemental, & Dragonscale
@Aleanathem: When feral meant hybrid.
@Phaedra220: ferals couldn't use pots or soulstones in forms
@_vidyala: Looking for Netherdrake eggs wasn't so easy because the place was always swarming with people!
@beattyj: you fell off the Great Lift
@PrimaryProcess: Cube-clicking rotations 15 people deep on Magtheridon.

Feel free to add any more that you can think of!

Edit 25/01/12: My goodness, there was a lot of twittering overnight (mostly from Cass by the looks)! Here's most of what was added to #playedinBC.

@CassDots: Honor ticked over once a day and practically shut down the server when it was happening
@kurnmogh: If you ran Heroic Shattered Halls without a pally tank, you were screwed.
@CassDots: You had to summon people using summoning stones. Even for dungeons. Yes even then
@CassDots: You had to pay guild dues or at least chip in gold when your tanks needed Nature/Fire Resistance gear
@CassDots: People raved about how much better WoW used to be. Oh. Wait.
@CassDots: ZA was a raid
@CassDots: Cube clicking was impossibly hard to coordinate.
@CassDots: The Elemental Plateau was more hotly contested than Halaa
@kurnmogh: I remember feeling sad that mages were THE BEST CC CLASS EVER while I was a hunter. I DO know how to trap, thanks!
@CassDots: You cared how fast your server could unlock the Isle of Quel'Danas compared to other servers
@Sephrenia17: Come closer, come closer and BUUUURNNNN
@CassDots: Your pally tank took off his pants before beginning a dungeon. So he could still be hit and generate threat
@CassDots: You felt superior if you had the fp to take you from Skettis straight to Ogrilla
@CassDots: You used KTM. Had not heard of Omen.
@CassDots: Dr Boom was a target dummy
@CassDots: Wore a Tabard of the Illidari
@CassDots: Didn't consider Of The Shattered Sun to be a REAL title
@palmetto_rose: Still wear a Tabard of the Illidari
@Kenichan: Prefered to use own crafted weapon for raiding rather than the loot dropped in raids
@Kenichan: There was no such thing as GearScore to gauge a player
@CassDots: Entered and completed entire raid zones out of sequence
@palmetto_rose: You would laugh when people were disappointed about not keeping the legendary weapons from TK
@CassDots: You knew how experienced a player was by the gear they wore
@Linedan: You were a protection warrior and left tanking heroic 5-mans to the pallys because they did it 100x easier. #damnrightimbitter
@AlternativeChat: Monthly Consortium Gem bags. Nagrand's rolling green hills. Zapthrottle's Mote Extractor!
@CassDots: used the Caverns of Time rep port to get to anywhere in Kalimdor
@Kenichan: Grinded my pally's face off in instances to get dungeon gear to be 'passable' tanking Karazhan and 20k Hp was a big thing.
@CassDots: You only wanted one Disc Priest to hand out +spirit buffs to other healers
@palmetto_rose: Warlocks were the DoT Gods
@Kenichan: 'Tempest Keep was a minor setback!'
@CassDots: You yelled at people in Vent for edging over the hill in the Mount Hyjal Night Elf camp. "Let them come to- damn it!"
@jaedia: I was a Shadow Priest. My guild note said "duracell: lasts longer".
@CassDots: You knew Akama was a VIP but couldn't really care if his Shade was good or bad
@Aggrokitty: You were a druid and ran Heroic Sethekk once a day whether you needed it or not because SOMEBODY wanted the damn bird.
@jaedia: I couldn't change my hairstyle D:
@Kenichan: Warlocks were made good tanks (for certain bosses)
@wingtipswaltz: I expect to have to work hard with the same two dozen people over two years for any great reward... and bloody well enjoy it!
@Linedan: Taking a month to down a current progression raid boss was no big deal. #sevenweeksonvashj
@CassDots: Heavy Clefthoof Leather was pure gold. And you spam clicked your Drums of... icon mid-fight
@Kenichan: I never knew about ERP, until the rumors of Moonguard being ERP central came about in Wrath
@palmetto_rose: You bought a Mage as a tank for Gruul's Lair.
@CassDots: You had to defend your right to swim down the Coilfang Reservoir pipe #pvp
@Guillin: As a warlock you could set your minion loose on a zone, make a cup of coffee, come back and loot.
@palmetto_rose: You would get annoyed if skinners stole your kills at the lake around Shattrath.
@jaedia: And don't get me started on Ret.
@NforNihilism: you spent an entire evening with a whiteboard, markers, and camera, solely to kill one single fucking dragon
@Guillin: You line up a fireball only to find out a warlock had already tapped the entire continent.
@CassDots: The most progressed casters were in Heroic SP looking for a rare +haste trinket to replace their epics
@CassDots: A Resto Shaman could get recruited at level 70 straight into t6. Chain heals plz
@palmetto_rose: There were no auctioneers in Shattrath
@NforNihilism: you called yourself a black temple progression raid after you killed doomwalker
@CassDots: The Mallet of ZulFarrak was pulled out of the bank for every alt run
@CassDots: Carrot on a Stick was your first and most loved trinket
@Kenichan: Remember when shamans could DPS with just daggers as enhancement?
@jaedia: Oh god keys and attunements and and.. Ugh! That darn Nightbane urn. *growls*
@kurnmogh: Shadow priests were awesome mana batteries, particularly for holy paladins
@CassDots: You could never get a group for h Arcatraz. Or h Slabs.
@_loug: Varian Wrynn was still missing #wishhewasstillgone #garroshtoo
@Achloryn: Everybody was jealous of druids because they trained flight form at level 68, where everyone had to wait till 70.
@Kenichan: Anyone told you about the elevator bug in Undercity or Shattrath until you found it accidentally?
@CassDots: You couldn't believe that Chess was at the END of Karazhan and not at the beginning
@palmetto_rose: Falling through the elevator in Undercity. Huh?! Wait! Where did the floor go?! *SQUISH* :(
@shivamLM: Asking people on Trade to join a group for xyz instance. Hunter whispers "Sorry only need melee"
@shivamLM: Arcane mages. Exactly.
@healbot: When Flash of Light bound to a very warn out #1 key
@CassDots: You loved it when Mark of the Illidari kept dropping mid raid. Free flasks!
@shivamLM: Getting to level 60 and getting the tour of Shattrath
@CassDots: Healing power was for healers and spellpower was for spell casters and Shadow Power was for me!
@CassDots: Nobody ran Shadowfang Keep.
@blamesquelchy: Rogues were Combat in PvE. That's all.
@Somnar_SWC: Wore cloth on a holy pally
@Somnar_SWC: MAGE TANK
@darthregis: I was too intimidated by heroics to run them.
@Arrens: Tier sets were individual to classes. Clothies, regardless of class, didn't look like every other clothie.
@LodurZJ: I used to sit at the coilfang entrance and sell water breathing for a small fortune.
@Linedan: Garrosh Hellscream was still sitting in Nagrand, listening to Evanescence, and cutting himself.
@Aleanathem: So who brought their urn?
@Linedan: Being a prot warrior on Leotheras the Blind meant if you got a demon, you were dead. Not enough DPS to down your demon.
@kikibunny_: THAT GAHDAMN FIRST AID TRIAGE!!
@Half_empty: you wish they had a reputation after exalted for the number of times you ran Black Morass to attune guildies
@MostlyBlissful: Heroics were literally five man raids. And if you werent careful you died just as fast too.
@DruidAmorgan: Finding out it was Romulo and Julianne, Big Bad Wolf, or Oz and explaining the fight in under a min
@DruidAmorgan: Epic Flight Form Quest
@DruidAmorgan: Knowing just how far you had to be from Cosmowrench for PvP without guards joining in
@morynne: When raiding as a hunter meant Beastmastery was topping meters with a 1-button macro.
@Supah1337: Eating our pets mana
@CassDots: All your power came from your weapon enchant. Double Mongoose anyone?
@CassDots: You used WoWs new, built in voice chat when it was released. Then went back to Ventrillo.
@CassDots: The forests of Terrokar were terrifying and prime ganking territory. Level 70 swoops down behind you...
@CassDots: You bought arrows and ammunition. Lots of it. You had to take a raid break to hearth and repair.
@CassDots: You only left Outlands to visit the Auction House.
@mortiganthelock: As a Warlock, you had to EARN your Dreadsteed by completing the longest, most grueling, expensive quest chain EVER
@CassDots: You couldn't stop running Karazhan every week. You were secretly thrilled when badge vendors and gear was introduced
@napkinpoem: Had to be careful about aggroing hostile things in starting zones.
@theeriver: You couldn't get enough of Gruul's huge crotch while tanking
@RollWarlock: 60 bag slots, all full of soul shards
@CassDots: Archmage Vorgath followed you and your friends wherever you went... :p
@CassDots: Your entire guild could be found farming Motes of Mana at the edge of the world (Netherstorm) before/after raid time

Saturday, 21 January 2012

On Plums

Cynwise posted a very thought-provoking and reassuring Field Note today about Blogging Heroes - how to try not to compare yourself to your favourite bloggers and to find your own writing voice. Of course that's severely reduced to sub-nutshell size, so I recommend you go and read for yourself, but first allow me to share a little note that Cyn's post reminded me of. It doesn't directly relate to the subject matter, but is a nice statement about not trying to change to please everyone and to be true to yourself.

I'm not sure where it originally came from but its usually posted anonymously. I took a copy of it for myself some time ago. I hope it strikes a chord with you as well.

By the way, congrats to Cynwise on your Piggie, and to all the other deserving winners and nominees!

~o~

The Plum

You should learn that you cannot be loved by all people. You can be the finest Plum in the world. Ripe, juicy, succulent, a postive delight.

But you must remember there will be people who do not like plums.

You must understand that if you are the World’s Finest Plum, and someone you like does not like plums, you have a choice of becoming a banana. But you must be warned that if you choose to become a banana, you will be a second-rate banana, but you can always be the Best Plum.

You must realise that if you choose to be a second rate banana, you have to remember that there will be people who don’t like bananas. Furthermore, you can spend your life trying to become the best banana (which is impossible if you are a plum).

Or, you can seek again to be the Best Plum.

~o~

Wednesday, 18 January 2012

WoW's Bucket List

There's been a plague of Bucket Lists for Cataclysm going around recently. I've had a project list in my head for a while, but it's all been put on hold because I cancelled my Wow subscription during last week.

I'm not dissatisfied or bored with the game by any means. Like Big Bear Butt, I have too many fun things to do each time I log on and have to prioritize my limited play time. I still love the look, the feel, the music and the comfortable familiarity of Azeroth, and I doubt that will ever change.

My horde guild, however, all moved away from the game during the last year and have started playing together again in SW:TOR. With the few hours I've had available to play lately, there's no way I have time for two MMOs, so I'm having a bit of a Wow holiday while I play with the lightsabers. That said, I do intend to return to Wow at some point - if not before Mists of Pandaria then when it is released.

I've written this bucket list anyway to remind myself of the things I still have planned to do in Wow.

1. Loremaster Aoifen

I've been working on this one for a while now here and there. I started with the Cataclysm zones back in October and moved on through Northrend. I decided to leave Icecrown to last - I thought The Final Goal always sounded like a nice way to finish.

It was while I was trudging through Outland for the millionth time when it occurred to me that there might be a deadline approaching - by this time my old guildies had talked about their intentions to play SWTOR and I had decided to join them. I decided to leave Outland and make sure I did the zones that I hadn't yet seen in post-Cataclysm Azeroth, including places like Western and Eastern Plaguelands, Duskwood and Stranglethorn.

I hadn't really anticipated how long it would take me to get it all done! I'm more than halfway through Eastern Kingdoms zones but have barely touched Kalimdor, and then I've got to go back and finish Outlands! It's a big job, but I have really enjoyed exploring the new quests and finishing off some of the chains I left while leveling Aoifen.

While travelling around I've also picked up some very nice pieces of moggable gear, but that's for another post.

2. Fix Aoifen's mog set

I do so love Transmogrification! It's fantastic to see all the different armour sets around the cities, from the very formal to the ridiculous. I did a smattering of old-school raids before 4.3 was released, but never really picked up a whole set of anything for Aoifen, so when the patch arrived I took Phaelia's Vestments and tried to match whatever I had in the bank to it. The set looks pretty bonkers at the moment, but so far I haven't picked up anything to make it better.

When I come back to the game I plan to sit down with model viewer and design myself a set. I'd love a set of Tier 5. There are other combinations that I've toyed with while working on my mogging posts... but it will take some time to get a look I'm happy with. The antlers will be staying though.

3. Gear up Aefa and do some Magey LFR

My poor neglected Frost Mage has been cooling her heels (so to speak) while I dally with my Alliance toons. Her gear level isn't even up to Trollroics yet, but I'd love to get her into some LFR. If I can remember how to play a Mage again I might even not be at the bottom of the meters!

Aefa could also do with a visit from the mogging fairies. She doesn't even have nice-looking gear in her bank, but at least now that her Engineering is maxed she can wear goggles as is right and proper for one of her profession. A wardrobe planning session is in order I'd say!

4. Guardian of Cenarius for one or other of my Druids
This project has been on my list for a long time but I haven't been interested in grinding it out. I feel it's a title that a Druid should really have, don't you think? The Wowhead pages and comments for each of Cenarion Expedition and Cenarion Circle will help with reputation gathering for the title.

5. A Horde Loremaster
For completeness' sake, if I'm not completely done with questing, I require a Loremaster on the Horde side. When that will be, I have no idea.

6. Level up a Paladin/Rogue/Warrior/Warlock
I have this bad habit of rolling Paladins on various servers I'm visiting, then never getting them past level 20. I also have never levelled a Warlock past level 30-ish, or a Rogue or Warrior at all. And I call myself an altaholic? I do have a neglected Shaman, but while I enjoyed levelling her as Enhancement, I never really got on with melee in dungeons or raids. I don't think that bodes well for my Rogue/Warrior aspirations.

Phew, all that should keep me busy for a long time to come!

Can anyone offer me any advice on getting any of these items done?

Saturday, 18 June 2011

15 Days of Screenshots: Titles

This post is part of a series for Saz's Through Your Interface screenshot challenge.

Day 5: Title of Choice

Show us an image of you pimping your favorite title and give us a reason why you dig it so much.

Titles have evolved so much over the years. While I'm glad that they have made them easier to obtain, there aren't many that are still truly unique anymore, unless you're willing to take part in weeks of grinding.

The titles that I've really admired are ones that I haven't had the opportunity to get - Hand of A'dal, Starcaller, Loremaster, Guardian of Cenarius... but my favourite for my Shadow Priest was always "of the Nightfall". For my Druids, I quite like "Elder", but Leesah has always secretly coveted "Guardian of Cenarius".

I didn't get a chance this week to be too creative with a screenie so instead I'm cheating by posting some random shots instead. Enjoy!

A light in the darkness

My buddy Malmortis, who has taken to following me around since Zul'Drak.

Don't try the curry at Amberpine Lodge.

Saturday, 19 March 2011

What's Wrong With This Picture?

That's actually the wrong question to be asking here. The correct one is: What's right with this picture?

If anyone actually falls for this dreadful attempt at phishing they possibly deserve what's coming to them, but in case you're wondering:

If a Blizzard employee whispers you in-game, it will be a GM with a character name. GM whispers usually pop up in a separate window to your chat frame, and their name is prefixed with <GM>. A level 1 "Blizzàrd" is highly suspect.

Blizzard employees never, ever ask you for your account details, either in game or in other communications.

Most GMs I've seen quoted or dealt with tend to have a very good grasp of the English language. This whisper uses the most dreadful grammar I've seen in a while!

The site given is not even a Blizzard site. If in doubt, log into http://battle.net to check your account details.

This public service message was brought to you in the interests of a bit of a giggle. Carry on.

Thursday, 17 March 2011

Whine Time

It's the 17th. That means, apart from the day when people use the Irish national day as an excuse to get trolleyed, it is also Klepsacovic's Whiny Post Day.

I have but one whine today (that's not strictly true - I have a few whines but most of them are due to the 39 weeks pregnant thing and you don't want to hear about that).

See that picture above? That was from September 16th last year, six months ago. That was the last time I raided with a guild - my guild, or any guild. Some of that was due to burnout, some was due to my guild turning casual and everyone drifting away. Some of course was my own laziness and being unwilling to move guilds when I knew I wouldn't be able to commit to a raiding schedule for much longer anyway.

The point of the whine is, that raiding has always been one of my most favourite parts of the game and I haven't done it in bloody ages.

Phew, glad I got that off my chest!

Ps. Before anyone says, "Ang, quit your whining!" let it be generally known that the raiding break was pretty much totally self-inflicted. I'm hoping to remedy the situation with a spot of casual raiding with the Effers, if I can get my baby druid up there in quick time and, of course, if they'll take me along.

Wednesday, 2 March 2011

Feet Up

I'm back! The last couple of weeks have been totally hectic but now I've finally started my maternity leave so I can spend some time catching up on things.

What did I miss? Looks like there was a bit of drama around the place... not so upset about missing out on that, but then again I rarely weigh in on such things so its no great loss.

But now, it's time to stop and have a rest, and work on a few projects that I've been neglecting - the cheat sheets, for example. Watch this space!

Wednesday, 23 February 2011

Huge Smelly Orc

If you haven't had a run through the new Redridge Mountains, you're missing a hell of a fun ride. My baby Worgen had a blast!

/salute Bravo Company

I think Danforth might have something against orcs though.

Wednesday, 16 February 2011

Change of Pace

There's change in the air. With quite a few bloggers calling it quits around the place and other seasoned players heading off to try out Rift, things are shifting slightly in the Blogosphere and Twitterverse.

Fannon of Dwarven Battle Medic is welcoming his first little Dwarfling to the family (hopefully already welcomed by now - they were at the hospital at the time of writing!), and he wrote the other day about changing priorities and managing limited play time. He still intends to raid with his guild and I wish him the very best of luck in trying to continue with his goals.

I'm on the final stretch - just five-ish weeks left before my Sproutling makes an appearance (at least I hope it will only be that long!). Unlike Fannon, I have no intentions of trying to keep up with any in-game commitments. My guild has actually fallen back to a casual guild - with too many of our old raid team taking breaks or not having time to gear up, raiding is not looking like happening any time soon.

I'm not planning to give up altogether, if the little Sprout permits me time. I've geared my Druid up to raid level more or less, but I've shifted my focus more to my other characters, and rediscovering the "new" game. My little Priest, Angelya, just dinged 50 and has been enjoying the quest lines through the new Thousand Needles and Tanaris. Once the little one gets a bit older and I have more time again, Leesah will hopefully make a comeback.

If you're feeling burned out already or a change of pace is needed, I do recommend a new character to check out the improved zones - I am delighted so far with what I've discovered !

Friday, 14 January 2011

Intermission

You may have noticed things are a little quieter around here than usual. That's not just from the floods or because we lost power for a few days either.

There will be a bit of a lull in my Druid-related posting for a little while. I haven't been actually playing Wow all that much - I've been logging in, but pottering around doing Archeology and random other stuff, rather than actively gearing up or pushing my guildies to do so.

It's a little burn out, and some stress. I only have six weeks of work left now before I go on maternity leave, so things are pretty hectic there. Add to that natural disasters plus the drama of getting everything ready for a baby and you have one rather stressed Tauren. So, I'm cutting back with the Druidy posting to encourage myself to calm down and get on with things. Do please forgive me.

I'll still be around, but it might just be wallpaper posts for a little while ;)

<3

Wednesday, 22 December 2010

One Year Already?

Today, the 22nd, marks a year since I started writing this blog. Happy Blogaversary to me!

I'm not sure what it is about this time of year that makes people want to start writing, but there have been a number of Blogaversaries over the last few weeks. Perhaps it's the holidays coming up, the cooler weather in the northern hemisphere, sudden inspirations before Christmas... who knows?

It's also a year since I started playing again on a US server. A year ago, Mr Ang and I rolled two Druids and began our leveling journey again. In the last year I've leveled three characters to 80 (one to 85!), raided with two of them and killed a Big Nasty with one. I joined a lovely bunch of people in my current guild and really enjoy playing with them. I've explored the amazing World of Warcraft and tried to share a bit of my enjoyment of a beautiful game with you.

In blogging terms, this year has been very enjoyable! I've been able to have an outlet for my urge to write and even though it was pretty bad early on, I like to think that I've improved over the year. I've tried to create a site that provides some helpful and topical information, plus a bit of entertainment. In the spirit of keeping light-hearted and friendly I generally try to stay away from strong topics and drama, although you may have seen me tweet about a few of those times along the way. In any case, I hope you've found something here that was useful or that made you smile.

Growth
I've gradually grown a nicely-sized readership, currently sitting at about 300 feed subscribers and plenty of people visiting each day. In total, I've had just over 50,000 unique visitors! Thank you all so much for visiting me!

I do owe readership growth to a few people and events:

Firstly, Lissanna from Restokin who was my Secret Admirer for the Love is in the Air event way back in February. She featured my blog in a post and suddenly, I had more than 10 readers! Thanks Lissanna <3

The two events I organised activities for attracted readers too - the Noblegarden Egg Hunt and the Harvest Festival Bake-Off, both of which had a brilliant response from the blogging and reading community and were great fun to put together.

My third major growth provider is Twitter. I highly recommend new bloggers to get involved in Twitter if you're not already part of it - the amount of support, networking and downright hilarity that comes out of Twitteroth every day just continues to amaze me. Thank you Tweeties, love you all!

A massive Thank You to everyone who has linked my guides on their blog or guild forum, especially the Gems for 4.0.1 post and especially Vixsin of Life in Group 5. Wow, that was a big week.

I probably haven't been as involved in the community at Blog Azeroth as much as I should, but it has provided me with help and inspiration on a number of occasions now and I'm very grateful for that.

One more thank you to the folks at MMOmeltingpot, because they have linked me a whole lot recently and made me feel special.

There's a bit of a theme running through all that - Community! Sharing and plotting with the people who also write blogs has certainly been my favourite part of writing one myself. I know it's been referred to as a bit of a circle-jerk but I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate you all, especially my fellow Resto Druid bloggers :)

I also like to think of it as a bit of a (possibly dubious) achievement that the Community (blogs and links from guild forums) has provided all of the growth. R&R has never been linked on WowInsider. There are two reasons that I can think of for this: a) They don't know R&R exists, or b) They think it's rubbish and not worth linking to. I suspect the answer is a, but there's always that little voice whispering about b, you know? Never mind, the support around the community has been awesome and more than I could have asked for.

The next year will see some ups and downs I'm sure. You may or may not know that I'm expecting in March, so the blog will either go on hiatus for a little while, or ramp up as I get bored during maternity leave. I'm certainly not intending to give up just yet, although my WoW time will most likely be reduced. Watch this space ;)

My Favourites

Druid stuff - Basically everything in the Resources page has been a labour of love and I do attempt to keep it all up to date.
Creative stuff - Sorry about my fan-fiction. It's trash, I know, but I love writing it so you're going to have to put up with it.
More creative stuff - Poem for Secret Admirer project, Song for the birthday of two of my favourite gnomes, Ode to my Kodo, a song for Anea
Explorations - Tips for Screenshots, Azshara, Changing Seasons, the Azeroth Photo Tour series, my Gallery page

Feedback

That's enough patting myself on the back! As always, if you have any suggestions as to what you'd like to see on R&R or even just to say hi, feel free to email me or poke me on Twitter.

Monday, 13 December 2010

It's Good to be a Druid

I've taken a break in my leveling to bring you this message.

If you play a Druid, you've probably already seen this. If not, go and check it out.

Big Bear Butt reminded me today how awesome it is to be a Druid. It made me giggle with the exuberance of it all.

Here's the post, and here's the video that goes along with it.

Thanks BBB!

Tuesday, 30 November 2010

Spring Cleaning

Today is the last day of Spring around here, and in the last few days I've been doing a bit of spring cleaning around R&R.

Things don't look any different, I know, but I've been updating most of the pages you see linked along the top of the site. I've updated the Balance and Resto Cheat Sheets for 4.0.3 and I'm working on new Fresh 85 gear lists to replace my Fresh 80 ones.

I've added some of the screenies from my recent Azeroth Photo Tour to the Gallery page, if you'd like to see pretty pictures. For some reason Blogger won't play nice and let me link 1920x1080 images, so I think I've cleaned them all up to 1600x900 now. If you would like a full size version of any of them, email me.

Something else I'm currently working on is an update to my Herbalism Guide. It may take some time, as many zones' herbs have changed and it will take time for the me to do more exploring and for the new data to settle in Wowhead, but it's coming.

I've also updated my enormous blogrolls on the right side of the page. If your blog or one that you admire is not listed, please let me know! I'm always happy to discover new ones.

Please do take some time to look around R&R and tell me what you think. If there's anything you'd like to see, let me know!

Seven sleeps to go!!

Friday, 12 November 2010

Away Again

I'm going away again for another week.

I have a couple of posts' worth of exploration shots still, but hopefully the next patch will hold off for another week so that I can get a few more done before things all change.

Sorry again that things have been quiet around here - I am so looking forward to this holiday.

See you in a week!

Monday, 4 October 2010

Your Favourite Place

So... the time is approaching. The Cataclysm, they say, is coming.

Most of Azeroth as we know it will be changed. Quite a few people have already documented the zones through screenshots, but where is it in the old world that is your favourite place to quest, to explore or just to spend time in?

I'm going away next week, so I'd love it if, over the next few days, you'd go out and take a screenie or two of your favourite place and email them to me! I'll schedule them to post during next week. If you could get them to me by this Friday night (Oct 8th) my time I'd appreciate it - I won't have much access to the interwebs while on the road apart from my phone, which isn't much good at blogging.

I don't mind what format, how many or how big the images are when you send them. I can't do video though - sorry! If you send a full-size shot, I may well add it to my Gallery page - it depends on how many I get!

For inspiration or tips, you might like to visit my Tips for Screenshots post.

I'm really looking forward to hearing about your favourite places! Thanks in advance :)