Druid Addict? Me?

Aoifen, my baby Druid, has reached level 85.

That means I now have had three max-level Druids (one is level 80). I can't help it, Druids are awesome!

Aoifen leveled up by questing through the new Azeroth. She has done very few dungeons due to my erratic Sproutling-timetable and did a fair old portion of 80-85 leveling through Archaeology, so her gear at ding time was pretty bad. It's time to follow my own advice and get gearing!

Two days later, Aoifen was sporting a couple of shiny epics already thanks to patch 4.2 - the shiny cloak from Thrall's quest chain, plus the Nightweaver's Amulet available after the first set of Firelands dailies. My item level was already 327! I ran a couple of normal dungeons and picked up a couple of upgrades and all of a sudden, my level is 330.

Do I want to run a heroic yet? I certainly don't think I could heal a heroic yet - mana has been scarce in the normal dungeons I've healed now, so I'd like to sort those out before I consider a heroic. I will probably have a go as Moonkin first to see if I can do enough damage to not be kicked. Let's see if I can avoid those tanks on Rhii's ignore list!

15 Days of Screenshots: Best Screen Shot

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

Day 7: Best Screenshot

Show us the best screen shot you believe that you have ever taken and why you think it is the best (content, meaning, how you framed it, etc).

This was quite a challenge for me as I'm quite fond of all the screenshots I've included in my Gallery page.

This shot of the Thousand Needles at night is my absolute favourite though - I think it's the moonlit road leading off into the distance that makes me feel like I'm on an adventure.

I do miss the old Thousand Needles. It was so beautiful day and night!

The full-size version of this image is hosted at scrntag.com.

Pre-Raid Gear Lists Updated for 4.2

Patch 4.2: Rage of the Firelands is due to drop this week. I've updated my Restoration Pre-Raid Gear List and Moonkin Pre-Raid Gear List in preparation, as there are quite a few new items that will be available outside of raids. I've included a list of the items at the bottom of this post.

Full patch notes for 4.2 can be found on Battle.net.

Big thanks must go to Jasyla of Cannot Be Tamed for her post on gear in 4.2 - this made my updating job so much easier this time! Go and check out her post to see the new raid loot available in the Firelands.

Valor and Justice Points
Our existing Valor Points will be converted to Justice Points and as such the items that were purchasable with Valor Points will now be purchased using Justice Points instead. Normal versions of the pre-4.2 raids will only reward Justice Points. (Source: MMO-Champion).

Firelands Dailies
The new daily quest hub will be opening in Mount Hyjal. The way I understand it, the new quests will unlock in phases, similar to the way each set of dailies was unlocked for the Argent Tournament. Each daily quest rewards a number of [Mark of the World Tree], and these are turned in to unlock the next set of dailies and the rewards of each of three vendor NPCs (Source: MMO-Champion).

New Pre-Raid Leather Intellect Gear
Neck
Firemind Pendant - Valor Points

Wrists
Smolderskull Bindings - Valor Points

Hands
Heavenly Gloves of the Moon - Leatherworking

Waist
Fireplume Girdle - Firelands Dailies

Feet
Ethereal Footfalls - Leatherworking

Fingers
Soothing Brimstone Circle - Valor Points
Spirit Fragment Band - Firelands Dailies

Off-hand
Globe of Moonlight - Firelands Dailies

Relic
Singed Plume of Aviana - Valor Points
Soulflame Vial - Valor Points
Relic of Elune's Light - Firelands Dailies

15 Days of Screenshots: Favourite Quote

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

Day 6: Favorite Line of Poetry/Lyric

Most of us have a favorite poet or song. Give us an image that you think represents your favorite line, or what line inspires you most. 

We live only to discover beauty.  All else is a form of waiting.

Khalil Gibran

I don't really have a favourite song or poet per se, more a wide variety of things that inspire me at random times. I came across this quote recently and thought it summed up quite well one of the things that I most love to do - find beautiful things in everyday life.  We play a beautiful game but we also live in a beautiful world - one which we should make sure to get out and see it from time to time.

Full-size image of the Maw of the Void, Darkshore is hosted at scrntag.com.

Midsummer Fire XP Festival

Breaking News (to me, anyway): Honoring and Desecrating Fires Awards Experience!

You may remember a little while ago I was disappointed to discover that visiting Elders no longer awarded xp. Well, I was pleased to discover tonight that visiting the Midsummer Festival Fires of both factions still award xp, gold and reputation. Enemy fires award more of each!

WowHead's Guide is now up-to-date with the new locations, so break out your alts if you can bear the thought of riding around all over the world.  It's a lot easier if you can fly!

The festival runs until July 4.

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.

15 Days of Screenshots: Greatest Accomplishment

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

Day 4: Greatest Accomplishment

I've never been at the fore-front of progression raiding so I don't have any of the fancy drakes or even much special gear, so my accomplishments are probably pretty low-key compared to some. I'll share a few with you anyway.

Completing Karazhan
Hells Reapers started out as a levelling guild in mid-Burning Crusade times. It grew to a decent size and once a few of us got to level 70 we started to run heroics together. The transition into raids took a while and a load of work, but with the hard work of a few key people plus the core raiders we completed Karazhan in June 2008. I was the GM at the time and I was so proud of everyone!

This shot is the roof of the Opera, one of my favourite encounters in Kara. What will the show be tonight? Wizard of Oz? Perhaps Romulo and Julianne.. or the dreaded Big Bad Wolf during which most of the raid were sure to perish!

Slaying Malygos
Later, in a different guild and a short while after Wrath had been released, we had started to run Naxxramas. One Saturday morning a group of 10 of us decided to have a crack at Malygos, since one of us had got the key during the week. Five or six hours of wiping later and after about a total of 16 people taking part as people were subbed in and out, we got him down. What made it even better was that we hadn't even realised that getting Maly down would earn us the Champion of the Frozen Wastes title, before many others on the server had it. We wore that title with pride for many weeks, or at least until everyone else had it.

Kingslayers
Much later, and on the other side of the world, a small 10-man raiding guild killed the Lich King in the dying weeks of the expansion. Yes, we had 25% buff and someone with us who had done it before, but I was so proud of my Kingslayer title after that night. I miss my guildies... I wish they would come back from Rift :-/