Progress Post: Level 75

Leesah has be valiantly serving the Horde in Northrend, most recently taking part in a huge battle at the Wrathgate and the following siege of the Undercity.

She battles on, a little scarred but determined to reach the gates of Icecrown Citadel to join the rest of the Horde and Alliance armies.  At the moment she is having bit of recouperation time in Grizzly Hills, although she has heard that there is work to be done in Zul'Drak also.

In financial news, I managed to save up enough to purchase a Resto spec for Leesah so the healing practice begins.  Doing a random dungeon each day is earning Leesah a boatload of [Emblem of Triumph], so it will be shopping time as soon as she gets to 80!

Over the next week or so I will be posting information about Resto and Balance druids that I have been collecting, in a series aimed at new level 80 druids, and helping to make this site a bit more of a resource than it currently is.  Stay tuned :)

Love is in the Air, so Give a Flower

If you play video games, chances are you are a rational, logical thinker.  Such logical thinking could lead you to the logical conclusion:  "Valentine's Day was invented by Greeting Card companies in order to part me with my money." And you would, for the most part, be correct.

But the Love is in the Air Festival starts on Sunday, and Azerothian cities will be filled with flirting and general naughtiness when people start bringing out their Peddlefeets, [Romantic Picnic Basket] and riding their [Big Love Rocket].  How can anyone help but fall in love with such sights around?

This leads to the question of what to get your beau to show your undying devotion (or your appreciation as a friend, guildy, or GM).  There are many options, but in Azeroth, flowers never die. 

Red Rose - Held in the off-hand, this is a classic declaration of love.

Bouquet of White Roses - Another off-hand item, white roses traditionally represent purity, innocence and youthfulness, which is why they are often used in Bridal Bouquets.  Give to a friend to say you think they're special.

Bouquet of Black Roses - Black roses don't have a traditional meaning because, well, they don't exist outside of Azeroth.  So you're welcome to make up your own reason for giving them.  You can also get a single Black Rose.  They are probably a safe bet for Warlocks and Shadow Priests.

Beautiful Wildflowers and Simple Wildflowers - while slightly cheaper these are still the perfect gift.

Stratholme Lily - An extra special present that can only be bought in the past.  Go into the Culling of Stratholme and visit Sophie Aarens' shop before starting the Culling of Stratholme event.

Darkmoon Flower - Another rare present that can only be purchased from the Darkmoon Faire.  The Faire is in Terrokar Forest right now but it finishes today, February 6!

You can buy flowers at several locations:

Dalaran - Aerith Primrose, Flower Seller, has a stall out the front of the Violet Hold
Old Stratholme - Sophie Aaren, Aaren's Flower Shop before starting the Culling event.

Alliance only-
Stormwind City - Bernard and Felicia Gump, Florists, near the canal between Trade District and Old Town
Valgarde, Howling Fjord - Innkeeper Hazel Lagras

Horde only-
Icecrown Citadel - Morgan Dayblaze, Blacksmith - only after you defeat Deathbringer Saurfang!
Thunder Bluff - Nida Winterhoof, Herbalist, Middle Rise

Good luck, and enjoy Love is in the Air!

PS. In-game flowers, although they will most likely be very appreciated, are not recommended as a substitute for real flowers.  You have been warned.

For the Horde?

Why is it that members of the Horde keep reminding us that they are "For the Horde"?

Leesah is making her way through the snowy land of Dragonblight, and the other day came upon this quest where you go around the village and ask the Taunka'le refugees to sign up with the Horde.  There's a few different quests like this around the place, and I was struck by how different the Horde questlines are to the Alliance.  It's been a while since I last did it as Alliance but I'm fairly sure there isn't any pledge of allegiance to the Kings or Mr Fordring or anyone.

Perhaps it's to do with origins.  The Alliance is formed of nations that have existed for hundreds of years - Stormwind, Khaz Modan, Gnomeregan, Darnassus, Gilneas, Exodar (after the Draenei fled Shattrath).   The noble and honourable members of the Alliance therefore have their first loyalty to their nation of origin, and a secondary loyalty to the Alliance that they are part of.  The fact that each nation has its own leader with separate motivations may also divide allegiance.

The Horde, or properly termed as the "new Horde", was formed from several groups of outcast warriors - Orcs, Trolls and Tauren who fought together and alongside the Alliance at the Battle of Mount Hyjal, and afterwards established their homes in Kalimdor.  They are loyal to each other as comrades-in-arms, and although they honour their ancestors, they don't hold allegiance to any other ancient nation, but instead to the Warchief Thrall who is the undisputed leader.  They pledge to be an instrument of the Warchief's desire and are committed to "Lok'tar ogar" - Victory or Death.

At least the Orcs, Tauren and Trolls are proud to be for the Horde.  But is the rest of the Horde really that solid?  I don't see the Forsaken looking particularly over the moon to be part of the Horde - they say "Victory for Sylvanas!" but I've never heard one mention the Horde.  Sylvanas Windrunner offered an alliance to Thrall after the Forsaken were freed from the Scourge, but it was mainly to protect themselves from threats in Eastern Kingdoms - they are in it for their own ends.  The quests given by Forsaken in Howling Fjord and Dragonblight show their lack of compassion and their self-serving natures.  They are mostly errands that they wish to be run, rather than efforts towards the campaign in Northrend.  They're pretty grim, most of them - from sawing into Dwarves to take their brains, to killing members of the Horde that have been taken prisoner, to several quests dealing with torture - I am pretty happy to be moving away from Venomspite and heading towards Wyrmrest Temple.

The Blood Elves don't seem too concerned with anything besides remembering the Sunwell, and their addiction to magic.  Because of this they are distrusted by the rest of the Horde, and the elves themselves don't really like the rest of the Horde either.  But they were shunned by their former allies in the Alliance after Kael'thas started playing with demonic power.  They relied on the Horde during TBC to help them reach Kael'thas in Outland, but turned away from Kael once they realised he had betrayed them and allied himself with the Burning Legion.  They remain with the Horde through the Northrend campaign, although it is slightly unclear as to why.

So even though the Horde sounds as though they are strong allies, who knows what effect the death of the Lich King and the end of the Northrend Campaign will have on some of the more shaky relationships within it?  The Cataclysm could also have a massive impact on both factions as the homelands themselves are destroyed and changed. 

What would happen to the game if the Blood Elves or Forsaken suddenly decided to abandon the Horde? 

Ps. This exercise in Lore was brought to you by wowwiki.com and this thread about Blood Elves.

Patch 3.3.2 and the Auction House

There are two exciting things going on today.  I'm a bit late on both of them, but one is that Patch 3.3.2 dropped last night and is now live, and the other is that Blizzard have announced that you will soon be able to access the Auction House through the Armory and in the iPhone Armory app.

Patch 3.3.2
You can always find the latest patch notes here.

The major news for this patch is the opening of the Frostwing Halls, the final wing of Icecrown Citadel and the wing containing the Fat-Boy Lich King himself.  The spoiler video has been released but I haven't watched it yet.  I probably will, but only because if (when) I get the opportunity to see it in-game, I will be too busy celebrating over having killed him that I doubt I'd appreciate it.

The final boss in the Vault of Archavon, Toravon the Ice Watcher, has also been released. There's plenty of information around about how to defeat him - a good starting point is the Toravon WowWiki page.  Free T-10 gloves and legs?  Yes please!

A bunch of boss encounters in heroics have been changed.  I wouldn't call them nerfs exactly - more streamlining measures, and I welcome them.  At the current dps output of most people in heroics these days, someone like Jadoga Shadowseeker in Old Kingdom spends more time in the air than she does on the ground being hit.  It doesn't solve the issue of heroics being too easy compared to the massive rewards you can buy with emblems these days, but I hope it solves whatever was making people drop group rather than do the  heroics in question.

There was some nice news for Balance Druids:

• Balance
• Earth and Moon: This talent now increases the druid's spell damage by 2/4/6%, up from 1/2/3%.

Oh yeah, MORE DEEPS!  In the Blizzard Developer chat last week they did say there were buffs coming and they have delivered. 

The party leader is now referred to as Guide in chat when a group is formed via the Dungeon Finder.

Eh?  What was wrong with being the leader?  Did I miss something here?

Tier-9 Sets: The Aspirant vendors at the Argent Tournament grounds have worked out a deal with merchants in Dalaran so that all item level 232 set pieces will now be available on armor vendors in the city. Set pieces which require trophies will still be available for purchase only from vendors at the Argent Tournament grounds.

That's awesome.  One more reason never to leave Dalaran.

Tier-10 Balance Druid 4-Piece Bonus: Fixed a bug to allow for this bonus to properly trigger.

I had heard around the place that something was wrong with the proc on the set.  It might be a long time before Leesah sees any T10 but it's nice to know it will work when she gets it!


Armory to Include Auction House

This announcement appeared yesterday in this blue post from Bornakk.  Basically, we are going to be able to access the Auction House through the Armory or the Armory App on the iPhone.

Now is it just me, or is it taking part of the game out of the game?  I mean, I have enough distractions at work without actually being able to play part of the game there.  What's next?  Some kind of fishing app that lets you do the Stranglethorn Fishing Comp on your iPhone? 

The post does say that some parts of the service might be premium-based.  As Matticus said in his post on the subject, this will possibly mean that we'll be able to browse the AH for free, but might have to pay real money in order to be able to purchase anything.  It will be interesting to see how this develops - it might take the debate on micro-transactions to a new level.

Would I use it?  Probably.  Would I pay for it?  I'm not so sure.  Would you?

State of my UI: pre-80

I've written a few posts about addons that I'm using but I realised I haven't posted about how I've set up my UI.  It's unlikely, but I might be using an addon that you've not tried before, so in the spirit of sharing, here's what it looks like out of combat:

Visible in the out-of-combat image are:

• Bartender 4 action bars.  2 bars, the bag bar and the stance bar.  Oh, and the menu bar.
  
• QBar - contains quest items for easy access.
  
• Pitbull 4 unit frames - in this case just me.
  
• Chinchilla minimap - moves the map, makes it square and puts a nice border on.
  
• Prat 3.0 - chat window - adds timestamp, makes sticky channels, colours by class and other useful stuff.  My chat window is on the left and my combat log on the right.
  
• Quartz cast bar - shows red latency in the castbar and also buff/debuff timers.
  
• Decursive - the tiny box to the left of my unit frame is decursive.  Allows for easy removal of poisons, curses, diseases and magical debuffs, if you have the spells to remove them.
  
• Elkano's Buff Bars - top right corner.  I find it easier to recognise buffs by their names.
  
• FuBar - at the top of the screen, including MoneyFu, PerformanceFu, DurabilityFu, ProfessionsFu, GarbageFu, ExperienceFu, FriendsFu (I have no friends yet /cry), GuildFu (no guild either :( ), BagFu and ClockFu.  Phew!

 Next, the combat view:

Extra addons visible in the combat view:

• Omen - threat meter - still useful, especially in pre-80 instances when you may have a tank of lower level than you.
• Mik Scrolling Battle Text - shows the big damage and healing numbers.  Well, biggish. 
• Power Auras Classic - the circle around my character is the power aura telling me Eclipse is up and I should be casting Starfire.  More on PowA in this post.

You can see Pitbull in action with the additional unit frames for my Target and the Party members.  The Target's target shows in a small box above the Target frame.

Addons you can't see in the images:

• Clique - binds spells to click+ctrl/alt/shift combos
• Cartographer 3 - Google-looking-maps for Azeroth
• Auctioneer - for money making goodness
• Skillet - trade skill window that makes crafting soooo much easier.
• LilSparky's Workshop - combines with Skillet and Auctioneer to show you how much items cost to craft and what they are worth to sell
• Ratingbuster - Is that item an upgrade for me?  Ratingbuster gives info in the tooltip to help you decide.
• Tourguide + Tomtom - you can actually see the tourguide box in the images - if you are leveling, this combination is better than Questhelper in every way.
• Bagnon - shows all bags as one bag, and all bags in the bank as one back also.
• Cowtip + Tipsy - customisable placement and appearance of tooltips.
• Atlas + AtlasLoot Enhanced - maps for instances and a database of loot.  This also includes crafted and badge items.

Oh my goodness, that's a lot.   Once I reach level 80 and start healing, my setup will most likely change.  I still haven't decided what setup to use for healing.  At the moment I'm just using Clique and mousing over my Pitbull frames but I've heard good things about Vudho so I might try it out.  I've used Healbot in the past and it was also good so I may go back to it.

If you have any suggestions for improvements, healing setups or questions, please feel free to comment :)

Into the Frozen North

 

Click the image for a 1600 by 900px wallpaper image.

The Northern Lights, seen from near Kamagua, Howling Fjord.

Want to see more pretty pictures? Visit R&R's Gallery Page.

Rumblings in the Hinterlands

Aefa and Mengfu stopped next to a small waterfall, where the water in the stream formed a pool between the rocks.

Mengfu jumped off his riding wolf and approached the water, the electrical current around him arcing and popping. He muttered under his breath and waved a hand, dismissing the lightening shield before reaching into the water to wash the Silvermane Stalker blood off his hands.

Aefa looked disappointed. "I thought I was going to be treated to another fried orc impression," she complained.

"Ha ha," Mengfu said, unamused. He scooped up a handful of the streamwater and took a drink, then stood up, wiping his hands on his leather armour, then muttered again to recast the lightening shield around himself.

"At least I never get zapped by my own protection," Aefa chuckled as she recast her own Mage Armor and sat down to drink some of her own conjured spring water.

"What's that? You hear something?" Mengfu looked around apprehensively.

"I can't hear a thing over your sparkly spellcasting," Aefa joked.

"That's what I mean," Mengfu said quietly. "It's too quiet. "

Aefa looked around the forest clearing. He was right. Apart from the stream trickling downhill, there was no other sound - no birds, no insects, not even the howl of an owlbeast.

Suddenly out of the bush to the left of where Aefa stood, a Silvermane wolf came crashing out, a crazed look in its rolling eyes. Aefa let out a shout and started casting a Frostbolt, but before a surprised Mengfu could ready his axes the terrified wolf had already dashed into the bush at the other side of the creek.

"What was THAT all about!?" Aefa said, slightly panicked.

Before Mengfu could answer, a low rumble began. Aefa looked around to try to identify which direction the sound was coming from, but she realised with a cold knot of fear that the sound was coming from underground.

Then the ground began to shake. It started like a shiver, then there was a horrible cracking sound and the ground beneath their feet jolted sideways. Aefa grabbed Mengfu's shoulder to stop herself falling over.  Her hawkstrider let out a terrified squawk and flapped in terror.

It was over a few seconds after it began  A few small rocks in the creek tumbled against each other and a branch crashed down somewhere in the forest behind them. Then silence again.

Aefa turned in horror to see that the waterfall had stopped. A few heartbeats later, the water filled up over whatever new obstacle was at the top of the cascade and the water spilled over and flowed once again.

Aefa realised she had been holding her breath, and she let it out with a stream of expletives. "An earthquake?" she continued, "I've never heard of there being earthquakes up here before!"

Mengfu looked shaken, but checked over his armour to make sure nothing was damaged. "Last week in Gadgetzan I heard a traveller talking about an earthquake over in Ferelas." He frowned.

Aefa looked back at the waterfall, now splashing gently into the pool again.  She shivered, and compulsively renewed the magical barrier around herself.

"Come on," Mengfu said, coaxing his wolf out of the bushes where he had been cowering. "let's go back to the village, I could use a stiff drink. "

Aefa agreed wholeheartedly and they headed back into the forest away from the stream, trickling down its new course.  Gradually the insects resumed their chattering and an owlbeast hooted into the evening air.

~o~

How are your characters dealing with the changes happening in Azeroth?  Have they experienced any earthquakes?

I am going to try to write some more fic snippets leading up to the world events the Cataclysm will bring - thanks for indulging me ;)

PS.  The photo is of a waterfall in the Gold Coast Hinterlands, 24 Jan 2010.