Sideshow & Syrana

Hello everyone!  Sorry I have not posted in a few days.  I was busy with work and preparing for our guild’s Valentine’s party on Friday evening.  It was a blast!  I know my guildies are anticipating a recap of the event, and I hope you enjoy it too!  Not only do I have some fun pictures to share (yay, I finally got GIMP), but I must share these crazy Valentine’s Madlibs!

So, the OIsters got together on Friday evening and partied it up on Azurebreeze Coast in Eversong Woods.  It didn’t take long for the dancing and drinking to begin!  A few of us partook in some picnic goodies and cake.  Meanwhile, Goz (the pimpest Orc there ever was) was showin’ off his Mechano-Hog and givin’ the ladies (and Sideshow) rides around the beach.  By the time Dande got the fireworks show started, a few of our guildies managed to lose their dresses.  Syrana was tempted to snag someone’s lovely black dress off the sandy beach, but she received one as a gift from Ori.  What a sweetheart!

Drang then suggested that all 34 of us should try to get organized for a group picture.  Everyone got nice ‘n cozy with each other and smiled wide.  Then, Neph and Syrana asked everyone to line up and come forward to receive their Valentine cards from us.  Syrana was too busy to write them up herself so she tossed a gold at some kid named Valentino and asked him to pen a few for her.  Take a look at some of these timeless Valentine’s Cards.  (Oh, you know you want one!)

Click to read these gems!

After the card exchange, Syrana figured everyone was good and toasted… as the party had been going strong for over an hour, making it the perfect time to ask them to come up with a list of nouns, verbs, adjectives, colors, and body parts for a Valentine Letter Madlib!

Dear Jane, my most fruity Valentine,

You are in my beautiful thoughts every moment of the day.  My arm skips a beat every time I think of your funky hair flowing down your thigh.  Mere words cannot express the sloppy feelings that I have for you my darling pie.

Valentine, you are the most sexy lady in the world, all my friends are jealous.  When you run into the room everyone explodes at you.  My friend Mark said you look like a delicate dog.  My other friend Bob said you reminded him of a cherry because of your smelly complection.

Baby you have it all.  Your smell is like a Harley waving in the breeze.  Your lips are tender as a paperclip, every time we kiss I feel chocolates in my booty.  Your 69 inch waist is the envy of every lady in Paris.  My sweet snow if you ever left me I would feel like jumping in to a Crown Royal.  Since you promised me your love and completely broke off your relationship with Nick I feel I can do what I am about to do.

My sweet horse my net worth is 13 dollars so I feel I am established enough.  I couldn’t wait until we were together in person so just imagine me bending my tongue.

Jane, will you marry me?  Enclosed is a velvet covered golf ball with a condom as a token of my love.  I hope you say yes!

Text message me with your reply.  I am making reservations to fly out to the gutter for our honeymoon.  Go ahead and get that wedding dress at the police station you have been eyeing a long time.  I have already asked your dad he said “Peace.”  I took that as a ‘yes’.

Just in case this is worrying you, I told Luvalot to ‘Eat your heart out, I’m taken.’

Next thing you know it we’ll have 3 kids trailing behind us.  You ought to see the 25 story house I have built for us and it’s your favorite color red.

Valentine, I have to go tickle, I will see you soon.

Love your kielbasa sausage,

Larry

Syrana hopes everyone had a great time either being there or hearing about the craziness afterward.  Hmmm, what can she plan next?

Every woman needs a sexy black dress!

Ahhh, yes.  Today is the start of the World of Warcraft’s version of Valentine’s Day: Love is in the Air.  But instead of just one day, it lasts for 6(ish)!  It’s a girly girl’s dream come true. /bats eyelashes

Ahem.  Anyway.  There are lots of posts today about this event, I know.  I have no good guide of my own so if any of you are looking for one, head over to WoWInsider’s guide.  I’m going to attempt to complete what I can, but since I’m not 80 yet, I won’t be able to get the title, again.  (I’m sensing a theme here.)

What I do have to offer is a fun filled guild event this Friday evening.  (Remember when I said I was a social event coordinator extraordinare?)  You can even check out the exclusive interview about it here!  It should be loads of fun, and I’ll be sure to post a recap of the event so those who were there can reveal in memories and those of you who weren’t can experience it vicariously!

Now, to get Syrana a new dress!  She does have the purple one from last year.  Syrana’s a Warlock, what can I say? She loves purple.  Alynedarra was blessed with a black one (a gift from an admirer! *blush*) and a blue one.  (On second thought, being blessed with a black and blue one sounds.. odd…)

Woo! Yes! Almost there…

Sideshow and Syrana dinged level 79 Monday night.  We’ve been taking our time, seein’ the sights, working on professions, working on achievements, working on alts, and taking care of daily life.  But, last night, I definitely wanted to forge ahead since I knew were were so close!

Oh and speaking of achievements…. Syrana has completed 2000 quests!

Here a Zone, There a Zone

I must say that Northrend and all the new quests and lore it holds has been wonderful.  There are still a few zones I haven’t touched much, such as Storm Peaks, Zul’Drak and Grizzly Hills.  Although I dinged in Storm Peaks, we only completed about 3 or 4 quests there.  I’m definitely enjoying the phasing and progression of the Icecrown quests, too.  I also have a lot more questing to do in Dragonblight on Syrana.  My hunter, on the other hand, has done A LOT in Dragonblight.

You’ve come a long way, baby

On the road to 79, I  finished up the Basin (exploring and quest achievements).  This also lead to replacing some epics.  A lot of my Burning Crusade epics lasted me a long time.  To be honest, I was a bit surprised.  Granted, I haven’t ran many dungeons lately, so I’m sure there would have been more upgrades there.  But still!  When I finished the quests from the Avatar of Freya, I replaced my Frozen Shadoweave Robes with the Lifewarden Rainment.  I had previously replaced some trinkets and rings, but nothing hurt going from purple to green than when my T4 pieces started getting replaced.  That’s when the realization really set in that my gear and stat chasing/stacking were going to start all over.  So, at that moment, it was one more purple I had to say good-bye to.  At 78.5, the only 2 epic pieces left were my Belt of Blasting and Vindicator Silk Cuffs.

Blue is My New Favorite Color

Then, as the experience bar got closer and closer to 79, I had more time to work on my tailoring.  (Which is up to 435 now, yay!)  I made myself the Black Duskweave Robes, Wristwraps, and Leggings.  I was looking at my Belt of Blasting and somewhat shocked it hadn’t been replaced yet.  My timing of having it crafted was a bit iffy, since it was only a few months before the release of WotLK, but it was worth every copper.  One of my guildies made me an Eternal Belt Buckle and another guildie cut a Runed Bloodstone gem for it.  (Thank you Gabb and Ambar!) I’m seriously thinking about upgrading the other 2 gem sockets to give the belt some more mileage.

6.66 *snickers*

So, all in all, I think gear and stats-wise, I’m sitting pretty decently for level 79 and for my lack of dungeon loot.  1 old school purple, 2 greens (a ring and a trinket), and the rest blue.  I’m also feeling my stats are pretty decent at this point.  I know soon my spell damage will be dipping some as I stack hit, but I figure I can worry about hit when I reach 80.  For my purposes now, spell power serves me well.

Bombs Away

You’d think by now I’d have the hang of bombing quests.  I bombed monster kaliri eggs in Skettis, bombed cannon balls in Ogri’la, and blasted baddies on the Isle.  But, the bombing quest in Icecrown didn’t go as smoothly.  I think it’s more about the awkwardness of the vehicles for me and will take some getting used to.  But why did it have to keep track on my buffs that I made 3 flights before completing it?  Thanks for making me feel like I don’t deserve to fly in your nifty bomber again!

(Part 4) For a complete list of this series, go here.

Aerissa’s body twitched and jerked as she slept, lost in a fitful dreaming state.  The Lynx had come running back, having heard the odd noises she emitted.  He laid before her, keeping watch as she dreamed.

“No, don-” Aerissa’s words were choked off as his grip tightened around her throat.  She pried at his hand, trying to tear it away, her face turning red.  He glared at her, his face unrecognizable.

Aerissa’s body started to go limp against the tree.  She coughed and choked, trying to breath.  Her hands slipped and fell to her sides, seeing two of him as her eyes fluttered closed.

He grunted as the fingers on his left hand enclosed around the hilt of his other dagger.  His right hand still clutched her neck, but his grip loosened as he concentrated less on holding her before him.As he thrust the dagger forward, Aerissa drew in a deep, gasping breath.  She reacted quickly and without thinking.  Using the tree to her advantage, she pushed off from it, and dipped her head down, biting his hand.  He let go of her neck, and stabbed at her wildly with his left.  She rubbed her neck as she kicked at him, trying to keep distance between them.

“Get over here, Rissss~” he hissed between clenched teeth.  He lurched forward, his dagger ripping through her clothing and slicing through the skin on her left hip.  She yelped, kicking up a massive amount of dirt towards his face.  He twisted the dagger, opening the wound further before he stumbled back, unable to see.  He clawed at his face, the dirt burning his eyes.

Aerissa staggered backwards, falling onto her rear.  She watched as he flailed around, blinded momentarily.  She began trying to scoot backwards, farther away from him.  She ignored the fact that the dagger was still sticking out of her hip.  She flipped over and crawled away as she steadily righted herself and regained her footing.  She glanced over her shoulder to see the elven man on his knees with the human woman at his side.

Aerissa quickened her pace, running, running as fast as she could.  She felt branches whipping at her face, at her arms, but she didn’t care.  Her mind was numbed with fear, she just knew she had to get away… as far away as…

Her eyelids opened partially, then blinked.  She opened them again and tried to focus on the orange blur before her.  The world slowly came back into focus.  The Lynx yawned, stretching his powerful jaws before her.

(continue reading…)

Just wanted to drop a short note before the fourth installment of my story hits the presses.

Boo at us Warlocks only seeing a nerf to Curse of Tongues with patch 3.0.9.

Yay for Sideshow and Syrana dinging 79 tonight! (More to come on that after Tuesday’s storytime)

This post has evolved and reformed several times in my mind before I had a chance to write it out.  The original idea was inspired by Larisa’s post over at The Pink Pigtailed Inn in which she responded to a commenter who decided WoW was consuming his life and was a waste of time.  From there I went on to read Klepsacovic’s post over at Troll Racials Are Overpowered, which was a response to Larisa’s post.

Then, my focus shifted again after reading the heartfelt post by Fulguralis on Killing ‘em Slowly, which he then submitted “WoW and Hope” as a Blog Azeroth shared topic.

So now I present to you, my thoughts and ramblings that have been inspired and shaped by those posts.

The Big “Why” Question

Why do I play WoW? Why do I spend so much of my time invested in this game, on these characters, all of which are not “real.”  They aren’t tangible creations.  They will be gone when Blizzard decides to shut down the servers… lost forever.  Syrana isn’t me.  Syrana is just pixels on the screen.

But I can identify with her on some level.  She is my therapy, my outlet.  As is the blogging.  Some might think I waste even more time by reading so much about “just a game” and then writing about it too.  Pfft, this helps me enjoy the game even more and become immersed within this virtual world.

Is everything I do in-game an extension of myself? Of course not.  But it’s a virtual world where I can escape to and feel comfortable among like-minded companions.

A Hobby is a Hobby is a Hobby…

Why does gaming, as a hobby, have such a stigma anyhow? It’s quite strange, really.  And why does my every waking moment have to be “productive.”  How many non-gamers do you know that are doing something productive every moment they are awake?  Yeah, I thought so… some but not all (and certainly not all that shun my game playing!).  Playing WoW is more productive, social, and interactive than sitting and watching TV and movies for hours on end.  But who questions that?

Do people do things like play hooky from work or school to play? Yes, just like people will to go fishing, play golf, or go hunting.

2 Simple Rules

My leisure time is mine.  No one else can determine how I could or should be spending that time.  I can do as I please as long as I follow these 2 simple rules:

1.  I’m enjoying myself.   (And it’s semi-legal… just kidding, as long as it’s legal!)

2.  I’m not hurting anyone.  (PvP excluded)

I’m an adult, I can make big girl decisions thankyouverymuch!  And I believe this goes for any hobby or pasttime that one may have.

Playing my characters, chattin’ it up with guildies, hosting social guild events, and running around Dalaran in circles are how I like to spend my leisure time.  So yes, some might say I’m wasting my time WHILE wasting my time!  I don’t even really hide it ever.  My computer at home has a WoW screenshot for the desktop, and so does my work computer.  A few of my co-workers even come to this here blog to read my role-playing story.  I use my WoW themed credit card with no shame.  (Plus, there’s no shame in earning free game time!)

All of this is important because everyone needs to have their “me” time and a way to revitalize.  Of course, since my husband plays too, WoW also provides “us” time as well.  And now that my mother and father play, it even provides some “family” time.

A Moment of Clarity

Escaping reality is a necessity for me to keep my sanity.  It’s a way for me to effectively perform my job.  Especially in our current state of economic troubles, I need to perform my job well.  In this time where many lack hope, I must constantly work to provide and instill hope in my clients.

I work with people every day.  This can be emotionally draining and exhausting, hence the mental vacation WoW often provides at little cost.  And providing hope, is my main commodity.  I work with people that are seeking alcohol and drug treatment.  I am not a counselor, but a case manager.  A majority of the people I have contact with on a daily basis have hit rock bottom or are very near to it.  They’ve gone through a downward spiral, have incredible stories, and have often lost all that is near and dear to them… their lives are fragmented.  I am there to help them find those pieces so they can pick them up and put them back together.  If I’m not revitalized, refreshed, and renewed, how can I expect to instill hope in people day in and day out?  I can’t.

World of Warcraft helps me to do just that.  It gives me a chance to escape what’s bad and depressing to go into Azeroth where I can be a hero and change the world.

So when I wake up, I can really help change the world… by providing hope to someone I’m working with so they are able to change their own world.

Last Week’s Screenshot Recap

Ah, yes, a few of you knew exactly where the fallen statue was in Azshara.  (Ok, probably more than a few knew, but a few commented!)  It’s an odd place to get to and I almost missed the bridge across.

Introducing…

When you want to get away, find a portal.  But where would this one take you?  Heck, where would you find this one?

Is that...is that a skull?

Previously I posted up a list of some gaming goals I want to accomplish by December 31, 2009.  Well, we’re just a few days into February and we’ve got one done and an update on a couple others.  Plus, I have a little story about why completing the Wrathgate questline the second time was not as awesome as the first time.  (I know, sounds impossible, right?!)

Gaming Goals Update

I know I have already given a mini-update about Syrana reaching expert fishing, but I’m still amazed I have already gotten this one completed.  I thought this would take most of the year, to be honest.

Worth every copper, imo.

On my quest to collect 50 pets in order to receive Stinker (to then only work towards 75 pets to get the Fawn…) I have reached 45 pets.  #45 is very special to me.  He’s cute, he can fly, he squeaks, and he was expensive.  This dear little dark whelpling cost me 1200 gold on the Auction House, but I just couldn’t resist.  I didn’t feel like taking the time to play with the RNG for him to drop and I hadn’t seen him listed on the Auction House before.

Now, Syrana is still shy of level 79, but Alynedarra, my hunter, has gotten about halfway through level 76!  Which brings us to the next piece…

Wrathgate

For those of you have done the Wrathgate questline, you know it is epic-ly awesome.  For those of you who have not completed it yet, you may want to go do it NOW.  I would put a spoiler warning at this point, but not sure that’s necessary anymore.  I know there are still people who haven’t completed this questline, but I’m sure they’ve heard about it by now.  If not, what I’m about to share isn’t really going to spoil it for you.  And maybe, just maybe, it will be helpful.

Ohh when the weather outside is frightful~

The first time I completed this questline was on Syrana alongside Sideshow.  Things worked out well.  We loved the cinematic, we loved the scene in Thrall’s chamber, and we waited patiently with Thrall and Sylvanas before attempting to reclaim Undercity.  The battle was epic and screwed up our high damage score addons, but it was a blast.

Last night, I took Alynedarra through the last steps to Wrathgate.  I was looking forward to such an epic quest again.  I watched the cinematic all the way through again and headed off to phased Orgrimmar to speak with Thrall.  I waited for the scene there to complete before speaking with him.  I take the portal to just outside of Undercity and announce to Vol’jin that I have arrived and am reporting for duty.  He instructs me to aid Thrall and Sylvanas in the retaking of Undercity.  I take note that the top of my screen indicates they have control of the inner sanctum.

So, I ride through the courtyard – no mobs.  I ride to the elevator – still safe.  I get to the Trade District – Horde guards to be seen, but no mobs.  As I head to the outer circle, I receive my “flag” indicating I’m part of the battle and my MASSIVE buffs from Thrall and Sylvanas.  But I don’t see them anywhere.

I see nothing but level 75 elites roaming the halls.  I start battling, trying to fight my way to them.  Then it gets bad.  I get out of range of Thrall and Sylvanas (which I still couldn’t spot) and lose the flag and buffs.  I die.

So I corpse run and can’t see if there are any mobs around me while I’m a ghost in there.  I rez.  I immediately die as I’m surrounded.  Ooookay.  Corpse run again and go to the outer canal.  I duck into a little vendor stall and move close to the wall opposite of where I died.  Success, or so I thought.  I rezzed and am killed quickly by a patrol.

It then goes from bad to worse.

The information up top indicates the battle has moved into the Royal Quarter.  I am still many corpse jumps away from there.  I try to rez and run… trying to drop my body closer to my destination.  Well, those abominations and their stupid “Get over here” chains yank me back farther than where my last death spot was.  They just put my progress into the negative in a matter of seconds.  Then I try to spirit rez and take a different approach.  What that approach is, I hadn’t a clue.

This is when it got REALLY bad.  I rode into the Trade District and was killed by an abomination that was chillin’ where the cook usually is.  He used his gogogadget chain to get me when I was near the bank.  Bastard.  But still I try.  I’m not a quitter, dammit!  Until my durability reached 0%.  OMG, yes.  I have not seen that happen in quite some time.  I was frustrated.  I just wanted to finish this before bed.

So I’m stuck.  I can’t get to the battle, I can’t seem to get out alive.  I rez and hearth back to Dalaran.  I repair up (20g /cry) and portal to Orgrimmar.  I ride to Thrall’s chamber, but no portal opens for me.  Thank goodness the zeppelins still worked.  I hitched a ride on a ghost zeppelin over to Undercity.  (It was weird, no NPC’s or other players could be seen on the zeppelin while I stood on the Org tower, but once I stepped on, there were NPC’s and players on it… which disappeared as soon as I stepped off at the UC tower.  The power of phasing!)

This time I seem to have a bit more luck as the battle has already started, but it is in the courtyard.  Thank goodness.

This time there is a rogue also participating in the battle.  He kinda hurts my already tired and crabby eyes (it’s almost 1am at this point) with all his seemingly endless jumping and bouncing.  But then, he sends an unprovoked and unwelcome group invite.  First of all, bad manners in sending a ninjavite.  Secondly, there is no need to be grouped for this quest AT ALL.  The mobs during the battle drop no loot and you just have to participate to complete it.  I decline it.  He pops another a little while later, I decline again.

Rogue whispers: Invite me to ur guild i like the tabard (Really? so this is why people still use it as part of their recruitment message… huh.. I never mention the tabard in my recruitment spiel.)

Aly whispers: We have an application process before the interview process.

(no response for a few minutes)

Rogue whispers: im not taking any guild seriusly till i hit 80 so best i wait

Aly whispers: Yeah, that’s probably for the best.

The rest of the battle continues without the rogue being too bouncy within my line o’ sight and no further requests from him.  The battle comes to an end, I’m dead tired, I click for my reward selection and hit accept.  Aly is whisked away and dropped onto the zeppelin tower outside of Orgrimmar.  I open my bag to put on my new pants.

…

Crap.

I selected the Warchief’s Leggings of Valor instead of the ones listed below those.

Crapcrapcrappitycrapcrap!

I’m too tired to do anything at the moment.  I log out and decide that when I log on to her this weekend, I’ll open a ticket and see if maybe a kind GM will help me out.

So, when you do Wrathgate…. if the battle is beyond the courtyard when you arrive, wait for the reset.  And carefully select your reward choices.

/fail/sleep

Ran across this video at YouTube. The man in question is George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher of the band Cannibal Corpse. The guy loves his WoW and the Horde. He’s not shy about letting you know that. Warning to you Alliance players, I don’t think he likes you. He does get to speak his mind on the subject due to the fact that he has a character named after him. (NSFW Language)

It’s all in fun. Don’t take it seriously.

So the band played again tonight.  I think we’re back on our practice schedule! *crosses fingers*  I’m going to post on that tonight because, frankly, my brain cannot handle putting together anything else for you this evening.  And I don’t even want to touch the preview of the next patch yet.  I need more time to process the info I’ve read thus far before making speculations.  Plus, I’ll have some other thought provoking (hopefully) posts for you in the coming days.

Syrana gets a new look!

To the setlist!

Offspring – “Come Out & Play (gotta keep ‘em separated)”

Disturbed – “Into the Fire”

Kansas – “Carry On My Wayward Son”

Avenged Sevenfold – “Almost Easy”

Testament – “Souls of Black”

Journey – “Any Way You Want It”

Godsmack – “I Stand Alone”

Offspring – “Self-Esteem”

Vagiant – “Seven”

As you can see, we like to keep our fans guessing.