Sideshow & Syrana

This is going to be a bit different than last year’s goal list.  Last year I focused heavily on World of Warcraft goals with a smattering of Rock Band goals mixed in.  This year, I’ve broken down my goals into a few different categories: WoW, Aion, Dragons Age, Sims 3, Blogging, and Assorted.  And my, I look gamerbitious, don’tcha think? (continue reading…)

This weekend, I was an achievement bull dozer. I plowed through a bunch of somewhat rare and hard-to-get achievements through mostly luck. Sideshow beat out the whole server to get one and closer to a title and my Mid-40s Priest got a few that I’ve never thought I’d get on any character.

Sunday also seemed to be the day that the Alliance took off in our battlegroup. I rode a wave of about 10 wins in a row in a mix of Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin for a few hours. A bunch of them were either 3-0 WSG wins or 1600-0 AB wins. We barely ever win, let alone shut the Alliance out. We also took Wintergrasp in record time on Saturday night, which also usually never happens since we are so outnumbered. I was in the group of about 4-5 siege engines that just tore through the east walls and then into the fortress door.

On Saturday, Sideshow also tripped and fell his way to a cool achievement. (continue reading…)

Much like in the real world (work, family, home, etc.) and in game, you have to define success for yourself.  And this goes for blogging as well.  We can look at everyone around us and try to live up to someone else’s measurements, but it really comes down to how you’ve defined success for yourself.

A lot of bloggers use some form of site statistics to gather information about hits, pageviews, referring links, keywords, etc.  But much like Recount, that information is useful when analyzed and applied properly.

We use Google Analytics here.  I like to look and compare month to month and also seeing a whole year’s worth of data.  What I won’t do though, is hold up those numbers against every other blog’s stats.

Why? (continue reading…)

I’ve hinted for awhile now at a contest being revealed today as part of the celebration of us being around for a year.  I wanted to put something together that not only celebrated us, but also love to the blogosphere.  For, without you, we wouldn’t have made it this far.

Many of the bloggers that are listed on our blogroll are not only readers of Sideshow and Syrana, but have helped spread the word about us.  We truly appreciate that!

We also appreciate each and every reader we have, and wanted to have some sort of giveaway as a “thank you” for reading.

Combining all those things in a cauldron led to the creation of the blog scavenger hunt!

All the answers can be found either within our blog or somewhere on a blog that is listed in our current blogroll.  (Hmm, descriptions might come in handy for this…)

Some will be easy peasy, some damn near impossible, and a whole slew of moderate difficulty.  I want this to be fun, with the right dose of challenge…

Prizes

This is going to take some work.  But let these shiny prizes motivate you!

First Place: 60 day gamecard for World of Warcraft
Second Place: $25 gift certificate for J!nx
Third Place: Your choice of a mini-pet from the Blizzard Store*
Fourth Place: Blizzard Authenticator (Remember, you get a core hound pup if you have one of these babies to secure your account now!)

How to Enter – You Must Play to Win!

The contest will run from 12/21/09 until 1/4/10.
We’re letting it run for 2 weeks since it’s holiday time and this will require some time to poke around a few blogs.

Winners will be determined by the most correct answers, regardless of when they were submitted.
Can’t find all the answers? No worries! Submit what you can answer.  There are 4 prizes up for grabs.

In the event there is a tie for any of the prizes, the winner will be randomly selected.
Either by pulling names out of a hat or /rolls or something random.

Submit your answer via email, subject: Blog Scavenger Hunt.
Sideshow even put together a handydandy contest form you can use!  Or, you may fill in the contact form for moi, Syrana, but his form is supa sweet.

Please do not answer in the comments… others will see your answers! Do post up any questions, comments, or concerns though.

After the cut will be the list o’ questions, sending you out to find an array of answers.  Get those fingers ready!

(continue reading…)

We interrupt normally scheduled posting…

*confetti*

Can’t help it, I’m excited to have reached this milestone.  I have some posts lined up that pertain to a year of existence (hilarious search terms, favorite posts, love to the readers and referrers, etc.) and I hope you enjoy the trip down memory lane with us – whether or not you’ve been reading since we started up there’s sure to be something that you’ll enjoy!

Later today will be a post with contest information, so be sure to check that out!

All my other “normal” weekly posting may or may not occur over the next two weeks, with the holidays and all… just a heads up….

Happy 1st Blogiversary!

That’s right! Today marks exactly 1 year since I posted my first post here. Can you believe it?

I can hardly believe it, to be honest.

When we started this blog, I mostly wanted a place to share my fan fiction… fan fiction that I had started writing over a year ago.  I thought if I got in the habit of posting it, it’d help “force” me to continue working on it.  Seriously, it’s been difficult to have my head so filled with all of Aerissa’s adventures and not let them out.

I’d be lying if I said I posted them purely for myself. In part that is true, but I thought someone else might enjoy reading it too.  Since it’s not a story I can ever go and get published (yes, Blizz, I know very well it is your copyright) there really isn’t much for options if I want to share what I’ve created within Blizz’s world.

So to blogging I would go.

Sideshow and I discussed it and decided from the get-go to have the blog be open for various games, music, etc. even if we probably would focus more heavily on World of Warcraft.

Of course, I pitched myself as a warlock (which I am), but as much as I dreamed of providing useful information… the inevitable occurred.

We focused on entertainment.  Fun.  Humor.

The occasional controversial commentary would leave my brain through my fingers and get published.

But we were us.  We’re a bit quirky and joke around a lot in real life, so why be all serious in text?

The best part? We’ve met and gotten to know some AWESOME people. (continue reading…)

Where has the year flown by? Almost hard to believe it is that time of year again… for the Feast of Winter Veil! This is the longest in game holiday and it starts on December 15th.

So if you are looking for some guild event ideas in order to kick back and relax, socialize, or otherwise take a break from whatever your current grind may be, take a gander at the list below.  I’m purposely leaving them vague in order to let your imaginations and creativity expand upon them.  Sometimes all we need is a little idea nudge.  Without further adieu:

Super Winter Veil Elf to the rescue!

Feast of Winter Veil

-Go egg hunting

-Bake off! (You’ll want some gingerbread cookies for Greatfather Winter after all)

-Work as a group on the various achievements for the holiday

-Have a guildie dress up as Santa and everyone else as elves for partying and photos

-Do a guild secret santa exchange

-Create Azerothian versions of popular Christmas carols and go a-wassailing throughout Azeroth

-Get together to open up the gifts Greatfather Winter brings and play with your new toys

-Get together and play with your old toys: robots and race cars are always a good time!

-Snowball fights!

-Transform into gnomes (well, if you aren’t one usually) and storm enemy cities/towns

Gift Ideas (continue reading…)

me⋅nag⋅er⋅ie [muh-naj-uh-ree]
–noun

I have added to definitions 1 and 3 today.  And my new alt allowed me to pay a bit more attention to some of the changes with patch 3.3. (continue reading…)

Back in January, I posted my 2009 gaming goals.  It’s now December and the end of 2009 is fast approaching.  Basically, if I haven’t achieved everything on the list by now… time is running out.  This month is going to fly by, I know that for a fact.

1. Syrana will reach level 80.
   Woot, got that one done back in February!
2. Alynedarra will reach level 80.
   Also achieved!
3. Another alt (yet to be determined) will reach level 80.
   Not achieved and not going to happen this year.  The next highest character I have is in the low 60s.
4. Syrana will collect Stinker and Little Fawn.
   I managed to get Stinker.  Now I’m just 3 away from the fawn.  This is still feasible before the end of the year.
5. Syrana will obtain an albino drake mount.
   Woot! Also done.
6. Syrana will became a true Ambassador.
   Got this as well!
7. Syrana will reach expert fishing.
   Got this, but haven’t reached artisan yet…I sorta stopped when I hit expert.  Oops!
8. Syrana will become a Loremaster and an Explorer.
   I am an Explorer, so this is half done.  I’m working on Loremaster (after slacking most of the year on it), but I don’t anticipate completing it before the end of the year.  At this rate, I’ll be thrilled to complete the “old Azeroth” portions of the meta-achievement before Cataclysm releases.
9. I will complete RockBand 2’s solo vocal tour on expert.
   Umm, yeah.  Well, I haven’t even STARTED this, heh.  Ain’t happenin’.
10. Our band, We Have Heads, will complete the Endless Setlist in Rockband 2.
    We have yet to attempt this.  Perhaps we’ll get it done by the end of the year… *nudges Sideshow*

Another thing I achieved this year that was not on the original goal list was epic flying for Alynedarra.  Looking over this list, I’m pretty pleased.  I accomplished more than I thought, since I was focusing on what I hadn’t achieved yet.  This is why it’s a good idea to review lists in full!

The cool part about it being December is that we are fast approaching a blog goal.  Be on the watch for some special posts and a fun contest with fantabulous prizes in a few weeks!

Yes, people are still talking about it and being very passionate about their view points.  Yes, I realize this post may appear late in the game, but I had one major reason for postponing it – hoping some of the hype would die down a bit.  I mean, I love having discussions with you, dear readers, but during the heat of big news… trolls tend to come out of the woodwork.  They tromp through everywhere, leaving signs of foulness in their wake, never to look back.

Don’t get me wrong, you can disagree with me all you want – but there is still a level of respect that I expect in return and trolls (true trolls) don’t follow the rules.  (Hell, they are worse at following them than me.  I at least read and acknowledge the rules, they just chew ‘em up and spit ‘em out.)

So where were we? Oh yes – pets.  More specifically: mini-pets.

Before we move on, I want to give you some choices a la Bioware-esque style:

1. Yes, I’m interested in reading your views and commentary on this whole thing.
2. Please share, I may be interested in some of your points.
3. (Lie) Yes, please tell me what you think! (Mark post as read)
4. I don’t give a crap what you have to say. (Mark post as read)

(continue reading…)

Oh hi there!

What? Oh yes, I know there’s been nothing new ’round here for a few days.

You see, sometimes I get a bit distracted…especially by new games.  But not just by any ol’ new game – good new games.  Unlike Sideshow, I don’t really suffer from game ADD.  Instead, I tend to get hyperfocused on one thing at a time.  That’s why my playtime may seem to be monopolized by one particular game for a stretch of time then shift to another.  After the newness wears off, I tend to fall back into a more “normal” multi-game rotation of sorts.

Unfortunately, this hyperfocus can derail other projects I have going.  For example, this past week I’ve fallen (farther) behind (than usual) on reading other blogs as well as posting.  But hey, we all need mini-breaks here and there, am I right?

At any rate, I thought I’d give a bit of an update as to what’s going on in my virtual world(s).  I don’t usually write update type of posts, but what the hell… when have I ever followed the rules before? (continue reading…)