Sideshow & Syrana

And still not a Love Fool.  (Due to my own time limitations for the holiday although the reworking of it seemed fine.)

Oh and Happy V-Day ‘n all that! <3

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…)

Last Saturday (9/19) was Pirate’s Day in game.  Syrana, of course, had to get the achievement associated with it.

Syrana finds the party on the roof of the Booty Bay auction house.

Syrana approaches Cpt. DeMeza to have a drink.

Cpt. DeMeza insists that Syrana dress like a skanky pirate and drink some more.

Syrana models the pirate look after a few mugs.

Previously I posted a review of my positive experiences with the Midsummer Fire Festival this year… all about the gold, blossoms, goodies, title, experience, etc.  I had also mentioned I was a bit disappointed this year as well.  Here’s why… the lack of PvP.

Yup.  That’s right, I was disappointed by the lack of fighting at and around the fires.  Granted, I did not steal the capitol city flames this year (except Darnassus), but c’mon!

Maybe it’s the fact that my first experience with the Midsummer Fire Festival was on an RP-PvP server.  Maybe it’s the fact that I went into the capitol cities multiple times last year to steal their fire… just because I could.  (Really it was to help others get it too, shh!)

This year I only died (caused by player deaths, not guards) a total of 4 times on 3 different characters.  I only killed about that many players as well.

Syrana died once outside Razorhill.  I was helping a lower character that was being attacked by an 80; however they had back up.  What was funny though, was that their backup left by the time I rezzed.  They had resumed attacking the lowbie when they rezzed, so I finished that druid off.

Alynedarra died once outside Goldshire.  That death was kind of cheap since there were 3 80s that flanked me after I put out their bonfire.  I knew I stood no chance, but at least it was entertaining.  Well, having them eat my dust was entertaining.  See, they didn’t understand the fine art of proper corpse camping.

Oh no. (continue reading…)

Ahh, so another Azerothian festival has come and gone.  I must say though that the Midsummer Fire Festival is one of my favorites, if not my very favorite.

That being said, I was a bit disappointed this year.  But we’ll get to that in a moment.**

The achievements for earning the title Flame Keeper (or Warden for Alliance) are not overly difficult.  There is some level limitation, since the stolen flames can only begin a quest for those level 55 and up (if I remember correctly – unless it was changed this year…).  Syrana had most of the requirements completed already from last year…. before there were achievements to track which fires I’d honored, stolen, or desecrated.

Syrana

This year, Syrana only had to extinguish (read: wee on) Teldrassil’s fire outside Dolanaar to successfully check off desecrating all the Alliance fires on Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, and in Outland.  So, Syrana just needed to juggle in Dalaran, get the shoes and shoulders for the pole dance attire, and melt Ahune’s face off.

And so it went that Syrana accomplished all of these tasks.  First, Syrana went around Northrend to honor and extinguish the bonfires there as well.  Syrana also sucked it up and learned how to juggle flaming torches.  She practiced (nearly, but not quite so much) daily by tossing and catching lighted torches.  Eventually she had enough petals to purchase shoes, shoulders, additional torches, and a pet.

(continue reading…)

Yesterday was Independence Day over here in the States…. which includes parades, food, family, and bright lights that go *BOOM* in the sky.  I like watching fireworks, but I could do without the sound… and crowds.  (You know, you’d think they could come up with a silent firework by now.)  Last night also marked the end of the Midsummer Fire Festival in Azeroth, and it was the first time in the past 3ish years that I’ve been playing WoW that I got to experience the fireworks spectacular (and have some festive brew!).

So today, I shall share with you some of the fireworks display in case you were unable to see them.  They did occur on the hour, every hour, after sunset at Booty Bay and all capital cities.  Sideshow watched some of the fireworks show while he was outside Exodar! (continue reading…)

eric.surfdude @ Flickr

Well, it was over 3 weeks since I’d logged into WoW.  It almost starts getting to the point where it’s scary to go back in…. you don’t want to be bombarded upon your return about your absence, you don’t want no one to not notice you’d been gone, you don’t want to second guess mail expirations, you don’t want to think about the dailies/money/rep etc. gains you missed out on… I could go on, but I won’t.

And you don’t want to think you forgot how to play. (Had to throw one more in, sorry.)

In some ways, it’s sort of like returning to work after a long vacation… you have mixed feelings about returning and it takes a bit of easing back into the routine before it feels comfy again.  (And I hadn’t even taken the break based purely on burnout, so it was all sorts of odd)

No Longer /AFK

First indication it’d been awhile since I’d played… had to dust off my authenticator.

No, seriously, it had a lil’ film o’ dust over the screen.

Second indication it’d been awhile since I’d played… my login failed like 4 times.

Wrong effin’ password.

And it doesn’t tell me that until after I enter the username, password, AND authenticator code that something was wrong with my login.  So the first time I just thought I missed a number for code.

Third indication… I had to download a patch and load out of date addons.

Fourth indication… I had trouble figuring out how to hold my cell phone between my ear and shoulder while playing, or how to even try and manage it.

So, we took it easy.  We figured out logging in, managed to half ass maneuver with one hand (except, I like to hold the phone with my “mouse” hand…) and were excited about Midsummer Festival!  It starts today! What timing, amirite?!

Gimmie Fuel, Gimmie Fire

Well, we were excited about Midsummer Festival until discovering it was in fact true that last year’s quests had not reset.

*grumble*

It’s, like, my favorite holiday.

I felt a bit jipped to be honest.

Sure, there supposedly are new bonfires in Northrend…. I managed to find 3.  (Remember, I was slightly distracted by the phone too.)  I just didn’t have the patience when I know where all the Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, and Outland bonfires are.

Although… I remembered there was JUST ONE Alliance fire I hadn’t desecrated last year and set out for it.

To Teldrassil! /charge

For fun, I went ahead and desecrated stole the Darnassus flame right away too (which worked although the rest I did last year were NOT working).  Then portaled into Darnassus so that I could wait and be killed by the guards.  Much easier than trying to navigate out the front.  Spirit rez outside Dolanaar and ta-da!

2 Birds, 1 Fire

Now, hotfix the other fires already, kthxbye.

So, hour and a half in tonight… that’s the way to ease ‘er in back to normal. *nodnod*

Shake your money maker.

Shake your bunny maker.

Shake your milk maker.

Shake your cookie maker.

Shake your sword maker.

(Warning: This post was concocted with rant dressing.)

*Stands up* My name is Syrana.  I am a female gamer, and I am not offended. (And I’m not alone!)

*Everyone in unison* Hello Syrana.

How many of the sentences above do you have an issue with? How many make you feel bad about yourself or offended? How many make you shake your head and snicker?

To be honest, I am surprised to see there is a controversy over the Bunny Maker achievement for Noblegarden.  Some claim it is sexist, offensive, and in poor taste of the developers.

Excuse me, any meaning or offensiveness attached to it is done by you.

Was it a tongue-in-cheek pop culture reference? Sure.  Did that mean the developers were intentionally trying to be offensive and objectify women in game? No.

The meaning that achievement has is attributed to the meaning you give to it.  If you find it offensive, you have made it offensive to yourself.  No one can make you be offended unless you allow yourself to be offended. Sometimes it is hard not to be, but it still comes down to how you perceive whatever the situation, phrase, word, image, etc. is.

Are there things that exist in this world that the majority of people allow themselves to be offended by? Yes.  But, that goes to widespread knowledge of the meaning attributed to such things.  Unfortunately, it is possible to be offended by everything if you look hard enough into it.

Let’s take a couple perspective angles on this achievement, shall we? (continue reading…)

Today marks the beginning of the next in game holiday, Children’s Week.  I’m interested to see how it has been revamped.  I know there are achievements associated with the holiday that weren’t around in the past, so this shall be interesting.  Although… free pets! Woo!

Can I keep her, please?

Today also marks the beginning of the Child’s Play charity auction over at The Hunting Lodge.  Go here for the list of auction items as well as the information on how to get started.  I have my eye on a few items already and hope it won’t break my bank.  Time to grind more dailies I guess.  Err, wait, I am paid a salary rate.  Well, that won’t work… anywho, go check it out!

I don’t know about you, but when I think of spring, I think of bunnies laying chocolate eggs.  This week has been interesting, to say the least, during the in-game holiday event of Noblegarden.  Some people dislike it, some people love it, and some just don’t really care.

This post has a few features included today:

- Why to Love Noblegarden

-Why to Hate Noblegarden

-The Path to Nobledom (a guide)

-Egg Collecting: Camp vs. Hunt

(continue reading…)