Saturday, December 8, 2012

Time For Change

I started this blog back in October of 2010. Since then, I have made a grand total of 30 blog posts. That's a total of 26 months. The numbers turn out to be a little over a blog a month. Considering the topic and the amount of content that this blog was created for, I'm not putting forth my best effort to get information out to the reader as much as I should be.

With all that said, I'm not quitting. Definitely not.

My plan is, since it's almost the end of the year. To take a break. Officially. I know that I haven't made a post, or even edited a post draft since August/September and technically I've been taking a break since my LAST post, which was on August 9th, but I need you to stay with me for a bit.

I want this to work. And I feel that the only way for this to work, for me, is to start over. Sort of.

January is only a few weeks off, with that will come a "fresh" start and the beginning of the year holiday in World of Warcraft; the Lunar Festival.

My goal this time around is to get it done quickly and early. With a follow-up blog post when the holiday is over with all of my up-to-dates on progress for it.

I'm also going to be dipping out of my comfort zone a little and doing posts about something other than holidays. I really want to keep working on the Hardmode Reroll diary on Kutira, I find it to be an amusing entry and it's a break from the blog norm.

To be completely honest, I need some creative feedback. I can write holiday guide blogs and POV short-stories all day. I want to know what YOU want as a reader.

Class/Spec Guides?
Instance Guides?
Raid Fails?
Pet Battle Skirmishes?
Tales of PVP Glory? (or lack thereof as it would be)?
REAL Warcraft Short Stories?
Patch Note Rundowns?
Expansion Information Coverage?

Please let me know what YOU want as a reader and I'll do my damn best to bring you what you want. I only do this because I know people read it. If I'm not bringing you what you want, why would you bother to keep coming back?

~Paragon
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Thursday, August 9, 2012

Hardmode Reroll: The Story of Kutira (Day ?)

Name: Kutira
Race: Orc
Class: Warrior
Spec: Fury/Protection
Guild: <Reckless Minority>
Server: Alterac Mountains-US

Completed Questing Areas:
Durotar, Mulgore, Northern Barrens, Eversong Woods, Tirisfal Glades,
Azshara (All three completed 'Glutton' achievements, plus 'Joy Ride'),
Ghostlands, Silverpine Forest, Hillsbrad Foothills, Ashenvale, Stonetalon Mountains, Arathi Highlands, Hinterlands, Northern Barrens

Completed Dungeons [Weapon Hoarding]:
Ragefire Chasm [Oggleflint's Inspirer, Cursed Felblade, Bazzalan's Blade]
Deadmines [Smite's Reaver, Cookie's Tenderizer]
Wailing Caverns [Stinging Viper, Worn Turtle Shell Shield]
Shadowfang Keep [Baron's Scepter, Commander's Crest, Haunting Blade]
Stormwind Stockades [Cold Iron Pick]
Blackfathom Deeps [-]
Gnomeregan [Hydrocane]
Razorfen Kraul [Thornspike]
Maraudon [-]
Scarlet Monastery: Graveyard [-]
Scarlet Monastery: Library [-]
Scarlet Monastery: Armory [Ravager]
Scarlet Monastery: Cathedral [Aegis of the Scarlet Commander]

My journeys have been full of mystery and wonder, but nothing compares to the strangest occurrence I've ever encountered.

I was relaxing in The Broken Tusk inn in Orgrimmar. When out of NOWHERE, this blue rectangle crashed down through the ceiling and crushed poor Gamon underneath it. Everyone was in high alert, weapons drawn, teeth bared, bloodlust rising. A comrade (I used this lightly, as Gamon had fits of drunken rage where -everyone- was at risk), had been killed in our very home!

A man stepped forth from the rectangle. He didn't look anything special. He was wearing one of those.. uhh.. Penguin suits. With stripes.. Pinstripes. He was human, but no one moved. He pulled a pair of spectacles from his inner coat pocket that stirred a few blades, but he carefully placed them on his nose, glanced around the room until his eyes stopped on me.

He nodded once and beckoned me over. Glances shot my way, heads shaking warily, but I've always been inquisitive, so I went to the human. He placed a small hand on my shoulder and whispered something in a language I didn't understand with my ears, but my mind knew exactly what he wanted.

I was to go with him. And leave this place behind.

I stole a peek around the room, but saw no familiar faces holding me back. I sneaked a glance at Gamon and saw one of his legs twitch, which forced a grin. I nodded to the man and followed him back into the blue rectangle, with something written in what I could only assume was that garbled mess of Common.

As the doors of the rectangle slid closed, I saw through the windows of the box as the inn began to vanish in front of my eyes. Then a severe case of vertigo hit my stomach and I clenched my teeth and lurched over, keeping my lunch where it was supposed to be. Heaving gasps hissed through my teeth. The man said nothing, only stared forward.

Almost as quickly as it had begun, the vertigo stopped and I heard the sound of wood breaking, a loud thump, and angry howls. He pushed the doors open and out we stepped..

Into the Broken Tusk inn in Orgrimmar.

The man smirked at my jaw-dropped expression, patted my shoulder, whispered something in my ear and stepped back into the machine. Which faded away and vanished completely.

What he said? "Welcome to Lothar."

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Dorothy.

Signing off on journal entry three, Kutira,

P.S. I think this indicates a need for a new journal..
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Friday, June 15, 2012

All the Children


Children's Week has been one holiday that has stuck to its roots and while, with each expansion, they've added in more questlines and new pets, the basic formula has not changed in the slightest. As such, this is an almost verbatim blog from last year's version of this holiday.

Since this holiday has been around for a long enough time that the most dedicated and/or bored players will already have all of the companion pets availability, and also since Mists of Pandaria is still in Beta, something new had to be added to keep people coming back for the global escort quests. Magical Pet Biscuits was the answer. Think of the TCG loot item, Papa Hummel's Old-Fashioned Pet Biscuit, and you have this item. TCG loot-whores are crying worldwide.
  1. Cruisin' The Chasm: Your little human orphan wants you to take him down to Westfall, hop into one of the lovely rental choppers, and take a cruise over to the gigantic chasm with a huge tornado inside of it. Why we, as wardens, thought this would be a good idea, is beyond me. The kid has a good time, no one is dead, he's happy.
  2. Malfurion Has Returned!: Take your orphan over to Darnassus and introduce him to the legendary druid himself, Malfurion Stormrage. Ol' Malfy will even throw an enchantment on the fella to give him wings for a bit.
  3. The Biggest Diamond Ever!: If you've read the Warcraft novel 'The Shattering,' then you know what happens to poor Magni Bronzebeard. Your orphan wants to see him. Head on over to Ironforge and go to the throne room. That door that's always been closed is now open and you can head down into Old Ironforge to see Magni.
  4. You Scream, I Scream...: Head over to the Mage Quarter of Stormwind. Near the Blue Recluse inn, there is a small ice cream stand. Purchase a  Cone of Cold  ice cream cone and hand it over to your little orphan.
  5. Let's Go Fly A Kite: There is a gnome pushing a small cart around the outside of the Trade District. Stop him and purchase a Dragon Kite 2-Pack set. Fly the kites with your orphan for a bit.
  6. A Warden Of The Alliance: Purchase a Foam Sword Rack from the traveling gnome toy salesmen and return to the orphan matron. Turn in the rack, the orphans will snatch them up and start playing. The matron offers you your reward..
  1. Ridin' The Rocketway: Your new orc orphan wants to go to the new Goblin Rocketway, so that's where you're headed. Head on over to Azshara and ascend the Southern Rocketway Terminus. Board the Redhound Two-Seater Prototype and take a trip down (up) the rocketway in style.
  2. The Banshee Queen: Time to head to the Tirisfal Glades and ascend into the Undercity to meet the matriarch of the Forsaken, Sylvanas Windrunner. Apparently the blood elf ambassador gets a little pissy that your orphan is speaking to the Queen of the Dead herself.
  3. The Fallen Chieftain: Just like the Alliance version to go see Magni, in 'The Shattering,' Cairne Bloodhoof challenges Garrosh Hellscream to a duel to the death. Magatha of the Grimtotem tribe poisons Garrosh's Gorehowl and a small cut cripples Cairne and Garrosh finishes him off.
  4. You Scream, I Scream...: Head back to Orgrimmar and head down to the Goblin Slums section of town. Find the Cone of Cold shop and purchase a Cone of Cold ice cream cone for your orphan. Let him get a brain freeze and then move on to the next quest.
  5. Let's Go Fly A Kite: Much like the Alliance version, you have to find someone pushing a toy cart. This time, you're looking for a goblin on the outside of the Drag. Purchase the Dragon Kite 2-Pack set and set them aloft with your orphan. After playing with them for some time, it's time to send them back to the orphanage.
  6. A Warden Of The Horde: Pick up a  Foam Sword Rack  from the goblin toy vendor and head back to the orphan matron. Let the kids play around with their foam swords and then pick up your new companion, your 5 gold, or your awesome pet biscuits.
And with that, it's time to move on to the Shattrath City orphan quests. Again, split into both Alliance and Horde questlines.
  1. Auchindoun And The Ring Of Observance: Your little Draenei orphan wants to go to the Auchindoun, which is now the ruins of an old mausoleum for the Draenei people. Go see the Summoning Stone near the center and appease your orphan by trying to help them summon someone. 
  2. Jheel Is At Aeris Landing!: Apparently our little orphan has a sibling who is working with the Ethereals over at the Aeris Landing in Nagrand. So that's where we're going. When arriving, they chat for a bit and your quest completion is after you talk to Jheel.
  3. A Trip To The Dark Portal: Since your orphan is a Draenei, they've never seen the Dark Portal before. Time to head over that way and check it out. You have to land on the very top platform at the Dark Portal for your orphan to run up amazed at the sight.
  4. The Seat Of The Naaru: Despite being a Draenei, they've never seen the Exodar. Time to take your little orphan down to the new Draenei capital city on Azeroth and have a talk with O'ros down at the bottom of the middle section of the Exodar. He'll tell you to go talk to Farseer Nobundo.
  5. Time To Visit The Caverns: Quickest way to get here is to get a portal to Dalaran opened up by a friendly mage and take the free portal in the Violet Citadel. If you take the free dragon ride, you'll land opposite of the center of where you need to go. Go meet up with the big bronze dragon. After the little run-in, head back up the tunnel a bit and talk to the Keepers of Time quartermaster to get your Toy Dragon for your orphan. With toy in hand, it's time to return to the matron.
  6. Back To The Orphanage: Head back to Shattrath the quickest way you know how. Either a mage friend or flying your ass through the Dark Portal. Upon getting back to the matron, you'll get your choice of four pets or.. biscuits!
  1. Hch'uu Of The Mushroom People: After picking up your new little Blood Elf companion, it's time to head over to Zangarmarsh and meet up with your orphan's long, lost friend of the Sporeggar people; Hch'uu. Who apparently ran away from a fungal giant and got lost, which is why she was in the Shattrath orphanage.
  2. Visit The Throne Of The Elements: After the reminiscing is over with, it's time to make your way over to Nagrand and drop in on the Elementals of the Throne. Let the orphan have a wide-eyed gander at all of the large-sized Elementals before talking to one of the Earthen Ring.
  3. A Trip To The Dark Portal: Finishing up on the Throne of the Elements makes your orphan want to take a peak at another oversized site; the Dark Portal that leads to Azeroth. Land up on the platform and let your orphan get an eyeful of the object that spans two planets and connects them together.
  4. Now, When I Grow Up...: Unlike the Draenei orphan that is destined to become a powerful shaman of her people, your Blood Elf has a less significant goal in life.. to become part of the Elite Tauren Chieftains rock band. Head over to the Blood Elf capital of Silvermoon City to wave at the band members.
  5. Time To Visit The Caverns: Find a quick way to get to Dalaran, so you can steal the free portal down to the Caverns of Time. Either fly your way down when you get there and pick up the  Toy Dragon  from the quartermaster on the way down, or take the free flight from the dragon at the top. Either way, go see the big bronze dragon and get your toy dragon. With all that finished, it's time to head back to Shattrath City.
  6. Back To The Orphanage: Head back to Shattrath the quickest way you know how. Either a mage friend or flying your ass through the Dark Portal. Upon getting back to the matron, you'll get your choice of four pets or.. biscuits!
Not that it matters the order in which you complete the questlines involved with either faction's orphan quests.. You can now head to Dalaran and pick up one of two quests for one more Children's Week pet. Depending on which questline you complete, depends on the pet that you receive.
  1. Little Orphan Roo Of The Oracles: Talk to the matron standing near the floating statue by the southern bank and select this option to start the quest to get the Gorloc pet.
  2. The Biggest Tree Ever!: Grab the little Oracles orphan and make your way over to the Grizzly Hills. You're going to be going to Grizzlemaw, the home of the furbolgs. You have to go down to the very bottom of the tree, where there is small tree growing.
  3. The Bronze Dragonshrine: After escaping the furbolgs, it's time to head over to the Bronze Dragonshrine in Dragonblight. Much like when, or if, you did the quests for Chromie at the Wyrmrest Temple, your little orphan here is going to see the future version of himself.
  4. Playmates!: Once he's done talking to himself, head on over to the Borean Tundra and swing down to the Winterfin Retreat. Your orphan will meet up with a baby murloc and start dancing. Though how Bladestorming can be considered dancing, I'm not entirely sure..
  5. Meeting A Great One: Once your orphan is done making friends, it's time to go experience some Oracles culture. Go up into the Sholazar Basin and head through the Waygate by the Mosslight Pillar. Passing through this Waygate teleports you to the Un'goro Crater. Make your way up the little pathway and stop at the angry-looking construct.
  6. The Dragon Queen: Head back through the Waygate to get back to the Basin and make your way back down to Dragonblight. It's time to stop in at the Wyrmrest Temple. Your little orphan wants to meet the Life-Binder herself.
  7. A Trip To The Wonderworks: Time to head back to Dalaran, but before you go talk to the matron, your little buddy here wants to get some playtime in with you. Head over to the Wonderworks toy shop and buy the Small Paper Zeppelin. It's only available for purchase when you're actually on this quest. After you toss it back and forth, it's time to take him back to the matron.
  8. Back To The Orphanage: Head back over to the floating statue and return the Oracle back to the matron. You'll get the choice between money and biscuits, but you won't receive the pet until it comes in the mail. Logging out and back in should do it, or taking a portal somewhere else.
  1. Little Orphan Kekek Of The Wolvar: Talk to the matron standing near the floating statue by the southern bank and select this option to start the quest to get the Wolvar pet.
  2. Home Of The Bear-Men: Once you're got your feisty little devil with you, it's time to head over to the Grizzly Hills. You're going to be going to the home of the furbolgs, Grizzlemaw. You're going to have to go to the very bottom of the broken tree to where a small tree is growing.
  3. The Bronze Dragonshrine: Once that's over, it's time to head over to Dragonblight. You're going to be making a stop at the Bronze Dragonshrine for your little orphan to meet his future-self and have a little heart-to-heart.
  4. Playmates!: Since you're in Dragonblight still, you might as well wonder over to the Snowfall Glade and let your orphan pup play around with some other Wolvar pups. They throw snowballs at each other for a while.
  5. The Dragon Queen: Then it's time to head over to the Wyrmrest Temple, where your orphan wants to meet the mighty Alexstrasza. Krasus even talks to him for a bit.
  6. The Mighty Hemet Nesingwary: Once you're done meeting the Queen of the Red Dragonflight, it's time to head over to the Sholazar Basin and meet your orphans hunter idol. Head over to the Nesingwary Base Camp on the western side of the Basin, so your orphan can have a chat with Hemet Nesingwary.
  7. A Visit To The Wonderworks: Once he's gotten all of his meet-and-greets out of the way, it's time to head back to Dalaran. Before heading back to the matron, you need to make a quick stop in at the Wonderworks toy shop. Your Wolvar orphan wants to have a little playtime with you, by tossing back and forth some paper zeppelins. Make sure to pick-up the  Small Paper Zeppelin  that's only for purchase when you have this quest.
  8. Back To The Orphanage: After you're done playing, it's time to go back to the matron. Head over to the floating statue by the southern bank and return your Wolvar orphan. You'll get the choice between money and biscuits, but you won't receive the pet until it comes in the mail. Logging out and back in should do it, or taking a portal somewhere else.
And now that we've gone over ALL of the questlines, for both Alliance and Horde, it's time to look at getting those achievements. Hopefully you still have some time left after traversing multiple continents and separate worlds to get some of these in.

  • Daily Chores: Prove to your orphan that all heroes are really just glorified errand boys. Do a collective of 5 daily quests right in front of your orphan. Show him just how "epic" you are.
  • Aw, Isn't It Cute?: You've got three separate questlines.. Pick a pet. Any one of them. Pokemon Syndrome has now struck you. I'm also not going to list all of the possible companion pets that will net you this achievement. Just.. Seriously, just do one quest line for this holiday.
  • School of Hard Knocks: I hear more people gripe and complain about this single achievement alone than I have for the entirety of the fate of World of Warcraft after Cataclysm. It's not even difficult, even without the opposite side assisting.
    • Return a flag in Warsong Gulch - Simple. Be around the EFC when he goes down, spam tap your mouse button. Hope. More of a time race than any level of difficulty.
    • Assault a base in Arathi Basin - Instead of bum rushing Stables/Farm like everyone else will be, head to an outlying base to attempt the flag cap. It's infinitely easier.
    • Assault a tower in Alterac Valley - The most difficult one I can see of this entire achievement. ~39 other people fighting for towers for both the win and to get achievements. Every year I've found, at least, ONE Horde person assisting with completion of this one.
    • Capture a flag in Eye of the Storm - Difficult if the focus is on the flag caps. If you get into a decent EotS that isn't looking to be retarded, you can get this achievement AND a win out of it.
  • Hail To The King, Baby: Required level can kill your chances at the meta achievement. You're going to need to be at least level 75 to enter Utgarde Pinnacle on normal-mode, as Heroic is not required. All you have to do is kill him while you have your orphan out. Don't screw up and forget to summon your orphan before killing him, seriously.
  • Veteran Nanny: NOT REQUIRED FOR THE META. This a three year long achievement, as you have to complete the Shattrath quest line three separate times to collect all three of the pets; Peanut, Willy, and Egbert. This achievement was prior to the addition of Legs, so he isn't part of the requirements for its completion. Maybe it'll be changed for next year.
As usual, if you want a more in-depth view, head on over to Wowhead and take a gander at their yearly updated guide: Children's Week '12.
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All Rabbit, No Bunny

Noblegarden really doesn't change much from year-to-year. The basic idea behind this Easter-esque holiday is to go around the first town of the starting area of your choice and collect brightly colored eggs "carefully" hidden around the towns.

Most of the towns have a spot where you can camp about 4-5 eggs at a single time. In the past, I used to do this, but during the holiday this year, I spent most of my time on the run. I used Dolanaar for the 2012 season and realized that, even with other people around, I could hit just about every single spot in a single trip around the town. If you do not have good targeting skills while on the move, you should probably stick to the camping method. Even if it means sharing spots with someone else, you'll still walk away with a good share of eggs. Well.. Unless you're really slow.

Let's start off with the easy part of the holiday: Quests. Seeing as how there is only two quests and a single daily, you shouldn't have too much work cut out for you in -that- department. Like I said, this holiday is ALL egg collecting. Talk to a commoner in a town of your choice, head to an 'egg'-town, talk to the gatherers.

They'll tell you to go collect Brightly Colored Eggs and bring back 10 Noblegarden Chocolate. The "tag along" daily quest you can pick up at the same time is one to collect 20 Brightly Colored Shell Fragments. You get a Borrowed Egg Basket for this quest, and the reward is an Egg Basket you get to keep. They both have the same effect, but you get to keep the non-borrowed one, obviously.

Since there really isn't a whole lot to do this holiday, I'm going to throw down right to the yolk of the holiday.. Vendor goods. One BIG change between last year and this year, much like for Love is in the Air, they've added in a mount to get for Noblegarden. The Swift Springstrider. It's not an aesthetically pleasing mount, especially for a holiday spruced up with tons of colorful things. Aside from the mount addition, very little has been changed from the vendors from last year to this, but they have added in a few more things to get your hoarding hands upon.

Unlike with the Swift Lovestrider from Love is in the Air, the  Swift Springstrider  is NOT BoE. It is a bind-on-purchase/pick-up mount. Keep this in mind before you start farming for eggs. You want to make sure to not waste your time collecting eggs on a character you don't actually want the mount on.

With that in mind, like years past, just about everything that can be purchased CAN be found inside of the eggs. Don't hold your breath on getting the mount out of the eggs. I know a ton of people on my server alone (Lothar-US, Ally-side) proclaiming that they were getting the mount out of the egg, out of the 6 toons I did this holiday on.. One got it out of the egg. That's well over 3500 eggs.

I'm a failure at being attentive, as I didn't see any mention of these items until I actually put my nose-to-guide and put my information together. Looks like I have something to try and collect in '13. The other two new items added this season are the only items NOT able to be found in the eggs:


If you have some serious bad luck, which also counts against your achievement acquirement, it'll take a total of 1075 Noblegarden Chocolate to purchase every item available from the vendors and complete the daily. If you're a lucky bastard (while rubbing your rabbit's foot, with your four-leaf clover tucked behind one ear, a charm bracelet dangling on your wrist, a tortoiseshell cat in your lap, with a wishbone on your desk, and a horseshoe dangling off a hook behind your monitor), you'll get all the items from eggs and then you'll only need 105 Noblegarden Chocolate from the eggs; the black and pink circlets, and the egg to drop for the achievement.

On to the achievements, which is why everyone reads this! Woot.

  • Chocolate Lover: Seeing as how you're going to be spending a lot of time collecting eggs and collecting all that delicious chocolate.. You're getting hungry aren't you? Hey, your total required chocolate doesn't go down, if you've got an item or two, if you start chowing down on some delicious chocolate treats. Cadbury has nothing on this. You only need 25 for this one, but why stop there..
  • Chocoholic: And now you've gone and gorged yourself on chocolate. All the way to 100 eaten chocolate eggs. Let's hope you got more than 1 or 2 items out of the eggs before starting this, as you're going to be retracing your steps to get back to where you were before you lost yourself to the sweetness.
  • Sunday's Finest: Crack open tons of eggs and find, separately... a pair of pants and a tuxedo shirt?
  • Hard Boiled: This one requires a friend or a random person you just happened to meet who was also at the Un'Goro Crater at the same time as you were, who just so happened to have a Blossoming Branch on hand at the time of your meeting.. Get turned into a rabbit by someone with a Blossoming Branch, stand in the water of the Golakka Hot Springs, wait to lay an egg. Achieved!
  • Spring Fling/Spring Fling: After getting your loyal companion pet, the Spring Rabbit, you need to head to the four beginning towns and find a mate for your new pet. Alliance members have to go to Azure Watch, Dolanaar, Goldshire, and Kharanos. Horde members have to go to Bloodhoof Village, Brill, Falconwing Square, and Razor Hill.
  • Noble Garden/Noble Garden: You have to purchase a Noblegarden Egg from the holiday vendors and head to your respective "pretty cities"; Stormwind City (Shut up space goats, The Exodar is not pretty.) and Silvermoon City, and place it on the ground. Don't forget to pick it back up.
  • Shake Your Bunny-Maker: Proof that Blizzard relates your level to your age. That makes all of your level capped characters old hoagies. Anyways. Find female characters, of at least the 18th level, of each race. Use your Spring Flowers to make a pair of bunny ears sprout. Note: If they already have the buff, you can't rive them the buff again. This makes the achievement a little more painstakingly irritating, added in the 5 minute cooldown the item has.
  • Desert Rose: While wearing the Spring Robes, head around to the multiple deserts around the two continents and plant a flower there. It's a very simple achievement, but why I never understood.. Is why is there a cooldown at all? It used to be longer and the travel time alone between some of these deserts was less time than that, so you'd be standing around waiting for your robes to be usable again.
  • Blushing Bride: Don your Sunday Best and find yourself a partner Dressed for the Occasion and pucker up. The person wearing the dress does not get the achievement. But if you're worried about that, just swap items through trade to also share achievements.
For more information on this holiday, please follow this link here: Noblegarden '12 to find all of this information and more over at Wowhead.
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Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Pink Spirals


Take Single's Awareness Day and extend it to an entire week and I'm sure the suicide rates around the world would skyrocket. What a macabre way to start off a holiday blog about love and happiness!

Love is in the Air is the in-game event based around Valentine's Day. In 2012, it started on February 5th and ended on February 19th. All of the previous years' items are still available, but they added in something new. All of the people who repeatedly went year after year without the Big Love Rocket now have a.. "Plan B" mount called the Swift Lovebird.

This holiday is comparatively simple in its related quests and structure, the main emphasis is collecting Lovely Charms to turn into Lovely Charm Bracelets and spam-completing the daily quests to gather up Love Tokens en mass . Do NOT forget to pick-up the Lovely Charm Collector's Kit or all of your farming will be for naught, cause you won't receive any charms.

To start off with, make sure you head to your main capital city to start your holiday "bread crumb" quest, so you can knock out the pleasantries early and really get into the spirit of things. Both faction's quest starts with a Snagglebolt goblin. Do his detective work for him and you'll end up chasing another goblin all around the capital, until eventually catching him and making him talk. You learn that the Crown Chemical Company is up to no good with their perfume and cologne distribution, so it's up to you to stop them! There's an 'additional' quest upon beating the Apothecary Trio that leads you back to the Snagglebolt, but it's an abrupt finish.

In addition to the detective work, there is also the completion of daily quests. There's a randomly selected daily quest that involves testing the Crown Chemical Company's products on the local denizens of the capital, whether it be NPC or PC doesn't matter to the completion of the quest, as long as they haven't already been tested on. Certain NPCs are excluded from being targets of these quests for reasons I'm not quite sure of. I also believe, if it's the same as the year before, shape shifted druids are unaffected by these products as well.

One of the other dailies is level-dependent on your objective. While still doing the same thing no matter where you're sent, your level selects your destination.
  • Level 05-13: Sends you to the Westbrook Garrison in Elwynn Forest/West of Orgimmar's Gates in Durotar.
  • Level 14-22: Sends you to the Grove of the Ancients in Darkshore/just outside of Ambermill in Silverpine Forest.
  • Level 23-31: Sends you to an abandoned southeastern farm in Duskwood/just outside of Hillsbrad Village in Hillsbrad Foothills.
  • Level 32-40: Sends you to just outside of Theramore in Dustwallow Marsh.
  • Level 41-50: Sends you to the east of Aerie Peak in Hinterlands.
  • Level 51-60: Sends you to the east of Everlook in Winterspring.
  • Level 61-70: Sends you to the east of Shattrath City in Terokkar Forest.
  • Level 71-80: Sends you to the Forlorn Woods in Crystalsong Forest.
  • Level 81-85: Sends you to the east of the Tomb of Khartut in Uldum.
And the final set of dailies consists of creating Lovely Charm Bracelets and turning them in to your faction's leaders. In the past, each turn counted toward a vote to establish who the favorite faction leader was. This polling system is no longer in place and is now just a regular daily turn-in. Each leader hands over a Lovely Card in return that grants a buff to a specific stat (they don't stack with each other) that is calculated into what level you are.
  • Agility - Darnassus/Orgrimmar
  • Intellect - Stormwind/Undercity
  • Stamina - Ironforge/Thunder Bluff
  • Spirit - Exodar/Silvermoon City
I'm going to go ahead and quote what I said last year about this holiday's boss. I will probably continue to add in the boss strategies year after year, especially if they change something about the boss, but mostly just as a refresher course so that no one screws up and dies on a holiday boss fight. Kind of embarrassing, don't you think?

It wasn't very difficult at all when it was first introduced last year, this year wasn't much more difficult, just you had to teach the new people that didn't know what to do. It was also harder to use the same tactics from last year, and much more difficult to DPS tank. Like we were doing last year, hehe. 
Apothecary Hummel is the "main" target of the fight, but he comes with two others; Apothecary Baxter and Apothecary Frye. There are items off to the side to negate certain effects used by the bosses during the fight. Hummel uses an Alluring Perfume, using the Perfume Neutralizer negates all but his melee attacks. Baxter uses  Irresistible Cologne and the Cologne Neutralizer takes care of him. Frye is simply and annoyance and uses both, but he can be completely ignored for the most part of the fight. Upon initiating the fight, you can only attack Hummel. After, I believe, 15 seconds, Baxter activates and you can attack him as well. About the same time after that, Frye activates as well. The easiest way to do this is for the tank to hold both Hummel and Baxter and wear the Neutralizer for whichever boss gets downed first and then switch to the other. Another possibly strategy is to just have a DPS hold Baxter until Hummel is downed. Frye has no aggro table, which is why I said to just ignore him.

Nothing new, in terms of items, was added to the boss' loot tables from last year, but they did make it so the once-a-day Heart-Shaped Box dropped Love Tokens as well. They also still drop the necklaces that you can continuously farm if you so desire.
  • Forever-Lovely Rose: A simple headpiece that makes your character have a rose in their mouth, if male, or a rose tucked behind an ear, if female. No required level, but since you have to be 84 to queue for the fight.. You get the idea.
  • Vile Fumigator's Mask: A headpiece that makes your character wear a gas mask. Also has the added effect of stunning your target for 30 secs. Completely worthless, honestly, at max level. Amusing for recreational and transmogrification purposes.
  • The Heartbreaker: I finally got my hands on one of these this year. It's only purpose is to make your target burst in to tears. It doesn't work on the opposite faction and if used with no target, you burst in to tears instead. It's off the GCD, so it could technically be worked into a rotation if you want a free debuff and to just cry your heart out.
  • Toxic Wasteling: Just about every holiday now has an acquirable companion pet. Except the mini-holidays that only last a day or two, but give them time.This one is just like the Disgusting Oozeling, but as this one travels past critters.. It eats it. And gets bigger. Also, no debuff!
  • Big Love Rocket: The crème de la crème of mounts. This is the money maker. It's a giant pink rocket with a zebra-striped seat cover. Plus.. the in-game icon for it is pink and phallic-shaped. Innuendos everywhere!
Before taking the last step into the realm of the achievement spam.. Remember all of those Lovely Charms, Lovely Charm Bracelets, and Love Tokens you collected? It's time to get serious. About purchases.

Quick side-note. The Swift Lovebird is, in fact, BoE. Meaning you can farm up multiples and sell them on the AH or hand them out to friends who didn't quite reach make it to the 270 Love Tokens. Though if you do all of the available dailies everyday of the holiday, defeat the boss daily, you should be able to meet the requirements without farming for a single extra Lovely Charm. If you don't, the conversion of Bracelet to Token on the vendor is going to be your lifesaver.

Second side-note, not only is the Swift Lovebird BoE, but so are the created Lovely Charm Bracelets. You can't sell your tokens, and you can't sell your charms, but you can sell the mount and the bracelets for profit.

On to the achievements, which is why everyone reads this! Woot.

  • Be Mine!: Purchase the Bags of Heart Candies from the vendor using Love Tokens and eat one of each of the eight Heart Candies. Each bag costs two Love Tokens and the Heart Candies aren't soulbound, so you can AH or trade them off to friends to assist others in getting their achievements.
  • Charming: Grab your Lovely Charm Bracelet Kit and get to destroying lots of mobs. You're going to need 120 Lovely Charms for this achievement, because you need to create twelve Lovely Bracelets. Lovely Charms are soulbound, so there is no avoiding this achievement. Though if you don't need those bracelets once you get the achievement, you can pass them on to someone else or try to sell them.
  • Dangerous Love: Being the Crown Chemical Co. questline in either capital city and run it through to its completion of crushing the crown and turning the daily back into the investigator in Stormwind City or Orgrimmar. You'll receive the achievement at that time.
  • Fistful Of Love: Since Cataclysm's release, this achievement got a little harder. Since we don't have Dalaran or Shattrah to hang around in anymore, finding the correct Horde race/class combinations are going to require people to actually head into battlegrounds. Or have a friend who has free open character creation slots who is willing to waste their time creating toons for you to throw rose petals on them. You get Handfuls of Rose Petals from the holiday vendors; two Love Tokens for five Handfuls. Since it's uneven, you'll have to over-purchase just to complete the achievement, but keep an extra on hand for another achievement. Handful of Rose Petals are also not soulbound, so you can give away your extras or sell them.
  • Flirt With Disaster/Flirt With Disaster: Head over to Ironforge/Undercity (according to your faction) and stop in at a bar. Pile up on the heavy drinks. For the Alliance, you're going to need to head over to the Great Forge and wait for that sexy pie vendor to make his rounds. When you see Sraaz, drink up and get hammered. Chuck a Handful of Rose Petals at that darling gnome face and "plant" a wet one on him. He sells pie, so he can't be all bad, right? For the Horde, you're going to have to stick around the central bank area. Drop down to the lower levels and find Jeremiah Payson playing with his cock.. roaches. Drink up and get hammered, slathering him with rose petals, and give him a little tongue action. I have no idea why I went there with that...
  • I Pitied The Fool: This one is going to take some time. You have to be at least level 80 to complete this achievement, since you need to be able to enter a level 80 raid instance. You're also going to need the time necessary to collect and acquire 50 Love Tokens so you can buy up five Love Fools. Or have a friend who has extra, since they're not soulbound. You have ten days of real time to throw these puppies down in Naxxramas, the Culling of Stratholme, the blacksmith in Arathi Basin, anywhere in Wintergrasp, or the Gurubashi Arena in Stranglethorn and give them the ol' pity stare. Simple in it's execution to say the least.
  • Lonely?: Throw down ten more Love Tokens to pick yourself up a Romantic Picnic Basket and then ten more Tokens for a Box of Chocolates and hope you get the chocolate treat you desire. You're going to need to head over to Dalaran, plop down your picnic basket, and wait for someone who is as lonely as you to plop down beside you.. So you can share a Buttermilk Delight with them. Warcraft isn't all rainbows and sunshine anymore. As usual, the chocolates from the Box of Chocolates aren't soulbound, but the box itself is.. As is the picnic basket.
  • Lovely Luck Is On Your Side: Head over to our lovely holiday vendors and use twenty of your Love Tokens to pick up a Lovely Dress Box. Open it up and if inside you find yourself a coveted Lovely Black Dress, you earn this achievement to go alongside your newest fashion statement. The Lovely Dress Box has an even 25% chance to drop one of four dress; Black, Purple, Blue, or Red. There is also a Dinner Suit Box with three dinner suits in it, but who cares about those. It's not a pretty black dress! None of these dresses, or even the suits, are soulbound. Share them with your lowbies or friends who need something for a date.
  • My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose: Bouquet of Red Roses and Bouquet of Ebon Roses are your target items here. You do get to pick and choose where to go to find your bouquets though: Admiral Ripsnarl of the Deadmines, Lord Godfrey of Shadowfang Keep, Corla, Herald of the Twilight of Blackrock Caverns, Drahga Shadowburner of Grim Batol, and High Priestess Azil of Stonecore all offer 100% drop chances on Heroic/Normal (where applicable). With the addition of the latest dungeons, it seems that Queen Azshara of Well of Eternity, Asira Dawnslayer of Hour of Twilight, and the Echoes of Jaina and Sylvanas of End Time all also have a chance to drop them.
  • Nation Of Adoration/Nation Of Adoration: You know how you made those twelve Lovely Charm Bracelets awhile back for the Charming achievement? Hope you kept four of them to turn into the four faction leaders of whichever faction you are to gain this achievement. If not.. Get back to farming, you're going to need forty more Lovely Charms.
  • Perma-Peddle: Use forty of your Love Tokens to purchase a Truesilver Shafted Arrow to acquire this permanent companion version of the pet gained from the Silver Shafted Arrow you can purchase from the holiday vendor for a five for five deal.
  • The Rocket's Pink Glare: Love Rockets are currently on sale at your local holiday vendor for a five-for-five deal. You're going to need to pick up two sets, because you need ten for this achievement. Your goal is launch all ten of your rockets in twenty seconds or less. It's pretty simple, just don't dilly-dally if you're bad at placing your targeting area.
  • Shafted: Pick up some Silver Shafted Arrows from your local holiday vendor, turn around, and being your role as Cupid. The arrows are another five-for-five deal, so you're going to need to pick up double the initial purchase to finish off this achievement. And again, the arrows are not soulbound.
  • Sweet Tooth: Remember when I told you to buy Box of Chocolates for your romantic picnic alone in Dalaran? Well, this one is to eat one of each of the four chocolates that can come out of that box. The chocolates aren't soulbound, as usual.
  • Tough Love: Defeat the Apothecary Trio inside of Shadowfang Keep. You're going to need to be at least level 84 to even make an attempt on these guys. At least this isn't a part of the meta, so it's not required to get your "Love Fool" title.
  • Big Love Rocket: The Feat of Strength attached to this holiday through acquiring the Big Love Rocket mount from the Apothecary Trio.
For more information on this holiday, please follow this link here: Love is in the Air '12 to find all of this information and more over at Wowhead.
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Lunar Festival '12

The beginning of each year brings about the Lunar Festival in-game holiday. As always, it's based loosely on the Chinese New Years. All of the capital cities, as well as the regions of Nighthaven and Moonglade, decorate their towns with festival lanterns (much akin to the Chinese lanterns). For the year of 2012, the festival took place between January 22nd through February 12th. On the last day of the holiday, like all years prior, their a fantastic fireworks show in Moonglade over the Lake Elune'ara.


This holiday is one of the most simple in its design. The basic task is to go around the world and speak to the Elders of the Past. There are many located on Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, and Northrend. With the release of Cataclysm, they added in a few more Elders to compensate for the new regions added into the game, as well as adjusting the locations of the previous elders due to the landscape changes that occurred due to the Shattering.


Before I put out the updated list of where all of the Elders are located, be sure that you collect the "bread crumb" quest that leads you into Moonglade. Shoot off some fireworks to get your Lunar Festival Invitation that'll port you straight there whenever you're standing in the large column of moonlight. The smaller beams created by the Elder's Moonstone will not work with the invitation. You can also get a new invitation if it expires by simply speaking to the Lunar Festival Harbinger located in or near almost all of the capital cities.

As always, the "bread crumb" quest really just gets you to Moonglade so you can get the quest to destroy Omen. It's not required to knock this particular part of the holiday out first, especially since you have quite a bit of time to get it done. Just make sure that you don't forget to do it before the holiday is over.

In short, Omen has to die. To spawn him, you need to kill his minions on the opposite end of the Lake Elune'ara and shoot off rocket clusters from the nearby cluster launchers. The general consensus is about 20 clusters, but if that doesn't work, just keep firing until he spawns in the lake. You don't have to be part of the killing party, which makes this quest tons easier for low level characters. Once Omen is defeated, his corpse will stick around for -roughly- 5 minutes and in the center of his body will be a beam of moonlight. Stepping into that beam will grant you the buff of Elune's Blessing, which is the completion of the quest.

Moving on to the other part of the holiday; world traveling and honoring your elders. Like all years previous, the Elders still hand out the Lucky Red Envelopes that always contain one of two things. You either receive an Elder's Moonstone or a Lucky Rocket Cluster. The Elder's Moonstone simply creates a beam of moonlight, which is helpful for marking targets or playing musical "chairs." And the Lucky Rocket Cluster simply boosts your maximum HP by a set amount. If these rockets scaled with level, they would be worth more to a max level character. As it stands, they give a constant buff of +250 maximum health. At 85, I would label this as absolutely nothing.

You also receive a Coin of Ancestry for each Elder you honor. These coins are not holiday-locked, so they have a turn-over value, if you didn't spend (or throw out) your entire stash from years prior. These coins are the real draw to the holiday as they are the vendor currency to purchase the holiday items. Tailors and Engineers are the still the cream-of-the-crop for this holiday, as they have the only patterns available for purchase. They're still BoP patterns, as usual, so keep your alts' coins away from them.

Aside from the patterns, there are a few other purchasable items from the holiday vendors. Dresses and pant suits, as well as a percentage based food and a "fireworks pack" are all purchasable with the Coins. This vendor also sells the Elune's Candle vanity item for a handful of silver. A separate vendor sells a glowing alcohol and individual fireworks for silver and copper.

The big "item of the year" for the 2012 Lunar Festival are the new companion pets. They are faction-specific, but as they are not BoP, they can be traded to the opposite faction. The Lunar Lantern is available to Alliance and the Festival Lantern is available to the Horde.

On to the achievements!
  • Lunar Festival Finery: Take five of those lovely little Ancestry Coins you've been tracking down from the Elders and use them to purchase a Festival Pant Suit or Festival Dress of any color. To note, the red festival dress/pant suit made by tailors does not count toward this achievement.
  • The Rocket's Red Glare: Spend a tiny little bit of your money on purchasing up 10 -red- rocket clusters. Make sure they're red or they won't count. After that, find yourself a cluster launcher and have at it. With 25 seconds on the timer, you really can't mess up unless you purposely screw it up or lag hates you.
  • Frenzied Firecracker: Just like the rockets, purchase firecrackers from the Lunar Festival vendors. You'll, again, need ten of these. Set them to a hotkey and toss 'em out on each cooldown. This one is easier to screw up, missing a single cooldown will make you fail. Grab some extra 'crackers if you don't think you'll get it in the first ten. Just keep going until you get it.
  • Elune's Blessing: Complete the pre-requisite quests to gain access to the Elune's Blessing quest to go after Omen. Whether you actually participated in besting the beast or if you showed up during the aftermath, you can still complete the quest. As long as the beam of moonlight is there to grant the Elune's Blessing buff, you're good to roll. Turn the quest in to complete this achievement.
  • Elders of the Eastern Kingdoms: Simply honor all of the Elders located on the Eastern Kingdoms. There are 24 total Elders on the Eastern Kingdoms that count toward the various Elder achievements. See the complete list after the break.
  • Elders of Kalimdor: Simply honor all of the Elders located on Kalimdor. There are 26 total Elders on Kalimdor that count toward the various Elder achievements. See the complete list after the break.
  • Elders of Northrend: Go around Northrend and honor the 25 total Elders there. Some count toward the Dungeon Elders count, but they all matter toward completing the Meta. See the complete list after the break.
  • Elders of the Cataclysm: Venture forth to the newest additions to the region with the Cataclysm expansion pack and find the 9 hidden Elders there. See the complete list after the break.
  • Elders of the Dungeons: Seek out the 13 Elders hiding away in instances on any of the three continents. These Elders might require some creativity, ingenuity, or friends. As always with instance achievements, doing this at level cap is significantly easier. See the complete list after the break.
  • Elders of the Horde: Saunter, or tip-toe, your way through the Horde capitals and honor their very own Elders. There are 3 total Elders for this achievement. See the complete list after the break.
  • Elders of the Alliance: Much like the Elders of the Horde, make your way through the Alliance capital cities and honor the Elders of the Alliance. There are 3 totals Elders for this achievement as well. See the complete list after the break.


EASTERN KINGDOMS
Snowcrown: Eastern Plaguelands, Light Hope's Chapel (75, 54)
Farwhisper: Stratholme, Live Side near The Unforgiven
Windrun: Eastern Plaguelands, Crown Guard Tower (35.6, 68.8)
Meadowrun: Western Plaguelands, Weeping Cave (63.5, 36.1)
Moonstrike: Western Plaguelands, Outside Scholomance (69.2, 73.5)
Graveborn: Tirisfal Glades, Brill (61.9, 53.9)
Darkcore: Undercity, Ruins of Lordaeron Throne Room (67, 38)
Obsidian: Silverpine Forest, The Sepulcher (45, 41.1)
Highpeak: The Hinterlands, Creeping Ruin (49, 47.9)
Darkfeather: Twilight Highlands, Thundermar Ruins (51, 33)
Firebeard: Twilight Highlands, Dunwald Ruins (50, 70)
Silvervein: Loch Modan, Thelsamar (33, 46)
Goldwell: Dun Morogh, Kharanos (53.9, 49.9)
Bronzebeard: Ironforge, Mystic Ward (29, 16)
Ironband: Searing Gorge, Blackchar Cave (21.3, 79.1)
Morndeep: Blackrock Depths, Ring of Law
Stonefort: Lower Blackrock Spire, Inner Bridgework
Dawnstrider: Burning Steppes, Flame Crest (53.6, 24.5)
Rumblerock: Burning Steppes, Dreadmaul Rock (70.1, 45.4)
Starsong: Sunken Temple, Dragonkin Ring
Bellowrage: Blasted Lands, Dark Portal (54.3, 49.5)
Starglade: Northern Stranglethorn, Zul'Gurub (71, 34.3)
Winterhoof: Cape of Stranglethorn, Booty Bay (39.9, 72.5)
Skychaser: Westfall, Sentinel Hill (56.6, 47)
Stormbrow: Elwynn Forest, Goldshire (39.8, 63.7)
Hammershout: Stormwind City, Stormwind Gates (34.2, 50.6)

KALIMDOR
Bladeswift: Darnassus, Cenarion Enclave (39.1, 31.9)
Bladeleaf: Teldrassil, Dolanaar (57, 53)
Starweave: Darkshore, Near Lor'danel (49.5, 19)
Nightwind: Felwood, Jaedenar (38.8, 52.9)
Riversong: Ashenvale, Astranaar (35.6, 48.9)
Windsong: Mount Hyjal, Sanctuary of Malorne (26, 62)
Evershade: Mount Hyjal, Nordrassil (62, 22)
Brightspear: Winterspring, Lake Kel'Theril (53.2, 56.8)
Stonespire: Winterspring, Everlook (60.1, 49.9)
Skygleam: Azshara, Ravencrest Monument (64.7, 79.3)
Darkhorn: Orgrimmar, Flight Master Tower (52.4, 60)
Runetotem: Durotar, Razor Hill (53.2, 43.6)
Windtotem: Northern Barrens, Ratchet (68.4, 70)
Moonwarden: Northern Barrens, Crossroads (48.5, 59.3)
High Mountain: Southern Barrens, Vendetta Point (41.5, 47.5)
Bloodhoof: Mulgore, Bloodhoof Village (48.3, 53.4)
Ezra Wheathoof: Thunder Bluff, Elder Rise (73, 23.3)
Splitrock: Maraudon, Rotgrip/Tinkerer Gizlock Area
Mistwalker: Feralas, The Maul (62, 31)
Grimtotem: Feralas, Lariss Pavillion (76.7, 37.9)
Primestone: Silithus, Crystal Vale (30.8, 13.3)
Bladesing: Silithus, Cenarion Hold (53, 35.5)
Thunderhorn: Un'goro Crater, Slithering Scar (50.4, 76.1)
Menkhaf: Uldum, Khartut's Tomb (65, 18)
Sekhemi: Uldum, Ruins of Ammon (32. 63)
Ragetotem: Tanaris, Ruins of Uldum (37.2, 79.1)
Dreamseer: Tanaris, Gadgetzan (51.3, 27.8)
Wildmane: Zul'Farrak, Gahz'rilla's Pool
Morningdew: Thousand Needles, Fizzle & Pozzik's Speedbarge (77.1, 75.6)
Skyseer: Thousand Needles, Freewind Post (46.4, 51)

NORTHREND
Sardis: Borean Tundra, Valiance Keep (59.1, 65.6)
Arp: Borean Tundra, D.E.H.T.A. (57.3, 43.7)
Pamuya: Borean Tundra, Warsong Hold (42.9, 49.6)
Northal: Borean Tundra, Transitus Shield (33.8, 34.4)
Igasho: The Nexus, Ormorok the Tree-Shaper Area
Sandrene: Sholozar Basin, River's Heart (49.8, 63)
Wanikaya: Sholozar Basin, Rainspeaker Rapids (63.8, 49)
Bluewolf: Wintergrasp Fortress (49, 13.9)
Morthie: Dragonblight, Star's Rest (29.7, 55.9)
Skywarden: Dragonblight, Agmar's Hammer (35.1, 48.3)
Nurgen: Azjol-Nerub, Post-Hadronox
Thoim: Dragonblight, Moa'ki Harbor (48.8, 78.2)
Jarten: Utgarde Keep, Post-Prince Keleseth
Chogan'gada: Utgarde Pinnacle, Under Skadi the Ruthless
Beldak: Grizzly Hills, Westfall Brigade Encampment (60.6, 27.7)
Lunaro: Grizzly Hills, Ruins of Tethys (80.5, 37.1)
Whurain: Grizzly Hills, Camp Oneqwah (64.2, 47)
Kilias: Drak'Tharon Keep, King Dred's Den
Tauros: Zul'Drak, Zim'Torga (58.9, 56)
Ohanzee: Gun'Drak, Drakkari Colossus Altar
Graymane: The Storm Peaks, K3 (41.2, 84.7)
Fargal: The Storm Peaks, Frosthold (28.9, 73.7)
Stonebeard: The Storm Peaks, Bouldercrag's Refuge (31.3, 37.6)
Muraco: The Storm Peaks, Camp Tunka'lo (64.6, 51.3)
Yurauk: Halls of Stone, Pre-Krystallus

CATACLYSM (Since the portals are located in either contintent depending on your faction, I'm not going to put them as part of any order. Get these at your leisure, just don't forget them.)
Moonlance: Vashj'ir, Shimmering Expanse (57, 86)
Stonebrand: Deepholm, Temple of Earth (49. 54)
Deepforge: Deepholm, Stonehearth (27, 69)


For more in-depth information on this holiday, follow the following link to Wowhead's article and guide: 2012 Lunar Festival Guide


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Failed Expectations

As you've probably noticed, those of you who follow this blog and those of you who gracious click the links on my Facebook and Twitter feeds as I post them there, that I have failed to make an update in quite some time.

I've been working more at my job as a general manager at a movie theatre, plus the reroll thing collapsed in upon itself, and my goal to hit each holiday as it came in 2012 flopped pretty hardcore. As it's five months in and I haven't made a single post yet.

I don't know how I should really feel about getting back into the swing of things, it's seems more and more like blogging just isn't something I'm ever going to be good at. I have a secret project I've been working on for sometime that requires very little actual effort on my part but I've been waiting on other people to get back with me with my requests before I can continue that venture. The links at the top of my blog still lead to "dead-ends" because I haven't finished compiling all of the information/pictures/anythings that are supposed to go there.

Rough calculations..
24 hours x 7 days = 168 hours in a week
168 hours - 52 work hours = 116 hours
116 hours - (generous estimate of 6 hours of sleep x 7 days) = 74 hours
74 hours of free time a week = roughly 3 days worth of free time. One of those days being maintenance day, like today.
My 'Mondays' start on Thursday and my 'Friday' is Monday, where I pull a 16.5+ hour shift. It seems like I'd have the time to actually get something done with that "much" free time on my hands, but it doesn't ever work out that way.

I have good news and bad news though, sorta.

The good news is that I recently purchased a new computer and am waiting on its delivery. With it's arrival, I can begin coupling my blogs with my gaming vlog project. I want to start creating gaming vlogs of me playing F2P, P2P, and other such games so that people can get a peek into games that they wouldn't normally play. It'll also make it so I have a two computer setup, so I can make accurate accounts of what I'm doing in-game while actually doing it. Which would have helped a helluva lot more when I was still doing the reroll journal on Kutira.

The bad news is that I recently started playing the new MMO TERA, which has been distracting me away from WoW a bit. My only issue with TERA right now is that it's not allowing me to create more than one character per server, much like the restrictions on the Beta. I've contacted their customer support and am just waiting on a response. Hopefully this gets corrected soon, either by some technical wizardry on their end or with my new computer, so I can start messing around with the other classes over there. While I adore the Warrior class in TERA, I don't want to be restricted to a single class.

The sorta good news that goes along with the bad news though, is that I can begin expanding this blog to go over more than just World of Warcraft. Which opens up the possibility of more blog topics and gives me more things to talk about than just the random holiday events and whatever other WoW topics I normally go over.
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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Arms v Fury v Protection

This particular post was requested by a fellow member of <Reckless Minority>. The opinions posted here are my own and do not reflect those of Blizzard, who own the © to World of Warcraft, nor do these opinions reflect those of others in <Reckless Minority>.

I don't know why I mentioned that up top, but I felt it was necessary.

ARMS
The Arms Warrior tree is built around increased burst through slow two-handed weapons, increased by stacking heavy bleed increasing effects. Almost all the talents are built around increasing weapon damage, increased bleed duration/damage, and reducing CDs on spec-specific abilities for increased damage.

Pros
  • Sustainable Rage resource due to Anger Management and rage efficient abilities like Overpower.
  • Increased burst.
  • Mortal Strike: Spec specific debuff for healing reduction.
  • Bladestorm: Spec Tier ability for increased burst, as well as "invulnerability."
  • Optimal PvP DPS spec.
  • Optimal PvE solo DPS spec.
Cons
  • Poor viability for PvE raiding.
  • Sustainable DPS relies on consistent reapplication of bleeds.
  • High-movement fights effect DPS due to Slam's cast time.
  • Lower-end of PvE burst damage.
  • Has a higher reliance on Mastery than Critical/Haste, after Strength.
FURY
The Fury Warrior tree is built around increased damage through Enrage, "double" the damage through dual-wielding (increased burst with TG, or sustainable burst through SMF), with a more 'reckless' playstyle. The Fury talents are built around an increased risk-over-reward system, where you put yourself at a higher risk of death to receive reward. Death Wish or Recklessness, the two Fury-based CDs are built around increasing damage taken for damage dealt.

Pros
  • The more reckless playstyle creates many more fun opportunities to display the classes utility and functionality.
  • Regeneration through basic rotation.
  • Rampage: Fury raid-wide buff for 5% increased critical strike chance.
  • Titan's Grip/Single-Minded Fury: Bottom tier increases weapon choices.
  • Furious Attacks: Spec specific Mortal Strike styled talent.
  • Precision: Fury talent for 3% hit.
  • Berserker Stance: With the changes to Berserker not forcing you to take more damage to deal more damage, Fury gains more survivability AND increased damage.
  • Die by the Sword: Was more of a Pro before the 500% threat increase. Gave the Fury Warrior a chance to recuperate with 100% parry to survive an insta-death when stealing aggro.
  • Strongest DPS warrior spec for PvE. (According to current data, Arms is winning this race again, but I digress..)
  • Relies solely on Strength and Critical, Haste is worthless due to Flurry talent. Mastery is an abysmal DPS increase.
Cons
  • Poorly sustainable Rage resource until level capped, with high amounts of Hit(12%+) and Exp capped.
  • Titan's Grip/Single-Minded Fury: Rotation changes depending on spec due to the differences in weapon speed of 2H to 1H. Where certain abilities are more prevalent in TG, they are useless in SMF.
  • Berserker Stance: The Fury Stance is practically useless while leveling until you hit level 50, where you gain Intercept. Stance-dancing for Charge from 30 to 50 was obviously overlooked by Blizzard. Especially since you lack access to Stance Mastery from the Arms tree with the way Talent trees are setup, so you lose any and all rage in target catching.
  • Pre-500% threat increase, Fury had a serious threat generation issue.
  • Poor PvP utility due to lack of crowd control abilities.
  • (While true of all classes, Fury and Druids are mostly effected by this statement as a whole) Purely gear-based. No measure of skill will make you do more damage/DPS if you're simply lacking in gear.
PROTECTION
The Protection Warrior tree is, obviously, the tank tree. Built to generate substantial threat, take the hits with increased survivability, and dish the pain back out through Vengeance. The entire Protection tree is structured toward increased avoidance, accelerated and sustained threat generation, damage reduction, and protection of the group. While less so than Paladins on that last note.

Pros
  • Most survivability.
  • Moderate damage while leveling, tapers off at level cap when DPS start to "outgear" the Vengeance boost for Tanks.
  • Last Stand: Protection talent that boosts the tank's health two-fold for a short time to increase survivability.
  • Vigilance: Protection talent that is placed on a raid/party member that whenever the "Vigi'd" target is struck, your Taunt's CD is refreshed and your Vengeance stacks as if you were hit.
  • Concussive Blow and Shockwave: Protection based abilities built for stuns.
  • Blood and Thunder: Turns the warrior into a viable AoE tank as well as a single target tank.
  • Turns a shield into an offensive weapon as well as a defensive tool.
  • Best Flag Carrier class/spec in RBGs at current time. The removal of Vengeance in PvP might effect this, but Prot Warriors will still be strong FCs.
Cons
  • Lack of powerful DPS at level cap and end-game.
  • No longer able to dual-wield when a shield isn't optimal for increased tank damage.
  • Possibility of Rage starvation with too high avoidance.
  • Lack of healing debuff that Arms and Fury both offer.

In my own personal time playing Warriors, and I have played many..
Protection is a great way to level if you plan on booking it through dungeons. If you plan on questing, Protection can slow you down if you take that route. It'll be marginal, especially since the release of Vengeance.
Arms is a great way to level through quests and PvP, due to the increased survivability, sustainable rage, and Mortal Strike ability, and the fact that Arms is the most viable PvP spec a warrior has. The possibility of crowd control makes them an asset in dungeons, but almost all other classes have more options for CC.
Fury is a great way to level.. Period. This might be biased, but like I said, personal opinion. Fury has great burst damage, sustainable damage, self-regen abilities, and can swap to sword-and-board to temp tank in a clincher, better than an Arms could, due to high-threat and those self-regen abilities.

Since this reroll is about not hiding away in dungeons/battlegrounds, I'd honestly say rolling Arms and Fury are your best bets for fast leveling. By leveling as Arms/Fury, you're going to be in a position where you'll almost always have a queue time, so questing should be your number one priority for leveling. Queuing for dungeons adds in those scenarios to correct and improve your rotations in relation to others, while not being "hectic" like an end-game raid setting.

I believe I've said more than enough..

Kutira, out.
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Hardmode Reroll: The Story of Kutira (Day 4)

Name: Kutira
Race: Orc
Class: Warrior
Spec: Fury/Protection
Guild: <Reckless Minority>
Server: Alterac Mountains-US

Completed Questing Areas:
Durotar
Mulgore
Northern Barrens
Eversong Woods
Tirisfal Glades
Azshara (All three completed 'Glutton' achievements, plus 'Joy Ride')
Ghostlands
Silverpine Forest
Hillsbrad Foothills
Ashenvale
Stonetalon Mountains

Completed Dungeons [Weapon Hoarding]:
Ragefire Chasm [Oggleflint's Inspirer, Cursed Felblade, Bazzalan's Blade]
Deadmines [Smite's Reaver, Cookie's Tenderizer]
Wailing Caverns [Stinging Viper, Worn Turtle Shell Shield]
Shadowfang Keep [Baron's Scepter, Commander's Crest, Haunting Blade]
Stormwind Stockades [Cold Iron Pick]
Blackfathom Deeps [-]
Gnomeregan [Hydrocane]
Razorfen Kraul [Thornspike]
Maraudon [-]
Scarlet Monastery: Graveyard [-]
Scarlet Monastery: Library [-]
Scarlet Monastery: Armory [Ravager]
Scarlet Monastery: Cathedral [Aegis of the Scarlet Commander]

The day started off with me stealthily sneaking my way into Darnassus to get the Elder there, and then moving on to Dolanaar deep inside Teldrassil. Successfully acquiring that Elder as well, I explored Teldrassil's treetop landscape, before moving on to more important things..

I have crushed the three mighty beasts of Ashenvale; Sharptalon, Shadumbra, and Ursangous. Created and used the Goblin bombs on flyovers on Astranaar. Vanquished the enraged fire elementals at the behest of his other elemental brethren. Decimated the mighty furbolg villages and saved a captured Tauren. Cleared the Zoram Strand of naga, hydra, and the vicious Vorsha the Lasher. Delved into the caves of the Blackfathom Deeps for crystals and to spill naga-witch blood. Ashenvale.. Belongs to the Horde.

I mapped out the region of Ashenvale and then accessed the nooks and crannies of the region of Darkshore before heading down into the Stonetalon Mountains to work under Overlord Krom'gar. I quickly established myself among his recruits, slaying the Alliance and retrieving the battle plans for an attack on Krom'gar Fortress. I helped Clarissa rebuild her Large Daddy.. And then used his power to decimate the gnomish engineers and their robots down in the Windshear Valley. I assisted the idiot scouts down in the Deep Reaches at gathering materials, killing elementals, and saving peons. I refueled our bomb at the Sludgewerks and killed wyverns for a goblin; which probably wasn't a good idea in hindsight.

I met with General Grebo and High Chieftain Cliffwalker at Cliffwalker Post. I used a demolisher to.. ... Demolish the Alliance army and their glaive throwers. I learnt of deception and betrayal, and assisted in committing treason against the "new Horde." After becoming Krom'gar's new General after Grebo's death at my own hands, I watched the destruction of the druid's Thal'darah Grove at the insane hands of Overlord Krom'gar... Who then was 'dismissed' from duty by the Warchief himself. He also met face-to-ground shortly after his dismissal a little further down the cliff wall. Garrosh stripped my rank of General out from under me, but let me keep my head at the behest of High Chieftain Cliffwalker.

With nothing left for me in Stonetalon Mountain after the destruction of the Grove and the death of my commanding officer, I decided to move on over to the Arathi Highlands where the Banshee Queen had requested I go. Just because I'm an orc doesn't mean I work for Garrosh, y'know? I met with Dark Ranger Alina and the recently resurrected Galen Trollbane on a mission to destroy the Boulderfist ogres, rip the amulets from the gushing throats of the Syndicate, and reclaim the sword Trol'kalar. Proving successful in all these endeavors, especially the killing of humans, I was sent to Hammerfall, where I fell into a trap.

Called to a stone near the Eastern Binding, I was convinced that I would be helping a Goddess escape her prison. After retrieving the keys from the other three Circles and crushing the elementals present, I crushed a rock giant to retrieve the final piece of the puzzle. Using the three keys to unlock the obelisk, I inserted the Rod of Order to unlock Myzrael from her imprisonment. Convinced that this was no longer a wonderful idea, I conversed with Zaruk who told me to summon her early, crush her hopes and dreams, and re-shackle her back to her stone. She was a handful, she was, and quite angry at my turn-coating, but I did what needed to be done and removed that particular problem from the face of Azeroth.

After all that excitement, I was left with one task.. Kill the Witherbark Trolls and make sure they knew that the Horde wasn't going to put up with their crap. An orc killing trolls.. I feel like Garrosh and Vol'jin. *cough* Goutgut, one of Dark Ranger Alina's companions, wanted me to go to Faldir's Cove and see his friend Lolo.. So.. Uh.. I'm gonna go there now. Okay, bye.

Signing off for journal entry two, Kutira.
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