Garrosh Hellscream, he not quite tha hotheaded warmongering dimwit that you be thinkin' he is on first, second, and third glances. Every now and den, he goes and does somethin' that be so spectacularly out of character you hafta think there's more to the bugger than bein' a hotheaded warmongering dimwit.
Take de other day. I'd been in de Stonetalon Mountains. De Cenarion Circle, dey was tellin' me bad mojo were happenin' over there, and to join up wit' de Horde in de Stonetalon Mountains and find out what was goin' on.
A whole lotta stuff happened, but basically Overlord Krom'gar and his General Grebo acted exactly like I expectin' orcs to act. Dey was mean and nasty, killin' innocent young hapless druids and fabricatin' evidence and blowin' up a centuries-old grove, all while yellin' their favourite battlecry, "FOR THE HORDE!" All to take de Stonetalon Mountains for da Horde, right?
Well. Right at de end of it all, tings, dey were really bad. Krom'gar's forces had destroyed a tauren settlement for darin' to disagree wit' their actions. Den Garrosh went and showed up.
To say I was scared when I saw him was a huge understatement. I was all expectin' him to be cuttin' me hands off, den tossin' me and the tauren chieftan off tha cliffs, and wonderin' if throwin' meself off da cliffs would save time or would be considered treason in his eyes. Den he surprised every one of us by tossin' Overlord Krom'gar off de cliff.
For a second, he looked like he was goin' to chop me hands off and throw me off de cliff too, 'xcept the tauren chieftan spoke up for me. Said I'd been tryin' to prevent the needless killin'. I wasn't to be sure if dis was makin' things better or worse, but Garrosh actually let me live. "This is what it means to be Horde!" he proclaimed.
So I gotta say that Garrosh be not quite the hotheaded idiot he seems to be.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
Hail and well met.
And perhaps farewell as well. There may not be any more posts from me and Annekah. I've grumbled about the Horde before, but always managed to keep on going because of my loyalty to Thrall and the promise of his Horde.
This new Horde of Garrosh's? It's full of bellicose warring and hotheaded aggressiveness, which appeals to the orcs more than Thrall's Horde ever did. It cuts your hands off for daring to disagree. It absolutely ruins Azshara. It is nothing like the Horde that Annekah swore an oath to and we've had enough.
And perhaps farewell as well. There may not be any more posts from me and Annekah. I've grumbled about the Horde before, but always managed to keep on going because of my loyalty to Thrall and the promise of his Horde.
This new Horde of Garrosh's? It's full of bellicose warring and hotheaded aggressiveness, which appeals to the orcs more than Thrall's Horde ever did. It cuts your hands off for daring to disagree. It absolutely ruins Azshara. It is nothing like the Horde that Annekah swore an oath to and we've had enough.
De day it all changed
So's dere I was, headin' out Orgrimmar's back entrance to Azshara. Dere was dat goblin what had had me commandeerin' shredders to cut down trees and suchlike a week ago. Dere was dat orc watchin' over him -
De orc moved faster dan I could follow, whuppin' me in de gut and de chin wit' de pommel of his axe, and knockin' me down to de ground like I were a sack of raptor eggs.
"YOU USELESS WASTE OF FLESH!" he roared in me face. "THIS IS TWICE NOW! First you abandoned your missions here and buggered off to the Barrens! Then you abandoned your missions in Ashenvale and buggered off to who-knows-where! And finally, you think you can just come back here and all's good?"
"Er -" I started, starting to feel real scared-like.
"'All able-bodied members of the Horde are ordered by their Warchief to aid the Horde in Azshara!' Well you didn't! You didn't lend a helping hand at all! I AM NOW GOING TO TAKE THEM BY FORCE!"
Den he gave me a right good kick in me face, stunnin' me senseless, and den he chopped me hands off. I screamed a lot and den quickly died.
I nots be used to dyin' yet, I mus' say. Dere be all dese famous people in de world what died and not come back. Sen'Jin and Cairne Bloodhoof amongst them. It always be really weird to find meself as a ghost in de washed out grey of de spirit world.
At least, as a ghost, I had me hands back.
I ran off to get me body, as you do when you're dead, and found it still by de back gate of Orgrimmar. Standin' a bit aways, hopin' to run away if I needed to, I resurrected.
Damn but dat orc was quick. Before I knew what was happenin' he'd whupped me with his axe handle again and knocked me to the ground.
"This is for the second time you abandoned your post!" he screamed, and chopped me hands off again.
Once again, I screamed a lot and den died.
Very nervously, I approached the back gate of Orgrimmar as a ghost for the second time, hoping that perhaps this time the orc would at least leave me alone. What he'd been sayin' suggested he'd leave me alone, after all, it only been twice I'd abandoned a mission and buggered off.
I resurrected, tensed up, but dis time he weren't smackin' me around.
"You were to be cutting down trees and flushing out night elves, and killing them! You will now resume that mission!" He brandished his axe. "Otherwise every single guard will be ordered to cut your hands off every time they see you!" He pointed to the now-extremely sparse forest. "NOW GET TO IT SOLDIER!"
I tried, I really did. I went and gone commandeered a shredder, and cut down trees, and felt terrible. I applied the shredder's sawblades to the elves that dropped out of the trees. It was the killin' of elves. It was supposed to be happy. I was just feelin' sick. They didn't look much like anythin' after the shredder had done 'em in.
More elves attacked de back gate. Dey was suicidal, and no match at all for de gate guards. De guards called me in to help anyway. I pushed the shredder to its utmost, pilotin' it to de back gate as quick as it could be walkin'. Dere was more elf carnage.
Den dere was even more dey wantin' me ta do.
"There's an Ancient directing the elves. Go kill him for us."
"An ancient? A spirit of de forest, and you want *me*, a *druid* to go kill an Ancient-"
De orc pulled me from de shredder, whupped me wit' his axe handle, and knocked me flat to da ground. He lowered his face to an inch from me ear and screamed into it at full volume. "YES! WE DO WANT YOU, A DRUID, TO GO KILL A SPIRIT OF THE FOREST! OTHERWISE THE HORDE WILL BE OVERRUN! NOW GET TO IT, SOLDIER!"
Den he plopped me back into de shredder.
Shakin', and in stunned silence, I piloted the shredder westwards to find dis Ancient. I hardly had to search, he were huge and glarin' at me.
"Pathetic troll in your machine!" he roared. "I will exterminate you, like the weeds you Horde all are!"
I hopped out of da shredder. Dis were a really stupid move, as he instantly saw I were a druid and got even angrier.
"It's one of you TROLL DRUIDS!" he roared. "You traitorous barbarian savages! I'll rip you limb from limb!" And he charged.
Well, dere weren't much for it after dat but to fight. For all his size, goin' kung-fu bear on him (as much as I could be doin', anyway) helped me survive and defeat de Ancient.
Shakin', in nervousness and in anger, I ran back to de back gate.
"Good!" de orc said. "You killed him, for the Horde!"
"For the Horde!" the goblin echoed. "Yo, Annekah, I got another mission for you. There are still too many trees-"
I snapped. Knowin' I was doomin' myself, I shouted at him. "Dis were a great forest! Dere was a thrivin' ecosystem! Now you filthy gobbos and your bombs have gone an'-"
De orc whupped me again wit' his axe handle and down I went.
"Troll scum!" he roared, and raised his axe.
"Excuse me, I'm lost again, and- oh my goodness! What's going on here?"
"Donda!" I cried out.
"This able-bodied troll scum refuses to lend her helping hands to the Horde! We shall take her hands by force!"
"Uh-huh," said Donda, nodding. Then he was a whirl of motion, there were some THWACK noises, and de was orc laid out flat, Donda's staff pinning him to the ground.
"You can tell Warchief Kodo-Guano-For-Brains that he's got kodo guano for brains," Donda said cheerfully.
"Traitor!" screamed the orc. "Get him!"
Donda, he be flickin' his fingers, and callin' down Moonfires, missin' de guards by inches. Dey reconsidered, and slunk backwards.
"Good guards," said Donda. "Now, I'd really rather prefer nobody to be dying here, or chopping each other's hands off." He shook his head. "When Thrall was in charge, something like this would never have happened."
"Thrall was a weak-minded fool, with stupid human ideas!" roared de orc.
Donda pushed his staff hard an' de orc gurgled in pain. De guards advanced but some more Moonfires kept 'em at bay.
"Oh dear," Donda said, and shook his head. "Now, you listen to me. Actually, you all listen to me. Annekah and I owe a great deal - our very lives - to former Warchief Thrall. When we swore our oaths of service to the Horde, it was to Thrall, and we were glad to give our lives for him. I particularly liked his ideas about peaceful coexistence with the land. I thought that yes, these orcs were worthy allies.
"Garrosh Hellscream, on the other hand, has kodo guano for brains and is leading the Horde down a dark road you orcs have been down too many times before. Worse yet, it's clear that most orcs actually prefer him to Thrall. Well, he's no warchief of mine. Annekah?"
By dis time I were back up on me feet. "He be no Warchief of mine, nor of Vol'Jin's, either!"
"Very good. Though of course, Annekah, we've pretty much just quit from the Horde, with all these guards watching. You ready to run?"
And den we be runnin', and hidin'. Bein' druids, we good at dat. What better way to run fast, dan to change into a cheetah? What better way to hide, dan to change into a great cat and slink through de tall grass?
'xcept now Donda and I, we be pretty much out of da Horde. Whoops. Vol'Jin, he were sayin' dis is de exact wrong ting to do.
Donda looked around at da devasation of Azshara. "Deathwing bursts free, causing earthquakes and floods, and the world's gone mad. The Horde allies with goblins, and the next thing you know, they bomb Azshara so that it looks like the Horde symbol. Just look at the ruin of this place. Just listen to the spirits of nature crying out. Or, in your teachings, the loa of this place."
Dey were cryin' out, dat for sure.
"What be happenin' now?" I asked.
"Dunno," he said. "We could try joining the Cenarion Circle."
"De Cenarion Circle? Wit' all dem elves?"
"Annekah, the Horde *and* the Alliance are going to attack us on sight. You don't have that many options at this point. Yes, I know trolls don't think much of the elves, and they won't like you very much either, but at least they won't be cutting your hands off for standing up for yourself and for nature."
Dat was da day it all changed.
De orc moved faster dan I could follow, whuppin' me in de gut and de chin wit' de pommel of his axe, and knockin' me down to de ground like I were a sack of raptor eggs.
"YOU USELESS WASTE OF FLESH!" he roared in me face. "THIS IS TWICE NOW! First you abandoned your missions here and buggered off to the Barrens! Then you abandoned your missions in Ashenvale and buggered off to who-knows-where! And finally, you think you can just come back here and all's good?"
"Er -" I started, starting to feel real scared-like.
"'All able-bodied members of the Horde are ordered by their Warchief to aid the Horde in Azshara!' Well you didn't! You didn't lend a helping hand at all! I AM NOW GOING TO TAKE THEM BY FORCE!"
Den he gave me a right good kick in me face, stunnin' me senseless, and den he chopped me hands off. I screamed a lot and den quickly died.
I nots be used to dyin' yet, I mus' say. Dere be all dese famous people in de world what died and not come back. Sen'Jin and Cairne Bloodhoof amongst them. It always be really weird to find meself as a ghost in de washed out grey of de spirit world.
At least, as a ghost, I had me hands back.
I ran off to get me body, as you do when you're dead, and found it still by de back gate of Orgrimmar. Standin' a bit aways, hopin' to run away if I needed to, I resurrected.
Damn but dat orc was quick. Before I knew what was happenin' he'd whupped me with his axe handle again and knocked me to the ground.
"This is for the second time you abandoned your post!" he screamed, and chopped me hands off again.
Once again, I screamed a lot and den died.
Very nervously, I approached the back gate of Orgrimmar as a ghost for the second time, hoping that perhaps this time the orc would at least leave me alone. What he'd been sayin' suggested he'd leave me alone, after all, it only been twice I'd abandoned a mission and buggered off.
I resurrected, tensed up, but dis time he weren't smackin' me around.
"You were to be cutting down trees and flushing out night elves, and killing them! You will now resume that mission!" He brandished his axe. "Otherwise every single guard will be ordered to cut your hands off every time they see you!" He pointed to the now-extremely sparse forest. "NOW GET TO IT SOLDIER!"
I tried, I really did. I went and gone commandeered a shredder, and cut down trees, and felt terrible. I applied the shredder's sawblades to the elves that dropped out of the trees. It was the killin' of elves. It was supposed to be happy. I was just feelin' sick. They didn't look much like anythin' after the shredder had done 'em in.
More elves attacked de back gate. Dey was suicidal, and no match at all for de gate guards. De guards called me in to help anyway. I pushed the shredder to its utmost, pilotin' it to de back gate as quick as it could be walkin'. Dere was more elf carnage.
Den dere was even more dey wantin' me ta do.
"There's an Ancient directing the elves. Go kill him for us."
"An ancient? A spirit of de forest, and you want *me*, a *druid* to go kill an Ancient-"
De orc pulled me from de shredder, whupped me wit' his axe handle, and knocked me flat to da ground. He lowered his face to an inch from me ear and screamed into it at full volume. "YES! WE DO WANT YOU, A DRUID, TO GO KILL A SPIRIT OF THE FOREST! OTHERWISE THE HORDE WILL BE OVERRUN! NOW GET TO IT, SOLDIER!"
Den he plopped me back into de shredder.
Shakin', and in stunned silence, I piloted the shredder westwards to find dis Ancient. I hardly had to search, he were huge and glarin' at me.
"Pathetic troll in your machine!" he roared. "I will exterminate you, like the weeds you Horde all are!"
I hopped out of da shredder. Dis were a really stupid move, as he instantly saw I were a druid and got even angrier.
"It's one of you TROLL DRUIDS!" he roared. "You traitorous barbarian savages! I'll rip you limb from limb!" And he charged.
Well, dere weren't much for it after dat but to fight. For all his size, goin' kung-fu bear on him (as much as I could be doin', anyway) helped me survive and defeat de Ancient.
Shakin', in nervousness and in anger, I ran back to de back gate.
"Good!" de orc said. "You killed him, for the Horde!"
"For the Horde!" the goblin echoed. "Yo, Annekah, I got another mission for you. There are still too many trees-"
I snapped. Knowin' I was doomin' myself, I shouted at him. "Dis were a great forest! Dere was a thrivin' ecosystem! Now you filthy gobbos and your bombs have gone an'-"
De orc whupped me again wit' his axe handle and down I went.
"Troll scum!" he roared, and raised his axe.
"Excuse me, I'm lost again, and- oh my goodness! What's going on here?"
"Donda!" I cried out.
"This able-bodied troll scum refuses to lend her helping hands to the Horde! We shall take her hands by force!"
"Uh-huh," said Donda, nodding. Then he was a whirl of motion, there were some THWACK noises, and de was orc laid out flat, Donda's staff pinning him to the ground.
"You can tell Warchief Kodo-Guano-For-Brains that he's got kodo guano for brains," Donda said cheerfully.
"Traitor!" screamed the orc. "Get him!"
Donda, he be flickin' his fingers, and callin' down Moonfires, missin' de guards by inches. Dey reconsidered, and slunk backwards.
"Good guards," said Donda. "Now, I'd really rather prefer nobody to be dying here, or chopping each other's hands off." He shook his head. "When Thrall was in charge, something like this would never have happened."
"Thrall was a weak-minded fool, with stupid human ideas!" roared de orc.
Donda pushed his staff hard an' de orc gurgled in pain. De guards advanced but some more Moonfires kept 'em at bay.
"Oh dear," Donda said, and shook his head. "Now, you listen to me. Actually, you all listen to me. Annekah and I owe a great deal - our very lives - to former Warchief Thrall. When we swore our oaths of service to the Horde, it was to Thrall, and we were glad to give our lives for him. I particularly liked his ideas about peaceful coexistence with the land. I thought that yes, these orcs were worthy allies.
"Garrosh Hellscream, on the other hand, has kodo guano for brains and is leading the Horde down a dark road you orcs have been down too many times before. Worse yet, it's clear that most orcs actually prefer him to Thrall. Well, he's no warchief of mine. Annekah?"
By dis time I were back up on me feet. "He be no Warchief of mine, nor of Vol'Jin's, either!"
"Very good. Though of course, Annekah, we've pretty much just quit from the Horde, with all these guards watching. You ready to run?"
And den we be runnin', and hidin'. Bein' druids, we good at dat. What better way to run fast, dan to change into a cheetah? What better way to hide, dan to change into a great cat and slink through de tall grass?
'xcept now Donda and I, we be pretty much out of da Horde. Whoops. Vol'Jin, he were sayin' dis is de exact wrong ting to do.
Donda looked around at da devasation of Azshara. "Deathwing bursts free, causing earthquakes and floods, and the world's gone mad. The Horde allies with goblins, and the next thing you know, they bomb Azshara so that it looks like the Horde symbol. Just look at the ruin of this place. Just listen to the spirits of nature crying out. Or, in your teachings, the loa of this place."
Dey were cryin' out, dat for sure.
"What be happenin' now?" I asked.
"Dunno," he said. "We could try joining the Cenarion Circle."
"De Cenarion Circle? Wit' all dem elves?"
"Annekah, the Horde *and* the Alliance are going to attack us on sight. You don't have that many options at this point. Yes, I know trolls don't think much of the elves, and they won't like you very much either, but at least they won't be cutting your hands off for standing up for yourself and for nature."
Dat was da day it all changed.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
In which we be havin' words
So's my RL Avatar told me, "Right Annekah my girl, we goin' to Azshara and Ashenvale to do da quests dere and kill some elves like I know you wants to. Mabbe dere's some cool story I'm missin'." 'xcept not quite like that, he were all fancy-pants-like.
In other news, Donda, he sayin' I should be learnin' grammar and suchlike.
In other other news, well, Donda and I, we had Words. All capital-W Words and suchlike.
Donda: So, Annekah, I see you have learned bear form.
Me: Yup yup!
Donda: (That annoying smile / smirk on his face) So, how was your meeting with the Great Bear Spirit?
Me: Da who?
Donda: The Great Bear Spirit. Surely you met him, and talked to him about the strength of heart and the strength of body.
Me: Never heard anytin' about no Great Bear Spirit. Though my trainer Sesebi said somethin' about da bear loa when teachin' me bear form.
Donda: Sesebi just... taught you the form? Just like that? But... but... what about Aquatic form? Did you go through the trials for those?
Me: What trials you talkin' about, mon? I just learnt it from Sesebi, dis time it were all about de loas of da sea.
Den he went off and stated grumblin' 'bout how it was back in his day, and how he had to walk uphill both ways in da snow, and suchlike. He also said somethin' about Sesebi which I'm not writin' here because it weren't so nice.
If I was havin' to go through huge big quests and trials just to learn tings I dunno if I'd even made it to my fifteenth season, but here I be at twenty-two seasons.
In other news, Donda, he sayin' I should be learnin' grammar and suchlike.
In other other news, well, Donda and I, we had Words. All capital-W Words and suchlike.
Donda: So, Annekah, I see you have learned bear form.
Me: Yup yup!
Donda: (That annoying smile / smirk on his face) So, how was your meeting with the Great Bear Spirit?
Me: Da who?
Donda: The Great Bear Spirit. Surely you met him, and talked to him about the strength of heart and the strength of body.
Me: Never heard anytin' about no Great Bear Spirit. Though my trainer Sesebi said somethin' about da bear loa when teachin' me bear form.
Donda: Sesebi just... taught you the form? Just like that? But... but... what about Aquatic form? Did you go through the trials for those?
Me: What trials you talkin' about, mon? I just learnt it from Sesebi, dis time it were all about de loas of da sea.
Den he went off and stated grumblin' 'bout how it was back in his day, and how he had to walk uphill both ways in da snow, and suchlike. He also said somethin' about Sesebi which I'm not writin' here because it weren't so nice.
If I was havin' to go through huge big quests and trials just to learn tings I dunno if I'd even made it to my fifteenth season, but here I be at twenty-two seasons.
Monday, November 29, 2010
In which Annekah loses out to a holy cow
Hey dere mon.
Donda, he say I be excited, and I am, but tings also suck, you know? We trolls no longer be favourites in da Horde. We be fourth class at best. Vol'jin perhaps be a bit silly and confrontational when dealin' with Garrosh.
Oh, and da Shattering was *frightening*! Dere we was on the Echo Isles, rebuilding, when this great big tidal wave came bearing down on us from da east. Tidal waves absolutely *suck* when you be on a set of small islands.
Still, we Darkspear trolls be survivors, and dis time were no different. We scraped tings back togetha again, started rebuildin' again, and we're on the Echo Isles again. Also supposedly we be in da Horde, and Vol'Jin tell us we need to stay loyal to da Horde, but half da trolls you meet dese days are fed up with da whole mess. We was followin' Thrall. Now he's who-knows-where and we gots Warchief Cle fthoof-Dung-For-Brains instead.
De big news, at least for me, is dat I now a druid! Once we Darkspears were all set up on da Echo Isles, Zen'Tabra started her teachin'.
Sadly I had ta say goodbye to my pet raptor George. I left him wit' de raptor trainers and I'll get him as a mount a bit later. De trainers, dey say he really fierce, and I'll need to be a whole lot more seasoned than I am now before I can get him back as a ridin' raptor.
Anyhow, so now I be a druid!
Some news about trolls druiding is dat, well, Zen'Tabra told a little lie. Back when we retook da Echo Isles from Zalazane, she said dat de troll druids been around for a really long time. Truth is, troll druis only been around a few years. Da lie was told to spook Zalazane. Considering he dead now, it was a very useful lie but we don't need it no more.
Druidin' be weird, you be workin' wit more than one loa at a time. Before, your average troll would work wit' just one at a time. But Zen'Tabra, she were contacted by Gonk, the raptor loa, tellin' us da world is in a right fine mess and we need to work wit' nature and all de loa of de earth at once. When de raptor loa tells you dat, it be time to listen, and act on what he be sayin'.
De night elves were surprised by us troll druids though, dat for sure!
I been concentratin' on adventurin', and helpin' to clear up after da Shattering and Durotar went and gettin' half-flooded by all da waves. So's I not been concentratin' so much on writin' about my adventures. I find I got twenty two seasons under my belt already! And Donda, he were wantin' me to write about druiding from my very first season. Whoops!
So here I am, writin' about my first seasons of druiding.
Startin' out
De Echo Isles, dey comin' along nicely. We got a *huge* trainin' area for all de new recruits. De first few seasons, they were all about trainin' to be a druid, and the proper balancin' of speices populations and suchlike. Sometimes you gots to be nasty and kill a creature or two or ten, but den, Nature is sometimes cruel and nasty too.
After I was done trainin', I helped out wit' de raptor trainers, and then the naga, along with the twice-damned Sea Witch, invaded the Echo Isles!
We Darkspear, we're survivors... but this time, we didn't have to run to survive. We done enough runnin'. This time we stood and fought!
'xcept, we young'uns weren't quite powerful enough so it was mainly Vol'Jin fightin' the Sea Witch, and us runnin' around and helpin' by keeping other nasties off his back.
I tell you, seein' her dead body flop down like a sack of raptor eggs was really quite somethin'. She took Sen'Jin from us, she drove us from our homes, and we finally gots some revenge at last.
Vol'Jin also told us a bit about his history wit' Warchief Clefthoof-Dung-For-Brains. Seems Vol'Jin and Garrosh had a bit of an argument, and Vol'Jin went and all but gave Garrosh a death threat. Not de smartest ting to say to da Warchief.
Vol'Jin also contacted Thrall, and said he was tinkin' of leavin' da Horde. Thrall said a lot of tings dat, basically meanin' no, and Vol'Jin is reconsiderin'.
"I was bein' perhaps a bit rash and angry," Vol'Jin told us young trolls. "But even though Garrosh got raptor guano for brains, he might still be able ta keep da Horde together, and we got ta be strong members of da Horde."
Me, I wonder a bit about Thrall meself. He says he done been havin' trouble wit' keepin' da Horde together, but he seemed much better at it than Garrosh Hellscream ever could be. And Thrall says Garrosh be strong enough to keep da Horde together, but does Thrall know about us trolls now bein' fourth-rate citizens? Does Thrall know about what happened wit' Cairne Bloodhoof? Does he know about Garrosh leadin' us all down de dark road of war, dat de orcs been down before?
To Sen'Jin village, Razor Hill, and Durotar
So after de battle wit' de naga, and Vol'Jin tellin' us ta be good little members of da Horde, it were time to head out into de world.
Sen'Jin village were next on da list. Dere not much to say about my old stompin' grounds, though it were nice to see a flight master dere. Dis makes it much easier to get around Durotar.
De Alliance drove out all de centaur from south Durotar, which is nice, but now dey're settin' up down dere and plannin' to attack us and Orgrimmar, which is bad, so it was time go show dem whatfor.
Also went ta Razor Hill, meetin' Tednug and Scratchfever on de way. Dey say he had something ta do wit' de Echo Isles, Zalazane, and Mankrik's wife, Razor Hill, and finally de Crossroads. "Best ya don't know," he said ta me and walked on.
From Razor Hill I got some missions to patrol around Durotar and help people in trouble because of da floods.
To da Crossroads!
Eventually I was sent to the Barrens.
By all de loa, de Barrens gone and been right shattered. Dere's a great big canyon in de middle, splitting the north from the south. De south seems a bit chaotic and overgrown, from what everyone been sayin', but I haven't gone down there to check yet.
I started off at Farwatch post, on de very edge of da Barrens. Dey was impressed wit' my abilities and had me defend a supply caravan on its trip to da crossroads. Dere was human bandit attacks, and quillboar attacks, and dere was a stop at dis farm which I can't remember much of 'xcept for the fact I met the legendary Mankrik. He got a bit of a thing about quillboars, understandable as dey killed his wife. He had me kill a whole lotta quillboars for him.
Den we finally made it to da Crossroads, and I went to check out oases and unusual plant growth and such.
And onwards from de Northern Barrens!
De problem now is, da Horde is now tellin' me I gots to go to Ashenvale and to Azshara, so's off I went.
Ashenvale meant seein' a whole lotta cut down trees, Azshara meant a land half blown up by da Bilgewater goblins already, and dey both meant fightin' against da night elves.
I be a good proper Darkspear troll, meanin' I got lotsa stories when growin' up about how elves of any sort are nasty pieces of work what took all de troll land away tousands of years ago. Dunno how much of dat is true, 'specially considerin' how most trolls dese days don't seem dat interested in takin' all dat land back. Still, I not be likin' elves dat much.
'xcept, dey're only defending demselves against Warchief Clefthoof-Dung-For-Brains, and showin' us whatfor. Like us defendin' against da incursions of da Alliance in Durotar. Also, I not be a big fan of all de totally unnecessary cuttin' down of de trees, even if it is a good way to annoy de elves. I was findin' myself torn, and actually on de side of da elves for once.
Dat's another thing against Warchief Clefthoof-Dung-For-Brains. He be such a moron he went and made me kinda sorta side wit' da elves! How is dat even possible, I wants to know.
Groups and instances
I done gone through Ragefire Chasm, de Wailing Caverns, and de Deadmines, usin' my recently-learned bear form. I not bein' much of a kung-fu bear yet, only knowin' two attacks, though I can scare people witless wit' a huge big demoralisin' roar right in de face, and make myself scary and threatenin' wit' dis really nasty growlin'. Makes 'em want to fight me rather than anybody else.
Dere been a couple of mishaps, where de others charge ahead and start hittin' baddies before I can even do my scarier-than-I-really-am trick, and den dey go and get all offended when de baddies splat dem before I've even had a chance to get de baddies' attention. Den de others in da group go and blame me.
Hello, Mister Fancy Pants Mage What Have Fire Oozing Out Of His Hair, when a baddie gets hit by great big flamin' balls of fire, he not so interested in de big ferocious bear desperately running at him tryin' to get his attention, he lookin' for da mage in de back in his sissy dress. P'raps next time, you could wait until I start hittin' things before unloading great big flamin' balls of firey death?
'xcept den everyone turned to da Tauren Paladin and bascially said, "She sucks, you tank."
Gee, way to make a girl feel needed, you morons.
I am glad to say I left dem morons behind, and went and found another, much more sensible, group, and dat we den went our merry way through de Deadmines wit' almost noone dyin' and people actually bein' sensible about lettin' me hit things first.
Donda, he say I be excited, and I am, but tings also suck, you know? We trolls no longer be favourites in da Horde. We be fourth class at best. Vol'jin perhaps be a bit silly and confrontational when dealin' with Garrosh.
Oh, and da Shattering was *frightening*! Dere we was on the Echo Isles, rebuilding, when this great big tidal wave came bearing down on us from da east. Tidal waves absolutely *suck* when you be on a set of small islands.
Still, we Darkspear trolls be survivors, and dis time were no different. We scraped tings back togetha again, started rebuildin' again, and we're on the Echo Isles again. Also supposedly we be in da Horde, and Vol'Jin tell us we need to stay loyal to da Horde, but half da trolls you meet dese days are fed up with da whole mess. We was followin' Thrall. Now he's who-knows-where and we gots Warchief Cle fthoof-Dung-For-Brains instead.
De big news, at least for me, is dat I now a druid! Once we Darkspears were all set up on da Echo Isles, Zen'Tabra started her teachin'.
Sadly I had ta say goodbye to my pet raptor George. I left him wit' de raptor trainers and I'll get him as a mount a bit later. De trainers, dey say he really fierce, and I'll need to be a whole lot more seasoned than I am now before I can get him back as a ridin' raptor.
Anyhow, so now I be a druid!
Some news about trolls druiding is dat, well, Zen'Tabra told a little lie. Back when we retook da Echo Isles from Zalazane, she said dat de troll druids been around for a really long time. Truth is, troll druis only been around a few years. Da lie was told to spook Zalazane. Considering he dead now, it was a very useful lie but we don't need it no more.
Druidin' be weird, you be workin' wit more than one loa at a time. Before, your average troll would work wit' just one at a time. But Zen'Tabra, she were contacted by Gonk, the raptor loa, tellin' us da world is in a right fine mess and we need to work wit' nature and all de loa of de earth at once. When de raptor loa tells you dat, it be time to listen, and act on what he be sayin'.
De night elves were surprised by us troll druids though, dat for sure!
I been concentratin' on adventurin', and helpin' to clear up after da Shattering and Durotar went and gettin' half-flooded by all da waves. So's I not been concentratin' so much on writin' about my adventures. I find I got twenty two seasons under my belt already! And Donda, he were wantin' me to write about druiding from my very first season. Whoops!
So here I am, writin' about my first seasons of druiding.
Startin' out
De Echo Isles, dey comin' along nicely. We got a *huge* trainin' area for all de new recruits. De first few seasons, they were all about trainin' to be a druid, and the proper balancin' of speices populations and suchlike. Sometimes you gots to be nasty and kill a creature or two or ten, but den, Nature is sometimes cruel and nasty too.
After I was done trainin', I helped out wit' de raptor trainers, and then the naga, along with the twice-damned Sea Witch, invaded the Echo Isles!
We Darkspear, we're survivors... but this time, we didn't have to run to survive. We done enough runnin'. This time we stood and fought!
'xcept, we young'uns weren't quite powerful enough so it was mainly Vol'Jin fightin' the Sea Witch, and us runnin' around and helpin' by keeping other nasties off his back.
I tell you, seein' her dead body flop down like a sack of raptor eggs was really quite somethin'. She took Sen'Jin from us, she drove us from our homes, and we finally gots some revenge at last.
Vol'Jin also told us a bit about his history wit' Warchief Clefthoof-Dung-For-Brains. Seems Vol'Jin and Garrosh had a bit of an argument, and Vol'Jin went and all but gave Garrosh a death threat. Not de smartest ting to say to da Warchief.
Vol'Jin also contacted Thrall, and said he was tinkin' of leavin' da Horde. Thrall said a lot of tings dat, basically meanin' no, and Vol'Jin is reconsiderin'.
"I was bein' perhaps a bit rash and angry," Vol'Jin told us young trolls. "But even though Garrosh got raptor guano for brains, he might still be able ta keep da Horde together, and we got ta be strong members of da Horde."
Me, I wonder a bit about Thrall meself. He says he done been havin' trouble wit' keepin' da Horde together, but he seemed much better at it than Garrosh Hellscream ever could be. And Thrall says Garrosh be strong enough to keep da Horde together, but does Thrall know about us trolls now bein' fourth-rate citizens? Does Thrall know about what happened wit' Cairne Bloodhoof? Does he know about Garrosh leadin' us all down de dark road of war, dat de orcs been down before?
To Sen'Jin village, Razor Hill, and Durotar
So after de battle wit' de naga, and Vol'Jin tellin' us ta be good little members of da Horde, it were time to head out into de world.
Sen'Jin village were next on da list. Dere not much to say about my old stompin' grounds, though it were nice to see a flight master dere. Dis makes it much easier to get around Durotar.
De Alliance drove out all de centaur from south Durotar, which is nice, but now dey're settin' up down dere and plannin' to attack us and Orgrimmar, which is bad, so it was time go show dem whatfor.
Also went ta Razor Hill, meetin' Tednug and Scratchfever on de way. Dey say he had something ta do wit' de Echo Isles, Zalazane, and Mankrik's wife, Razor Hill, and finally de Crossroads. "Best ya don't know," he said ta me and walked on.
From Razor Hill I got some missions to patrol around Durotar and help people in trouble because of da floods.
To da Crossroads!
Eventually I was sent to the Barrens.
By all de loa, de Barrens gone and been right shattered. Dere's a great big canyon in de middle, splitting the north from the south. De south seems a bit chaotic and overgrown, from what everyone been sayin', but I haven't gone down there to check yet.
I started off at Farwatch post, on de very edge of da Barrens. Dey was impressed wit' my abilities and had me defend a supply caravan on its trip to da crossroads. Dere was human bandit attacks, and quillboar attacks, and dere was a stop at dis farm which I can't remember much of 'xcept for the fact I met the legendary Mankrik. He got a bit of a thing about quillboars, understandable as dey killed his wife. He had me kill a whole lotta quillboars for him.
Den we finally made it to da Crossroads, and I went to check out oases and unusual plant growth and such.
And onwards from de Northern Barrens!
De problem now is, da Horde is now tellin' me I gots to go to Ashenvale and to Azshara, so's off I went.
Ashenvale meant seein' a whole lotta cut down trees, Azshara meant a land half blown up by da Bilgewater goblins already, and dey both meant fightin' against da night elves.
I be a good proper Darkspear troll, meanin' I got lotsa stories when growin' up about how elves of any sort are nasty pieces of work what took all de troll land away tousands of years ago. Dunno how much of dat is true, 'specially considerin' how most trolls dese days don't seem dat interested in takin' all dat land back. Still, I not be likin' elves dat much.
'xcept, dey're only defending demselves against Warchief Clefthoof-Dung-For-Brains, and showin' us whatfor. Like us defendin' against da incursions of da Alliance in Durotar. Also, I not be a big fan of all de totally unnecessary cuttin' down of de trees, even if it is a good way to annoy de elves. I was findin' myself torn, and actually on de side of da elves for once.
Dat's another thing against Warchief Clefthoof-Dung-For-Brains. He be such a moron he went and made me kinda sorta side wit' da elves! How is dat even possible, I wants to know.
Groups and instances
I done gone through Ragefire Chasm, de Wailing Caverns, and de Deadmines, usin' my recently-learned bear form. I not bein' much of a kung-fu bear yet, only knowin' two attacks, though I can scare people witless wit' a huge big demoralisin' roar right in de face, and make myself scary and threatenin' wit' dis really nasty growlin'. Makes 'em want to fight me rather than anybody else.
Dere been a couple of mishaps, where de others charge ahead and start hittin' baddies before I can even do my scarier-than-I-really-am trick, and den dey go and get all offended when de baddies splat dem before I've even had a chance to get de baddies' attention. Den de others in da group go and blame me.
Hello, Mister Fancy Pants Mage What Have Fire Oozing Out Of His Hair, when a baddie gets hit by great big flamin' balls of fire, he not so interested in de big ferocious bear desperately running at him tryin' to get his attention, he lookin' for da mage in de back in his sissy dress. P'raps next time, you could wait until I start hittin' things before unloading great big flamin' balls of firey death?
'xcept den everyone turned to da Tauren Paladin and bascially said, "She sucks, you tank."
Gee, way to make a girl feel needed, you morons.
I am glad to say I left dem morons behind, and went and found another, much more sensible, group, and dat we den went our merry way through de Deadmines wit' almost noone dyin' and people actually bein' sensible about lettin' me hit things first.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Alright, *that* almost felt like the End of the World
It's official - Garrosh Hellscream makes the worst decisions ever and is the worst warchief imaginable. I'm with Vol'Jin - Garrosh is no Warchief of mine.
I miss Cairne. If only *he* had won that duel with Garrosh. Then we'd have a sensible leader in charge of the Horde, and we wouldn't have to put up with Garrosh's idiocy.
Orgrimmar has been rebuilt after getting rather wrecked during the Shattering. Problem is, Garrosh (may the murdering idiot be cursed forevermore) was in charge of the rebuilding and now the place is all black and spiky and looks like it's made of saronite.
Orgrimmar is now also extremely racially segregated. Thrall was a true leader, that tried to bring us all together. Garrosh just polarises everyone and has pushed the trolls to the edges. I dropped in to check out the troll district - they're downstream from the goblin slums and their terrible pollution.
Once upon a time, before the Horde came to Kalimdor, I thought of all trolls as savage cannibalistic barbarians. So it's rather odd that I like them so much more than anyone else in the Horde and feel sorry for how Garrosh is treating them.
With Orgrimmar rebuilt, I once again find myself getting lost all the time. Once upon a time the guards put up with me constantly asking for directions as I tried to make my way around their city. Now they're extremely aggressive and almost hostile to my requests for simple directions.
I'm just going to avoid Orgrimmar as much as possible.
Another place I'm avoiding is Ashenvale. Thrall kept the Warsong clan in check, slowing down their lumber efforts in Ashenvale. But with Garrosh in charge, who decides to solve problems with axes rather than words? Who's rebuilt Orgrimmar with a suspiciously large amount of wood? Who's wearing giant tree branches around his neck and shoulders? I dread to think what he's done to Ashenvale.
The day before the Shattering, before everything changed - I was fighting alongside Cairne in the elemental invasions. I feel honoured to have fought alongside him at least once.
I still miss him.
In other news, Annekah has been living at the reclaimed Echo Isles for a while, and has finally started training as a druid. She says she's got lots of pictures and is just brimming with excitement. I'm glad one of us is excited. Me? I dread where the world is going.
I miss Cairne. If only *he* had won that duel with Garrosh. Then we'd have a sensible leader in charge of the Horde, and we wouldn't have to put up with Garrosh's idiocy.
Orgrimmar has been rebuilt after getting rather wrecked during the Shattering. Problem is, Garrosh (may the murdering idiot be cursed forevermore) was in charge of the rebuilding and now the place is all black and spiky and looks like it's made of saronite.
Orgrimmar is now also extremely racially segregated. Thrall was a true leader, that tried to bring us all together. Garrosh just polarises everyone and has pushed the trolls to the edges. I dropped in to check out the troll district - they're downstream from the goblin slums and their terrible pollution.
Once upon a time, before the Horde came to Kalimdor, I thought of all trolls as savage cannibalistic barbarians. So it's rather odd that I like them so much more than anyone else in the Horde and feel sorry for how Garrosh is treating them.
With Orgrimmar rebuilt, I once again find myself getting lost all the time. Once upon a time the guards put up with me constantly asking for directions as I tried to make my way around their city. Now they're extremely aggressive and almost hostile to my requests for simple directions.
I'm just going to avoid Orgrimmar as much as possible.
Another place I'm avoiding is Ashenvale. Thrall kept the Warsong clan in check, slowing down their lumber efforts in Ashenvale. But with Garrosh in charge, who decides to solve problems with axes rather than words? Who's rebuilt Orgrimmar with a suspiciously large amount of wood? Who's wearing giant tree branches around his neck and shoulders? I dread to think what he's done to Ashenvale.
The day before the Shattering, before everything changed - I was fighting alongside Cairne in the elemental invasions. I feel honoured to have fought alongside him at least once.
I still miss him.
In other news, Annekah has been living at the reclaimed Echo Isles for a while, and has finally started training as a druid. She says she's got lots of pictures and is just brimming with excitement. I'm glad one of us is excited. Me? I dread where the world is going.
Monday, November 8, 2010
I feel fine, and it really isn't the end of the world
Hail and well met, gentle readers, even if it has been a while since I last wrote. Things are just slow these days, you know? There's only so many cooking assignments you can do, and only so many fishing expeditions you can go on.
Except things are actually heating up! As I found when I was in Orgrimmar recently. Which is weird, because I tend to avoid Orgrimmar.
I think it's because I once found it a very confusing place to get around in, and couldn't find my way *anywhere*. I was constantly asking the guards directions. It's got to the point where if a guard sees me approaching, he or she tenses up, with an "oh no, it's *him*, here we go again" look on his or her face. Even though I can now get around the place fine.
But even though I can now find my way around Orgrimmar, I still tend to avoid the place. It makes no rhyme nor reason, but there it is.
But there are times when you do have to go there. It's the biggest of the Horde's cities and the most cosmopolitan. It has the most trainers, the most commerce, and - most useful of all, considering how many earthquakes we've been having lately - it's not on the top of extremely high mesas.
(Though it is in the middle of a canyon, which could break and fall on us if there was some cataclysmic earthquake, so I suppose it's not much better.)
Anyway, so there I was, in Orgrimmar... and there sure are a lot of worried citizens these days. If the increasing earthquakes weren't bad enough, it turns out there are lots of disappearing family members. And cultists. Don't forget the crazy cultists. They're all over the Drag, going on about how the end of the world is nigh, and promising some sort of nonsense about a higher plane of existence after death, and trying to recruit new members.
Hence a lot of the disappearing citizens - they've gone and joined the cult.
I can understand why people would be worried - after all, there are all the earthquakes. Not to mention, Thrall's handing the position of Warchief over to Garrosh Hellscream. Some orcs might like that. Others are like, "Wibba-WHAT?" There hasn't been any formal announcement yet, but some adventurers went in to Grommash Hold on business, accidentally overheard, and the news is all over the place now.
What's really annoying a lot of people is that during the handing-over, Thrall apparently said Garrosh had the strength and courage to lead the Horde. What about Cairne, or Vol'Jin, who are both on Kalimdor and close by? They aren't strong or courageous enough? Bah.
(But I suppose this at least explains why Garrosh is now wearing a great big branch around his neck and shoulders... Maybe.)
Anyway. Where was I? Oh, right, the crazy cultists.
Well, to cut a long story short, a whole bunch of adventurers infiltrated the cult to learn its secrets. You've probably heard it all from them already. A quick summary - this new cult is being led by Cho'gall, leader of the Twilight's Hammer and overall piece of bad news. The cult is taking advantage of the earthquakes and the unease of the populace, not to mention they're smuggling fire elementals into the city. Fortunately everyone's doing their level best to get rid of the elementals.
You would think the cult is starting to get suspicious because of all the 'new recruits' who show up once and never come back. Not so, said Blood Guard Torek.
"Now that the guards have been tipped off, we catch cultists smuggling in the fire elementals a few times every day. Actual cultists, many of them dumb enough to wear their robes and suspiciously bulging packs. The cult must be used to losing members on these smuggling runs. It's probably why they're recruiting all the time."
All this has made me think of starting a cult of my own. It would be the Adventurer Cult. So much of what people worry about is along the lines of, "life is so unfair, I don't understand why the world is in such a mess, and wow I'm really scared about dying and is there anything after death?" The Adventurer Cult answers so many of these questions!
1) Life unfair? You get to go out and beat on something with a big stick, or balls of fire, or an equivalent, and somebody will pay you lots of gold to do so. While life may still be unfair this is very therapeutic.
2) Once you get an RL avatar, you learn that a lot of your troubles are for their amusement. Unfair? Well, sure. But you still get to beat up something with a big stick or big balls of fire *and* get paid to do it rather than asked to stop!
3) If you die in the course of your adventures, the spirit healer will help you return to life, at no extra charge.
Except things are actually heating up! As I found when I was in Orgrimmar recently. Which is weird, because I tend to avoid Orgrimmar.
I think it's because I once found it a very confusing place to get around in, and couldn't find my way *anywhere*. I was constantly asking the guards directions. It's got to the point where if a guard sees me approaching, he or she tenses up, with an "oh no, it's *him*, here we go again" look on his or her face. Even though I can now get around the place fine.
But even though I can now find my way around Orgrimmar, I still tend to avoid the place. It makes no rhyme nor reason, but there it is.
But there are times when you do have to go there. It's the biggest of the Horde's cities and the most cosmopolitan. It has the most trainers, the most commerce, and - most useful of all, considering how many earthquakes we've been having lately - it's not on the top of extremely high mesas.
(Though it is in the middle of a canyon, which could break and fall on us if there was some cataclysmic earthquake, so I suppose it's not much better.)
Anyway, so there I was, in Orgrimmar... and there sure are a lot of worried citizens these days. If the increasing earthquakes weren't bad enough, it turns out there are lots of disappearing family members. And cultists. Don't forget the crazy cultists. They're all over the Drag, going on about how the end of the world is nigh, and promising some sort of nonsense about a higher plane of existence after death, and trying to recruit new members.
Hence a lot of the disappearing citizens - they've gone and joined the cult.
I can understand why people would be worried - after all, there are all the earthquakes. Not to mention, Thrall's handing the position of Warchief over to Garrosh Hellscream. Some orcs might like that. Others are like, "Wibba-WHAT?" There hasn't been any formal announcement yet, but some adventurers went in to Grommash Hold on business, accidentally overheard, and the news is all over the place now.
What's really annoying a lot of people is that during the handing-over, Thrall apparently said Garrosh had the strength and courage to lead the Horde. What about Cairne, or Vol'Jin, who are both on Kalimdor and close by? They aren't strong or courageous enough? Bah.
(But I suppose this at least explains why Garrosh is now wearing a great big branch around his neck and shoulders... Maybe.)
Anyway. Where was I? Oh, right, the crazy cultists.
Well, to cut a long story short, a whole bunch of adventurers infiltrated the cult to learn its secrets. You've probably heard it all from them already. A quick summary - this new cult is being led by Cho'gall, leader of the Twilight's Hammer and overall piece of bad news. The cult is taking advantage of the earthquakes and the unease of the populace, not to mention they're smuggling fire elementals into the city. Fortunately everyone's doing their level best to get rid of the elementals.
You would think the cult is starting to get suspicious because of all the 'new recruits' who show up once and never come back. Not so, said Blood Guard Torek.
"Now that the guards have been tipped off, we catch cultists smuggling in the fire elementals a few times every day. Actual cultists, many of them dumb enough to wear their robes and suspiciously bulging packs. The cult must be used to losing members on these smuggling runs. It's probably why they're recruiting all the time."
All this has made me think of starting a cult of my own. It would be the Adventurer Cult. So much of what people worry about is along the lines of, "life is so unfair, I don't understand why the world is in such a mess, and wow I'm really scared about dying and is there anything after death?" The Adventurer Cult answers so many of these questions!
1) Life unfair? You get to go out and beat on something with a big stick, or balls of fire, or an equivalent, and somebody will pay you lots of gold to do so. While life may still be unfair this is very therapeutic.
2) Once you get an RL avatar, you learn that a lot of your troubles are for their amusement. Unfair? Well, sure. But you still get to beat up something with a big stick or big balls of fire *and* get paid to do it rather than asked to stop!
3) If you die in the course of your adventures, the spirit healer will help you return to life, at no extra charge.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
I might no longer want to tank, but...
...I can still kind of sort of vaguely kung-fu bear after all!
Y'know Chillmaw, right? The undead dragon that flies around in circles in northern Icecrown, utterly lost, looking for the Argent Tourney grounds, all the time? The guy who cheats and is in his 82nd season of adventure even though we can't get that seasoned? Who has three bomb-wielding maniacs on his back, giving him all sorts of bad directions all the time?
It turns out I can still go all kung-fu bear on him and, all on my lonesome, smash him down to the ground! Like I used to be able to.
I have absolutely no confidence or desire in tanking as a kung-fu bear though. Swipe is so forceful that if I were to try doing it any more often than once every six seconds, I'd make myself extremely sick and throw up and fall off a cliff or something. I'll just stick to healing groups for now.
Y'know Chillmaw, right? The undead dragon that flies around in circles in northern Icecrown, utterly lost, looking for the Argent Tourney grounds, all the time? The guy who cheats and is in his 82nd season of adventure even though we can't get that seasoned? Who has three bomb-wielding maniacs on his back, giving him all sorts of bad directions all the time?
It turns out I can still go all kung-fu bear on him and, all on my lonesome, smash him down to the ground! Like I used to be able to.
I have absolutely no confidence or desire in tanking as a kung-fu bear though. Swipe is so forceful that if I were to try doing it any more often than once every six seconds, I'd make myself extremely sick and throw up and fall off a cliff or something. I'll just stick to healing groups for now.
Friday, October 29, 2010
I no longer know how to kung-fu bear
Hail and well met gentle readers.
Except that there hasn't been much for you to read lately.
I must admit I've been in a slump. There really doesn't seem to be much to do these days. I potter around Dalaran, pick up cooking assignments from Awilo and don't do much else.
(And no matter how many times I fill someone's order, and reassure them that no, I've cooked it and can verify there is absolutely no gnome in the food, that the mere thought of gnome in the food sickens me, they ask me every time... sigh)
Oh and lately I've been dutifully going into the Scarlet Monastery to fight the Horseman's reign of terror.
But apart from that, not so much. I'm waiting for the future, where my RL Avatar has been reassuring me I will once again be a kung-fu bear... except, will I? The inconspicuous bear has been saying that things are going to get even more complicated than they are now, and my health in bear form is going to go down and I'm going to become even more like a Warrior.
Look, if I'd wanted to tank like a Warrior, I would have been a Warrior. But instead I've been happy with being a kung-fu bear. I knew how to be a kung-fu bear. I don't any more. I'm happy to just be a healer, even if I can't be a tree any more. I'm happy to be a big cat. The new abilities in bear form, not so much.
So aggravated.
Except that there hasn't been much for you to read lately.
I must admit I've been in a slump. There really doesn't seem to be much to do these days. I potter around Dalaran, pick up cooking assignments from Awilo and don't do much else.
(And no matter how many times I fill someone's order, and reassure them that no, I've cooked it and can verify there is absolutely no gnome in the food, that the mere thought of gnome in the food sickens me, they ask me every time... sigh)
Oh and lately I've been dutifully going into the Scarlet Monastery to fight the Horseman's reign of terror.
But apart from that, not so much. I'm waiting for the future, where my RL Avatar has been reassuring me I will once again be a kung-fu bear... except, will I? The inconspicuous bear has been saying that things are going to get even more complicated than they are now, and my health in bear form is going to go down and I'm going to become even more like a Warrior.
Look, if I'd wanted to tank like a Warrior, I would have been a Warrior. But instead I've been happy with being a kung-fu bear. I knew how to be a kung-fu bear. I don't any more. I'm happy to just be a healer, even if I can't be a tree any more. I'm happy to be a big cat. The new abilities in bear form, not so much.
So aggravated.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Hallowed luck
My policy when it comes to the Random Number Goddess of Luck, is to not rely on her at all, and offer a prayer of thanks if she ever smiles on me and I get a lucky drop. Like, say, a nice piece of armor drops from a dungeon boss, or the mount from a seasonal event boss.
Back during Brewfest, I completely forgot this policy and fought Coren Direbrew every day - not that this had any effect on his raids on the Brewfest grounds. I guess he was getting resurrected just as fast as we adventurers were killing him. Anyway, so every day I was grouping up and entering Blackrock Depths, and then smashing Coren Direbrew in the face a lot, hoping desperately that this one time, the Random Number Goddess of Luck would smile on me and grace me with a Brewfest-styled kodo. My kodos, Ben One and Ben Two, get a bit lonely sometimes. A Brewfest Ben would have been a nice addition to the family, right?
Sadly, there was no Brewfest Ben, and I cursed my bad luck.
Then along came Hallow's End, and I dutifully grouped up to take on the Headless Horseman to stop his mad rampages throughout Azeroth.
I wasn't even after it, and after only a few of days of fighting against the Horseman, I got one of his horses.
To celebrate, I ate far far too much candy, and got very very sick. Not a good combination when you have a magically-refilling beer keg and aren't happy with the Darker And Edgier way the Horde is going...
I found myself outside in short order.
I do believe my Wolpertinger said, "Foolishness, thy name is Donda." Or pehaps she just said Snufflecluckle. I was a bit drunk at the time, I can't be sure.
I self-exiled myself to Dalaran, ate some more magic candy, and promptly found myself larger and oranger. I've always been large, but here I am, absolutely towering over a couple of elves.
I think the moral of the story is I should just return to my former policy of not relying on the luck of random numbers, and just treat anything I do get as a nice bonus.
Postscript: Good lord, Garrosh Hellscream. You look even more ridiculous than ever, with that big branch around your neck.
Back during Brewfest, I completely forgot this policy and fought Coren Direbrew every day - not that this had any effect on his raids on the Brewfest grounds. I guess he was getting resurrected just as fast as we adventurers were killing him. Anyway, so every day I was grouping up and entering Blackrock Depths, and then smashing Coren Direbrew in the face a lot, hoping desperately that this one time, the Random Number Goddess of Luck would smile on me and grace me with a Brewfest-styled kodo. My kodos, Ben One and Ben Two, get a bit lonely sometimes. A Brewfest Ben would have been a nice addition to the family, right?
Sadly, there was no Brewfest Ben, and I cursed my bad luck.
Then along came Hallow's End, and I dutifully grouped up to take on the Headless Horseman to stop his mad rampages throughout Azeroth.
I wasn't even after it, and after only a few of days of fighting against the Horseman, I got one of his horses.
To celebrate, I ate far far too much candy, and got very very sick. Not a good combination when you have a magically-refilling beer keg and aren't happy with the Darker And Edgier way the Horde is going...
I found myself outside in short order.
I do believe my Wolpertinger said, "Foolishness, thy name is Donda." Or pehaps she just said Snufflecluckle. I was a bit drunk at the time, I can't be sure.
I self-exiled myself to Dalaran, ate some more magic candy, and promptly found myself larger and oranger. I've always been large, but here I am, absolutely towering over a couple of elves.
I think the moral of the story is I should just return to my former policy of not relying on the luck of random numbers, and just treat anything I do get as a nice bonus.
Postscript: Good lord, Garrosh Hellscream. You look even more ridiculous than ever, with that big branch around your neck.
Monday, October 18, 2010
No monthly brews this year
I got enough Brewfest Prize Tokens to get a magically-refilling pony keg! And say hello to my Wolpertinger.
Snufflecluckle
Unfortunately, I remembered far, far too late that my Brew of the Month membership was only one year long, and had nowhere near enough Prize Tokens to sign up for another year. Well darn and blast. Fortunately, I had a magically-refilling pony keg to help drown my sorrows.
I don't remember very much after that.
Snufflecluckle
Unfortunately, I remembered far, far too late that my Brew of the Month membership was only one year long, and had nowhere near enough Prize Tokens to sign up for another year. Well darn and blast. Fortunately, I had a magically-refilling pony keg to help drown my sorrows.
I don't remember very much after that.
Annekah, chilling at Sen'Jin Village
Hey there again. My RL-Avatar, he says I can write however I want to, but to least sound intelligible this time.
It not be my problem if he can't read Troll. Anyhow.
So's I been hangin' out at Sen'Jin village, helping out with security and the upcoming move back to the Echo Isles. Then I'd been helping out so much, gettin' so experienced with the shootin' of things, that I reached my tenth season. And when you be a hunter in her tenth season, there's one thing you just got to go do, even if you ain't gonna be huntering for very much longer...
...that right, the big news be that I have a pet raptor! I thought I'd name him something exotic - so instead of something normal like Den'rasta, Cop'pasta or even Han'solo, I heard about some human naming custom, and called him George!
This be me.
This be me with George.
Ain't he just the cutest raptor evah?
I been helping out with clearin' out the Echo Isles - not by much, seein' how I only be tenth season and all - but I been doin' my bit.
Some day soon we's gonna be movin' back there. Don't they look awesome?
This fella in Sen'jin wanted some cleanup done - there were some enchanted Tiki masks what lost their mojo and ain't enchanted no more. I went and found a bunch of them and brought 'em back to him.
He also wanted the skull of his dead brother Minshina. Skulls? Dead things? Meep. Dead things give me the creeps, mon. I'm just glad things be over and done with in Northrend, I wouldn'ta wanted to go there and go up against all sorts of dead things what still walking around like they ain'ts dead. And on top of undead Scourge horrors, Northrend's even got undead bugs!
Anyhow. Back to the Echo Isles. They be full of fellow Darkspear trolls, doin' ritual dances to help rid the Isles of that dirty Zalazane's foul taint.
I went and found Minshina's skull (shudder), then watched some of the dancin'.
They got some moves, mon.
Anyhow, back to Sen'Jin Village I went, and saw the fella what wanted me to do the cleanup. All well and good, up until the point the spirit of his brother Minshina showed up and said thanks for freein' his skull.
Meep. I know Minshina was just bein' nice, but dead things still give me the creeps.
So now I and George be back to patrollin' around Sen'Jin.
Don't we looks fierce!
...I not be lookin' forward to when Zen'Tabra starts teaching druiding. You seen any druids with pet raptors? No, didn't think so. I likes George too much already. Gettin' a pet was probably a bad idea. Maybes I can see about him gettin' training as a riding raptor.
It not be my problem if he can't read Troll. Anyhow.
So's I been hangin' out at Sen'Jin village, helping out with security and the upcoming move back to the Echo Isles. Then I'd been helping out so much, gettin' so experienced with the shootin' of things, that I reached my tenth season. And when you be a hunter in her tenth season, there's one thing you just got to go do, even if you ain't gonna be huntering for very much longer...
...that right, the big news be that I have a pet raptor! I thought I'd name him something exotic - so instead of something normal like Den'rasta, Cop'pasta or even Han'solo, I heard about some human naming custom, and called him George!
This be me.
This be me with George.
Ain't he just the cutest raptor evah?
I been helping out with clearin' out the Echo Isles - not by much, seein' how I only be tenth season and all - but I been doin' my bit.
Some day soon we's gonna be movin' back there. Don't they look awesome?
This fella in Sen'jin wanted some cleanup done - there were some enchanted Tiki masks what lost their mojo and ain't enchanted no more. I went and found a bunch of them and brought 'em back to him.
He also wanted the skull of his dead brother Minshina. Skulls? Dead things? Meep. Dead things give me the creeps, mon. I'm just glad things be over and done with in Northrend, I wouldn'ta wanted to go there and go up against all sorts of dead things what still walking around like they ain'ts dead. And on top of undead Scourge horrors, Northrend's even got undead bugs!
Anyhow. Back to the Echo Isles. They be full of fellow Darkspear trolls, doin' ritual dances to help rid the Isles of that dirty Zalazane's foul taint.
I went and found Minshina's skull (shudder), then watched some of the dancin'.
They got some moves, mon.
Anyhow, back to Sen'Jin Village I went, and saw the fella what wanted me to do the cleanup. All well and good, up until the point the spirit of his brother Minshina showed up and said thanks for freein' his skull.
Meep. I know Minshina was just bein' nice, but dead things still give me the creeps.
So now I and George be back to patrollin' around Sen'Jin.
Don't we looks fierce!
...I not be lookin' forward to when Zen'Tabra starts teaching druiding. You seen any druids with pet raptors? No, didn't think so. I likes George too much already. Gettin' a pet was probably a bad idea. Maybes I can see about him gettin' training as a riding raptor.
You don't mess with Valerie's Conquest emblems
The "patch 4.01" event has affected more than just the adventurers. Remember Valerie Langrom's use of Emblems of Conquest as hair decorations?
Yes, well. Usuri Brightcoin went into Langrom's Leathers and Links to request all outmoded currency be handed over, so that the shop owners could be compensated in gold. Well. Valerie didn't like the sound of that. It turns out that she can use her repair tools with quite deadly force, and decided to do a forceful repair job on Usuri's armor, while she was still wearing it.
End result - Valerie still has her Emblems of Conquest, which she's guarding like a hawk, Usuri is never entering that shop again, and people are being very very careful when they enter Valerie's shop.
Yes, well. Usuri Brightcoin went into Langrom's Leathers and Links to request all outmoded currency be handed over, so that the shop owners could be compensated in gold. Well. Valerie didn't like the sound of that. It turns out that she can use her repair tools with quite deadly force, and decided to do a forceful repair job on Usuri's armor, while she was still wearing it.
End result - Valerie still has her Emblems of Conquest, which she's guarding like a hawk, Usuri is never entering that shop again, and people are being very very careful when they enter Valerie's shop.
New bracers get!
So there has been this terrible, cataclysmic event, known as "Patch 4.01".
No, I don't know what that means either. But class trainers everywhere have come up with new and/or improved ways of doing things, and it's all terribly confusing.
Remember me talking about Turak Runetotem's changes to Swipe, and the Leather Armor Specialisation? Then remember me talking about how I'm relearning how to be a kung-fu bear all over again?
What I didn't mention was that the druidism trainers looked at healing spells as well and decided to change them around a bit. I went in to the druidic tent on the Elder Rise to learn the new Swipe and leather specialisation, and came away from the druidic tent all reeling and confused. So many new things! Though I must admit I do like being able to cast this new Efflorescence spell with a Swiftmend.
Anyway, it's like that for everybody. Suddenly, folks everywhere are reeling, dazed, and confused. Everyone's having to deal with changes to their spells and abilities, and their magic gems not working anymore, and the like, and it isn't pretty. Though I think I've finally got the hang of healing. I've joined up as the healer in a couple of groups and apart from one nasty surprise where the overseer in the Pit of Saron suddenly hit the tank with a really huge blow, things have been groovy.
Oh! Which reminds me. I finally did something about the cloth bracers that were part of my healing armor! I mentioned how I couldn't find any, right? Well, it turns out I didn't look hard enough! In the Hall of Legends in Orgrimmar, I found my PVP honor was in good enough standing to get a decent set of healer's leather bracers.
Me. Honoured enough to get something useful. I'm not quite sure how that happened. Generally I avoid hostile actions against the Alliance. (Unless dwarves are involved, in which case I might be convinced... with lots of convincing... and maybe a beer or two...) The folks in the Hall of Legends would snicker as I went by. "There goes Donda, the not-even-a-private," they would laugh.
Anyway. Here are some pictures!
A comparison of the cloth bracers, and my new acquisitions. I don't care if they have Resilience and no Haste, they're leather and otherwise much better for my purposes.
My stats before...
...my stats after.
Much higher Intellect (and spellpower, and spell crit), woo! Check out my victory arm pump.
...of course, then I had to go fiddle around with stats at the reforger, which was brain-melting, but oh well.
No, I don't know what that means either. But class trainers everywhere have come up with new and/or improved ways of doing things, and it's all terribly confusing.
Remember me talking about Turak Runetotem's changes to Swipe, and the Leather Armor Specialisation? Then remember me talking about how I'm relearning how to be a kung-fu bear all over again?
What I didn't mention was that the druidism trainers looked at healing spells as well and decided to change them around a bit. I went in to the druidic tent on the Elder Rise to learn the new Swipe and leather specialisation, and came away from the druidic tent all reeling and confused. So many new things! Though I must admit I do like being able to cast this new Efflorescence spell with a Swiftmend.
Anyway, it's like that for everybody. Suddenly, folks everywhere are reeling, dazed, and confused. Everyone's having to deal with changes to their spells and abilities, and their magic gems not working anymore, and the like, and it isn't pretty. Though I think I've finally got the hang of healing. I've joined up as the healer in a couple of groups and apart from one nasty surprise where the overseer in the Pit of Saron suddenly hit the tank with a really huge blow, things have been groovy.
Oh! Which reminds me. I finally did something about the cloth bracers that were part of my healing armor! I mentioned how I couldn't find any, right? Well, it turns out I didn't look hard enough! In the Hall of Legends in Orgrimmar, I found my PVP honor was in good enough standing to get a decent set of healer's leather bracers.
Me. Honoured enough to get something useful. I'm not quite sure how that happened. Generally I avoid hostile actions against the Alliance. (Unless dwarves are involved, in which case I might be convinced... with lots of convincing... and maybe a beer or two...) The folks in the Hall of Legends would snicker as I went by. "There goes Donda, the not-even-a-private," they would laugh.
Anyway. Here are some pictures!
A comparison of the cloth bracers, and my new acquisitions. I don't care if they have Resilience and no Haste, they're leather and otherwise much better for my purposes.
My stats before...
...my stats after.
Much higher Intellect (and spellpower, and spell crit), woo! Check out my victory arm pump.
...of course, then I had to go fiddle around with stats at the reforger, which was brain-melting, but oh well.
In which Donda is annoyed
14th October 2010
I thought I was ready. Turak talked to me about Swipe and my cloth healer bracers, and I was looking forward to not spinning around so much anymore...
...but great googly moogly my moves have been completely changed.
I'd been tanking the same way for three years, and I was fine with it! Then that frigging patch 4.0 hit and now I don't know how to tank anymore. I'm like a frigging warrior. I don't want to be a warrior! If I wanted to be a warrior with their "SUNDERSUNDERSUNDER oh crap everything is on cooldown what do I do now SUNDERSUNDERSUNDER" style then I wouldn't be a druid, I'd be a warrior!
I am going cat, and healer, and NEVER TANKING AGAIN.
...for a given value of "Never". I might learn how to be a kung-fu bear again someday. But in this day and age, where people expect bears to grab everyone's attention with a lot of whirly-whirly Swipe-fests, it will be far too stressful to educate them that, actually, we can't do that anymore.
I'm slightly less annoyed with the changes to my healing spells, though the change to tree form is a sad blow. I liked being a tree and thinking plant-like thoughts. Also, again, I'd been running with my healing spells for three years, and developed all sorts of tricks with them, which no longer apply because Blizzard wants me to be more like a priest.
But I don't want to be like a priest, I want to be my old druidy leafy self!
What is *wrong* with classes that are actually different, instead of classes that do the same thing in different ways? Is it too hard for Blizzard to balance us if we're the former? Bah.
I thought I was ready. Turak talked to me about Swipe and my cloth healer bracers, and I was looking forward to not spinning around so much anymore...
...but great googly moogly my moves have been completely changed.
I'd been tanking the same way for three years, and I was fine with it! Then that frigging patch 4.0 hit and now I don't know how to tank anymore. I'm like a frigging warrior. I don't want to be a warrior! If I wanted to be a warrior with their "SUNDERSUNDERSUNDER oh crap everything is on cooldown what do I do now SUNDERSUNDERSUNDER" style then I wouldn't be a druid, I'd be a warrior!
I am going cat, and healer, and NEVER TANKING AGAIN.
...for a given value of "Never". I might learn how to be a kung-fu bear again someday. But in this day and age, where people expect bears to grab everyone's attention with a lot of whirly-whirly Swipe-fests, it will be far too stressful to educate them that, actually, we can't do that anymore.
I'm slightly less annoyed with the changes to my healing spells, though the change to tree form is a sad blow. I liked being a tree and thinking plant-like thoughts. Also, again, I'd been running with my healing spells for three years, and developed all sorts of tricks with them, which no longer apply because Blizzard wants me to be more like a priest.
But I don't want to be like a priest, I want to be my old druidy leafy self!
What is *wrong* with classes that are actually different, instead of classes that do the same thing in different ways? Is it too hard for Blizzard to balance us if we're the former? Bah.
Spirits be wit'choo, mon
12th October 2010
Spirits be with you, mon. I be Annekah, a young Darkspear troll.
I know what you thinking, mon. "Why isn't she saying, 'Spirits be wit'choo, mon,' and turning her ths into ds and ts?" Well, it be simple! That might be my accent but I not be about to write out my accent. That be a silly idea!
Anyhoo! This be where I would normally say I be a hunter, except I'm not going to be a hunter much longer! Instead, I going to be a druid!
Yes, yes, I know druiding be traditionally night elf mojo, and trolls and elves don't exactly get along. But I not be getting the druiding from some poncy night elf. I be getting it from Zen'Tabra, a fellow troll! Once I convince her too.
It were not too long ago, when Vol'jin launched his big offensive to take back the Echo Isles from the witch doctor Zalazane. There we be, scouting out the Isles, and Vaniya finds a tiger what hunts like a troll. She empowered me with a tiger spirit - it felt goood. I be feelin' strong, and powerful. Over to the Isles I go, and look around for this mysterious tiger...
...and it attacked! It tried shredding my face off, mon! It not be a pleasant thing, no how! If I'd been just me I woulda been a very dead troll girl, and dying never be much fun. But I be having the tiger spirit empowering me, so instead of dying I just got hurt a lot. Infuriated, I lashed out, ripping and shredding and whatnot, we fought like the crazed cats we were, then suddenly the tiger stopped being a tiger and was a troll lady! Turns out she be a druid!
It of course be Zen'Tabra.
So, anyhoo, she said she gonna be our ally in the battle for the Isles.
Unfortunately I only be in my ninth season of huntering, and I weren't allowed to join in on battle to reclaim the Echo Isles. "You be havin' a great spirit, young Annekah," said Vol'Jin, patting me on the shoulder, "but yoo only be in yo ninth season. I can't be lettin' yoo come along, you'll be splatted in seconds."
I hear they met up with Bwonsamdi, loa of the dead! He be pretty angry, we haven't been on the Isles or following the rituals of the dead for a long long time. Perhaps it be good I weren't there. Dead spirits and loas of the dead be scary stuff, mon.
Anyhoo, the battle all be done now, and them folk at Sen'Jin village be moving their stuff back over to the Echo Isles. I be helping them out! And when Zen'Tabra starts teaching druiding, I so gonna be there.
"But why's you wants to be a druid," I hear you cry, or I would if you were here but you ain't. It's simple, mon. Them druids, they be changin' into tigers and bears and birds and sea lions and cheetahs! I like nature and animals, so's I was learning huntering, but as a hunter ultimately I be shooting them full of arrows. Druiding is a way to be much closer to nature and the animals, you know?
Gah, that makes me sound like some poncy hippy night elf druid already.
...don't matter, them night elves is all freakish tuskless mutated trolls anyways. They say they ain't, but we trolls know better.
But here be the best bit - you also gets to be a kung-fu bear! You poor mons on the other side of the screen only see them druid bears standing around on all four legs and slashing with their forepaws. Over on this side, though, they be a whirlwind of activity, dodging and spinning and bashing things like some kinda ursine Jackie Chan. They be like them pandaren brewmaster monks you all be clamoring for.
And I'm going to be one of them kung-fu bears too!
Spirits be with you, mon. I be Annekah, a young Darkspear troll.
I know what you thinking, mon. "Why isn't she saying, 'Spirits be wit'choo, mon,' and turning her ths into ds and ts?" Well, it be simple! That might be my accent but I not be about to write out my accent. That be a silly idea!
Anyhoo! This be where I would normally say I be a hunter, except I'm not going to be a hunter much longer! Instead, I going to be a druid!
Yes, yes, I know druiding be traditionally night elf mojo, and trolls and elves don't exactly get along. But I not be getting the druiding from some poncy night elf. I be getting it from Zen'Tabra, a fellow troll! Once I convince her too.
It were not too long ago, when Vol'jin launched his big offensive to take back the Echo Isles from the witch doctor Zalazane. There we be, scouting out the Isles, and Vaniya finds a tiger what hunts like a troll. She empowered me with a tiger spirit - it felt goood. I be feelin' strong, and powerful. Over to the Isles I go, and look around for this mysterious tiger...
...and it attacked! It tried shredding my face off, mon! It not be a pleasant thing, no how! If I'd been just me I woulda been a very dead troll girl, and dying never be much fun. But I be having the tiger spirit empowering me, so instead of dying I just got hurt a lot. Infuriated, I lashed out, ripping and shredding and whatnot, we fought like the crazed cats we were, then suddenly the tiger stopped being a tiger and was a troll lady! Turns out she be a druid!
It of course be Zen'Tabra.
So, anyhoo, she said she gonna be our ally in the battle for the Isles.
Unfortunately I only be in my ninth season of huntering, and I weren't allowed to join in on battle to reclaim the Echo Isles. "You be havin' a great spirit, young Annekah," said Vol'Jin, patting me on the shoulder, "but yoo only be in yo ninth season. I can't be lettin' yoo come along, you'll be splatted in seconds."
I hear they met up with Bwonsamdi, loa of the dead! He be pretty angry, we haven't been on the Isles or following the rituals of the dead for a long long time. Perhaps it be good I weren't there. Dead spirits and loas of the dead be scary stuff, mon.
Anyhoo, the battle all be done now, and them folk at Sen'Jin village be moving their stuff back over to the Echo Isles. I be helping them out! And when Zen'Tabra starts teaching druiding, I so gonna be there.
"But why's you wants to be a druid," I hear you cry, or I would if you were here but you ain't. It's simple, mon. Them druids, they be changin' into tigers and bears and birds and sea lions and cheetahs! I like nature and animals, so's I was learning huntering, but as a hunter ultimately I be shooting them full of arrows. Druiding is a way to be much closer to nature and the animals, you know?
Gah, that makes me sound like some poncy hippy night elf druid already.
...don't matter, them night elves is all freakish tuskless mutated trolls anyways. They say they ain't, but we trolls know better.
But here be the best bit - you also gets to be a kung-fu bear! You poor mons on the other side of the screen only see them druid bears standing around on all four legs and slashing with their forepaws. Over on this side, though, they be a whirlwind of activity, dodging and spinning and bashing things like some kinda ursine Jackie Chan. They be like them pandaren brewmaster monks you all be clamoring for.
And I'm going to be one of them kung-fu bears too!
In which my sense of timing and scheduling could have been better
12th October 2010
Obviously, this journal of sorts would have been much more useful if I had started writing it in my first season. There would have been a sense of my progression and growth in power. But instead, I am currently based in Dalaran and in my 80th season of adventuring, and have been for months now. The Lich King has even been felled, and a statue commemorating his fall has been put in the middle of Dalaran.
I am very much not in my first season of adventuring, is what I'm saying.
But.
Recently Vol'jin sent out a call to adventurers, asking them to come to the Echo Isles and get rid of Zalazane, once and for all. So of course I went along, to aid our troll brothers and sisters of the Horde.
And then during it all we found out about a bunch of troll druids that have been hiding out on the Echo Isles for ages.
During the whole thing, there was this particular young troll girl, called Annekah. She seemed very impressed by Zen'Tabra, the troll druid that we found, and was badgering her almost immediately to teach druiding. Annekah and I share an RL avatar, so once she actually gets around to learning druiding and leading the life of an adventurer, she's going to be posting here from time to time, telling us about her exploits. Please be nice to her.
Obviously, this journal of sorts would have been much more useful if I had started writing it in my first season. There would have been a sense of my progression and growth in power. But instead, I am currently based in Dalaran and in my 80th season of adventuring, and have been for months now. The Lich King has even been felled, and a statue commemorating his fall has been put in the middle of Dalaran.
I am very much not in my first season of adventuring, is what I'm saying.
But.
Recently Vol'jin sent out a call to adventurers, asking them to come to the Echo Isles and get rid of Zalazane, once and for all. So of course I went along, to aid our troll brothers and sisters of the Horde.
And then during it all we found out about a bunch of troll druids that have been hiding out on the Echo Isles for ages.
During the whole thing, there was this particular young troll girl, called Annekah. She seemed very impressed by Zen'Tabra, the troll druid that we found, and was badgering her almost immediately to teach druiding. Annekah and I share an RL avatar, so once she actually gets around to learning druiding and leading the life of an adventurer, she's going to be posting here from time to time, telling us about her exploits. Please be nice to her.
Why I like being an engineer
12th October 2010
Sometimes it really confuses people that I'm an Engineer, and a gnomish engineer at that! They look at Tauren structures, which are mainly tents and occasionally wooden loghouses and wonder why a Tauren is interested in Engineering. They look at my fingers, which are the size of an average gnome's arm, and wonder how I can do all the fiddly bits.
It's true that Tauren structures are canvas and skins and wood, and not what you might call the cutting edge of technology. But I would like to direct your attention to the lifts that take you alll the way up to Thunder Bluff - and can carry a full-sized Tauren on a full-sized kodo with a heavy load - and the incredibly long bridges between the mesas. The lifts and the bridges required a fair bit of engineering know-how, thank you very much.
I would also like to direct your attention to the Great Lift. It goes even further than the Thunder Bluff lifts and can lift an even greater load. And it never breaks! That required a lot of engineering know-how, too.
So. Just because we Tauren like tents and loghouses, doesn't mean we don't know squat about engineering.
The other question is simple. Gyromatic Micro-Adjusters.
As to why I like being an Engineer... I could go on about how handy and useful and versatile it is, and how I like to get into the nitty-gritty of things and know how something *works* before I press the on switch. Which I guess I just did. But two really big things are:
Teleporters and parachute cloaks.
Who needs arcane magic to teleport around the place, or fall slowly, when technology can do it for you? Certainly not this engineer.
Sometimes it really confuses people that I'm an Engineer, and a gnomish engineer at that! They look at Tauren structures, which are mainly tents and occasionally wooden loghouses and wonder why a Tauren is interested in Engineering. They look at my fingers, which are the size of an average gnome's arm, and wonder how I can do all the fiddly bits.
It's true that Tauren structures are canvas and skins and wood, and not what you might call the cutting edge of technology. But I would like to direct your attention to the lifts that take you alll the way up to Thunder Bluff - and can carry a full-sized Tauren on a full-sized kodo with a heavy load - and the incredibly long bridges between the mesas. The lifts and the bridges required a fair bit of engineering know-how, thank you very much.
I would also like to direct your attention to the Great Lift. It goes even further than the Thunder Bluff lifts and can lift an even greater load. And it never breaks! That required a lot of engineering know-how, too.
So. Just because we Tauren like tents and loghouses, doesn't mean we don't know squat about engineering.
The other question is simple. Gyromatic Micro-Adjusters.
As to why I like being an Engineer... I could go on about how handy and useful and versatile it is, and how I like to get into the nitty-gritty of things and know how something *works* before I press the on switch. Which I guess I just did. But two really big things are:
Teleporters and parachute cloaks.
Who needs arcane magic to teleport around the place, or fall slowly, when technology can do it for you? Certainly not this engineer.
Why I like being a druid
12th October 2010
I could go on about being incredibly versatile and being able to do all sorts of things, and how being a druid lets me get by on my lonesome a lot of the time, which suits my adventuring hours... and it's all true, but there are two things that make me really like being a druid:
Being a kung-fu bear, and being able to change into a bird.
I could go on about being incredibly versatile and being able to do all sorts of things, and how being a druid lets me get by on my lonesome a lot of the time, which suits my adventuring hours... and it's all true, but there are two things that make me really like being a druid:
Being a kung-fu bear, and being able to change into a bird.
From Swipe to Hair Decorations
12th October 2010
Your typical Swipe attack has the bear-form druid extend a foreleg and swipe - so hard and so furiously that the motion carries the druid up on to stand on his (or her) rear legs as he (or she) continues to spin around, slashing everyone in range, before finally completing the spin and thunking down on to all fours again. It is strong and effective and you can use it to hit everyone around you.
The problem is, it's not as damaging or as threatening as it could be. You end up using it all the time and all the spinning around makes you thoroughly dizzy. It's good that in bear-form I have un-Tauren features and fur covering my face, because otherwise everyone would see how green and dizzy I am after a heated battle.
But here comes the good news.
The other day I was by the druidic tent on Thunder Bluff, and saw Turak, one of the trainers, practicing his bear moves. Only, his Swipe was different. It was *strong*, and vicious.
Here's the good news - it's so strong, and so vicious, that you don't need to be spinning around all the time anymore.
But then I heard the bad news - he's *also* working on a new move, where he thoroughly thrashes everyone around him and makes them bleed. Which of course means more spinning. Oh joy.
Changing topic a lot, he saw that I was wearing some cloth bracers. How did he do that? They're mostly covered by my gloves. Anyway, he saw my cloth bracers and shifted back to Tauren form.
"Hail, and well met, brother druid."
"Hail," I said.
"I can't help but notice you're wearing some cloth bracers."
Of course I was surpised - as I said, they're almost completely hidden by gloves, but I nodded along with him. There's a reason he's the druid trainer and I'm not. "Indeed I am. I haven't yet been able to find any leather bracers better than them."
"Great changes are afoot, Donda," he said. "You have already seen our improved Swipe, which we will be teaching very soon. Once we get the kinks worked out, anyway..."
"Kinks?"
"It is a very forcible spin. You need control, and balance, unlike poor Kym, who went spinning right off the Elder Rise."
"Oh my goodness. Is she okay?"
"She went splat. We were able to revive her though. But Donda! I was telling you about our upcoming changes, and I'm worried about your bracers! Something else we're working on is a type of... specialisation, or meditation, or peace of mind, or something, that comes with wearing leather armor."
"How does that work?" I asked.
"I'm not too sure," Turak admitted. "It's something to do with the nature of the material, and attuning yourself to it... or something... It is very advanced, and only Hamuul Runetotem knows the full details. The upshot is that you will want leather bracers as soon as you can get them."
That's easy for him to say. Do you know how impossible it's been for me to find a decent set of leather bracers? I checked the Auction House, Langrom's Leathers And Links shop in Dalaran, and the Sunreavers' emblem vendors, and all I could find were some dinky leather bracers hidden under a shelf at Leathers and Links that were *almost*, but not quite, good enough.
"I forgot we had those," said Valerie Langrom.
They were a truly ridiculous 60 conquest emblems, or something like that. But who uses conquest emblems these days? Valerie Langrom, obviously.
"Conquest emblems are awesome," she said. "They make great hair decorations."
So my quest for suitably useful leather bracers continues.
Your typical Swipe attack has the bear-form druid extend a foreleg and swipe - so hard and so furiously that the motion carries the druid up on to stand on his (or her) rear legs as he (or she) continues to spin around, slashing everyone in range, before finally completing the spin and thunking down on to all fours again. It is strong and effective and you can use it to hit everyone around you.
The problem is, it's not as damaging or as threatening as it could be. You end up using it all the time and all the spinning around makes you thoroughly dizzy. It's good that in bear-form I have un-Tauren features and fur covering my face, because otherwise everyone would see how green and dizzy I am after a heated battle.
But here comes the good news.
The other day I was by the druidic tent on Thunder Bluff, and saw Turak, one of the trainers, practicing his bear moves. Only, his Swipe was different. It was *strong*, and vicious.
Here's the good news - it's so strong, and so vicious, that you don't need to be spinning around all the time anymore.
But then I heard the bad news - he's *also* working on a new move, where he thoroughly thrashes everyone around him and makes them bleed. Which of course means more spinning. Oh joy.
Changing topic a lot, he saw that I was wearing some cloth bracers. How did he do that? They're mostly covered by my gloves. Anyway, he saw my cloth bracers and shifted back to Tauren form.
"Hail, and well met, brother druid."
"Hail," I said.
"I can't help but notice you're wearing some cloth bracers."
Of course I was surpised - as I said, they're almost completely hidden by gloves, but I nodded along with him. There's a reason he's the druid trainer and I'm not. "Indeed I am. I haven't yet been able to find any leather bracers better than them."
"Great changes are afoot, Donda," he said. "You have already seen our improved Swipe, which we will be teaching very soon. Once we get the kinks worked out, anyway..."
"Kinks?"
"It is a very forcible spin. You need control, and balance, unlike poor Kym, who went spinning right off the Elder Rise."
"Oh my goodness. Is she okay?"
"She went splat. We were able to revive her though. But Donda! I was telling you about our upcoming changes, and I'm worried about your bracers! Something else we're working on is a type of... specialisation, or meditation, or peace of mind, or something, that comes with wearing leather armor."
"How does that work?" I asked.
"I'm not too sure," Turak admitted. "It's something to do with the nature of the material, and attuning yourself to it... or something... It is very advanced, and only Hamuul Runetotem knows the full details. The upshot is that you will want leather bracers as soon as you can get them."
That's easy for him to say. Do you know how impossible it's been for me to find a decent set of leather bracers? I checked the Auction House, Langrom's Leathers And Links shop in Dalaran, and the Sunreavers' emblem vendors, and all I could find were some dinky leather bracers hidden under a shelf at Leathers and Links that were *almost*, but not quite, good enough.
"I forgot we had those," said Valerie Langrom.
They were a truly ridiculous 60 conquest emblems, or something like that. But who uses conquest emblems these days? Valerie Langrom, obviously.
"Conquest emblems are awesome," she said. "They make great hair decorations."
So my quest for suitably useful leather bracers continues.
Views of the Alliance
1st October 2010
I'm actually quite mellow towards most of the alliance.
Us Tauren, see, have been wandering around Kalimdor and never even set hoof in the Eastern Kingdoms, and so haven't had much experience at all with the humans, dwarves, or gnomes. We know of the night elves - it's hard not to. Thousands of years ago they went bugnuts insanse with magic power from the Well of Eternity, built a massive empire over the whole world, and then there was a lot of nastiness with the Burning Legion, followed by the night elves blowing up the world. They went kindof invisible after that, and who can blame them.
I mean, they BLEW UP the world!
But that was ten thousand years ago. Night elves now are alright and trying hard not to blow up the world again. Though they do occasionally give off an impression of, "I'm thoroughly ancient and know oodles more than you do and so can tell you you're about to do something stupid," which gets *really* annoying.
Then the lady night elf you're talking to does her bounce-bounce thing, acting like some hyperactive kid, and it shatters her holier-than-thou impression. Plus you get kindof distracted.
Anyway, rapidly moving on.
I owe one particular lady night elf a great debt. When I was just a young calfling there was this big centaur raid on my tribe's camp, me and my sister got separated from the rest of the tribe, and she and I were practically done for. Then out of the trees there burst this massive bear that made short work of that centaur.
O'course, it wasn't actually a bear but a lady night elf druidess in her Dire Bear form. She changed back into a night elf, and we couldn't understand a word she said. But she wasn't trying to kill us, didn't *sound* dangerous, and was smiling at us. She pointed roughly in the direction of our camp.
And she did her bounce-bounce thing.
I must admit, I stared slack-jawed. Sis elbowed me good and dragged me towards the campground, mumbling something about elven hussies. But if it wasn't for that lady night elf Sis and I would have been dead that day.
Years later I was a young druidling, in the Moonglade for the first time to seek out the Great Bear Spirit, and what do you know but I ran into that very same lady night-elf again.
This time she knew a little Taurahe and I knew a little bit of the Darnassian Night Elf lingo. It was certainly enough for me to go, "It's you!" and her to say, "Ohmygoddess it's you!" and for us to swap names. Turns out she's Shukeralle Wildsong.
Yeah, I know, a typically poncy night elf name. Though when she heard my name, she mumbled something about typical Tauren names. Or possibly she said something about the virility of my horns. Darnassian can be tricky sometimes.
I'm actually quite mellow towards most of the alliance.
Us Tauren, see, have been wandering around Kalimdor and never even set hoof in the Eastern Kingdoms, and so haven't had much experience at all with the humans, dwarves, or gnomes. We know of the night elves - it's hard not to. Thousands of years ago they went bugnuts insanse with magic power from the Well of Eternity, built a massive empire over the whole world, and then there was a lot of nastiness with the Burning Legion, followed by the night elves blowing up the world. They went kindof invisible after that, and who can blame them.
I mean, they BLEW UP the world!
But that was ten thousand years ago. Night elves now are alright and trying hard not to blow up the world again. Though they do occasionally give off an impression of, "I'm thoroughly ancient and know oodles more than you do and so can tell you you're about to do something stupid," which gets *really* annoying.
Then the lady night elf you're talking to does her bounce-bounce thing, acting like some hyperactive kid, and it shatters her holier-than-thou impression. Plus you get kindof distracted.
Anyway, rapidly moving on.
I owe one particular lady night elf a great debt. When I was just a young calfling there was this big centaur raid on my tribe's camp, me and my sister got separated from the rest of the tribe, and she and I were practically done for. Then out of the trees there burst this massive bear that made short work of that centaur.
O'course, it wasn't actually a bear but a lady night elf druidess in her Dire Bear form. She changed back into a night elf, and we couldn't understand a word she said. But she wasn't trying to kill us, didn't *sound* dangerous, and was smiling at us. She pointed roughly in the direction of our camp.
And she did her bounce-bounce thing.
I must admit, I stared slack-jawed. Sis elbowed me good and dragged me towards the campground, mumbling something about elven hussies. But if it wasn't for that lady night elf Sis and I would have been dead that day.
Years later I was a young druidling, in the Moonglade for the first time to seek out the Great Bear Spirit, and what do you know but I ran into that very same lady night-elf again.
This time she knew a little Taurahe and I knew a little bit of the Darnassian Night Elf lingo. It was certainly enough for me to go, "It's you!" and her to say, "Ohmygoddess it's you!" and for us to swap names. Turns out she's Shukeralle Wildsong.
Yeah, I know, a typically poncy night elf name. Though when she heard my name, she mumbled something about typical Tauren names. Or possibly she said something about the virility of my horns. Darnassian can be tricky sometimes.
The Brewfesht - Ahn'Quiraj conneckshon... hic!
31st September 2010
The haze lifted, I came to my senses, and I found myself charging halfway to Razor Hill on a legally obtained racing ram.
"Oh, right, it's Brewfest," I told myself.
The craziest things happen when you're getting smashed every night at Brewfest. You get drunk and you see pink elekks wandering around, and weird little rabbit-deer-chicken things hiding in your beer mug. I'm pretty sure that I've engaged in fierce battle with a bunch of dwarves invading the Brewfest grounds, except these fierce battles involve me drinking beer as quickly as possible then throwing the now-empty mug to bonk them on the noggin.
They're pretty fragile dwarves, if you can knock them out with a single empty beer mug to the head. Maybe the lack of beer in the mugs offends their dwarven sensibilities and it overloads their ale-addled brains to the point where they just keel over in outrage. But as odd as it is, it's the bashing up of dwarves. It's quite therapeutic.
Anyway, because of all the drinking, by the time the dwarves leave, I'm usually so drunk I can't tell if we've won or lost. I think I've won a couple of times.
Also at Brewfest, some of the stall vendors take advantage of your pliable drunken state and convince you to get on a legally obtained racing ram and charge around Orgrimmar, hawking their wares. It must work. I see lots of drunken louts charging around Orgrimmar on legally obtained racing rams and yelling about beer, and sure as eggs I find myself at the Brewfest that night and hung over the next morning.
There's also the goblin who sends you to his supplier, who always, always, *always* breaks down halfway between Orgrimmar and Razor Hill. You have to go pick up as much of the beer shipment as you can. On a legally obtained racing ram of course. They must go to a lot of trouble to legally obtain the racing rams because you get a lot of use out of them. But why don't they take the trouble to fix the wagon, if it's always breaking down?
Oh well. So, where was I? Oh yes, that's right, on the back of a legally obtained racing ram and charging down the ravine to Razor Hill, with the drunken haze lifting. Over my whisperbox I heard Dreadkrathor, orc death knight extraordinaire from the guild, asking if anyone could come help heal his raid, which was quite thoroughly stuck in the Temple of Ahn Qiraj.
I eyed my ram critically, and checked my stash of Brewfest Prize Tokens. I'm saving them up so I can get a magically-refilling pony keg, see. Anyway, I figured I'd easily be able to get enough tokens by the end of Brewfest, and besides my racing ram looked pretty tired. I decided to give him a much needed rest. As soon as I had picked up and delivered the next keg, anyway.
Once that was done I let Dreadkrothor know I could come help.
In short order I found myself standing outside Ahn'Qiraj.
The place had been quite thoroughly wrecked a few years ago. I was just a young Tauren calfling at the time, not even a novice druid yet, but I remember all the hoo-ha going on as people got ready for the opening of the gates of Ahn'Qiraj. Varok Saurfang made an awe-inspiring speech, there was a lot of bug-squishing, then a whole bunch of adventurers went in to Ahn'Qiraj and beat the snot out of a bunch of really nasty bugs that were planning to take over Azeroth, or something.
But the funny thing is that nothing really stays dead for very long. Adventurers come back, big nasties come back, and so to stop the big nasties from regrouping, training and improving their skills, and resuming their plans of conquest, us adventurers have to repeatedly stomp them into the dirt.
Like our raid was about to.
It became clear from the discussions over the whisperbox that not only was it my first time there, the place was new for a lot of the group. I followed Shadowtoch, a Forsaken priest that looked like he knew where he was going. Turns out he was following me, too. Quite obviously, we both got thoroughly lost.
Uriu, the guy that was organising the whole thing, came and got me and Shadowtoch and showed us where to go. Yay him!
So, after a little while of being lost and confused, we all assembled deep in the bowels of the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, ready to stomp Qiraji bugs into goo.
There were a few others in the raid who, like me, were in our 80th season of adventuring, including the paladin main tank. It's fair to say that we quite thoroughly pwned practically everything there. Though some of the young'uns just kept dying, over and over, with nothing but a look from one of the bugs. It was quite depressing really. There I was, charged with keeping people alive, and they were dying the instant a bug looked at them.
We came thoroughly unstuck when we came to the Emperor brothers, though. Our guide tried to tell us what we were supposed to be doing and what the Emperor brothers were going to do. But barely 30 seconds into the fight the Emperor brothers did their teleport switcheroo trick, the pally tank ran after his target instead of staying put, a bunch of the group died instantly, the Emperor brothers were busy throwing massive heals on each other, and Uriu our guide, dead himself, was telling us all through the whisperbox that we'd lost and it was time to wipe.
(Incidentally, as useful as it is, doesn't anybody else find it creepy that the whisperbox lets you talk to dead people? But I digress.)
Oh well. I rustled my branches in a leafy shrug, wandered over to one of the Emporer brothers, waited, and he duly smashed me into firewood.
Ow.
We were all quite dispirited after the defeat, and the group split up so we didn't get to try again.
And thus ended my first ever attempt at Ahn'Qiraj.
I went off to find out more about the Emperor brothers and what they do and how you fight them. If we'd gotten our tactics right I imagine our fight against them would have been absolutely epic!
But I think the most *important* thing to take away from this is that raids aren't scary. Er, well, actually, okay, they are. You fight big scary monsters and Old Gods and the Lich King himself, after all. But what I think I mean is that the forming of a raid isn't as scary as I always imagined it to be. Who knows, maybe I'll go on another raid one of these months.
The haze lifted, I came to my senses, and I found myself charging halfway to Razor Hill on a legally obtained racing ram.
"Oh, right, it's Brewfest," I told myself.
The craziest things happen when you're getting smashed every night at Brewfest. You get drunk and you see pink elekks wandering around, and weird little rabbit-deer-chicken things hiding in your beer mug. I'm pretty sure that I've engaged in fierce battle with a bunch of dwarves invading the Brewfest grounds, except these fierce battles involve me drinking beer as quickly as possible then throwing the now-empty mug to bonk them on the noggin.
They're pretty fragile dwarves, if you can knock them out with a single empty beer mug to the head. Maybe the lack of beer in the mugs offends their dwarven sensibilities and it overloads their ale-addled brains to the point where they just keel over in outrage. But as odd as it is, it's the bashing up of dwarves. It's quite therapeutic.
Anyway, because of all the drinking, by the time the dwarves leave, I'm usually so drunk I can't tell if we've won or lost. I think I've won a couple of times.
Also at Brewfest, some of the stall vendors take advantage of your pliable drunken state and convince you to get on a legally obtained racing ram and charge around Orgrimmar, hawking their wares. It must work. I see lots of drunken louts charging around Orgrimmar on legally obtained racing rams and yelling about beer, and sure as eggs I find myself at the Brewfest that night and hung over the next morning.
There's also the goblin who sends you to his supplier, who always, always, *always* breaks down halfway between Orgrimmar and Razor Hill. You have to go pick up as much of the beer shipment as you can. On a legally obtained racing ram of course. They must go to a lot of trouble to legally obtain the racing rams because you get a lot of use out of them. But why don't they take the trouble to fix the wagon, if it's always breaking down?
Oh well. So, where was I? Oh yes, that's right, on the back of a legally obtained racing ram and charging down the ravine to Razor Hill, with the drunken haze lifting. Over my whisperbox I heard Dreadkrathor, orc death knight extraordinaire from the guild, asking if anyone could come help heal his raid, which was quite thoroughly stuck in the Temple of Ahn Qiraj.
I eyed my ram critically, and checked my stash of Brewfest Prize Tokens. I'm saving them up so I can get a magically-refilling pony keg, see. Anyway, I figured I'd easily be able to get enough tokens by the end of Brewfest, and besides my racing ram looked pretty tired. I decided to give him a much needed rest. As soon as I had picked up and delivered the next keg, anyway.
Once that was done I let Dreadkrothor know I could come help.
In short order I found myself standing outside Ahn'Qiraj.
The place had been quite thoroughly wrecked a few years ago. I was just a young Tauren calfling at the time, not even a novice druid yet, but I remember all the hoo-ha going on as people got ready for the opening of the gates of Ahn'Qiraj. Varok Saurfang made an awe-inspiring speech, there was a lot of bug-squishing, then a whole bunch of adventurers went in to Ahn'Qiraj and beat the snot out of a bunch of really nasty bugs that were planning to take over Azeroth, or something.
But the funny thing is that nothing really stays dead for very long. Adventurers come back, big nasties come back, and so to stop the big nasties from regrouping, training and improving their skills, and resuming their plans of conquest, us adventurers have to repeatedly stomp them into the dirt.
Like our raid was about to.
It became clear from the discussions over the whisperbox that not only was it my first time there, the place was new for a lot of the group. I followed Shadowtoch, a Forsaken priest that looked like he knew where he was going. Turns out he was following me, too. Quite obviously, we both got thoroughly lost.
Uriu, the guy that was organising the whole thing, came and got me and Shadowtoch and showed us where to go. Yay him!
So, after a little while of being lost and confused, we all assembled deep in the bowels of the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, ready to stomp Qiraji bugs into goo.
There were a few others in the raid who, like me, were in our 80th season of adventuring, including the paladin main tank. It's fair to say that we quite thoroughly pwned practically everything there. Though some of the young'uns just kept dying, over and over, with nothing but a look from one of the bugs. It was quite depressing really. There I was, charged with keeping people alive, and they were dying the instant a bug looked at them.
We came thoroughly unstuck when we came to the Emperor brothers, though. Our guide tried to tell us what we were supposed to be doing and what the Emperor brothers were going to do. But barely 30 seconds into the fight the Emperor brothers did their teleport switcheroo trick, the pally tank ran after his target instead of staying put, a bunch of the group died instantly, the Emperor brothers were busy throwing massive heals on each other, and Uriu our guide, dead himself, was telling us all through the whisperbox that we'd lost and it was time to wipe.
(Incidentally, as useful as it is, doesn't anybody else find it creepy that the whisperbox lets you talk to dead people? But I digress.)
Oh well. I rustled my branches in a leafy shrug, wandered over to one of the Emporer brothers, waited, and he duly smashed me into firewood.
Ow.
We were all quite dispirited after the defeat, and the group split up so we didn't get to try again.
And thus ended my first ever attempt at Ahn'Qiraj.
I went off to find out more about the Emperor brothers and what they do and how you fight them. If we'd gotten our tactics right I imagine our fight against them would have been absolutely epic!
But I think the most *important* thing to take away from this is that raids aren't scary. Er, well, actually, okay, they are. You fight big scary monsters and Old Gods and the Lich King himself, after all. But what I think I mean is that the forming of a raid isn't as scary as I always imagined it to be. Who knows, maybe I'll go on another raid one of these months.
Just another heroic face in the crowd
30th September 2010
Sadly I am not the funniest of Tauren, nor the most artistically adept. Neither am I the most powerful of tauren druids, nor the best hunter. I am just another face in the crowd.
But I've faced off against all sorts of nasties and monsters. I've faced the demons of the Burning Legion and the undead shambling horrors of the Scourge. I have even faced the Lich King. (Albiet briefly, then our hastily-assembled party ran even more hastily away from him.) There are some that call me a hero of the Horde.
Me, a hero? Of the Horde? That just makes me all nervous and flustered and embarassed.
Especially given, y'know, the Darker and Edgier way the Horde is going. I thought I was fine with the orcs, but events in Northrend have shown that Thrall is a bit of an exception. That he's a bit of an odd duck amongst the orcs. It's become pretty apparent that your common orc is all about glory and honour through battle and is more likely to look up to Garrosh Hellscream. He makes more sense to them.
Anyway, me being called a hero by a common orc is, well, puzzling and a bit scary. It's not like I take great pleasure in the smashing of things. Unless I'm smashing in demons or the undead. I'm all for the smashing in of demons of the Burning Legion and the undead of the Scourge.
Alright, I must admit I feel a guilty pleasure if I ever have to smash in a dwarf. They're pretty friendly and have great beer, even if it's sometimes pretty hard to tell what the heck they're saying. But the little buggers have to go and dig great big holes in everything. "Important Archaeological Investigation," they call it. Which is fine, but then they go and dig great big holes in sacred Tauren or Orc sites, and then get all upset when we get all upset and things degenerate from there.
But as much as I might enjoy the smashing in of a dwarf, it's not like I go out of my way to find and smash in any dwarves. I'm a modern cosmopolitan Tauren and I can rein in my urges to smash in a dwarf. Especially if we're getting drunk together.
Sadly I am not the funniest of Tauren, nor the most artistically adept. Neither am I the most powerful of tauren druids, nor the best hunter. I am just another face in the crowd.
But I've faced off against all sorts of nasties and monsters. I've faced the demons of the Burning Legion and the undead shambling horrors of the Scourge. I have even faced the Lich King. (Albiet briefly, then our hastily-assembled party ran even more hastily away from him.) There are some that call me a hero of the Horde.
Me, a hero? Of the Horde? That just makes me all nervous and flustered and embarassed.
Especially given, y'know, the Darker and Edgier way the Horde is going. I thought I was fine with the orcs, but events in Northrend have shown that Thrall is a bit of an exception. That he's a bit of an odd duck amongst the orcs. It's become pretty apparent that your common orc is all about glory and honour through battle and is more likely to look up to Garrosh Hellscream. He makes more sense to them.
Anyway, me being called a hero by a common orc is, well, puzzling and a bit scary. It's not like I take great pleasure in the smashing of things. Unless I'm smashing in demons or the undead. I'm all for the smashing in of demons of the Burning Legion and the undead of the Scourge.
Alright, I must admit I feel a guilty pleasure if I ever have to smash in a dwarf. They're pretty friendly and have great beer, even if it's sometimes pretty hard to tell what the heck they're saying. But the little buggers have to go and dig great big holes in everything. "Important Archaeological Investigation," they call it. Which is fine, but then they go and dig great big holes in sacred Tauren or Orc sites, and then get all upset when we get all upset and things degenerate from there.
But as much as I might enjoy the smashing in of a dwarf, it's not like I go out of my way to find and smash in any dwarves. I'm a modern cosmopolitan Tauren and I can rein in my urges to smash in a dwarf. Especially if we're getting drunk together.
Here we are at Blogspot
I've moved! To get away from my RL-Avatar's space. He mumbled something about my blogging exuberance showing up his lack of interesting posts, and the difficulty of pictures, then showed me this Blogspot place.
There's been some teething troubles, to be sure, but here I am, on Blogspot! Annekah is coming over, too, and has been taking all sorts of pictures for the occasion. You'll hear from her soon.
There's been some teething troubles, to be sure, but here I am, on Blogspot! Annekah is coming over, too, and has been taking all sorts of pictures for the occasion. You'll hear from her soon.
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