Hail and well met, gentle readers.
Our RL Avatars are all abuzz with the latest news - when the next Expansion Pack event comes along, we in Azeroth will be discovering Pandaria!
Well, not 'discovering', exactly. The pandaren already live there and we know the place exists - after all, Chen Stormstout was a significant figure about ten years ago, some of us Hordies stumbled across his Lost Keg in the Barrens (except the Cataclysm seems to have swallowed it) and Chen has also mailed some of his monastic disciples around, to select adventurers.
Incidentally, I am always amazed by our Azerothian mail services. Not only does the mail get delivered almost instantly, and not only can you access it from any mailbox you see, all sorts of incredibly bulky and alive things get mailed around all the time. Such as small pandaren monastic disciples. While I might be an illustrious grand master engineer, not even I know how it works. Some sort of extremely advanced portal magic, combined with a level of engineering I don't comprehend yet, I presume.
But anyway, I digress. We know Pandaria must exist - we've just never got around to finding it. There's been far too many things to deal with. Similarly, the pandaren themselves must have too many things of their own to deal with to come and find us, because we've seen almost none of them. Except for Chen, of course.
Well I for one can't wait. Finally, after all the warfare and dealing with big bads, we'll get to go exploring, on an amazing adventure of discovery! Not to mention, I can't wait to see the Pandaren at Brewfest. Apparently they have an amazing brewing tradition.
I just hope there aren't any further cataclysmic changes to my abilities and how I do things. I still haven't got used to what happened to all my abilities the last time, around the time of the Shattering.
Showing posts with label Donda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donda. Show all posts
Thursday, October 27, 2011
It's been a while
Hail and well met, gentle readers.
So where have I been, and why haven't I posted much? There's been a lack of interesting things to mention.
Though I guess there was that time when the Zandalari tribe of trolls, former allies, suddenly decided to unite all trolls in a bid to overthrow everybody else in the world. They incited the Gurubashi and Amani, and a whole lot of people had to go into Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman and show them whatfor.
But not me. The Darkspear trolls at the entrance took one look at me and my armor and told me I'd just get splatted if I tried to join in.
Then there were the druids of Hyjal taking the fight to Ragnaros in the Firelands... and the shocking and extremely thoroughly demoralising sight of a night elf going bugnuts insane (how surprising) and almost killing Hamuul Runetotem. While I was watching and powerless to do anything. I must say, I was glad when we finally went up against that elf and showed her whatfor. I was quite uncharacteristically glad to see her die.
Sure, her life hadn't exactly been sunshine and roses, but if an escaped refugee, well known for being completely bugnuts insane, suddenly shows up looking all firey and demonic and talking about serving a higher power, couldn't she have been a little more suspicious?
I haven't done much since. They need help almost constantly in the Firelands so sometimes I go along. With Leyara finished, I can't get all that fired up about it, though.
In other news, another Brewfest has come and gone. I'd tell you more about it but most of it was a drunken blur. I realised a bit later on that I now have a small pony as a pet. She carries some magically refilling beer kegs on her back. I'm not quite sure how or when I acquired her - I only hope she was legally obtained - but I thoroughly approve of my drunken actions.
In this case.
Oh, and Annekah has reached her 83rd season of adventure. Which meant going to Northrend. And seeing "icky undead bugs." The less said about that, the better,
So where have I been, and why haven't I posted much? There's been a lack of interesting things to mention.
Though I guess there was that time when the Zandalari tribe of trolls, former allies, suddenly decided to unite all trolls in a bid to overthrow everybody else in the world. They incited the Gurubashi and Amani, and a whole lot of people had to go into Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman and show them whatfor.
But not me. The Darkspear trolls at the entrance took one look at me and my armor and told me I'd just get splatted if I tried to join in.
Then there were the druids of Hyjal taking the fight to Ragnaros in the Firelands... and the shocking and extremely thoroughly demoralising sight of a night elf going bugnuts insane (how surprising) and almost killing Hamuul Runetotem. While I was watching and powerless to do anything. I must say, I was glad when we finally went up against that elf and showed her whatfor. I was quite uncharacteristically glad to see her die.
Sure, her life hadn't exactly been sunshine and roses, but if an escaped refugee, well known for being completely bugnuts insane, suddenly shows up looking all firey and demonic and talking about serving a higher power, couldn't she have been a little more suspicious?
I haven't done much since. They need help almost constantly in the Firelands so sometimes I go along. With Leyara finished, I can't get all that fired up about it, though.
In other news, another Brewfest has come and gone. I'd tell you more about it but most of it was a drunken blur. I realised a bit later on that I now have a small pony as a pet. She carries some magically refilling beer kegs on her back. I'm not quite sure how or when I acquired her - I only hope she was legally obtained - but I thoroughly approve of my drunken actions.
In this case.
Oh, and Annekah has reached her 83rd season of adventure. Which meant going to Northrend. And seeing "icky undead bugs." The less said about that, the better,
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Vashj'ir was a dreary place. Don't go there.
Alright, I must admit all the underwater scenery, now that I think about it, was absolutely gorgeous. Though most of the time I didn't pay attention to the scenery because I was too busy fighting naga and otherwise trying to help the survivors get out of the place.
Then things took a turn for the worse when eldritch abominations started showing up.
Then they took even more of a turn for the worse when I put a dead deep sea demon on my head. (After all, it was dead, right? What harm could it do?) Turns out it wasn't quite dead yet.
I have no pictures of that occasion because I was rather more concerned with getting the thing off my head, but it was certainly memorable! For all the wrong reasons.
Later on I was asked to put another deep sea demon on my head as a disguise. I made absolutely sure it was dead first.
You will notice no pictures of me in bear form with that thing on my head. I tried bear form but that thing was much too tight. Besides, I don't really do bear form these days, unless I absolutely need it. It doesn't really feel like I'm a kung-fu bear anymore.
I'm almost done with Vashj'ir. Everyone that was stranded there has been rescued, except for one, a quite insane human down there, called Budd. I think I accidentally stole his barrel of gunpowder. (I needed it to start a fire, it was just there, and he was nowhere in sight.) He didn't realise it had been stolen and asked me ages ago if I knew what had happened to it. I think I might have to go back down to Vashj'ir and see what I can do for him.
Then things took a turn for the worse when eldritch abominations started showing up.
Then they took even more of a turn for the worse when I put a dead deep sea demon on my head. (After all, it was dead, right? What harm could it do?) Turns out it wasn't quite dead yet.
I have no pictures of that occasion because I was rather more concerned with getting the thing off my head, but it was certainly memorable! For all the wrong reasons.
Later on I was asked to put another deep sea demon on my head as a disguise. I made absolutely sure it was dead first.
 |
| In my normal form, with my horns poking through its tentacles. |
 |
| In sea lion form. It looks like some sort of demented diving helmet. |
 |
| In cat form, with my horns outside the tentacles this time. Worked a lot better. |
I'm almost done with Vashj'ir. Everyone that was stranded there has been rescued, except for one, a quite insane human down there, called Budd. I think I accidentally stole his barrel of gunpowder. (I needed it to start a fire, it was just there, and he was nowhere in sight.) He didn't realise it had been stolen and asked me ages ago if I knew what had happened to it. I think I might have to go back down to Vashj'ir and see what I can do for him.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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