I'm still here!

How do people get ready for Christmas and continue to play WoW?  I'm having a hard time figuring out where all the hours in the evening go between cooking and cleaning and wrapping and shopping

I did manage to fit in the Winter Veil achievement - woot! 

WTB 1 Extra Hour

Friday evening to do list:

 

Go to grocery store

Make genoise chocolate cake

Make dairy-free chocolate cake

Make meringue mushrooms

Make coconut ice cream

Mix up artichoke & spinach dip

Caramelize onions

Slice cheese for platter

Frost sugar cookies

Make chocolate mousse

Make mocha cakes

KILL MALYGOS!

 

I think I can fit it all in*.  I've been prepping for our party tomorrow and Christmas in general so WoW is taking a bit of a hit this week (and next).  I did manage to correctly perform the "Fa-la-la-la-la Ogri'la" Achievement last evening and I only need 22 more kills as a gnome to finish off Winter Veil. 

 

Then all I have to do is wait patiently to OPEN PRESENTS!!!!!!!!!

 

*I will not fit it all this in!

To Vent or Not to Vent

Our [wonderful] guild is full of friends and family and couples.  Because we are also all altaholics at any one time we have one or two combinations of Tank/Healer, Tank/DPS, Healer/Healer and DPS/Healer couples.   It can make some fights easier. For example, our first time fighting Ingis my husband tanked and I shattered the adds.  He would call out to me when and where he was pulling the adds and I was there to help.  Healers can talk to each other if things start to go south and a tank/healer couple generally have a good sense of what the other person is doing (ie – are they ready or are they in the kitchen getting beers).   

 

We've gone through every one of the dungeons in WoW and many of the raids without using Vent.  Our method is for one or two people to explain the fight to anyone new (or in need of a refresher), people ask questions and then we go in.  Sometimes we have a learning curve with a wipe or two but once we all know our role we can down the boss.   I think that in this way getting achievements or doing content the first time really feels like a genuine achievement.  You have to remember things like "am I supposed to stand still during FLAME WREATH or run around and kill the raid" or "I know the Zombie Chow is heading toward Gluth but Decimate is not up – I'll let the kiters do their job and continue burning the boss down".

 

Of course, this would all be easier if we all communicated through Vent to each other.   We could say, "Don't. Stand. In. Stuff" and know that we were heard, rather than frantically type it and hope that we notice it in party/raid chat.  Sometimes lines of text get lost in guild chat or in item rolls which is bad if you miss an "afk 1 sec".  

 

Pros of Vent:

Explaining fights would be easier.

Easier to correct mistakes or apologizing for said mistakes.

We could understand sarcasm better.

We could hear the angelic voices of our guild (and I know at least one of them has a great singing voice!)

 

Cons of Vent:

Doesn't it cost money?

We might lose our fast typing skills!

People might find out that I'm a girl!

 

With Deadly Boss Mods, raid warnings, quick typers and an overall very capable guild, we may not need Vent.  However, it might be worth it to hear everyone especially while celebrating when we down a boss for the first time!

Fa-la-la-la-la Ogri-WTF!!

You do not have to do the group quest chain in Blades Edge to open up the Ogrila quests now (hooray!).  A few of us grouped up to help some alts farm the shards and also because it's more fun with a group. After we had collected enough shards we all set off to do the bombing run. 

 

As the three others got their achievement and I was ready to hit "Print Scrn" to document my achievement but nothing happened because I had dismounted before handing in!

 

Durr – I felt a little dumb and much eyerolling (on my part) ensued. You can guide this hunter by the hand and dress me up in fancy gear, but I will still manage to be a bonehead from time to time!

 

Ah well, I'll just do it this evening and perhaps finish off the last 10 quests there for the Outland Loremaster Achievement.

 

BTW - You can now use your mount in the Pools of Vision in Thunder Bluff! Yippee!

wait a minute....

My druid got to exalted with Sons of Hodir this morning.  I know the shoulder enchants are bind on account now so you can choose if you want to grind rep with these friendly giants.  It's still a nice chunk of gold to farm and the herbs - they are plentiful.

Today I noticed a few changes in the dailies:

When flying through Brunnhildar Village you do not turn into a blue lady.  At least while in flight form.  This is sad only for the comedic affect of flying through the air like Superman when passing through that village.  I didn't test it out, but I hope you remain hilariously oversized while mounted.

The Hot and Cold daily now requires 6 essence of ice instead of 5.  The drop rate seems to be 100% until you get to 6 (note that the essences of ice do not stack in 6's so you'll need another spot in your inventory).

I'm sure the drake for Thrusting Hodir's Sword takes on a different route than before.  I used to start that quest just outside the Frozen Fortress, circle around and end up in almost the same place but today I ended up in Brunnhildar.

The end.

My First Post (12 months late)

Aww,

Here's something I drafted back in January when I started having notions of starting a blog. How far we've come in a year!

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Okay – first post is always the hardest  - doing this like taking off a band aid.  You just have to get it over with.

This blog is just various items – it'll be probably be my World of Warcraft adventures mixed with posts about cupcakes and/or pastry goods with a smattering of crafts.  I've invested a lot of time, money and caloric intake into each.

WoW-wise I don't have much to offer because I'm crap at stats and strategies.  I play a hunter and a druid as my two "mains"…but there are lots, lots more alts.  Some are banks and some are jokes and some just sit in Ogrimmar until I can bear going back to Stonetalon Mountains.

Pastry-wise I know a thing or two (about consuming them).  Over the past few months I've jumped on the cupcake bandwagon to try a few different things.  My favourite has been the Sprinkles Strawberry cupcake recipe because of it's very flavourful and very, very pink icing (it tastes exactly like strawberry ice cream).  My next adventure might be these chocolate bread pudding cupcakes.  Still not sure what way I'm going to go.

I used to do way more crafts and sewing before playing WoW, but I still love to peruse the aisles at Michaels and I. Love. Glitter.

 

We've recently started getting in the Wrath heroics.  It's been fun and frustrating and disappointing at the same time.  I'm still waiting for that crossbow to drop in Heroic UK, but so far, nada.  I'm not sure what my first piece of badge gear will be – most likely the neck piece, although the tier 7 gloves do look tempting. 

Sweet!

Blizzard is holding a dessert contest!  WoW and desserts are two of my favourite things!  I don't know if I'll have time to do anything with Chrismtas a-comin' but I will try!

The prize is nice, many of those books are great. Currently I'm just barely choking down the War of the Ancients trilogy.  Richard Knaak's power to bore knows no bounds.  At this point I would rather quest in Azshara than read about her.