Wow. A lot of time has passed since my last entry on this blog. There has been much going on. Since I've last written, I've become a full time stay at home person, signed up for a writing course (still waiting for curriculum - sigh - called them today. It was lost in the mail and now I have to wait another couple of weeks), Killed the Lich King with two toons, leveled to 85 in Cataclysm, had very recent hospital time for a cardiac event, got two new family members (doggies-love 'em), and on and on and on. You know. Life. RL as gamers put it.
But. Here. I. Am. LOL - and I'm glad to be here.
GUILD DRAMA: Oh Em Gee. My own dramatics - long story short (my version of course, what else?) -- I did what others would call /ragequit; however, is was more like /hurtquit - maintained communication with my guild leaders; and was re-admitted and have just done my first guild raid since October.
In a future post, I will discuss a bit more about that. What I've learned. What matters. What doesn't, you know that kind of thing.
Who likes Cataclysm? What I am finding is that the instances are stinking hard! Especially with pugs. Blizzard what are you thinking? You begin the finding group part of the game, push it, I got used to it and now pugging these Cata places just -- Well, I'm not used to it yet. I always try to be with guildies and never pug any more. What a waste of programming. My opinion.
Archaeology - was excited about it, did some of it, stopped doing it.
Created several new alts on different servers, just for kicks. Actually one of my favorite things to do is make a new toon and play with it until level 20 or so. It is relaxing to do after stressing about gear, 'chants, gems, recipes, goals, raids, etc. You know? I tried being a hunter. Seriously considering getting a hunter up to level. Other than that, casting is my thing. I tried a tiny bit of healing and even in a dungeon that is below level for me -- causes so much stress that it is NOT FUN! I don't heal. I wonder what kind of tank I would be? I might find out one day.
Anyway *wave* Hello again.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday, May 10, 2010
I've seen the world, baby!
I did it! I decided that there was a goal within reach for me before Cataclysm changes our world forever.
For those of you that are new to World of Warcraft, there are things called achievements. Some of those achievements are rewarded with a TITLE. What that means is that when others in the game see your name, they also see the TITLE. (If you have it turned on)
For example, (points up) that is a screen shot of Cantique achieving the Title "Explorer". All I had to do was check out each zone in the game. That meant lots of running around on a ground mount, flying where I could (there are fly zones) and sneaking a little bit to check out the other faction areas.
There are lots of titles a toon might have; several of which I will not attempt at this time for various reasons - not enough time, not enough skill, not enough will power!...LOL
Titles fall under several categories: (to check these out further see WoWWiki)
PVP (player vs player)
Reputation
World Events
Argent Tournament
Dungeons and Raids
I have the Title Jenkins. This is in tribute to a very funny video about Leroy Jenkins . (warning - a bit of swearing) I actually never wear this title. It is a surname and for RP reasons I created my own surname. I wish Blizzard would let us give ourselves a surname - sorta like when a hunter has the option to name his hunting companion.
I also have Champion of the Frozen Wastes title. What a mouthful! Some titles are pretty easy to come by, I wasn't even working toward this. What a nice surprise.
My newest title, the Explorer, falls under the category Miscellaneous.
I am in awe of people with some of the titles available, like Loremaster. Those folks had to complete ALL of the Loremaster quests for Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, Outland, and Northrend. I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone wearing the title the Seeker. (3000 quests completed!)
There are titles for achieving cooking quests, fishing quests, even for simply using the dungeon tool in to finish random heroic dungeons with 50 random players - The Patient title. (A very nice thing is that - after you have done it with 100 random players you earn an in game pet - a nice little pug dog!)
Anyway, I just wanted to share my latest in-game happy, happy, joy, joy moment!
See you guys later!
Friday, April 16, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Hey! That's my egg!
Camping for these eggs
Ninja standing on my head
Oh, I am one too.
In World of Warcraft there are holidays. These seem to correspond with RL (real life) holidays – for example it was Easter Sunday a few days ago and Noble Garden holiday began in WOW, Eggs, Bunnies, fancy clothes and all.
There are points for achievement to be done! There are areas (4 on Alliance side, and 4 on Horde side I think) where colorful eggs are liberally strewn about. If an egg is picked up by a character, pretty soon it will re-spawn. (Re-spawn means “show back up” for those of you new to some online gaming terms.)
There are achievements to be earned, quests to be done, and loot to be had!!! What that means is ….people are running around like crazy “finding” the eggs. This pretty much promotes what is normally considered rude in the game.
Ninjaing.
Ninja-ing something means that you take loot away from someone that has done something to get to the loot. Okay. I know that is vague. Scenario: You have just fought off three mobs in order to get to a plant that you really very much wanted to “pick”. Someone else runs by while you are fighting and “picks” it. They are considered a Ninja and people get hopping mad when that happens to them. I know I do.
So, here I stand in a spot (“Camping”. That means standing in one spot waiting for something to happen) near a bush (or whatever) and wait and wait and wait for the egg to re-spawn. If I blink just right someone else gets it first. Sigh. This holiday in World of Warcraft is all about getting enough eggs.
I am sorta forced to be a ninja. I am not the only one working to get these eggs, a gazillion other people are working to get the eggs too. I just have to be on my toes, quick to click, I must be the ninja.
Here I just imagine myself dressed in shades of gray, stealthily still, moving only my arm when the egg spawns. Quick. Quiet. No gloating. No, “ha ha…I got it before you did you sneaky wabbit!” Quiet, calm, quick.
I am a ninja today.
Any thoughts on this WOW holiday?
Ninja standing on my head
Oh, I am one too.
In World of Warcraft there are holidays. These seem to correspond with RL (real life) holidays – for example it was Easter Sunday a few days ago and Noble Garden holiday began in WOW, Eggs, Bunnies, fancy clothes and all.
There are points for achievement to be done! There are areas (4 on Alliance side, and 4 on Horde side I think) where colorful eggs are liberally strewn about. If an egg is picked up by a character, pretty soon it will re-spawn. (Re-spawn means “show back up” for those of you new to some online gaming terms.)
There are achievements to be earned, quests to be done, and loot to be had!!! What that means is ….people are running around like crazy “finding” the eggs. This pretty much promotes what is normally considered rude in the game.
Ninjaing.
Ninja-ing something means that you take loot away from someone that has done something to get to the loot. Okay. I know that is vague. Scenario: You have just fought off three mobs in order to get to a plant that you really very much wanted to “pick”. Someone else runs by while you are fighting and “picks” it. They are considered a Ninja and people get hopping mad when that happens to them. I know I do.
So, here I stand in a spot (“Camping”. That means standing in one spot waiting for something to happen) near a bush (or whatever) and wait and wait and wait for the egg to re-spawn. If I blink just right someone else gets it first. Sigh. This holiday in World of Warcraft is all about getting enough eggs.
I am sorta forced to be a ninja. I am not the only one working to get these eggs, a gazillion other people are working to get the eggs too. I just have to be on my toes, quick to click, I must be the ninja.
Here I just imagine myself dressed in shades of gray, stealthily still, moving only my arm when the egg spawns. Quick. Quiet. No gloating. No, “ha ha…I got it before you did you sneaky wabbit!” Quiet, calm, quick.
I am a ninja today.
Any thoughts on this WOW holiday?
Friday, March 26, 2010
PRE WOW LOOT WOOT!
It was the year I was 9 and my sister was 7 – brother was 5. Life was wonderful for us We were always exploring our surroundings especially since our dad was in the service and we moved at least once a year. Stuff was always new and exciting.
We were in Florida this time and one day we found an unopened can of beer in the gutter and dropped it, causing a tiny, tiny hole. The hot beer spewed forcefully out of the hole arcing into the sky, seeming to us like a wondrous fountain of fun. We did NOT put that in our mouths, we played in it. RIBL. (rolling in beer, laughing)
Parents used to have friends over and they would play poker and smoke and drink * gasp * hard liquor. Siblings and I would get up early the next day after those parties (parents snoozing happily) and we would wander through the house finishing off the partial glasses of whatever and eating match heads. Yes. We would eat the burnt heads off the matches in the ashtrays. They were salty and very good. (Sulfer I guess doesn’t harm in small amounts – wait – maybe that’d explai. . . nevermind.)
My sister ate the head of a fly once while I watched. Ewwww. A babysitter in Germany let us have raw bacon sandwiches for lunches. “Mom, mom, we like it raw!” …”WHAT!?” (ummmm bacon)
I remember crying with my tongue stuck to a frozen pop treat one day as mom and dad tried hard not to laugh at me. That was NOT funny!
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, this one day when we were 9 and 7 and 5, we were sooo excited. We played and had sooo much fun with our find. Then, it was time to go in for dinner. Mom and Dad got so . . . Well, as a child I wasn’t sure what. They weren’t really mad, but they were yelling at us. They were very stern, yet we didn’t get sent to our room for a paddling. We stood, dumbfounded, eyes wet with fear, and nodded listening.
“But we found it, it’s ours, (sob)”
“Where!”
“Outside. (sniffle)”
“Outside where? (stern look)”
“In the back alley where we play with rocks.”
“Was it in a box or a sack or anything?”
“No, Daddy, we didn’t steal it, it was lost on the ground. (poutyfaces)”
They admonished us sternly and then they took our free, not broken, funny balloon away, and let the air out of it. WAH!!!!!
We learned, never, never put balloons we just “find” outside or “ANYWHERE for that matter!” in our mouth. They never did tell us why.
(I did not understand the seemingly irrational behavior of my parents until years after this event. I laugh still.).
What does this have to do with World of Warcraft? /loot woot!! It's mine I found it!! /nod I know it has a gazillion armor and stamina and I'm a priest...but it's purty!!!
We were in Florida this time and one day we found an unopened can of beer in the gutter and dropped it, causing a tiny, tiny hole. The hot beer spewed forcefully out of the hole arcing into the sky, seeming to us like a wondrous fountain of fun. We did NOT put that in our mouths, we played in it. RIBL. (rolling in beer, laughing)
Parents used to have friends over and they would play poker and smoke and drink * gasp * hard liquor. Siblings and I would get up early the next day after those parties (parents snoozing happily) and we would wander through the house finishing off the partial glasses of whatever and eating match heads. Yes. We would eat the burnt heads off the matches in the ashtrays. They were salty and very good. (Sulfer I guess doesn’t harm in small amounts – wait – maybe that’d explai. . . nevermind.)
My sister ate the head of a fly once while I watched. Ewwww. A babysitter in Germany let us have raw bacon sandwiches for lunches. “Mom, mom, we like it raw!” …”WHAT!?” (ummmm bacon)
I remember crying with my tongue stuck to a frozen pop treat one day as mom and dad tried hard not to laugh at me. That was NOT funny!
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, this one day when we were 9 and 7 and 5, we were sooo excited. We played and had sooo much fun with our find. Then, it was time to go in for dinner. Mom and Dad got so . . . Well, as a child I wasn’t sure what. They weren’t really mad, but they were yelling at us. They were very stern, yet we didn’t get sent to our room for a paddling. We stood, dumbfounded, eyes wet with fear, and nodded listening.
“But we found it, it’s ours, (sob)”
“Where!”
“Outside. (sniffle)”
“Outside where? (stern look)”
“In the back alley where we play with rocks.”
“Was it in a box or a sack or anything?”
“No, Daddy, we didn’t steal it, it was lost on the ground. (poutyfaces)”
They admonished us sternly and then they took our free, not broken, funny balloon away, and let the air out of it. WAH!!!!!
We learned, never, never put balloons we just “find” outside or “ANYWHERE for that matter!” in our mouth. They never did tell us why.
(I did not understand the seemingly irrational behavior of my parents until years after this event. I laugh still.).
What does this have to do with World of Warcraft? /loot woot!! It's mine I found it!! /nod I know it has a gazillion armor and stamina and I'm a priest...but it's purty!!!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
“Is This A Role-play Realm or Not?”
I see that question in General Chat and Trade Chat often. I understand why people ask. The fact that there are Role Play realms indicate that there might be people actually doing it. However, some of the answers coming across the channel indicate that the only people watching the channel are non-role players. That makes sense as people that role play probably turn off the extra channels in order to keep up with and thoroughly enjoy the role play without loads of “chat” interruption. /shrug?
On the game World of Warcraft, characters inside a city are busily running from the bank, to the auction house, to the mailbox, to the trainers for either their class or their skills -- cooking, sewing, first aid, blacksmithing, jewel crafting, leatherworking, etc. You get the picture. Busy, busy, busy! Usually the only ones walking where I play are NPCs that are selling something like bread, fruit, or guards that are busy making sure the THEM aren’t going to get me. LOL.
I have found that it is a good thing for me to change my pace in the game sometimes. It becomes more relaxing and fun to simply walk, not run. On my keyboard my forward slash key toggles from run to walk. Believe me, in a city where everyone is running on foot or riding fast through the city, someone walking stands out. If you want a bit of attention (I admit at times I do), just walk. What I desire when I do this is some nice role-play adventure.
So the other day, I went to realm Argent Dawn and walked around in Stormwind with my little female dwarf. She is only level 3 or 6 (why can’t I remember?) and she has absolutely not one cent left to her name. Here is why. She walked into the city and went to the inn and talked to the inn-keeper there . . (imagination must come into play) …The inn-keepers’ prices were too high for Cantique, so she told her she was welcome to build a fire outside near the inn, “But don’t harm the tree out there, mind!”
Cantique walked outside and found that she didn’t have a way to make fire. She realized that she needed to seek out a cook somewhere in the city and get a fire kit. She walked up to a guard in the trade center and asked for directions, which he promptly gave, smiling and nodding his head before snapping back into his watchful stance on the corner.
(Note, all this was played out verbally in the chat pane, of course the NPCs didn’t /say anything, but Cantique acted and spoke as if they did.)
She walked out of the Trade Center and stopped at each signpost and sounded out the words to make sure she was finding her way to Old Town. During the walk (I) looked around and noticed that there was a night elf following and listening. I attempted to draw him in by smiling at him. No response.
Anyway, when Cantique arrived at the Pig and Whistle and found the cook, the price he wanted for the training to learn to cook and build a fire was more than she had. She needed 95 coppers. Cantique looked at the woman standing nearby who had flour and spices to sell and she asked the woman if she would like to purchase her dress. Well, Cantique must’ve look pretty desperate, because the woman did indeed purchase the thin dress and Cantique ended up with 95 copper. She looked into her coinkeep and there was not another penny. She could now make fire.
(And THAT is odd because she had some few coppers and the sale of the dress made the EXACT amount she needed – I’ve always been fortunate IRL with having exactly what I need when I need it…that this carries over into the game is spooky. My hubby is always amazed that when I make new toons I “loot” bags pretty regularly. /grin)
She looked into her coinkeep and had not another penny, but she could now make fire.
She walked (did not run) back to the Trade Center and found her way back to the front of the inn, build a fire and sat down, her tummy grumbling.
During all this time, no-one spoke to me, neither role-play wise nor OOCly (out of character). A couple of folk stopped and “listened” and/or watched but did not comment or interact. I was amazed at the lack of even a derisive comment. Maybe I was in an alternate universe. (play eerie music here) But more likely the timing was wrong and when I go back and walk again, so many toons will talk I won’t be able to keep up with all the chatter.
But that day, I simply finished out my story and faded away. LOL…I still had fun. Am I crazy? Please tell me.
I see that question in General Chat and Trade Chat often. I understand why people ask. The fact that there are Role Play realms indicate that there might be people actually doing it. However, some of the answers coming across the channel indicate that the only people watching the channel are non-role players. That makes sense as people that role play probably turn off the extra channels in order to keep up with and thoroughly enjoy the role play without loads of “chat” interruption. /shrug?
On the game World of Warcraft, characters inside a city are busily running from the bank, to the auction house, to the mailbox, to the trainers for either their class or their skills -- cooking, sewing, first aid, blacksmithing, jewel crafting, leatherworking, etc. You get the picture. Busy, busy, busy! Usually the only ones walking where I play are NPCs that are selling something like bread, fruit, or guards that are busy making sure the THEM aren’t going to get me. LOL.
I have found that it is a good thing for me to change my pace in the game sometimes. It becomes more relaxing and fun to simply walk, not run. On my keyboard my forward slash key toggles from run to walk. Believe me, in a city where everyone is running on foot or riding fast through the city, someone walking stands out. If you want a bit of attention (I admit at times I do), just walk. What I desire when I do this is some nice role-play adventure.
So the other day, I went to realm Argent Dawn and walked around in Stormwind with my little female dwarf. She is only level 3 or 6 (why can’t I remember?) and she has absolutely not one cent left to her name. Here is why. She walked into the city and went to the inn and talked to the inn-keeper there . . (imagination must come into play) …The inn-keepers’ prices were too high for Cantique, so she told her she was welcome to build a fire outside near the inn, “But don’t harm the tree out there, mind!”
Cantique walked outside and found that she didn’t have a way to make fire. She realized that she needed to seek out a cook somewhere in the city and get a fire kit. She walked up to a guard in the trade center and asked for directions, which he promptly gave, smiling and nodding his head before snapping back into his watchful stance on the corner.
(Note, all this was played out verbally in the chat pane, of course the NPCs didn’t /say anything, but Cantique acted and spoke as if they did.)
She walked out of the Trade Center and stopped at each signpost and sounded out the words to make sure she was finding her way to Old Town. During the walk (I) looked around and noticed that there was a night elf following and listening. I attempted to draw him in by smiling at him. No response.
Anyway, when Cantique arrived at the Pig and Whistle and found the cook, the price he wanted for the training to learn to cook and build a fire was more than she had. She needed 95 coppers. Cantique looked at the woman standing nearby who had flour and spices to sell and she asked the woman if she would like to purchase her dress. Well, Cantique must’ve look pretty desperate, because the woman did indeed purchase the thin dress and Cantique ended up with 95 copper. She looked into her coinkeep and there was not another penny. She could now make fire.
(And THAT is odd because she had some few coppers and the sale of the dress made the EXACT amount she needed – I’ve always been fortunate IRL with having exactly what I need when I need it…that this carries over into the game is spooky. My hubby is always amazed that when I make new toons I “loot” bags pretty regularly. /grin)
She looked into her coinkeep and had not another penny, but she could now make fire.
She walked (did not run) back to the Trade Center and found her way back to the front of the inn, build a fire and sat down, her tummy grumbling.
During all this time, no-one spoke to me, neither role-play wise nor OOCly (out of character). A couple of folk stopped and “listened” and/or watched but did not comment or interact. I was amazed at the lack of even a derisive comment. Maybe I was in an alternate universe. (play eerie music here) But more likely the timing was wrong and when I go back and walk again, so many toons will talk I won’t be able to keep up with all the chatter.
But that day, I simply finished out my story and faded away. LOL…I still had fun. Am I crazy? Please tell me.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Screenshots of life.
In the spirit of Spring I did some cleaning in game this week. My friends list updated, my ignore list ignored and last night I cleaned up my World of Warcraft screenshots folder. (While you are playing the game, at any time you may push the [print screen] button on your keyboard and a picture of your screen is automatically saved in a folder in your World of Warcraft folder. This folder is titled “screenshots”.)
I had pictures of pillows on a bed in an inn in Dalaran, flowers on a ledge, ceiling detail, the picture at the top of this blog (Ulduar) and many, many shots of my character flying off into the sunset. /laugh.
Just as some of my screenshots took some time and thought to get them to come out “just right” it also took some thought before I deleted them. My character’s life is just like rl (real life) in that there are things that happen that will never happen again for her. The day she turned 80, the day she got 11,000 damage per second in a 5-man raid, the day someone whispered something really nice to her. (In World of Warcraft, people can whisper to you and it shows up on your screen in the chat box.)
I had screenshots of heartfelt conversations with other characters that were telling me how they felt about this or that in the guild, or how they dealt with something in their real life. I kept the majority of those. I had some screen shots showing a couple of acquaintances telling me how stupid I was in my rps. I deleted those. I don’t need the reminder of the bad times. I kept those screen shots initially as a defense if anyone else tried to grief me about the same subject. They are gone now, as are the tears and hard feelings.
Thinking of all this makes me wish someone were taking “screenshots” of me as I sit at my computer laughing at silly chat or being totally immersed in a dungeon. Reminders of how much fun I’ve had with this newfangled kind of game. I know there will come a day when I am no longer able to raid with my friends and will only be able to slowly make my way around Azeroth picking flowers, standing on my corner in Stormwind or Orgrimar looking wistfully around for someone who will stop long enough to role play just a bit about nothing much -- the weather or the prices in the auction house.
Being an older person gives a different perspective of what it takes to be able to raid. My fingers hurt sometimes. They don’t move as quickly as they used to – All the fish oil in the world won’t make my hands young again. My eyes lose the cursor more often. I wipe my glasses and get a larger monitor, but I still wish I could make my cursor a vivid hue of color so I can find it again. I wish I could reach up and touch my monitor with my finger and have the cursor center to my touch. That would be very good. I would target the enemy with my finger - /point /say “Okay you oogly damned scourge, time to pull up yur panties and get serious.”
Please don’t tell me to get a life. I have a life. This IS what I want to do right now. Playing this game isn’t any worse than sitting for hours watching soap operas or other non-interactive shows on the television. I choose my entertainment to be World of Warcraft. I at least get to have a part in the drama. It is very entertaining. It uses more of my senses than television. It tugs my heart like a good movie, it makes my heart race like an action film.
Cleaning out my screenshots file was necessary, to make room for memories of new in-game experiences. AND I AM READY!
In the spirit of Spring I did some cleaning in game this week. My friends list updated, my ignore list ignored and last night I cleaned up my World of Warcraft screenshots folder. (While you are playing the game, at any time you may push the [print screen] button on your keyboard and a picture of your screen is automatically saved in a folder in your World of Warcraft folder. This folder is titled “screenshots”.)
I had pictures of pillows on a bed in an inn in Dalaran, flowers on a ledge, ceiling detail, the picture at the top of this blog (Ulduar) and many, many shots of my character flying off into the sunset. /laugh.
Just as some of my screenshots took some time and thought to get them to come out “just right” it also took some thought before I deleted them. My character’s life is just like rl (real life) in that there are things that happen that will never happen again for her. The day she turned 80, the day she got 11,000 damage per second in a 5-man raid, the day someone whispered something really nice to her. (In World of Warcraft, people can whisper to you and it shows up on your screen in the chat box.)
I had screenshots of heartfelt conversations with other characters that were telling me how they felt about this or that in the guild, or how they dealt with something in their real life. I kept the majority of those. I had some screen shots showing a couple of acquaintances telling me how stupid I was in my rps. I deleted those. I don’t need the reminder of the bad times. I kept those screen shots initially as a defense if anyone else tried to grief me about the same subject. They are gone now, as are the tears and hard feelings.
Thinking of all this makes me wish someone were taking “screenshots” of me as I sit at my computer laughing at silly chat or being totally immersed in a dungeon. Reminders of how much fun I’ve had with this newfangled kind of game. I know there will come a day when I am no longer able to raid with my friends and will only be able to slowly make my way around Azeroth picking flowers, standing on my corner in Stormwind or Orgrimar looking wistfully around for someone who will stop long enough to role play just a bit about nothing much -- the weather or the prices in the auction house.
Being an older person gives a different perspective of what it takes to be able to raid. My fingers hurt sometimes. They don’t move as quickly as they used to – All the fish oil in the world won’t make my hands young again. My eyes lose the cursor more often. I wipe my glasses and get a larger monitor, but I still wish I could make my cursor a vivid hue of color so I can find it again. I wish I could reach up and touch my monitor with my finger and have the cursor center to my touch. That would be very good. I would target the enemy with my finger - /point /say “Okay you oogly damned scourge, time to pull up yur panties and get serious.”
Please don’t tell me to get a life. I have a life. This IS what I want to do right now. Playing this game isn’t any worse than sitting for hours watching soap operas or other non-interactive shows on the television. I choose my entertainment to be World of Warcraft. I at least get to have a part in the drama. It is very entertaining. It uses more of my senses than television. It tugs my heart like a good movie, it makes my heart race like an action film.
Cleaning out my screenshots file was necessary, to make room for memories of new in-game experiences. AND I AM READY!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
