Fire Breathing and Key Quests

This weekend Keste and I didn't have much of a plan. I've already started calling my work with the Isle of Isle of Quel'Danas my "chores". I spent some time helping some less experienced adventurers and then was sort of at a loss of what to do with my time. So I decided to finish with the Fire Festival events before it was too late.

I had already acquired the Crown of the Fire Festival and Vestments of Summer from previous efforts. Like I mentioned before, I am way too uncoordinated to earn blossoms from the torch juggling tasks. I quite simply gave up on trying. So I wandered the Outland countryside and picked up enough blossoms to buy the Mantle of the Fire Festival. Folks tell me how neat the summer sandals are but they forget I don't have toes to wear sandals! So I believe I am now done.

I celebrated with some Fiery Festival Brew which had some very interesting side effects. This is the second time I've tried alcohol and each time there is some result from it. If this is the norm, why would people drink so much? Like the dwarves for example. You find them with brew in their hand more often then not. Perhaps they do not see these things as they are much more used to the drink than I. I'll have to research into this more.

Later on Keste and I did get a bit more organized and focused on a goal. We've decided to obtain the Key to the Arcatraz. We did all sorts of leg work out in Netherstorm. It started with us assisting the Consortium and before we knew it we were learning how to break into Arcatraz.

Keste and I assembled a team and obtained the bottom shard of the Arcatraz Key inside the Mechanar. I took this picture because I wanted to share the successful use of one of my new spells.

Look at my picture closely. You see the rings of fire swirling around me? Well I am a magic thief! I was able to spellsteal this off a blood elf inside the dungeon. Honestly it didn't do much but make me look pretty. But it looks pretty! With this success of this spell, I might try doing this more often just to see what I can obtain. It is a shame I'm not able to unlock the secrets of the spell to recreate them myself. Perhaps with time I can work on that.

Player Event Tips: Gatherings / Parties

Gatherings or parties are one of the types of events that you can host. I consider them the easiest of the three to pull together as you can generally just invite people out for a party on a whim and people can have a great time.

The concept is simple. You want to create a role-play environment where characters can meet up and chat and act out their stories. You may have a reason such as celebrating a holiday, someone’s birthday, or special achievement. However, a reason most definitely is not required. Feel free to set up a party just because it’s Thursday!

Make sure you announce that you intend to have a party. You can send out invitation via the mail, post a message on your guild’s blog or forums, and find an officer to make it your guild’s message of the day. Notice I said and in the previous sentence, not or. You’re going to have to make your event stand out and smack people in the face if you expect them to remember to attend. My guild also uses the Group Calendar mod which I find super useful showing me upcoming events without having to log out of the game.

The key to these is not to party your friends out. In my experience, setting up these things on a schedule guarantees attendance will wane. They generally are more fun when rare and spontaneous.

Karazhan At Last

Last night was a very big evening. First off, I was able to travel to enough festival sites and steal enough horde flames to be able to earn myself a Brazier of Dancing Flames. I also was given the Crown of the Fire Festival for my assault on the horde towns.

I found Silvermoon City the most difficult. Those guards hit hard and the fire is so far inside the city! But I did it.

The flame in Undercity was being guarded by some brave hordies but they underestimated my patience. I found a hiding spot and lay there hidden until I saw my chance and when I did I grabbed the flame and ran. Victory!

I still have plans to pick up at least the summer robe as I've seen it in town and think it's very pretty. I haven't decided if I want the shoulders as well. But this is all just a small part of my evening.

Into Karazhan

Team Banana, lead by Geearthur, was one short for his excursion into Karazhan and invited me to come. I was very excited although I did not quite meet the standards set by our raid leaders. He assured me I would be fine. I was definately willing to give it a shot as it has been my goal to work up to be Karazhan material.

I had a great time but I was nervous I would mess up and harm the raid. As a result, I may have been over cautious with my spells but I believe I did well and hopefully they will ask me to substitute in again in the future.

We made it to the the Maiden but that was where our adventures for the evening ended. The Maiden proved just slightly too much for us ((we got her down to 1% and wiped!)) and we had to call it an evening. The Bananas try again on Friday and while I told Geearthur I would be happy to fill in again if needed, I would prefer to wait until there is enough room for Keste as well. I feel a little guilty leaving him behind.

My dice were hot last night and I was able to get a void crystal from one of Attumen's items and a Shadow-Cloak of Dalaran from Moroes. The cloak is a very large improvement over my previous cloak and is my very first epic item.

Was a grand time and I secretly hope they still need me on Friday to help bring down the Maiden. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Fire Festival Events

It's time for summer and Azeroth is celebrating with the Midsummer Fire Festival. I had prior engagements for the first couple days but yesterday I was able to spend some time to enjoy the festivities.

My weakness with fire extends past my lack of spell control as I was also very bad at torch tossing and catching. I was able to meet the minimum requirements to get myself a few burning blossoms but it may have just been the fire eater sick of lending me new torches.

One thing I have completely enjoyed is the ribbon pole. I spin and spin and hold a glowy strand. It's great fun. I recommend it for everyone.

I will be taking the next few days to tour the world and honor / dishonor bonfires. If you are looking for more information on the festival and what you can do I recommend you talk to A Dwarf Priest friend of mine.

Absolutely Wonderful Clothing Post

You have to go and check out the article What to Wear: Fashion in WoW RP over at the That Damn Role Player blog. Lots of pictures and useful tips on how to get the most out of clothing available in game. I had plans to make a post similar to this but honestly I don't know if I could do any better.

What are you waiting for? Go!!

Learn 2 RP: Playing In Character

I am a firm believer that everything can be role-played in game. Dungeon crawling, showing off new gear, looking for a group, it’s all possible. You just need to explain things as you would if you were speaking out of game.

Examples:

OOC: LFG VC
IC: Looking for brave adventures to assist in the reclaiming of the Deadmines!

OOC: [Mace of Awesome] just dropped!
IC: Look what we have wrested from the hands of the Scarlet Crusaders! *Holds up [Mace of Awesome]*

OOC: Desdarii sheep the star.
IC: This next group of foes looks to be too many. Desdarii can you perhaps take the one in the far back out of the fight with a spell?

If you are ever not sure if something is OOC or not though, take the time to ask yourself: “Would my character say this and know what it means?” If the answer is no, make sure you mark your chat as OOC by ((putting them in parenthesis)).

Some may think that taking the time to play your character in game for things like in a dungeon (or maybe just in general) takes too much effort. It really isn't very difficult after you've done it once. It's just a different mind set. Again, things may require a bit more typing but you just may find out that it really enriches the dungeon and gives it something special it may not of had before. What have you got to lose? I say you give it a try!

One Crazy Dungeon Filled Evening

The night started innocently enough. Sereg and Faraday were looking for companions to help them through Shadow Labyrinth to obtain a key fragment. Keste and I were also looking for the fragment and offered to join. Dineh was kind enough to volunteer to be our guide through the dungeon. It was a complete success ending with the slaying of the very scary (and I think he looks sort of like a monkey) Murmur. Only complaint I have is that he sure did like to make me explode!

Dineh had the grand idea of continuing on our key fragment quest in the Steamvaults. I had never been there but was more than willing to continue. The key fragments together would form the Master's Key for Karazhan. I heard rumor that not everyone one needs the key but I still think it's a good idea for copies to be about.

While we were working our way to the second fragment in Steamvaults, fellow Thalanaari started emptying the halls of the Arcatraz to aid us in obtaining the final fragment. So directly after picking up the second piece, we ran out there and grabbed piece #3. This was a wonderful display of teamwork!

All that was left to do was go to the Black Morass in the Cavern's of Time and convince Medivh to enable our 3 fragments, now formed into an apprentice key. Once again it was Sereg, Faraday, Keste, Dineh and myself fighting our way through waves and waves of dragonkin. We fought them with ease and defeated Aeonus thus completing our task.

As a bonus for my efforts, I also received a Mana-Etched Crown. It's completely silly but this looks like a crown. I wear it feeling like a princess. It's amazing the silly things that make me happy. Luckily it is also very powerful because I have a feeling I would have wanted to wear it even if it wasn't greater than my previous cap.

At the end of the day, Keste gave me some of his gold and I went to Shadowmoon Valley and purchased my snow griffin mount. Oh she is so beautiful. Now I just need to think of a fitting name for her.

I have to say I had a fantastic action packed evening and hope my fellows had an equally great time.

Fresh Level 70 Mage Gear

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m looking to get Desdarii into Karazhan. My guild has a listing that is probably pretty typical across guilds for stat requirements to be a contributing member of a Kara group.

Keste has been helping me compile a list of starter gear I can get now doing regular dungeons and some pvp to help me prepare for this jump into raiding. Take this post with a grain of salt. I am figuring for my own particular circumstances and knowing that I most likely will not be snuck into Kara early, I’m not a tailor and I probably won’t be running many heroics anytime soon. Most items will have a quest item or a crafted piece listed as well as a dungeon drop item to give you choices. I’m notorious for my bad luck with drops so having options, even if not as good as the dropped piece is required.

Here’s the list of items I’m going to be trying for. They are listed in ranking of most to least desired. Getting the top pick items (with proper gems and enchants) will get me very close to the Kara level. Only stat I’d be short on would be spell crit. After getting this gear though I should be better suited for heroics and will boost that stat.

Comments and suggestions welcome!

Head	Neck
Crown of the Sea Witch (BoE Jewelcraft Item) Mana-Etched Crown (drops in Black Morass) Tourmaline Crown (Quest in Blade’s Edge Mountains)	Brooch of Heightened Potential (drops in Shadow Labs) Torc of the Sethekk Prophet (quest in Sethekk Halls)
Shoulders	Chest
Spaulders of Oblivion (drops in Shadow Labs) Evoker’s Silk Amice (requires honored with Honor Hold)	Auchenai Anchorite’s Robe (quest in Terokkar) Frozen Shadoweave Robe (BoP Tailor Item) Robe of the Crimson Order (World Drop – Check the AH)
Waist	Legs
Guardian’s Silk Belt (PvP) Sash of Serpentra (drop in Steamvaults)	Khadgar’s Kilt of Abjuration (drop in Black Morass) Trousers of Oblivion (drop in Sethekk Halls) Deadly Borer Leggings (quest in Hellfire Peninsula)
Feet	Wrists
Sigil-Laced Boots (drops in Arcatraz) Shimmering Azure Boots (quest in Netherstorm)	Shattrath Wraps (quest in Shadow Labs) Blackstrike Bracers (crafted by tailors)
Hands	Fingers
Merciless Gladiator’s Silk Handguards (PvP) Gloves of Penitence (quest in Nagrand) Manaspark Gloves (drops in Underbog)	Band of Fridged Elements (drop in Sethekk Halls) Manastorm Band (quest in Netherstorm) Khorium Band of Frost (crafted by jewelcrafters) Mage’s Mark of the Sha’tar (quest in Shadowmoon Valley)
Trinkets	Back
Shiffar’s Nexus-Horn (drop in Arcatraz) Glowing Crystal Insignia (quest in Zangermarsh)	Cloak of the Black Void (crafted by tailors) Cloak of Woven Energy (quest in Netherstorm)
Weapon	Wand
Warpstaff of Arcanum (Drop in Botanica) Ameer’s Impulse Taser (Quest in Netherstorm)	Voidfire Wand (drop in Mana-Tombs) Nethekurse’s Rod of Torment (quest in Hellfire Peninsula)

Class Gear Planner

For a couple days now I've been struggling trying to develop a list of gear for my newly 70 mage to start preparing her for Karazhan. I really do not have the time or brainpower to figure it out. My main problem was attempting to decipher all this while at work, where all WoW sites are blocked. Made my task about 300 times more difficult than it should of been.

I expressed my frustration to my husband and he found this super cool web site that removes all the thinking. You pick your class, select what item ranking you are looking for, prioritize your stats and ... BOOM! A full listing of gear based on your search criteria for each slot.

The site is http://wow-loot.com and I highly recommend you try it out!

Promotion!

I'm very proud to say that today Lord Gwydien decided my work within the guild was worthy of one of higher rank and I was promoted to rank of Taosieach. I am honored by this position and strive to prove myself worthy of such responsibilities.

Player Event Tips: Types of Events

There are typically three types of player events:

1. Gathering / Party
   People meet at a predestined place and time to mingle and have a good time. There may be a theme or a specific event that is being celebrated but generally no agenda. An example would be like the Father’s Day party Tiska hosted for my guild.
2. Scripted / Theatrical
   People who attend the event are expected to be entertained with little to no participation. Things like weddings would fall into this category.
3. Competition
   Players are meeting up to participate in an event that showcases them versus someone or something. Fishing tournaments or PVP events would be examples of this.

Now I listed them in that way for a specific reason. They are listed in what I consider to be easiest to host to most challenging. Certainly you can throw together a quick fishing tourney without much thought but you’d be surprised some of the trouble you can face when the event includes a “winner” and a “loser”.

There could be other types of events or hybrids of the above but for I'll be focusing on these types in future posts. I started typing up descriptions and tips for each but it was going to be just entirely too long so I'm going to break them up.

Desdarii's and Keste's Graduation

It was a short ceremony. We kept it that way so as not to interrupt the other events. There really was no reason to make it long and drawn out. We were happy to receive those that came to witness our ceremony. We received our diploma and are now officially masters.

I'm obviously overjoyed at our achievements. Curious thing though, why do I feel like the bulk of the work has just begun? All our training has been leading up to what is now to come.

Turpster Dings 70

I mentioned Turpster's plans to ding 70 in my graduation post and today WoW Insider shared a video of the event. I love the idea of being a level 70 "boss" for lowbies to kill. I've seen other topics on it before and the first one I read about was actually done with a mage. I remember telling Keste about it all excited wanting to do the same thing with Desdarii when she was finally 70. Unfortunately when I discussed a different event for my guild that would require new characters I was told that most do not have any empty character slots. I still would love to do it though.

The video is really nothing special but shows the truly massive turn out they had and how Turpster didn't just show up and wait to be killed, he had phases much like a real boss that the little dwarves and gnomes had to keep up with. I only wished they had shown the actual act of Turpster dinging so I could see how the archmage looked. Mostly to help me prepare for tonight though.

Learn 2 RP: Role-Play Speech

Forsooth! I spy yonder dragon assaulting that fair maiden. Fear not damsel for I shall save thee!

You may be wondering if it is required of you to learn to medieval speech in order to role-play. I’m here to tell you, no you do not. You most certainly can if you wish to, but most role-players will accept normal speech for role-play.

I should probably clarify that. Normal speech as in proper English (or whatever your primary language is). Full sentences, no acronyms and definitely no leet speak or texting language. It will take a little longer to type but it’s worth it.

No one is expecting you to be an English major. You certainly can and will spell things wrong. Everyone does it. Just taking the time to type out the words makes the experience better for everyone and helps you stay immersed in the discussion and your character.

The other thing you need to focus on while role-playing is making sure you don’t start talking about things outside of the game. Movies at the theater, the latest basketball game, or your dog slobbering on your keyboard are things outside of the game and would not be something your character would discuss. Keep your conversations in character and only break it if necessary.

Another option for playing with your character’s speech is to give them an accent. You can purposely spell certain words or use alternate words to convey your character’s accent. Say you play a dwarf and could carry out a Scottish accent. “Aye, laddie. That be ma drink!” Or an undead that has trouble with certain letters because he’s missing his lower jaw.

It’s just important to note that your character’s speech can be whatever you make it. Just keep it fun, interesting and in proper speech form.

kthxbai

Player Event Tips: Introduction

I’ve decided to try a new series to post in a similar style to my Learn 2 RP segments. It is a part of role-play that I positively love and feel very comfortable talking about. Player hosted in-game events.

Now why I feel so qualified to write on such a subject is that it was the hosting of player events that really brought me into the RP world. I always kind of played around and was a very casual RP’er but when I started hosting player events I started doing it full time. I’m not sure why I clicked into role-play this way but lets not worry about it. It happened and I’m here now.

I did the majority of my player events while playing Star Wars Galaxies on the Kauri server. I certainly do not recommend that game but the time I spent in space I do look back with fondness. There was a great community there that totally supported my events. I did all levels of events from small guild parties to large server shindigs. I was hooked on creating things to help other players have a great time.

When I made the switch to WoW I wanted to continue the player events but found it a little harder to break player events into the mainstream. Instead, I satisfied myself with a guild event that I hosted each month. I was a guild leader at the time and found the silly events would blow off steam and help the guild meld together instead snarling at each other in dungeons.

Now I’m on an RP server and with the fabulous Turus Thalanaar. I’ve been focusing quite a bit on just leveling my new mage up but as she will be 70 soon, I’m hoping to find a place to host some events and parties for my guildees. So far I’ve been very satisfied with their level of events that aren’t centered around “Lets go to this dungeon and do blah”. I hope to add to that.

What you can expect to be in my Player Events posts are some basic tips I’ve learned the hard way through the years as well as some event ideas I’ve done in the past. I truly hope they are useful for your next event!

Graduation Party!

Keste and I have done it and gone and gotten another character up to level 70. Our mage / druid combo is now a little over half way through 69 and we plan to ding 70 on Wednesday. In fact, we kind of have to ding on Wednesday because we've decided to make an event out of it. Listening to the WoW Insider Show I heard one of the suggestions for how Turpster was going to ding his shadow priest and thought it was a great way to role-play an event.

We want to keep it short and sweet. Wednesday is a Karazhan day for some of our guildmates so we aren't going to draw it out with big speech and such. We're going to call it a Graduation party and people can witness us leveling and then have an informal dance party until people have to go prepare to raid.

We've already done the quest chain that led us up to Curse of the Violet Tower. We're going to find some spiffy black robes to wear. At the event we'll explain that Archmage Vargoth was to busy to attend in person but will be projecting his image here to hand us our diplomas. We'll summon him and emote accepting our diplomas and then complete this final quest and everyone can witness us changing from 69 to 70.

Now all we have to do is get that extra experience to close the gap so completing that quest will actually cause us to level. Boy it would be embarrassing if we brought everyone out and it didn't work! I'm super excited about this and can't wait until Wednesday!

Wednesday, June 18
Stormwind, Dwarven District
5:00pm Server Time

Moving On

I've spent many hard years learning what I can from Valaatu. She's gotten me in touch with folks around Ammen Vale who had little tasks they needed done. The tasks almost always required that I use some magic so it was great for practice. I feel that I've mastered the basics of magic and am currently showing a favoritism to water based spells. I’m not sure why this is. I think I can some how feel how water magic can easily flow from within me outwards while fire magic feels so much harsher and sudden. I can cast some of the simpler fire magic spells quite well but I definitely do not enjoy it as much and use them rarely.

My parents are spending less and less time at the crash site and have decided to move to the city that is being built out of the remains of the Exodar to the west of here. Rumor has it that it is beginning to turn into a real metropolitan area. People are starting to feel less like survivors and adapting to their surroundings. My mother said I was enough of a woman now that I could decide to stay in Ammen Vale if I choose. I am most definitely not as much as a woman as she thinks me to be because the thought of being separated from my parents terrified me.

Before I left Valaatu gave me the name of a new mage teacher in Exodar that I could see for a little more advanced training. I’m writing her name here lest I forget it on the journey. Bati. I have every intention to continue practicing magic and having a new instructor will help that goal.

What all this has done is helped me realize that I am the type of person who does not handle change well. I've grown very fond of Valaatu and her teachings. I am very upset to have to choose between my teacher and my parents. I’ll have to work on this flaw in my personality and try to adapt better.

Levixus the Soul Caller

Desdarii turns and looks at Keste, "Are you sure that shadowy menacing creature is our target? Keste nods. "Poo."

I think I've mentioned before my fear of those who work in the shadow arts. The thought of fighting this giant warlock is something of a nightmare to me. I go where my fearless bear goes and did what I could to swallow my fear and focus on the task at hand.

Unfortunately that is easier said than done. In the middle of battle I was actually overtaken. Levixus was in my mind and controlling my actions! When I was finally able to break free of his grip I was so completely consumed with fear that I ran away from the fight. Without my support Keste was also forced to flee. I spent several minutes hysterically calling to the Light to bless me and remove whatever taint Levixus had placed on me.

Keste was very kind not to make me feel worse about my cowardice. I guess he sensed how horrible I felt already. He posted a notice that we were looking for adventurers to assist us. A warrior and hunter came to his call. Keste was certain to defeat Levixus even if I chose to run again now that we had the extra assistance. I was feeling a bit safer with the extra support and was able to stay and lend my magic to the assault.

Silvers the Tabby

I wanted to take the time to write a little about my tiny feline companion, Silvers. The story of how Silvers became my pet is a tad unusual.

I wasn't looking for a pet, I had Keste and he's good for a few cuddly forms of his own. Keste and I were younger and had just arrived in Darkshire looking for some work. We were just sort of standing around in the town square and getting our bearings before finding the nearest inn to rent a room.

It was then that I was approached by a dwarf and I do so wish I could remember his name. As I recall the dwarf did not say much or maybe not even anything to me. He simply approached me and put a crate that contained a small silver tabby in my arms.

I was a tad stunned and not knowing much about dwarves thought I was misunderstanding some foreign custom. I asked if the kitten was for me and he replied that it was. I can only assume it was originally to be his companion but could no longer properly care for it because after confirming that he was in fact giving me a kitten he also handed me a gold piece to help pay for it's care and feeding.

I took the tabby out of her crate and named her Silvers for her coloring. I have since picked up various other animals that I keep as pets. Some much more exotic than an ordinary cat. But I'd have to say that Silvers is far and away my favorite. It probably has to do with the event surrounding how I obtained her. It's made her very memorable and special to me.

Mana! Mana!

Reading through my blogs today I ran across this on Dwarf Priest and thought it was great. I leveled my Khaz Modan priest as Shadow and absolutely loved it. I was addicted to PvP with this character and often remarked at how I loved melting faces. I only went holy when it was obvious the guild was going to need more than one healer. Anyway this video is very funny and who doesn't love the Muppets?

Trivia Challenge

Keste and I returned to Stormwind's Dwarven District to attend a "Trivia Challenge" being hosted by our guild. We ended up on opposite teams but I'm too competative to allow that to bother me.

Unfortunately, the questions were too hard for someone like myself. The topic was Medieval history. My team still did well and was able to win the challenge thanks to Shrios quick typing skills.

Lord Gwydion Brenn says that the winning team gets to select a Darkmoon Fair set of their choosing. I haven't decided yet but I think it's a very generous prize indeed!

Learn 2 RP: Your Character’s Story

A large epic novel is most definitely not required for you to start role-playing your character. You can build your character’s personality traits and story as you go along. Start out with simple things. Figure out the likes and dislikes of your character, where they are from, or how they look. These are easy personality traits to explain and to role-play. It also gives others a glimpse of what your character is like.

Examples:

Your character loves to swim but is afraid of fish.

Your character is a country bumpkin and seeing the hustle and bustle of a city like Stormwind puts them in awe of their surroundings.

Your character has an old leg wound and walks with a limp.

You most likely do not want to meet a person and just blurt out your story and/or characteristics to them. Allow them to unfold naturally. It's more fun that way and using this method you may develop new traits your character has.

If you’re not sure what sort of traits or story you want to give your character, start with something familiar. Do you not like to cook in real life? You can role-play your character to not get the cooking profession and refuse to do any cooking. Frightened of insects? You character can do that as well and will have a hard time with regions like Silithus. It should make it pretty simple for you to bring your character’s traits to life when they’re closer to how you personally feel.

You do want to make sure you develop something though. It doesn't have to be elaborate but you'll have more fun role-playing if your character is interesting to you. Likewise, others will find you interesting as well!

Karazhan

Well I sort of met one of my goals last night, just not with Desdarii. My bloodelf on Khaz Modan was invited by our friends in Echoes to join them on their first trip into Karazhan. So Keste on his paladin and I on my priest filled in their last two slots. I have to say for our first trip we didn't do badly. We were able to kill the first two bosses.

I was a little annoyed that although we were supposed to start at 4pm we didn't start until 6pm. Some of that was out of everyone's control as we had some horrible weather going across the state and since almost everyone lives in the same state we were taking turns having to hide in basements. Darn you nature!

My impressions on at least the first part of Kara is, ZOMGBBQAWESOME! I absolutely love absolutely everything I've seen so far. I love that is set up like a castle. I wanted to stay in the ballroom and dance with the npcs. I was advised against this but I still wanted to. I had fun sitting at the banquet table and pretending I was watching a dinner show instead of a slaughter. Good times!

I have a feeling we'll be replaced when others in the guild get up to 70 but it was a good preview of what is to come for Desdarii. I'm certain it will be just if not more fun role-playing in Karazhan with Thalanaar.

Ring of Blood

Our good friend Dumadin was looking to complete the Ring of Blood trials in Nagrand. We offered to join him and as per usual, our very helpful Thalanaari came to our aid. Special thanks to Majanah and Tragniew!

I honestly did not know what we were getting ourselves into. I had thought it was a single fight to prove our worth and we were done. There were six challenges in all and some of them were quite difficult!

We were able to make it all the way and after defeating Mogor I was given the Battle Mage's Baton as my reward. It is a very nice looking staff and quite more powerful that my previous staff.

iArmory v0.6a Testing Begins!

SaladFork got over 2000 emails offering to help test his new iArmory app. He picked 350-400 people and sent out the link yesterday. I was one of the lucky ones that got a front row seat and was using it yesterday afternoon. I think it works really well. I'm going to play with it some more before I send an email in with my thoughts.

Egads! A spider!

Keste and I agreed to help the friendly folks of Terokkar Forest with an insect problem. This was a little more than we bargained for. This spider was huge! The picture doesn't even do it justice. I am very far away from this bug. As far away as I could and still be able to hurl ice shards at it.

I have a bit of a problem with spiders as it is but when they are as large as a building, well Keste is lucky I wasn't simply petrified with fear and left to fight it himself.

iArmory Need Testers

SaladFork of the blog Omen of Clarity has been building a web interface for the WoW Armory for iPhone or iPod touch users. He recently posted that he is looking for people test it out. If you have either of these devices and would like to help him try out the web app, make sure you visit his blog and leave a comment or use his contact information to let him know.

I personally own a iPhone and have already contacted him offering to test his app out. I'm excited to be able to look things up with my phone. My work has all WoW things blocked and sometimes you just need to see something!

Anyone Else Seeing This?... hic

Keste and I had just completed a quest for Lieutenant Meridian to set off a mana bomb at Firewing Point. It was not an easy task. The place was crawling with blood elves. We did complete the task and returned to Allerian Stronghold to report our deeds to Jenai Starwhisper.

The people of the stronghold were so happy a party started! Gnomes were dancing and Aeman Brightsong was nice enough to put out a barrel of Brightsong Wine. I thought it would be rude to not partake in the party.

The wine was so strong though I think I may have been hallucinating. I kept seeing strange pink elekks walking around. They don't seem to do much but it is a bit worrisome to see them standing about. I hope the effects wears off after I've slept this off.

Also notice I have pants now! /cheer

Where's All The Mage Info?

Last night Keste and I dinged level 65! /cheer We are drawing ever closer to that desired level 70 mark so we can join in the fun and good times with all the 70s in our guild and hopefully help them with their goals like they've been so good to do for us.

One thing I find particularly lacking though is good solid mage information. I don't really want the full theorycraft / number crunching stuff that gives me a headache. I just would like some guidance on what I should be doing to improve. What stats should I really be bulking up on? Are there specific nummy pieces I can get now that will help me reach my goals past 70?

Maybe I'll start with that, my goals. I've not seen a lot of the 5 man instances. I've never been able to participate in heroics. I have never been inside Karazhan. I want to amend these oversights. This is my short term goals as there are a lot of casual players that already do these things but this is what I have my sights on now.

Surely there is information to be found to help me prepare for these goals. It really can not be as simple as following people around and going "PEW PEW PEW!". Although I would do that, if you asked me to. I'll keep searching but if anyone has any resources for me, I'd love to read them!

Learn 2 RP: Getting Started

So you are interested in trying out role-playing but aren’t sure where to begin. Well here’s a little secret for you that may put you at ease. Most role-players have their own style. There’s no manual you can follow to teach you how to role-play your character. Part of the fun is you get to create your own! However, there are basic guidelines that will help you adapt to your new community.

Stay in character.
Your character may discuss things like dungeons and weather, but it would make no sense for them to discuss the hot new song you downloaded to your ipod. You’ll want to stay in character (ic) as much as possible when role-playing. There are usually specific and numerous places where talking out of character (ooc) is permitted but it is typically frowned upon during role-play. If you absolutely must break character, make sure you let everyone know by putting your ooc chatter ((in parenthesis)).

Walk, Don’t Run
What’s your rush? Do you run everywhere you go in real life? I know I don’t. A good way to announce to other people that you are looking for role-play is to walk around instead of running.

Be Subtle
Running up to a character and blurting out that you like cheese probably won’t get you the satisfying role-play session you were hoping for. In fact, it most likely will get you ignored. Be a little less in their face when trying to start up role-play with someone. Comment on a person’s armor, their weapon, or their pet. You can also emote things that you are doing to show you are currently role-playing. You can go to the mailbox and grumble about some missing package, sit in an inn and polish your armor, or go to a shop and browse by picking things up to look at them.

Be Patient
Not everyone is a professional speed typist. One of the things you’ll have to learn as a role-player is to be patient. If you type something and someone doesn’t respond right away, it doesn’t mean someone isn’t trying to!

Ask for Help
Role-players are friendly and social folks. If you are feeling overwhelmed or confused, send a whisper to a person you are role-playing with. Let them know you are new and are in need of assistance. I’m certain that most of the time you will find a friendly person on the other side excited you are trying to role-play and is willing to help you.

Legionlord Slain

Today Keste and I took on the advanced task of ridding Hellfire Peninsula of Arazzius the Cruel. He was so large and intimidating I almost chickened out but Keste was determined. It was a challenging fight but we were up to the task and came out victorious! I believe we will be moving on from the Peninsula and looking for employment elsewhere. Someone told me of the wonderous mushroom trees of Zangermarsh and Keste is eager to explore it.