Epic Flight

Keste was nice enough to give me the rest of the gold I required to purchase my swift griffin. I had not pursued this very diligently as I thought the cost was far beyond reasonable. Now that I have it though I have to say it is simply wonderful to zip around Outland so quickly.

Now we are focusing on raising money for Keste. He needs to purchase the flying skill before we can seek out the swift flight form for him. I thought it very kind of him to allow me to go first. Thank you sweetheart!

Learn 2 RP: Conversations

We've already discussed how your character should speak and maybe the actions they use in conversation. But how do you start a conversation? How do you let others know you'd are looking to role-play? Once started how do you keep it going? Today I am addressing these questions.

Starting A Conversation

It really isn't any different than starting a conversation in real life. If you're already friends with that person you walk up comfortably and start chatting. If the person is a stranger to you, you introduce yourself first. Start out with normal ice breakers such as asking how they are doing or commenting on the weather. If the person is there for the purpose of role-playing they'll most certainly respond to it.

You should be careful about using the character's name before being properly introduced. People don't really go around wearing their name above their head so addressing someone you've never met by name is a bit of a faux pas. Same goes for the pet or companion the character has. It is possible to turn names off in the user interface menu if you catch yourself doing this often (or if you are like me and just like the clutter removed from the screen).

Another way of opening a conversations is to question or comment on something about the other character. On of my favorite things to do when I meet a new hunter is ask if their pet is friendly enough for me to try and pet it. You can mention you love someone's robe and inquire where it was purchased. It is also possible to comment on some emote they've done. For example, Desdarii's character likes to scribble notes into her journal. If you see her emote, you could inquire what she likes to write about.

Lastly look to see if they have FlagRSP2or MyRoleplay add-ons. If they do (and you do as well) you can see if they have marked themselves as looking for contact. That means they are searching for a good role-play experience. You can also read their character descriptions and perhaps find something to comment upon there.

The bottom line is starting a conversation is as easy as just saying, "Hello. My name is _____".

Showing Your Desire for Conversation

If your character is shy or if you simply want to announce that you are open for other role-players to approach and talk with you there are several things you can do to show your interest. Here are some things you can quickly accomplish to announce your desire to find other role-players.

• Use one of the role-play add-ons and mark yourself as "Looking for Contact"
• Change from running everywhere to walking. (this is the / on the numpad)
• Emote different actions you are taking through out the city
• Don't be afraid to talk to the NPCs

The last two may seem a bit strange. Why would I emote something or speak to an NPC when there's no one else participating? Doing so will not only announce your desire to role-play but also give surrounding role-players some topic to initiate contact with you. Announce the sounds of metal clanging about as you search through your bags for something. Ask the flower shop sales person what flowers they have that are the freshest. You'll find even non-RP folks get curious enough to ask what you are up to.

Keeping a Conversation Going

It's pretty uncomfortable for conversations to drop flat and then live in that awkward silence that follows. I recently read an article by called "How to Think on Your Feet" by Gail Blanke that really got my head spinning. The writer had gone to an acting school to learn tricks on how to improvise in conversations so you are at better at speaking in situations that are unscripted. I couldn't help but think on how these techniques could also help in keeping role-play conversations as well.

I specifically want to point out the technique called "yes...and". It works by first acknowledging the previous statement in some fashion (yes) and then adding or elaborating on the topic to continue the conversation (and). It keeps the story moving and gives the next person something to comment on.

Desdarii: I'm glad I chose the jewelcrafting profession. Keste: Yes, jewelcrafting is great and the gems you create are very useful! Desdarii: They are quite handy for sure and they can be quite profitable in auction.

Answering with just "Yes" or "No" can stop a conversation in its tracks. This is a great way to keep a conversation going or try to steer conversations to a topic you would like to discuss. I recommend you read the article and then give it a try!

Anna's Friday Five

Anna has up a new Friday Five encouraging new role-players to get started by answering five simple questions about your character. Here are my responses for Desdarii.

1. When is your character's birthday? Does he/she know?
   Desdarii was born on January 4. The is in her late 20s and will not tell you anything more apart from that. She is fairly young compared to many Draenei being born native to Azeroth's Azuremyst Isles and not on any of the many different locations the Draenei have fled to over the past thousands of years.
   
   
2. What is your character's favorite place in the world? Why?
   Hmmmm... I guess I hadn't thought of this one. Probably Exodar. It is where her parents are and still a piece of her calls it home.
   
   
3. What kind of sense of humor does your character have (if any)?
   Desdarii loves puns. The cornier the better. What would elicit painful groans from most people will have Desdarii in stitches.
   
   
4. Is your character introverted or extroverted?
   She is introverted upon first meeting her. She is rather slow to trust but once won over you are hard pressed to keep her quiet.
   
   
5. What just irritates the hell out of your character?
   Having her name pronounced incorrectly. She realizes she her name is foreign and strange but she doesn't see why it is that hard to say properly!

Darn Whippersnappers!

I started playing World of Warcraft at launch. Day one. Keste and I rolled night elves (him a hunter, me a druid) on a PvP server. We played it for a while with breaks here and there to try out other games but we always came back to WoW.

Our biggest break was right before Burning Crusade came out. See, that is also about the time I was brought into the Lord of the Rings Online beta. It would take more than mere words to describe to you what a LotR nerd I am. I had no choice but to play this game. But after about a year we decided it wasn't meeting our needs despite how happy I was to be a little hobbit named Goldenstar. We returned to WoW in December of 2007 thus missing almost a year of Burning Crusade goodness.

So many little things had changed or been added it was quite the learning curve to be caught back up to speed. Luckily we joined with some real life friends who were starting over on horde side. We were able to spew out our noobish questions without end and got all the help we needed.

Now I feel happily up to speed with the game and I certainly won’t be leaving before WotLK comes out so we won’t repeat that mistake. But I was thinking that it must be harder for people who came after Burning Crusade. All the things they missed!

All of it made me a little nostalgic for my past experiences in WoW. Some of these items are personal me only memories; some are significant changes those darn young whippersnappers will never see.

I remember when:

• Southshore was a war zone and where you went for PvP because there were no battlegrounds.
• I used my cheetah form well past level 40 because I didn’t have the gold for a mount.
• Stromguard, Tyr’s Hand, and other strongholds were full of elites.
• I accidentally sold my starter leather pants to a vendor and made it to level 7 pantless before a leatherworker took pity and made me some new pants.
• Raiding Hammerfall, Crossroad or Ogrimmar with your guild wearing nothing but their tabard and drunk in RL wasn't just fun, it was a perfectly legitimate way to spend a Friday night in game.
• Grouping up with 39 other noobs to try to kill bosses in MC & meeting Ragnaros.
• A druid had to be restoration to raid. Priests had to be dwarfs for fear ward. No substitutions.
• My Cenarion set made me look like I was wearing bark. There were no tree druids.
• Killing Onyxia for the first time and refusing to wear the moose antler helm.
• My druid never ever got her epic mount. She couldn't afford it. There were no dailies.
• Stratholme was really tough.
• You could make a raid group for any dungeon until they put limits on how many could enter.
• Running Blackrock Depths 10920901280 times because everyone in the guild was on different steps for Onyxia attunement.
• You had to enter MC to get the core to become attuned. No summoning into the instance so they would have to be run through before the raid.
• Having to run UBRS repeatedly because every skinner wanted the special skinning knife to skin the core hounds. “Loot the stupid core hounds!”
• My brother and I rolling an undead character for the first time and were actually scared to enter the Undercity because we thought it was a dungeon. My brother entered the elevator and the door snapped shut on me so couldn't go in. I sat there and watched as his health dropped to zero. I didn't know what monster he found in the dungeon but I wasn't going in there. (He had somehow fell through a crack and dropped to his death)

I could go on but I think that is quite enough for now.

Quest of the Warcraft Novels

I love games with lore behind it. I have played games in the past simply because of my familiarity with the lore surrounding it. Playing those games and searching every nook and cranny for familiar spaces and faces. Unfortunately I really can not do this for World of Warcraft.

I was reading the post Study Time on Alts Ahoy and really understood where Nasirah was coming from. While I know bits and pieces about why this race is this and this class has that, I find myself quite dense when it comes to the big overall story.

Like Nasirah, I cannot play RTS games. At least not well and I typically abandon games that I completely stink at (like every FPS game ever made). So I am planning on learning in a way that I know I'll finish. Reading. I love to read and I think I would really benefit from knowing more of the lore. I've tasked myself the Quest of the Warcraft Novels!

I went to Amazon to purchase the books I'd need for this quest and I'm a bit lost. My search for Warcraft books came up with quite the assortment of books. Which do I read first? I really have no idea.

So I leave it to all the helpful people in the interwebs. Where should I start? Is there a logical progression I should follow? Books I must read or should avoid? Let me know and thank you!

I hadn't noticed until after I had passed it but this is post # 100! Go me!

Shared Topic: Your Character's Theme Song

This week's shared topic from Blog Azeroth is to describe Your Characters Theme Song. I honestly had a difficult time with this topic and it's so very odd as I do love music so very much. I really had a hard time coming up with a song that really could be considered summing up Desdarii in any logical way.

After wracking my brain and drawing nothing but blanks, I tried getting some feedback and asked Keste what he thought Desdarii's theme song would be. His response was "Witchy Woman" by the Eagles. Before you gasp and wonder how loud the smack was from such a suggestion, let me explain. This suggestion was brought about from a conversation in Karazhan last week.

I have been sporting for a while now the Wicked Witch's Hat from the Opera event in Karazhan. I very much love this hat as it makes me feel very wizardly to be wearing a pointy hat. Last week, some raid members selected it as a defining characteristic of my character. There were warnings not to take candy from me and that I lure children into houses and the like. That's honestly not the personality Desdarii has but I got a little caught up and started using /cackle to prove their point.

The topic kept popping up during the evening. The gnome mage and dwarf hunter being the biggest proponents of this discussion. I finally announced to the raid that "I eat babies." which started the everyone exploding with laughter. I then stated that the dwarf (being the main offender) was small and sort of looked like a baby. I wouldn't be surprised if most smaller characters (and lets face it, there are few who are taller than a female draenei) are afraid of the baby eating witch.

Thanks to all this I'm sort of branded a witch so Keste's music suggestion certainly does fit. I don't think it's really a theme song per say though. I'll revisit this topic if any song should suddenly present itself as the "Desdarii Theme Song".

Embarrassing Story Time!

Last Saturday, Keste and I attended the wedding of our good friends. We sat at a table (near the bar) with our other real life friends and my parents. None of these people play World of Warcraft so the festivities were geekless and much drinking ensued.

After a couple rum and Cokes (which were decidedly heavy on the rum), I spot a person coming up to the bar with a Jinx quest giver's hat.

I'm thinking to myself, "Neat! Here's a potential new friend!" and point him out to Keste. Keste smiled and went back to his happy drink. He's a bit of a poop sometimes.

I'm one of those crazy people that will simply walk up and start a conversation with you whether you asked for it or not. It's just how I am. Since I wasn't trusting myself with my rum soaked stomach and high heals, I flagged the guy down and motioned for him to come over.

"I'm ready for my quest!", I stated.

*blink* *blink* "What?"

I try again, "My quest. Your hat says you have a quest for me and I'd like to have it now"

Well for some strange reason this guy wears a WoW related hat around and hasn't the foggiest idea what the heck it means. He told me that his buddy left it in his garage and so he claimed it.

I tried explaining it's from a online game and he interrupts with, "Oh. Well only one other person has ever recognized it and he was 12 years old."

So immediately I turn seventeen shades of red in embarrassment under the assumption that I'm so uncool to play games that children play. What cheesed me off more was how Keste started bursting out laughing as if he was some how not connected with me and the childish game. I'm still not over this and he will pay at an unnamed date in the future.

I didn't honestly feel bad for long as hat man was classy enough to attend a wedding in jeans. He also tried to explain to me that he was related to the bride because his step-brother is step-sisters with the bride (yeah honey, there's no blood lines there). Oh and he kind of smelled. So I take it he was just a bit of an ignorant fool and I shouldn't feel so upset by the discussion.

I know there are other older WoW players out there. If you happen to see people with quest giver hats, please stop them and ask them for your quest. Maybe, just maybe, it'll be this same jerk and we can embarrass him into not wearing a hat he's clueless about.

Fancy Pants Success!

I finally accomplished my task of getting pants through the battlegrounds. You know, I honestly don't know what the Merciless Gladiator's Silk Trousers look like as it's hidden under my robe. I was so excited to be finished with proving myself worthy to own a pair that I tore off the old pair and slipped these on very quickly. I'll have to sneak to a private corner and disrobe to take a peak at it.

That is not all to report and right now I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture! Perhaps I will attach a picture later. I had so many badges from Alterac Valley that they stopped awarding me them. I had to spend some of these badges before I would be eligible to earn more. Keste suggested I to go to the Alterac Valley entrance and see what I could trade these tokens for.

I purchased myself a Stormpike Battle Charger! I'm very excited about this. I love riding around on my purple Elekk as it makes me feel very princess like to be striding along from such a height. However, there are many times that the size of the Elekk has been a bother, especially in town. I'm happy to be closer to the ground and a little slimmer.

I also picked up a Stormpike Battle Standard. Why? I really don't know. I guess I got caught up with spending my marks of honor. I did use it a couple times in the last few battles though. Not really sure if it helped or not.

To finish off my weekend I used some Badges of Justice to purchase myself a new trinket. The Icon of the Silver Crescent is similar to an item available in the upcoming Brewfest event but I am very impatient. It especially felt good as I replaced my last green magical item with this shiny epic piece.

Blog Response: Friday Five

This post is in response to Anna's Friday Five - RP Style post over at Too Many Annas blog. She is encouraging new role-players to answer just five questions about their character to help you get started. Here are my answers for Desdarii.

What is your character’s name?
Desdarii L'him. My last name is Elvin in nature due to be married to Keste L'him the Druid.

Why did he/she pick his/her class?
As described in "Becoming a Mage", Desdarii really was schooled and groomed to become a priestess but lacked the skill required. She fell into controlling the elements quite on accident and from there was sent to Mage school.

What’s the worst trouble he/she ever got into as a child?
Desdarii wasn't much of a trouble maker although once when she was quite new at learning magic she set the drapes in her parent's house on fire. Luckily it was discovered and quickly put out but she was scolded for her carelessness. This may account for how Desdarii still rarely uses fire spells and prefers water based and arcane magic over fire.

What is his/her favorite thing to eat?
Fish although it may also because she has a passion for fishing and always has an abundance of fish meat to eat. Probably the only thing she eats more than fish would be mana biscuits because they taste wonderful (and she's proud she made them).

What does he/she have in his/her pockets?
Right now a stick that she is carrying around with her. It is a piece of polished driftwood that was in her pack of goodies after turning in the catch of the day in Terokkar.

Desdarii is fascinated with the powers of Shaman mana totems and wishes more than anything to have one of her own. After speaking with a Shaman friend on how he acquired his, she was told that he brought a water totem to a water spirit and now he can call a mana totem.

Desdarii plans to find out if he hands them out to anyone. She is confused on the whole water totem/water spirit thing. She doesn't understand that Shaman's generally borrow their powers from nature, not bend them to their will like she does with the elements. So when asked she'll most likely describe her plans as "I'm going to give this stick to the water pixies who live underwater with some merguy. I give him this water stick and boom! He gives me my own mana totem!"

Magisters' Terrrace

Last night I was working on my daily chores and received a message from a stranger requesting my assistance with work inside Magisters' Terrace.

I'm not overly fond of working with strangers. I don't know them and how they work and it usually ends up with me miscalculating something and people get frustrated. However, since I had never actually seen the inside of Magisters' Terrace and I had a great deal of curiosity about the place, I agreed to attend.

This area is positively beautiful. I walked in an immediately just stood in place to take it all in. You could just feel all the magic in the air and I felt quite comfortable walking along the well landscaped paths.

I did luck out with my choice of companions as they were knowledgeable of both mine and their skills. As a result, we were able to move through the terrace with little issues and even able to complete a couple of tasks I had inside. I even was treated to a special vision when I touched an orb.

My absolutely favorite part of the entire dungeon had to be the event that behaved similar to a five vs. five arena match. They allowed me to plan the attack on which enemy died first and it felt great when we succeeded. A close second to the five vs. five fight would be the swarms of mana leeches that I got to slaughter with arcane explosion. I think all rooms should have swarms like these for me to explode.

Although we were not able to defeat Kael'thas I marked the evening as a success. I had a great time. I think if I'm able to return with people with slightly better gear we could go all the way. Maybe I can convince some of my Thalanaari friends that they need to attend with me.

Tauren Are Food, Not Friends

This is the story of Goldee a Blood Elf Priestess not on Blackwater Raiders but a previous server I played on. It was a PvE server but I still role-played every day very much enjoying the snotty persona of my Blood Elf. The guild I belonged to was built primarily of Blood Elves with an Orc, Troll or Undead thrown in here or there. There were no Tauren in the guild. I decided to create an unreasonable dislike for Tauren into my character's personality since there was no one to offend by doing so.

I did it subtly just making remarks about Thunder Bluff being intolerably smelly and should be condemned as unsanitary or Tauren's being just too large to be of any use. Naturally, lots of hamburger jokes thrown in for good measure. It largely went ignored as most of my attempts at role-play in guild chat did.

It took a couple weeks but eventually a guild-mate did ask, "What's your deal with Tauren, anyway?" I explained to the guild all the negative points there are about Tauren and how I was certainly glad our guild had the sense to shun them from our registry. This opened the door to a new role-play game in my non-RP guild on a non-RP server. I'm quite proud of this. It almost seems like I planned to trick them into role-playing with me but it honestly wasn't by design.

What started popping up were Tauren alt characters all over the place. They joined the guild to represent and speak for the Tauren people and their virtues. A lot of them chose to just pester me with their cow-ness. I had even made a Tauren alt myself and didn't tell anyone so I could play along. (They figured it out and I think I confused some people).

Goldee did not relent her views on the bovine race and started expressing her disgust at allowing these animals to mingle with us. It became a common theme in our guild chat. The guild being pro-Tauren and my priestess being the main antagonist. It was great fun!

It all culminated when a guild member decided to spend the money to transfer his level 70 Tauren Shaman from another server to ours and invite him to the guild. He became the grand protector of all our new little Tauren and was the primary person opposing my anti-Tauren movement. Goldee, spurned by this spokesperson for the Tauren, was driven to desperation and challenged him to a duel in front of Ogrimmar gates. If he wins, Taurens could stay but if Goldee won all the Tauren had to pack their bags.

Guild members raced to Ogrimmar's gates to witness what would inevitably shape the structure of our guild and it's recruits (some worried about never having any druids). It was over fairly quickly. Goldee was simply outmatched against the powerful Shaman and she conceded defeat so the Tauren were allowed to remain. Although Goldee still doesn't really consider herself friendly with Tauren, she tolerates them as well as her personality allows.

Focus Desdarii Focus!

I still have this driving goal stuck in my head to finish the ten thousand honor kills in the battlegrounds so I can finally earn my fancy pants. I have this goal in my brain, not the actual gumption to move toward this and find myself easily distracted in to accomplishing other tasks.

Yesterday, I woke up with this same goal. Must travel to Alterac Valley and kill the Horde. I repeated this directive to myself as I walked to the battle master intending to join the line to be called for service. I then was interrupted by a whisper in my ear asking for assistance in Scholomance by some of my Thalanaari brothers. This was the diversion I was looking for to avoid the mind numbing fights in the valley so I accepted.

After clearing out the scourge of Scholomance, I was invited to to attend a cleansing of the Shadow Labs. A priestly friend of ours wishing to obtain an honored reputation with them. It seemed a worthy task so I quickly zipped over to Auchindoun to join them.

After all this fun I realized I had not even spoken to the battle master for Alterac Valley. The sun had long since set and I was in no condition to fight the Horde. So no fancy pants for me. Maybe I'll fight for the Alliance tonight. Maybe.. oh look something shiny!

Desdarii Gets a Little Ranty

I purposely waited a couple days before starting this post because the other night I was very irritated and felt it would of come across as a little mean. I'm not trying to be mean, just vent some of my frustrations. I'm not a hard core raider. I've only been through Karazhan but I don't think just because we're at the lowest raiding instance excuses people from being responsible team members.

This post is about raid moochers. You know the type. People who come to raids unprepared. I'm not talking about just once or twice, but constantly.

You see them online all day with another character accomplishing other things. Then they show up to your raid and announce they are completely out of every consumable and reagent they could possibly need. Oh and their armor is broken.

What's particularly frustrating is that they often do not feel the least bit upset about putting everyone out. There's always some excuse. Potions are too expensive. I have no way to get such and such item on my own. I do not have the skill to obtain/cook the food I need. I didn't have time to repair/buy reagents. Whatever the excuse they see it as perfectly acceptable for you to hand over whatever it is they didn't bring.

All I have to say to these people is:

The the frick on the stick and prepare your character BEFORE the raid! You are not wasting just your time. You are waisting 9+ people's time, money, mana, etc. We are not responsible for your character's needs. If you want to be on a raiding team, you need to put forth this effort.

If it was up to me these types of unprepared people would get an immediate boot and someone else who was ready pulled in. Nothing frustrates me more to have to spend time waiting on someone who didn't want to bother with preparing for the raid's needs.

Now I'm not saying everyone needs to always be on time with everything needed. People are imperfect and slip now and then. The raid is a team and I think it certainly should help it's members where they can. I don't mind handing over some mana potions when the person consistently comes prepared and just didn't realize they were low. I don't mind sharing my food or opening a portal to go quickly repair because someone was running late that day. That's fine. Things happen.

It's when these actions become a habit with that I start to quickly lose my patience. On top of that, some expect me to feel sorry for them because they can't afford to buy what they need! If I can find time to afford it, then you can. If for whatever reason you honestly cannot fund such activities, maybe you shouldn't be raiding.

Things to prepare yourself to avoid making me grouchy:

• Be early for a raid. If raid starts at 8pm and you login at 7:59pm you are late. You should be at the instance with all your required goodies ready to go at raid time.
• If you expect to be cutting it close, prepare everything beforehand. Repair, buy your potions/reagents/food and move your character to the instance you are running. Then all you have to log in and say "I'm here and ready to go!"
• Do not start some ambitious task before raid time. Agreeing to run an instance with others 30 minutes before raid time is probably not a grand idea. What can be done is something you can drop easily such as dailies (so you can afford your own consumables!)
• Offer to farm for materials for things you need. Don't know how to make Blackened Basilisk yourself? Go get the meat and find a friend to cook it up for you. Another good pre-raiding task.
• If you absolutely must mooch from team members make sure you thank them. Nothing's worse than having to hand over your potions to someone who is thankless and thinks they deserve your stuff.

/end rant

Karazhan and Zul'Aman

Last night I had a long night of firsts. Most of which I say are pretty exciting so I'm happy to share them.

First off we were successful in finally finishing off Prince Malchezaar! This man is a major pain in the tookas to be sure. Every time we have ever fought him he has had the indecency to slam giant infernals everywhere we tried to stand. I suppose from his point of view, placing the infernals out of the way wasn't really in his best interest but all the same it was very frustrating.

I wish I could say that I was an instrumental part of this battle but I accidentally backed up into an infernal I hadn't seen land and died fairly early on in the fight. It wasn't until I realized we were doing so well that I begged Keste to help me up during the fight so I could assist finishing him off.

Our raid leader, Geearthur finally has his precious banana back that Prince stole from him oh so many months ago. I thought the banana might be a bit rotten but Geearthur ate it anyway. Yuck.

After our success with Prince, we decided to continue exploring inside of Karazhan and found Netherspite in a back hallway. This ghostly giant dragon was truly fearful to look upon. I was sufficiently scared just standing near by preparing for the fight.

The fight for this beast appears quite tricky and complicated. I think we understand the jist of what needs to be done, we just need to perfect the execution of the technique. We attempted Netherspite a couple times and decided to move on. I'm sure a few more hours in study on this subject would not go to waste and so I plan to do just that sometime this week.

After facing down Netherspite, we traveled to the Ghostlands to poke our heads inside Zul'Aman. I had never even traveled to the Ghostlands before and so I had a bit of a ride ahead of me.

The place is very... hmmm how do I put it? Native. Reminds me of my brief time spent in Stranglethorn Vale. That is not a particularly fond memory.

We paused for a photo op at the entrance before heading in. I believe we didn't do so bad considering the majority of us has never seen this place before. I really don't know how far in we got but we killed several sets of trolls and bear riders.

I was a little annoyed that our raid leader kept choosing to use a hunter's trap to control attackers rather than my reliable polymorph spell. Then the one time I was called upon to turn a troll into a sheep; the spell broke almost immediately (I think someone poked it) and ran into the Paladin's consecrate spell so it appeared that I did not do my job. *sigh*

Was a good time and I look forward to continue to see what is inside here.

Learn 2 RP: Are You Thinking At Me?

This is something I admit I am very guilty of. Someone emoting a thought and I respond to it and then have to think of some reason I all of a sudden have the power of mind reading. Usually, I mumble something about reading their facial expression and making an educated guess and then walk away embarrassed. This post is to prevent you from making my mistakes. Typically thoughts are displayed through an emote. I've played games in the past that made the distinction between a thought emote and an action emote with a special speech bubble for thoughts. WoW does not have that so you just have to read a little more carefully than I and you will be successful.

Desdarii dances a jig. Keste thinks Desdarii looks silly. Hey, I do not look silly! Keste stares at Desdarii. How did you know what I was thinking?

Having the thoughts splashed across your chat window creates the temptation to react or comment about them. Technically these thoughts were just dialog in the person's head and a conversation you should not be privy to.

So why would thoughts be used in role-play? Well the best examples I've witnessed was to help the thinker sort of describe where they are going with the discussion. The information they are providing is not to be reacted to but provides some information on the discussion that otherwise you would have no idea.

Example:

Desdarii: I really dislike rogues.
Desdarii sits in quite contemplation of the specific battles where certain horde rogues have plagued her existence.

This isn't a great example. Like I said, I typically do not role-play in this fashion so just pretend it's very relevant and helpful example for my sake. If you only heard Desdarii's statement you would assume she meant all rogues even her allies. The thought clarified her position by showing she was particularly thinking of enemy rogues in certain battles. Although it would not be correct in commenting back about how you also dislike Horde rogues, you would not have to immediately take offense and challenge her to protect the honor of all rogues everywhere. You could ask Desdarii what she means by her comment to further the conversation and keep things civil. Perhaps Desdarii is trying to steer the conversation into a discussion about one of those particular battles she is thinking about.

Whether or not you chose to type out your characters thoughts is up to you. I mainly wanted to make it know that there are role-players out there who do this and try to protect you from the role-play blunders I find myself in.

Ruts and Revenge

I really haven't had much in the way of interesting things to write about lately. Perhaps I'm in a rut of some sort. I wake up, do a daily chore or two, and then depending on the day I either head to Karazhan or the Battlegrounds. Rinse. Repeat. I intend to break this pattern tonight and do something different. What? I don't know but different is my goal!

I have been quite successful in gathering my gear from the battlegrounds and have one piece that is left to obtain. Light give me strength to help me finish this trial! The pants is the last piece I am striving for. Hopefully I can achieve this goal killing the Horde in Alterac Valley. It is on the to-do list for the weekend.

I did attend the guild meeting Wednesday evening. We met with our Horde allies and there was much discussion on the new dangers presenting itself in the world. It seems we are on the edge of everything we know changing.

I love meetings like this. Maybe not about discussing the end of the world and such but just get-togethers. I do think I was a little out of sorts that night though. It was mostly our guild master speaking with the Alori visitor and had little to no interaction with the rest of us. As a result, I was getting quite antsy to do something!

The time did come for the guild to search for our missing friend Vailyn who we had reason to believe was being held in Tyr's Hand. I was excited to have a task so you can imagine my disappointment when Keste grabbed my hand and said it was too late in the evening for us and we should retire. I never get to do anything fun!

I asked about what happened at Tyr's Hand yesterday and was told that Vailyn was in fact located but they were too late. He was found dead and broken. What resulted was an eruption of the guild. They decimated the place in a fit of vengeance. I was very sad to hear I missed all this activity. I'm hoping the guild meeting next month doesn't take place on a week night.

Fake Mage Achievements

I read Critical QQ's post entitled "Magely Ideas for Achievements" where he was making up achievements for Blizzard's new mini-game that will release in Wrath of the Lich King. Critical QQ did invite more ideas so blame him for this post.

Vending Machine	You have successfully dispensed 1000 mana biscuits.
Educating Azeroth	Azeroth's average test scores have gone up thanks to your liberal applications of Arcane Brilliance.
Sheep Toucher	You have successfully broken your own sheep 100 times.
It's Always A Race	You repeatedly beat people to specific locations using Blink.
Can Hold Your Water	You have consumed 1000 glasses of glacier water and still haven't had to go.
Taxi Cab	You have been recruited on 100 runs for the soul reason of opening portals for the group.
Found You!	You have used your arcane explosion to uncover stealthed enemies 100 times.
O Hai!	You have died as a result of accidentally blinking into a group of 5 or more enemies.

Keste's Battle Set

I spied Keste in his armor set that maximizes his damage while in cat form. Since I usually see him dressed to take damage not cause it I asked that he pose so I could snap a picture.

I think this armor looks very neat. He still has those marshmallows on his hands for some reason though. I told him he looked quite "tough" to which he laughed. I don't think my intended compliment reached him.

Learn 2 RP: The Dark Side

Not everyone chooses to play Miss Suzie Sunshine, happy with her lot in life and place in the world. There are some who purposely play their character as “bad” even evil. Some typical dark side characters would be thieves, assassins or those dabbling in dark magic. They may break laws to suit their own needs or may have a sinister plot and motives of their own. Evil characters may lie, cheat, steal, or murder; are dishonest, immoral or deceptive. But they do not necessarily have to have to have all or any of these traits. How you play your character is up to you.

It is important to note that being evil or bad does not give you the excuse to be abusive or cruel to others. Do not create an evil character with the intent to harass or bully other players. Once that character logs off, all grudges and bad vibes against other players must log off with him. Go too far and you could find yourself ignored, reported or banned. Role-play or not, you still have to abide by Blizzard’s rules.

What Kind of Evil Are You?

First thing you will want to consider is why your character is bad or evil. Typically people are not born to the dark side. Something happens that causes them to turn. Was it spurred on by some need for vengeance? Is it greed for power and wealth?

You also need to consider that evil is judged objectively by others. You can play the dark side with a character who believes himself good but his actions cause the public opinion of him to be that of bad.

Playing the dark side doesn't require your character to be cold, mysterious and dress in black all the time. Your character could be bright, intelligent and well liked by all but have secret dark motives.

There are countless numbers of ways to make your character bad and there are also varying degrees of evil. Make sure you take some time to figure out what suits you and your character best.

Some examples of evil characters:

• You could be friendly and personable but a certain thing just sets you off cause you to be snippy and cold. You should have some sort of story reason of why this happens so those role-playing with you can discuss.
• You are on a holy (or otherwise marked as “good”) mission and have no qualms about murdering or torturing innocents in your path so long as it is in the name of your cause. To you, your mission is just and right. To others you will be seen as a villain for your actions.
• You are a typical socialite who finds themselves above normal society and often acts without conscience towards the “lower classes”
• You are a spy for an enemy faction and are friendly and pleasant to all in attempts to pump them of information so you can feed it to your superiors.
• You are part of a diabolical plot to assassinate a king or faction leader (perhaps a willing guild leader). You spend a lot of time around this faction to get in good with them. (If you plan on play like this, be prepared to lose. You will most likely be outnumbered and people like it when good conquers evil)
• You are a bounty hunter, assassin or mercenary and will happily kill any other person if the price is right.

Playing the dark side can be a fun break from role-playing your other characters (or perhaps you are the type that plays the “good” side for a break). I generally have at least one “bad girl” in my roster that you have to keep your eye on. Just make sure you don’t go overboard and get yourself in any trouble!

Climb Aboard the Kara Train

Last night Geearthur's Team Banana went back into Karazhan. It was our last attempt at the villains lording over the upper halls before all the undead would find their bodies and refill the halls.

The evening started out well. We were able to destroy Illhoof and everyone was nice enough to allow me to walk away with the Malefic Girdle. And we easily took care of Chess. That is where we started running out of luck it seemed.

We had people disappear, their bodies literally fading away and come back claiming that they are under the ill effects of "lag". We did not do well against Prince and decide to try the Shade of Aran instead. Unfortunately, the hallway was reinforced with more guardians and with people dropping do to the lag sickness we were unsure if we could go on. But we pressed on and kept ourselves busy in the halls. The above picture us playing choo-choo train.

However we ended up doing well. We fought our way back through the hallway and had one chance at the Shade of Aran before we simply must stop for the evening. In an amazing victory, Team Banana killed the Shade of Aran for the very first time! ((I had screamed so loud in excitement our neighbor came over to make sure I was ok))

For the first time in a long time I was able to continue with a quest inside Karazhan. We were able to meet the Image of Medivh and watch him fight Arcanagos which was very thrilling.

Keste was also very fortunate with items this run obtaining some new boots and a new ring. He was a very happy grizzly. This victory has definitely charged me up to continue in Karazhan. We had been stuck for so long at Aran that defeating him has made the prospect of starting over again worth it!

Battleground Weekend

The majority of my weekend was spent fighting the Horde. There was a new festival called the "Spirit of Competition" that is going on for most of the month.

I actually discovered this event on accident. I'm still working on earning myself new battle pants and upon exiting the losing battle discovered a Competitors Tabbard in my mailbox. I really wasn't sure what this was all about so I went to the guild hall to see if someone could explain what this was all about. Once Chya told me of the small dragon pet one could possibly receive by winning one of the battles against the Horde, I was determined to get one.

This task was easier said then done as the Alliance has not be doing well, at least in the battles I participate in. (Perhaps I am bad luck!) But I really wanted a mini dragon pet and so I started out by heading to Warsong Gulch as that battle would also assist my goal of obtaining my battle pants. I cannot tell you how horrible things went. Battle after battle I walked away defeated and deflated in the hope of getting my pet. Any winning any battle sent me running to my mailbox hoping for a new delivery. Nothing arrived.

I switched tactics and instead traveled to Arathi Basin. I needed to collect a few more tokens in this battle anyway. I was again faced with loss after loss at the hands of the Horde. I was frustrated as heck!

And then... something happened. Alliance started to rally. Elated at this turn of events I walked out of the basin with my shiny new battle tokens and proceed to walk to the Worlds End Tavern thinking I certainly deserved a small sip of something to calm my nerves.

I pass a mailbox and think ... "We'll maybe I can check just once more." There inside was a Gold Medallion! I must of looked quite foolish dancing around and happily hooting at the mailbox. I didn't care because now I was now able to use this amazing item to call my miniature dragon. I have named him Iroh and have introduced him to my other assortment of companions. I'm so pleased that I did not give in and was stubborn enough to continue in the battlegrounds just long enough to pick Iroh up!

RP Survival Guide

I just recently learned of this site and wanted to pass it along to any one out there interested. It's a site dedicated to roleplaying in World of Warcraft called RP Made Simple. They have a nifty RP Survival Guide designed to help new roleplayers on their site as well as regular articles about roleplaying. As much as I hoped the site was fairly new and not something I've been missing for the years I've been roleplaying in WoW, I think it has been around for quite a while (at least a year). So don't be like me and find this years later. Go check it out!

When Boomkins Heal

When one of our healers for Karazhan wasn't able to attend, our raid leader contacted our boomkin friend. We'll just call him, "Bear". Bear asked if we wanted him to change is talents to better equip himself for healing. The consensus was he would be fine in his healing enhanced armor with his current talents.

He arrived and immediately told everyone to "not say anything about his outfit". He had just realized how mismatched his armor was. Since he was usually a tree while wearing this set he hadn't really seen the entire ensemble before. I had to pull out my camera and snap a picture because I thought the outfit too funny. Poor Bear was the butt of many ugly jokes through the evening.

Learn 2 RP: Godmoding

The term comes from "god mode" which is found in a lot of today's video games where you can put in a code and make yourself invincible. A person found godmoding would make their character super powerful and / or omniscient.

Definition:In writing or role-playing, a godmod is a character who has too few weaknesses or whose strength is considered overpowered. (source: rphaven.org)

They tend to be spotlight hogs, wanting to be the center of attention. Their characters have powers that are undefeatable, they’re immune to any attack or the dominate the storyline. They will also react to any text that they should not necessarily know about, a character thinking for example. Basically, in any role-play encounter you attempt with them, they will make their character better, brighter and the most important to the plot.

I happen to have a lot of real life experience with godmoding from when I was younger. My little sister was constantly controlling play when we tried to play Barbie together. She would often tell me what my Barbie should say or do so we could play the way she wanted. As a result, I would frequently take my Barbies and leave to go play by myself with her following closely behind saying "no no you can do whatever you want! Come back!". A godmoder is someone who is not very fun to role-play with. You do not want to be one!

Example of Godmoding

Keste: *Keste switches to panther form and sneaks up behind Desdarii, ready to pounce*

Desdarii: *Desdarii casts a large magical shield of impenetration on herself to foil the kitty’s plan. She then turns and transforms Keste into a sheep to stop him from further trouble.*Ha! Ha! You cannot sneak up on me!

It should be fairly obvious why this is bad but lets go over what specific points made this an example of Godmoding. First, Desdarii completely ignores the fact that Keste was sneaking. She may have heard him, it certainly is possible but she doesn't even acknowledge Keste's stealth. She just knew he was coming. Next Desdarii casts a ridiculous magical shield that is obviously to stop any and all attacks on her person. Keste's element of surprise plus his plan of pouncing Desdarii are completely shot. But Desdarii doesn't stop there and turns Keste into a sheep. He's now no longer even himself.

Keste could carry on with his story with clever role-play if he wanted to by playing off Desdarii's barriers with solutions of his own. However, it is unlikely he will continue to role-play with Desdarii if every time he tries to interact with her, she takes over the story and ends it with herself being victorious.

Example of Good Role-Play

Keste: *Keste switches to panther form and sneaks up behind Desdarii, ready to pounce*

Desdarii: *Desdarii continues reading her novel, unaware of what is about to befall her*

In this example, Desdarii acknowledges that Keste is sneaking and acts as if he isn't there. Desdarii is playing along with the story and allowing Keste to continue with his plot.

Another Example of Good Role-Play

Keste: *Keste switches to panther form and sneaks up behind Desdarii, ready to pounce*

Desdarii: *Desdarii hears Keste padding softly behind her and turns to looks at him*

In this example, Desdarii prevents the sneak attack by hearing him sneak up behind her but she hasn't necessarily stopped Keste's story. Desdarii is lending her part in the dialog and allows Keste to play off her actions. She hasn't made it so Keste cannot still get the better of her but Desdarii is not lying down to allow herself to be pounced.

What is very important to learn here

• You are only in control of your own character.
• Your character needs flaws. You should not be undefeatable.
• You should not always be in the spotlight or the star of the show.

Goldy Reports: Wees to the Rescue

Hello! Goldy here your friendly dwarf priestess to relate an adventure I embarked upon last night.

Our leader, Lord Gwydion, had some reason to fear for his safety and a secret service force was hired for him known as the "Wees". They are all deadly little gnome assassins with the singular mission to protect Lord Gwydion from misfortune. It seems this precaution was well founded by the events I participated in last night.

There was a breach in security as last night Lord Gwydion was abducted from our halls. Geearthur received a note that he was being held by the vicious Edwin VanCleef deep in the Deadmines. The Wees were contacted to plan the rescue mission. Additional assistance was requested so I offered my healing skills to help save the master of Thalanaar.

We split into 3 teams, each with a Wee leading the pack and split up inside the mines to try and find where Gwydion was being held. My group of Weearthur and Amorenna were the lucky ones to find Gwydion and help free him from VanCleef.

The story does not stop there though. Gwydion described to us further evil plots he overheard whilst imprisoned. It seems Stormwind is in great danger. We will all be needed to help save the city and its inhabitants.

Was a very exciting evening and I have already signed up my healing services for further adventures with the Wees.