Picture as Promised

Here is a picture of me and my new pet firefly. Isn't he cute?! I did learn to not have him out while fishing. My hearing is extra sensitive during fishing listening for the lure and he's a noisy little bugger!

We were unable to do our regularly scheduled Karazhan run last night so instead we went through a heroic dungeon to get some badges that way.

After we were through, I had enough badges to purchase my new robe (found modeling in the picture) of the Shroud of the Lore'nial. It's pretty neat looking I think. The heroic even gave me a nice epic gem to place in the robe. It was fate!

Firefly Happiness!

This morning I was really sort of just goofing around. I went to Ironforge and got some shiny tokens from the Brewfest and then decided to clean up my bank a bit. I sold some items I was keeping for goodness knows what reason, re-organized the gems and primals I've collected. You know, normal stuff.

I then found the enchanting recipe I had picked up in the Caverns of Time: Old Hillsbrad for Goldy to learn. Unfortunately Goldy already knew it and there was already one in the guild vault I decided to make a few copper pieces by throwing it on the auction house.

While in the auction house I was approached by a young dwarf offering to pay me for a teleport to Shattrath. He gave me two gold pieces and a teleport rune and I sent him on his way.

I stood there for a bit with my two shiny new gold pieces in my hand. Reason told me to put it in my pocket and save for the future like a good girl. However, the urge to just look through the lists in the auction house to see what I could buy for two gold was much too tempting.

You won't believe what I found! You just will not believe it!

I found a Captured Firefly on the auction house for 50 silver. FIFTY! Do you know how rare these things are? I ran to the mailbox to make sure it was the real thing. I have a picture of it I will have to post later so for now just trust me. I have found the biggest deal ever.

I suppose a smart person would of resold it for it's real price but not this little Draenei. Oh no. I'm going to be walking around with my pet bug everywhere! I'm so happy!

I also found a Brown Prairie Dog for two gold so in typical Desdarii fashion I exceeded my budget.

Sombrero Night

Last night my guild wanted to just goof around. We started out gathering fourteen people and then trying Mt. Hyjal in the Caverns of Time just to see it. We didn't win obviously but we did make it to wave three before the serious smashing began. It was fun to see inside. I wandered the area quite a bit. It was was quite beautiful.

Afterwards we broke into groups with a singular mission. To obtain Don Carlos' Famous Hat for as many people as we could. We had two teams racing into Heroic Durnhold, killing Don Carlos and then racing out to do it again. Unfortunately the fun was stopped after three tries because we were not allowed back into the dungeon. Six people including myself were able to get the sombrero and the coyote pet that comes with it.

It was one super silly fun night!

More Brewfest Fun

I was able to overcome my difficulties with the daily enough to earn myself my brewfest dress which makes me very happy.

We continue to run through the daily fight in Blackrock Depths in the attempt to find more Kodos for our friends. We got one for Nehtor yesterday and last night a ram was found for Nyriell.

What's odd is we haven't not even once seen the remote. That's the one I sort of wanted. I guess my magey-ness just likes the idea of another porting location. But I won't be super upset if we don't find one.

Goldy was able to catch the 8:00 pm show of the Elite Tauren's in the Grim Guzzler last night which was exciting for her. She told me she still can't find her panties after the concert and fears she may have threw them on stage in her excitement.

Strange Brewfest Bug

This morning I attempted to do the brewfest dailies before I had to shuffle off to work and was completely unsuccessful. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this or if I'm just unlucky.

For some reason the "Bark for the Barleybrews!" quest would not give me credit for my barking efforts. I made it all the way through Ironforge and returned to the festival with at least 53 seconds still on the timer so I wasn't too slow but instead of a happy yellow question mark I was faced with a grayed out one.

At first I thought it was me. I just ran around and didn't pay attention to what I was doing. I scrolled up through the text box and I saw that I did bark 4 times.

I thought it a fluke and tried again. It didn't matter how many times I ran past the Ironforge bank and said positive things about the Barleybrews, I would not get credit for the location.

So I decided to put in a ticket. It's really going to mess with my plans to pick up brewfest goodies if I can't do one of the dailies!

Keste's Kodo

Yesterday we quickly ran to Blackrock Depths before our scheduled Kara run to try and get some more guild members some trinkets. To our surprise in addition to a trinket, a Brewfest Kodo was also available.

Keste was the lucky winner and it's good because it's not often that he gets fun little goofy stuff like this. Seeing that is is also a useful goofy thing he'll actually use it often.

I'm still working on getting my Dirndl. Hopefully I can have it by tomorrow.

Nightbane

Yesterday our team went up against our final foe inside of Karazhan, Nightbane. Unfortunately, we have not been successful at defeating him yet. He keeps killing our healers which is a problem no matter how you slice it.

We tried a couple different strategies and at one point he only had a quarter of his life remaining. We are getting close just not making it all the way.

Some of the healer problem is their fault. For some reason our priest really likes standing too close to the dragon and then getting hit by his giant claws. But mostly it is the skeletons Nightbane calls to his aid while he is safely in the air.

If anyone has any tips as to how we can keep our healing team alive, I'm all ears! Our raid set up is a pally tank, druid off tank, a pally healer a priest healer, and the rest are assorted fighters.

Totally Purple!

Today I had a lot of fun playing with the Brewfest. My first time participating in this event and it was a lot of fun. I had a hard time driving the rams at first but I got the hang of it after a while.

Later we got a group of five and headed to Blackrock Depths to find the Brewfest Spy. We had to Insult Coren Direbrew which started a riot in the Grim Guzzler. We failed our first attempt at him but after seeing how he fights we were successful the next time.

In some very exciting news, Coren had on him a Dark Iron Smoking Pipe which I picked up. This trinket replaces that final blue item I had and so now I'm officially in all epic gear! I'm very excited and I feel like I've some how far surpassed the original vision of what sort of Mage I could turn out to be.

Learn 2 RP: RP Up Your Raid

Dungeon Hallway
Originally uploaded by hoodwinks

It doesn't matter if you and your group are just starting to raid or are old hats at it. Anywhere there is a constant gathering of folks is a great opportunity to introduce some role-play. My guild actually has requirements that we role-play during raids.

So how do you do this? How can you run a quick and efficient raid as well as role-play? It’s a lot easier than you think! There are two major categories I can see raiding role-play fit into and I think most combine the two. Like all role-play these can be morphed, modified or combined in any fashion the team sees fit. There’s no wrong way!

Casual Role-Play

The group is there for the ordinary reasons any adventurer may enter a dungeon. The raid chooses to converse with each other in role-play fashion as they pass through the dungeon.

What are ordinary reasons for entering a dungeon:

• Quests to complete
  
• Looking for treasure (loot)
  
• Need to boost reputation
  
• Companionship and having fun with others
  

The way my raiding team does it is all /raid and /say communications must be in-character chat. We use ventrillo for all other communication such as describing boss fights, barking orders for specific skills, etc. It’s a nice way to keep the different communication styles separate. If you do not have a voice chat service, you could use /raid for your directives and /say for your in-character communication.

This can just be a time to discuss surroundings or other character development topics. My raid group has actually created a couple themes that are unique to our group that doesn’t have anything to do with the story we developed for the raid.

My team knows that Desdarii is terrified of spiders. Time is actually taken to kill spiders that cross our path so Desdarii will continue without complaint. The dwarf and the gnome in our group quarrel back and forth throughout the night about different topics usually pertaining to who is shorter. Our casters fight over who loves the mana totem more with the poor Shaman stuck in the middle without any say. So long as everyone is having a great time, everything is good and it makes the raid so much more entertaining.

Story Driven Role-Play

Your group has come up with a storyline that justifies their reason for entering and slaughtering the inhabitants of the dungeon. The reason could be important or silly but the group sees this as their mission. It can have an easily defined ending point or a more vague goal that may never quite be attained. Here are some example reasons for raiding a dungeon that your team could adopt.

• Boss So-and-So stole the weapon of your ancestors and you have vowed to take it back. You have gathered your friends who have volunteered to follow you into this dungeon to assist you. A fairly easy thing anyone can role-play I think!
  
• Some of the team members are there purely for researching purposes and the others are hired to assist the researchers through. They are studying and cataloging the creatures found in side. Of course they will need to examine their insides, which is where the slaughtering comes into play. They are interested in seeing every corner of the dungeon to obtain the most accurate records Azeroth has ever seen!
  
• Your guild has a ritual that each member must enter and kill X and Y before they are considered part of the team. The new member is coached along by veterans of the dungeon. If it is a new team they are grouping together to reach this goal of guild acceptance. Ceremonies and parties can take place when the ritual has been completed.
  

Once a story is selected, your team uses this as a focal point that they can center role-play on. Everyone present is there for the same goal and it should be easy to discuss tatics and plans so they can meet the goal(s).

If your story has an actual end you may need to come up with a continuing story for a reason as to why you still return to that dungeon. In my raid group, our raid leader came up with the storyline that Prince had stolen his banana and he was hungry and wanted it back (I told you stories could be silly!). Once we had killed Prince we needed a new goal for returning to Karazhan. As it so happens, Prince really likes fruit and has now stolen a pineapple. We aren’t too kindly to fruit stealers in our team!

Anna's Friday Five: Important Things

Anna gives us some interesting questions to try to answer in character each Friday and this week it is about a terrible storm making it's way to Azeroth. No doubt this is on Anna's mind with hurricane's ripping through her neighborhood. I'm praying for her, her husband and their kitties to recover from the disaster quickly. Hopefully they are all doing fine.

1 - Would your character leave or stay? Why or why not?
Desdarii would leave. Immediately. She has a limited amount of bravery as it is and battling mother nature is not something she would even consider an option.

2 - Where would they go (if they were leaving), or take shelter (if they were staying)?
She would most likely choose to hide out the storm as far as her portals would take her. Depending on where the storm was focused on, first choice would be back home in Exodar.

3 - How would they get there?
Desdarii is a mage! She easily slips in and out of the corners of Azeroth.

4 - If given 2 hours to pack, what would they bring with them of their current possessions?
I don't know if Desdarii would even focused on packing so much as gathering her friends and family so she could provide safe portals to wherever they were choosing to hide out. She might also be handing out bread and water for folks to pack up and take with them on their journey.

She would definitely crate up all her pets as you can't leave them behind. The base items for her professions like her pick, fishing pole, jewelers kit and grinding stone.

5 - What would they leave behind?
Anything that could be replaced. Spare robes, costumes, a wand she likes because it sparkles. They're just items and Desdarii always knows how to find more.

Shiver Me Timbers!

It be international talk like a pirate day today. Methinks this be fittin' a mage such as meself seein's that I reside on the Blackwater Raiders realm.

Ye should be participatin' in this here day as well, ya scurvy dogs! Get out there an' start practicin' yer ARRRRRRRG! and Yo Ho!'s. I's not be askin' ya twice.

I found on Armaggedon's Coming that that there's a new one day event to participate in. They have pirate costume's for everyone!

What Keeps Me Playing?

This morning I was thinking about what exactly is keeping me in WoW. There was a couple pieces of news that really brought this thought about.

Our real life friends whom we've been playing MMO's with since 2002 and Keste even earlier with some of them have performed a mass exodus of WoW. Ok, maybe not a mass exodus as there are like 7 of them but these are not just game friends, these are people we hang out with quite regularly face to face.

They contact us and asked if we were going to play Warhammer with them. Keste and I were conflicted. We really really enjoy our playtime on Blackwater Raiders (they play horde on another server) and adore our guild. We're getting to see all kinds of things we didn't expect to see thanks to the guild and other friend's help. We have plenty of stuff we still haven't done to keep us significantly busy. We opted to stay in WoW and wishing them well in Warhammer citing all the reasons above.

Last night Keste and I log in to a world of guild drama. Everyone claiming they are unhappy with the state of the guild. It came as a rather large shock to Keste and myself as we are both very happy with the guild. A guild meeting has been set up for Saturday to discuss member issues. I'm optimistic that things can be resolved although I admit I'm still a bit clueless of what is causing people grief.

With the exit of our friend's departure and the guild we love teetering, I'm left thinking why I'm still here. Here's what I came up with.

• Even if guildless I have a lot of friends I really enjoy here. I would be upset if the guild dissolved but I'd still be able to play everyone.
• My Mage. Desdarii is a character that I truly enjoy playing. I used to be an altaholic until I played her. I have Goldy who honestly used to be my favorite but far and away this mage is one of my favorite things in WoW.
• Keste is a large reason. He absolutely loves his druid and he can't see playing anything else right now. He really doesn't even touch his alts. I would keep playing for him.
• This blog keeps me playing. I know I don't add anything useful for other players to learn about magey goodness but I really like sharing the things I experience.

Prince and Netherspite Down!

Exciting news from last night's raid. My Karazhan raiding team took down Prince and Netherspite! We didn't even have any wipes which just makes me beam with pride.

We've killed Prince in the past but after some member swaps we started having problems with upper Kara and it's definately been a while since we've killed Prince. We were thrilled to see him fall.

Netherspite was a complete shock to me. The few other times we've attempted to kill Netherspite we've died pitifully. I personaly felt the fight was just too darn complex. All these portals and void zones and netherbreath and bleh. Our raid leader researched a new strategy to try. We attacked the fight in an organized fashion and killed him with ease. It was simply amazing. I couldn't be prouder of these people if I tried.

After killing Netherspite we wanted to at least see Nightbane. Unfortunately no one had his urn.

Since we had killed Prince and Netherspite in relatively quick fashion we had an hour and a half of raiding time left. We split our Kara team into two 5-mans and headed to Heroic Shattered Halls.

Thanks to Keste's heroic run for his epic flight form there were 4 of us who already had the Sethekk Hall's book and just needed to kill the first boss in Shattered Halls to get the urn.

We of course made it a competition. Which team could get the book first. I'm proud to say my team won but it wasn't by much. We also cheated a little since we had a rogue and didn't need to travel through the sewers.

We all got our Urns and returned to Karazhan to summon Nightbane. We didn't do to badly. First try with most of us not knowing anything about the fight and we had taken out about 30% of his health. Not bad for a first try.

Our team is truely pulling together to be very successful and we are so excited to start over and try to get there again this week.

Chess is Serious Business

Alright not really but when Stropothrina came to chess prepared with a robe matching her cleric chess piece, you have to think she's taking things seriously. Either that or she just really likes being color coordinated.

Nyriell commented on having left her horse costume in the bank.

Stupid Applesoup!

Last Tuesday our Karazhan team did exceptionally well. We cleared from Attumen to Illhoof in one night. It was a first for us and we were really proud of ourselves. Of course that meant that Sunday night was to be starting with the Shade of Aran, which our team hates. We hate him a lot.

We've killed him twice before but that's it. Every other time we run into him we just die. As a result, Aran is sort of a moral killer for our team. We often try him a couple times and then give up and move on to the Chess Event. Last night we decided to just keep attacking until he died or raid time was up.

At first we were very disheartened. We kept losing healers and key fighters early leaving us unable to kill Aran. After wipe number three, we considered altering our plans and going to Chess anyway just so we would get something for the night. We voted on one more try.

We were all pretty frustrated at this point and proclaiming our hatred of this undead mage. Nyriell surprised us all when she said that Aran was "a really stupid applesoup". Now I don't know what that means but I thought it was hilarious.

This try we ran in screaming "STUPID APPLESOUP!" and everything just clicked. We were able to burn him down quickly, the elementals were controlled and killed, we lived through the pyroblast and we all stood around stunned that we not only killed him but no one had died!

We have found our missing link. A battle cry.

We were all so excited we didn't even care what treasures we found hidden in his robes. Firefizzle broke out the disco ball and we all started dancing in a circle around the corpse. A bit callous I suppose but you don't understand what this dead applesoup means to our team!

We later finished up Chess and were disappointed when we got Prince down to one percent before everyone fell. I'm hoping to get him tonight!

Raiding to the Max!

As I reported earlier last week, Maeleigh and her guild were kind enough to invite Keste and I to join them in SSC. The Gruul's and Mag's invite was more spontaneous and we really lucked out during that raid as well but this was a whole new level of dungeon for us.

I was pretty nerved up. I read a couple guides on boss fights but you know how they all seem a little abstract until you actually see them in person. I had no clue on how trash was taken care of at all. When the giant bog monsters started spewing all over us I almost had a heart attack. If anyone had been looking at me, they'd only seen pure terror on my face. I was helpless of what I should be doing as poison was being sprayed all over me.

We skipped the first boss and went for Lurker of the Deep. Some parts I got. Stay out of the water until the spout because it hurts but spout hurts more. The platform thing had me stuck though. I was assigned to be sheeping on a platform. Well for some reason my brain equated platform with a raised surfuce, not the little patch of land directly behind me. Luckly Mae had my back and pointed my dense tush to the proper location I was to be standing.

I probably over did the polymorphing. I was just supposed to keep it down, not burn all my mana and keep turning the naga into a piggie like some sort of crazed OCD mage. I had a shadow priest with me and she was good at keeping me topped off.

We weren't able to stay as long as we would of liked. Our home Kara team called and we couldn't leave them hanging. Keste and his tankage is sort of an important part to the team. We were able to stay and witness Lurker's death and Summit was kind enough to hand me Cord of Screaming Terrors for my troubles. I gemmed it up with the best I was able to make.

Keste and I both would really like to thank Maeleigh and Summit for allowing us to attend. Serpent Shrine Cavern is something we most likely would not be something we would ever see if it was not for their willingness to bring us along. They're a great group of folks and understood that us new folks would be standing around in wonder at the dungeon. It was a great time and we honestly appreciated the opportunity. Thank you.

Raiding to the Next Power

Maeleigh and her guild Summit were kind enough to allow Keste and I in on their Gruul's and Magtheridon run on Saturday. We gladly dropped everything for the chance to attend.

Gruul's lair we at least had a basic familiarity with. We hadn't actually made it to Gruul on our previous journey but we had studied up on it in anticipation of the fight. Summit did things slightly different which may be the main reason this was successful and our other attempts were not.

The first time we came face to face with Gruul I asked Keste, "What exactly is keeping him in this prison?"

After fighting I saw why. The beast grows huge! It's a wonder he even got in here in the first place!

Keste and I both walked out very happy with Keste getting new T4 shoulders, and I obtained T4 pants and Bloodmaw Magus-Blade.

After that we ran to Magtheridon's Lair which Keste and I had zero familiarity with. The raid leader was patient and explained what would happen in a way that made perfect sense. I felt very nervous before starting but it all went very smoothly. Keste got his T4 chest piece so he's now super tank! Well he's super tank to me.

Goldy Reports: Turning 70

Today I did it. I reached my 70th season. Let me tell you it was a difficult road as a Holy Priestess. I can't say that it's made me particularly stronger for doing it either. I think it just proves how stubborn I can be. But it's done so now I can relax and finish gathering the materials for my new robes.

Learn 2 RP: Using Your Environment

People newer to role-play tend to forget their environment. It’s pretty common. They are focused on their character and the conversation and not their surroundings. My suggestion is to learn to pull your environment in. You’ll feel more immersed and will give more story and interaction for those around you to comment on.

Let's start with something simple. Most taverns (probably all) have some sort of seating area with food & drinks on the tables. Your character doesn't have to have any of those items in their backpack to be able to interact with it. You can emote you handling any and all the items on the table.

• You are hungry and bite off a large chunk of your turkey leg.
• You guzzle your ale in one gulp and call the bartender for more.
• You are a waitress and are tidying it up after the last customers.
• You are a hungry orphan trying to filch some of the bounty the table without being caught.
• You notice your pet is hungry and toss them a bone.

That one was really simple example. Everyone knows how to behave in a tavern, right? There are endless other little things in game that you can use to interact with.

• Browsing bookshelves, picking one up and sitting down to page through it.
• Looking at wares in a shop. Asking the shopkeeper prices and if you can see certain items.
• Trying to catch frogs by the side of a pond.
• Sifting through junk mail while standing at the mailbox.
• You are a pickpocket and casually slip unattended items into your pocket.

Don’t forget you can also interact with things you do have in your pack. You can even link the specific item in your chat to show specifically what you are interacting with.

• Polishing your armor
• Sharpening your weapon
• Cleaning your totems
• Counting your reagents
• Jingling your key chain

Any and all of these things can be going on during conversation. I don’t know about you but rarely am I simply sitting still doing absolutely nothing during a conversation. I’m a fiddler and will fuss over little things. Doesn't mean I’m not listening. I just can’t sit still.

These can also be used as great ice breakers. Fellow role-players will be able to identify you if you are interacting with things even if you aren't currently involved with any other role-players. It will invite them to comment on what you are doing and join in your role-play.

Keste. Now 220% Faster.

Today we gathered some friends and headed into a heroic version of Sethekk Halls with the goal of helping Keste earn his swift flight form.

Perhaps it's just me but heroic Sethekk was really pretty challenging. We were able to do it with relatively little difficulty but it took a while and it was a bit before we were in the groove.

I also have to say that the treasures found inside were hardly worth the increased difficulty. I don't know if we'll be frequenting this heroic often.

We did make it to the back of the hall and Keste called down Anzu. He's a funny looking little chicken. We defeated him pretty quickly and cheered! We finished emptying the halls and walked out with smiles and feathers sticking out of our armor every which way.

I sent Keste off to go and quickly retreive his new skill. He said he also was given a new idol for his troubles.

His new flight form is definately more pleasing to look at. He looked like some sort of vulture before. Now he's all pretty purple with decorations.

We talked about taking this group of five and starting a weekly heroic team. I think that would be great!

Totally Excited

I wasn't going to post about this until the weekend, like when it actually happens, but I'm too stinking excited to wait. Maeleigh of Electronic Escape is a mage on Blackwater Raiders as well and last night she contacted me asking if Keste and I would be interested in going to SSC/BT this weekend.

Are you kidding? OF COURSE I WOULD BE INTERESTED!

Her guild is planning a run and were going to bring in friends to fill in the spots. She was so very kind to think of me and to include Keste as well. I now have to read up on guides so I'm not a complete noob and actually feel useful.

It is planned for this Sunday which is a Karazhan night for us so I went to our Raid Leader to let him know about this offer. I was hoping he wouldn't freak out especially with the potential of missing his off tank for an evening. He was very gracious about the whole thing. He completely understands our curiosity of just seeing inside and said he was jealous of my offer.

So Maeleigh is now my bestest friend in the whole wide world of Azeroth. And I know it's just early planning and there may not get enough interest for it to happen but I don't care. I was really just pleased as punch to even be asked.

Desdarii Analysis

Gnomeaggedon (the one true and original version) posted this on his blog today about a widget that Saresa found that does some analysis of your characters name. It is called the WoW Armory Character Distribution application. It will check the US as well as the EU servers for your name and then make a pretty graph of the breakdown of the characters it finds.

Desdarii still only had three characters found (there are apparently no EU versions of the name yet). What was interesting was that they were all draenei, 2 were female, 2 were mages and 1 was a warrior.

This was good to know but to show a big fancy looking graph I decided instead to look up Goldy, my priest's name. There a total of 164 characters with the name of Goldy.

Goldy is a name I've used for several years starting back when I was playing Dark Age of Camelot. My first character was a druid on the PvP realm is named Goldy and who knows how many alts I created over the years.

Jump Zone

There's a spot in Karazhan on the way to Prince where there is a big empty room with a strange little table like thing in it. One day I jumped up there to every one's amazement. Now it's a primary focus for a minute or two upon entering the room.

Everyone crowds around it and tries to land on top of it. Why? I'm not sure. There's nothing to gain from it. We'll just have to move again shortly but it's a silly game we play.

Does anyone else do this or have similar stations for random amusement? Someone pondered while we all stood around jumping if someone had placed this table here just to mess with us.

5000 Gold... Phew

This weekend we were able to scrounge up enough cash for Keste to be able to purchase his riding skill. We were both working very hard to earn the money for him. I was able to earn about 2000 gold and Goldy happily pitched in an extra 300. Keste earned another 2000+ and friends and guildmates also threw some money into the pot to help him.

Had I thought of it, I would of organized some sort of pledge drive or something for him. Hahaha! That would of been great.

So Keste was able to purchase the advanced riding skill and is on his way to starting the Druid epic flight form quest. He was doing some research on it last night and pointing out the parts I was going to have to help. Of course the heroic trip through Sethekk Halls but some escorts and such he was pointing out. Knowing him, he'll probably try them first and then ask but I of course I will help him.

I already picked up the Sethekk Halls heroic daily in anticipation of when he can do this so I'm all set! Most of it looks like a lot of running around. Maybe that's what he means by my help. He wants me to teleport him all over creation!

New Queen of the Ogres

Keste and I gathered some friends to help us with some difficult quests we had out in Blades Edge Mountains. One of these quests, Grim(oire) Business, actually required we had five people to summon the ogre. The circle was extremely scary looking and I was worried but we were well prepared and took care of Vim'gol the Vile quickly.

Next we headed to the north of the zone to summon Skulloc for Into the Soulgrinder. We had to fight many waves of ogres and could see his scary shadow forming behind us.

My fears were once again unfounded. We chose our companions well and were able to defeat him and his ogre buddies. We barely broke a sweat. I ran out of mana only because I kept using Arcane Explosion to remove the cluster of ogres that was gathering in the paladin's concecration.

After returning to Mog'dor with Skulloc's soul he made the announcement of me being the new Queen of the Ogres! Can you believe it? There was a huge gathering of Ogres. Dancing and drinking and everywhere I went they were kneeling and honoring me. I was a bit overwhelmed by it all but it was quite fun! I never would of counted on Ogres being allies but these guys aren't so bad.

Learn 2 RP: Playing as a Couple

Whether you are a real life couple (like a husband/wife team) or just role-playing a relationship with a friend, having a partner in game can be an enjoyable experience. There are a few things you should know to help you make your role-play romance really come to life and feel believable.

First off you will have to find the other half to your couple. This part is up to you, I cannot help you here. It can be anyone from your real girlfriend to someone who just shares a similar online schedule as you so you spend a lot of time together.

If you do find someone you do not know personally, make sure you speak to them first and discuss the possibility of role-playing a relationship. Make sure they agree that it would be fun! If they do not wish to role-play that way; you’re not a couple. You’re a crazed stalker insisting someone is your beloved. Don’t be a weirdo. Later on you can discuss if you want to do an in game marriage, kids, the works. But both parties have to be comfortable with the story otherwise it just isn't enjoyable.

Like all other forms of role-play, playing as a couple is open to many types of interpretation.

• You can be under the spell of first love and act like giggly little teenagers.
• You can be an old cantankerous couple who have been together for decades. The affection for each other is there, but you may have to look to see it.
• You can be the definition of true love and still feel your heart leap each time you see one another.
• You could be of an arranged marriage and be not quite comfortable with your partner yet.

However you choose to build your relationship, there are certain behaviors you will need to adapt. The giggly teenager couple does not act the same way an old couple does.

Keste and I definitely have the “old couple” bit down. We tease and jab each other often. He’ll claim to not have met the quota of dead Draenei during a raid and I’ll remark something about his huge furry posterior. At first glace you may think that they do not seem to really like each other much. But further on you’ll notice little things like Desdarii squeezing Keste’s hand in reassurance before a boss pull or Keste curling up next to Desdarii while resting that shows that the affection between these two is there. This was a natural choice for us as it is very much how our relationship behaves in real life. We had tried in the past to do the lovey-dovey stuff and it was difficult for us to do without sarcasm so we dropped the idea.

Showing your affection in public is your choice. There are the built in /hug, /love, /kiss emotes available. These tend to be generic though so if you are in the midst of role-play, you may opt for more descriptive gestures. Things like brushing hair from your partner’s eyes or your eyes twinkling when you glance at them.

I’m not going to lecture you about what you to do or don’t do in private chat. Just keep it private and so I don’t see it and I’ll be happy. Being “overtly sexual” is against Blizzard’s policies and can get you reported or banned. Keep /say under the general public’s acceptance of displays of affection and you should be fine.

My personal rule is: If I’m not comfortable doing or saying it in front of my grandparents, I should rethink before putting it in public chat channels.

Other ways to show you’re a couple without simply shouting your love from a mountain top:

• Use role-play add-ons such as FlagRSP2 and MyRoleplay to give yourselves the same surname.
• Announce it during introductions such as “This is my lady, Desdarii”
• Use simple gestures like holding hands to show you are together.

Halaa

Today I we just sort of putzing around Shattrath when our guild leader, Gwydion, asked if I wanted to assist in the reclaiming of Halaa out in Nagrand. I accepted and started flying out to Halaa.

On my flight, I was a little conflicted. I had never secured Halaa before. It seems the Alliance has Halaa more often than not. I didn't know if I should admit my ignorance or just sort of play along like I knew what I was doing.

I opted to ask for instructions so at least if I messed up, they would know it was because I was new at this. The stations and the bombing runs needed to kill the guards was explained to me and I started eagerly throwing explosives toward the Horde guards.

I have to say they are extremely dedicated or maybe just really tough! I think it would only take one bomb dropped on my head to kill me or at least have me run for cover. Each pass from our team kept them as easy targets out in the open.

It took many trips and many bombs before even one of them was destroyed. After that they started dropping quicker and it wasn't long before the Alliance flag and the new Alliance guards were in place.

We didn't get to fight any Horde and I guess that's unfortunate. I only got to see the easy win of Halaa instead of the faction fight it's supposed to be. Two Horde were spotted but by the time we landed; they had scurried off.

I'm happy I just got to experience it and now I know what needs to be completed to win Halaa. Next time I'll be an old pro.

Too Much To Do!

I've been tired and crabby lately and as a result not getting much done lately. I'm putting my foot down right now and writing down my to-do list to get my motivated to complete some of these tasks.

1. Raise Money. Lots of Money.
   Keste was nice enough to pony up for your epic mount. Time to repay that favor. I dislike the dailies greatly but I have little alternative. I lack the brain-power / attention span for other methods of gold generating. Stop dilly-dallying and get the man his epic flight!
   
2. Do more dungeons.
   My jewelcrafting options are pathetic. All you are at this point is a glorified ore blower-upper. Get off yer tush and at least give the dropped recipes a chance to find you.
   
3. Grind Reputation
   I'm not going to be specific because all my reputations across the outland could use a boost. I am only honored with the majority of them. You know what would help with this? See #2. Focus on the reputations that can help with either gear or jewelcrafting recipes.
   
4. Help Goldy
   Poor lass has been stuck at 67 seasons for a while now. I should give her some attention and encourage her to finish those last 3 seasons.
   
5. Mine More.
   I don't know why I picked jewelcrafting since I dislike mining so much. I think part of my distaste is due to how much flak I get for being a mage miner. People and their prejudices!
   
6. Discover Missing Factions
   Places I've never been like Netherwing Ledge or Ogri'la. I've heard these things are neat but I've never actually taken the time to work on these factions. We're talking I'm zero reputation with these folks.

Three Desdarii?

I was fairly certain that I was being inventive and original when naming my character. I'm a little disappointed to find out that according to the Armory there are three Desdarii characters. There's no way for me to tell who made their character first but one is level 16 and the other is level 41 so it at least appears that if nothing else, I'm a faster leveler.

It got me thinking about how did they come about having the same name as me. I have a couple possible solutions I thought up to answer this.

• Did they also just come up with this name?
  If so, then I should think them people I could be friends with. Who else could just come up with such a wonderful character name?
  
• They stole it from me!
  Yeah, not putting to much into that theory. It's a unique name but it's hardly pretty or particularly interesting sounding. I'm certain there are better names to borrow out there.
  
• Perhaps I stole it!
  If it's a name from a character either from a game or a book I can honestly say I was unaware of it. I genuinely thought I had made this name up.
  
• Blizzard stole it!
  Only other idea I have is maybe Blizzard stores used names and spits them into their random name generator for others to use. These other two maybe just choose the name from a suggestion. I have no idea if this is really how it works but it's an interesting concept.

Only remaining question I have is: what is the plural version of Desdarii?

Goldy Reports: Mean People

I was called by my good friend Desdarii asking if I would be interested in some work in Nagrand. I won't be using any names to protect the innocent but it seems a Paladin acquaintance of ours wanted to complete The Ultimate Bloodsport quest and since Des knew I had yet to complete it had offered my assistance in acquiring the heart.

I skipped over to Nagrand and Paladin invited me to his group. I was thinking that this was fantastic! I would finish things up in no time and get back to other tasks I had slated to do that day.

To make myself as useful as possible, I rushed to where Tusker was found and started removing the area of the angry elekk bulls around the base of her hill. I'm a healy priest so this isn't exactly an easy feat for me but I made it through it and quite proudly sat at the base waiting for my Paladin companion to appear.

More people started joining our party. I was delighted that so many people were going to get this task done together. I figured it would go by very quickly with all these folks.

Time passes and the angry elekk's start crowding the space again. I rolled up my sleeves and again went about the task of clearing the area to make it easier for my fellow adventurers to reach Tusker.

I look around and notice that while some of my group members were in Nagrand, they were busy playing in Halaa. One of them, a Priestess, was still in Stormwind. I was still under the assumption that everyone was trying for the same quest I had been called to assist with. It wasn't so. The Paladin was the only one with the quest. Some were just helping fight for Halaa. One kept speaking about Sethekk Halls. I was confused and unsure that I was even there for the right thing. I asked what every one's ETA would be. I got no definite answer.

This is where I started to get annoyed. I had been asked specifically to help with a quest and was being left to wait around. I start expressing my distaste with the delay and stated that if this wasn't the quest we were doing, I would simply move on. I was assured that the Paladin and the Priestess were on their way and we would do the quest shortly.

In the meantime, the angry elekks have repopulated the area and I'm forced once again to kill these beasts all by myself. But they are coming. No need to get upset. I sit and patiently wait for them to arrive.

They arrive and we prepare ourselves against the battle with the elite elekk. The Paladin rushes in and I start assisting with any damage I can offer. All of a sudden the Priestess gets an angry ordinary elekk on her and the Paladin foolishly left the elite to rush to her aid. The result was I was mashed into Dwarf Paste.

Uncertain of the nearest graveyard I decided to stay down so I would be able to obtain the heart after Tusker had died. The Priestess ordered me to run back but the Paladin agreed it was better that I just stay down to ensure I get the heart.

After the beast has been killed, the Priestess hopped on her mount and rode away. I asked for a resurrection and she left the group. Luckily the Paladin was nice enough to help me back to my feet and I was able to obtain the heart.

I was understandably upset. I sarcastically thanked her for her helping me up. Yes, I didn't say it nicely but how good a mood would you have been if left to rot on the ground? Especially since my choice was seconded by the Paladin.

Her response to me? "I do not tolerate laziness so you do not deserve a rez". It was a lot of hostile words after that and things about it's no wonder I'm never helped with things; I got credit so what's the problem; she didn't even have the quest and helped out of the goodness of her heart. The words lazy and me being undeserving came up many times. I was accused of making her miss an enchant sale in Stormwind because I rushed her to help me. It was truely upsetting.

I don't see how I was the rude/lazy one in this situation.

• The fact I died was no fault of mine. The issue was a miscalculation on our Paladin friend on what was the bigger threat. Did she think I purposely died and didn't release to trick her into killing Tusker for me?
• I didn't invite her to the group nor did I in any way request her specifically to assist me. I came to help the Paladin. She could of stayed in Stormwind all evening as far I was concerned. She was a healy priest like me, it wasn't like I personally needed her skills.
• I don't see why I should have just given up rights to finish the quest myself when the two of them were able to finish the job without me.

Not to mention the long time I sat around killing with the intent to make it easier for them! I'm unsure if she just strayed from my killing path or if that elekk had just arrived but I had done quite a bit trying to make the area safe for them. Not once, but three times!

Perhaps I was just out of sorts but this really burned my bottom. Even if the tables had been turned, I wouldn't have just left her corpse lying on the ground.

I marched back to Shattrath swearing I would never offer to help anyone ever again. I know I don't really mean it though. What good is a Holy Priest if I'm not healing someone?

The Final Blue

Yesterday I used my badges to upgrade a ring and I really looked at all of my armor. I'm almost completely in epic items now! In fact, the lone blue item I have left is the Vengeance of the Illidari trinket. I have to figure out what is in my power to obtain to replace this final blue.

I'm not trying to brag. There are plenty who would look at my armor and still claim me to be a noob I'm sure. I'm quite in awe that I was able to do this with my casual play and raiding.

I can't say that all of the armor I have is top notch but it's a small victory for me for sure. I am lucky to have found a raid group that works with my schedule and just as lucky that there have been very few times I've had to miss raids.

We Interupt This Blog...

This news has nothing to do with World of Warcraft or my characters.

This is a purely exciting real life moment that I wanted to share. I just took a pregnancy test and it came out positive. I didn't trust myself so I made Keste look at it. I then took a picture and sent it to my mom to evaluate. It is definitely positive.

Keste and I are freaked out and excited. This will be our first for both of us as well as the first grandchild and great-grandchild for our families.