Black Cats!

Yes, I did it. I am just silly enough to spend my hard earned gold on something as ridiculous as a polymorph: black cat tome.

I've wanted it for a while and have been very good about avoiding the temptation. I helped fund Aratria and Gabi's quick flight skill which was a lot of gold. I'm still sending Goldy regular bits of cash to help with her artisan skills. Today was the day though. I had enough staring at the tome and just decided to go for it.

Was it worth it? Oh yeah! Check it out. I ran out and specifically found a sheep to turn into a cat just so I could giggle at myself. Totally worth it.

My WoW Is Broked!

I was online earlier doing my jewelcrafting daily and was about to fly off to get some fishing in before the raid this evening when my game crashed. When I tried to start it up again I got a critical error.

I tried restarting. I tried repairing. Nothing is working! Ahhhhhhh!

Keste is helping me try to fix it but nothing really is more frustrating than sitting around waiting for my game to get fixed. I just hope I don't miss the raid because of it.

/cry

Many Heroics for Aratria

My husband's death knight, Gabi, has been trying hard to gear up for raiding to possible take over the tanking his druid currently does. Since Stesha has gone shadow for a little healing vacation that has made my druid, Aratria, Gabi's bestest friend ever!

In the past two days I've done 7 or 8 heroics. I'm really not sure as I lost count after a while. Unfortunately Gabi hasn't been able to get the pieces he needs but I have been quite fortunate in collecting several new items for my collection.

What I'm most excited about is the War Mace of Unrequited Love. This was a huge upgrade from the silly mace I was toting about before. I also used my badges to buy a new offhand and idol. She's come a long way in a short span of time.

Full Naxxramas Clear

Congratulations to my raiding team "The Bananas" for their first successful clear of Naxxramas!

Quite the Weekend!

It has been quite the weekend for me thus far. A lot of interesting and exciting things have happened that I must report.

Let me start with one I've been obsessing about the last couple entries. The "Love is in the Air" achievement title. I did it and now known as Desdarii the Love Fool! Thank goodness too for I would of been severely upset if I missed this one due to the candy bag's strange lack of appearance. The only thing I didn't see (or haven't seen yet) is the permapeddle pet. I did however have 6 lovely black dresses to hand out to all my friends.

Rewind back to Friday evening. Geearthur and Stesha pulled together a group of friends and guildmates to enter Blackwing Lair. This is actually a dungeon I had never seen all the way through. We easily made it to Nefarian and saw him laid down. An excellent achievement under everyone's belt.

Saturday evening I was bitten by some sort of achievement bug and decided to get the Classic Dungeonmaster achievement. I had about 6 dungeons to run for the achievement and although I know for a fact I've done ones like Zul'Farrak and Scarlet Monastery, I did them again and cleaned that one out before calling it an evening.

Gwydion was kind enough to make Desdarii a Wispcloak of her very own and I'm very proud to say that Desdarii is back once again in all epic gear. I remember how excited I was when I did this back in the Burning Crusades. It's a very satisfying feeling to look so great and be proud of what you've earned.

This afternoon Geearthur and Stesha once again organized an old world raid. This time the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj. Goldy has visited this dungeon before but Desdarii had not. I was even the lucky duck who won Ossirian's head and was proclaimed for all to hear a hero of Sillithus!

Bag of Candies

From Kisirani:

The Bag of Candies had a fairly reasonable drop rate and was in no way bugged; however, due to the random aspect of the achievement, we discussed it and did hotfix an increase in last night. While I'm aware that some of you dislike the chance aspect of this achievement, it will remain in the meta.

And just to dispel all the superstition around it, no NPC has a greater chance of giving out candies. They're all equal.

Desdarii still hasn't had any luck obtaining even a single candy bag despite trying all last night and getting up early this morning. Hopefully an increase of the drop rate will help. I'm pretty annoyed that such a random feature is required for the title but I will keep trying and hope I have some luck.

Love Anxiety!

The “Love is in the Air” event began on Wednesday and I have of course been devoting 100% of my time to it. Keste says he even knows better than to ask if I want to do something else and has gone off to do his dailies without me.

I’ve got two days of the event completed now and I have to say I am doing pretty well. I am only 3 achievements away from my title.

• My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose
• The Rockets Pink Glare
• Be Mine!

The first one on the list I just need to get into a dungeon. I honestly have been working on hitting everyone with arrows and rose petals and tossing out friendship bracelets. I’m not too worried about getting my bouquet. I'm fairly certain a certain bear will help me go in and get what I desire.

However, the other two have got me starting to bite my nails a bit. I mean, this event is only around until Monday and I’ve only received 1 love rocket and it was from a quest. I haven’t even seen a bag of candies, yet. I’m really trying, too! I’m getting an adoration gift as often as possible. I’ve even taken to logging in before heading to work because it’s one more gift package I can get.

I have a back up plan for the love rocket. The Gift Giving quest hands out your choice of gifts upon completion and one of those is a set of 5 rockets. First time I did this quest I took the rose petals so I could finish Fistful of Love. That was obviously a mistake as I have plenty of those, I should have taken the rockets to begin with. If need be I can repeat the quest 2 more times and get the 10 rockets I need. It will be a pain but at least it’s do-able.

That leaves the Be Mine! achievement. From what I read it seems that most of the time you will need at least two of the bag of candies in order to get all 8 candies required. I’m getting nervous since I’m really trying and haven’t gotten any to date.

Hopefully I can get what I need. I would be seriously bummed if I missed this event due to bad luck with a drop rate and have to wait a whole year to try again! Wish me luck!

Good Night for Desdarii in Naxx

Apart from our little raiding troupe being able to clear three wings in one evening which is a new record for us, I had a great night gear wise. I was lucky enough to pick up two more pieces of Tier 7 giving me the set bonus I was hoping for. The pants and the shoulders dropped and while Keste could of used the shoulders he was very sweet and said I could have them. I also won a new helm (which is decidedly very ugly). This has increased my skills by leaps and bounds all in one evening.

Love Is In The Air!

The next Azeroth holiday event is just around the corner. The major cities all get the love bug and spend a couple days handing out friendship tokens and other gifts to each other. This year’s celebration takes place from February 11th through February 16th.

Things To Do

This holiday has a sort of Hallows End flair to it in that you will be interacting with innkeepers and get debuffs that limits your activity in the event for an hour. Instead of trick or treating you are handing out valentines to city guards.

You will start by speaking with an innkeeper in a major city such as Thunder Bluff or Ironforge and purchase from them:

• Love Tokens
• Cologne Bottle
• Perfume Bottle

The cologne is for use when handing out tokens to female NPCs, perfume is preferred by male NPCs. The NPCs you can hand tokens to are clearly marked with hearts over their heads.

There is a chance that the guard will not appreciate your token and will instead give you a “heartbroken” debuff. This debuff prevents you from handing out any tokens for one hour. The debuff can be removed if someone is kind enough to use a Unbestowed Friendship Bracelet on you.

If they are happy with the love token they will give you a pledge or a gift. On your first token you may receive the debuff “adored” and you will receive a Pledge of Adoration or a Gift of Adoration. If you already have the “adored” debuff you could get a Pledge of Friendship or a Gift of Friendship. You can continue to hand out tokens to as many guards as you like if you are adored.

The Pledge or Gift of Adorations will only be given to you when you do not have the “adored” debuff limiting these gifts to once an hour. It can contain a variety of items that, while aren’t particularly useful, are super fun to play with. Things like Romantic Picnic Basket, Lovely Black Dress, Love Rocket, Handful of Rose Petals, Silver Shafted Arrow, Bag of Candies, Unbestowed Friendship Bracelets and a Love Fool. It could also contain some items folks may find a bit more useful like the Box of Chocolates which will contain a variety of different chocolates with some pretty nice buffs. Most of these silly items are used in some sort of achievement. Very nice and fun items so make sure you do this at least once an hour especially if you are hoping for the achievement title.

The Pledge or Gift of Friendships you can get while under the “adored” buff will the pieces needed to build the Alliance and Horde Gift Collections. You need the loyalty pledges and the cards you will get from city guards. The civilians will give you the more homey item (bread, ale or woodcrafts). You combine all three of these itemsto make an Alliance or Horde Gift Collection for a quest. Apart from being a quest these collections are used in a popularity contest between the faction leaders. You will give your gift collection to Kwee Q. Peddlefeet near faction leader of your choice and the leader with the most gifts will have a cupid near that will buff players. You will also have your choice of some fun items and a box of chocolates for turning them in. This popularity contest has basically no impact on anything in the game and there are very few who actually pay attention to it. Most will simply turn the gift collection in to the closest leader.

Other fun things you could try for is trying to find a Bouquet of Red Roses from in old world dungeons. It is held in your off hand and acts exactly like a Handful of Rose Petals but with unlimited charges. Not exactly necessary but I know I want one. There are four NPCs that have the chance to drop it.

• Archivist Gallord in Stratholme (Human Side)
• Illyanna Ravenoak in Dire Maul
• Lorekeeper Pokelt in Scholomance
• Princess Moira Bronzebeard in Blackrock Depths

New this year is the Bouquet of Ebon Roses which is similar to the red version but showers your targets with black petals instead. It is not yet known but is expected to be a random drop in Northrend dungeons.

Tip! These items cannot replace the handful of petals needed in the achievements!

Update! 2/11/09
The bouquet of red roses is not listed on the WoW Events page for this holiday and it is rumored that they are no longer available. The Ebon Roses are listed as a possible drop off the following Northrend bosses. It does not appear that any of these dungeons must be completed on heroic for the roses.

• Maiden of Grief (Halls of Stone)
• Prince Keleseth (Utgarde Keep)
• Prince Taldaram (Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom)

Quests To Complete

• Gift Giving (Alliance / Horde)
  Turn in an Alliance or Horde Gift Collection to your favorite faction leader.
  


• Dearest Colara (Alliance) or Dearest Elenia (Horde)
  Each of the 3 major faction cities will have a NPC that is smitten by the same woman and wants you to deliver a note to her. You will only get this quest once even though there are three men all wanting you to do it. The Alliance’s Colara Dean is located in Stormwind. Elenia Haydon is in the Undercity. Both should be found near the city’s bank. There are no rewards that I can see mentioned for completing this. Its purpose is to introduce you to the Dangerous Love quest.
  


• Dangerous Love: Alliance / Horde
  This starts by the bank in Stormwind / Undercity where a fellow will ask you to bring a Stormwind Guard’s Card /Guardian’s Moldy Card to them. You do this simply by handing out love tokens to the city guards as mentioned above. It may take you a couple tries before you get the card.
  


• Aristan’s Hunch (A) / Fenstad’s Hunch (H)
  Bring a Cologne Bottle and a Perfume Bottle from an innkeeper to Morgan Pestel in Stormwind or Apothecary Zinge in the Undercity.
  


• Morgan’s Discovery (A) / Zinge’s Assessment (H)
  Speak with Morgan / Zinge again after handing in the bottles and he will send you back to Aristan / Fenstad. You will receive a box of chocolates, a handful of rose petals and a love rocket for your time.
  


• Tracing the Source (Alliance / Horde)
  Aristan / Fenstad will send you to speak with an innkeeper in the city.
  


• Tracing the Source (Alliance / Horde)
  The innkeeper will send you to find Evert Sorisam (A) or Mara Rennick (H). Both can be found in the tailor shop inside the city.
  


• The Source Revealed (Alliance / Horde)
  Evert / Mara will shoot you off to find Apothecary Staffron Lerent who can be found behind Ravenholdt Manor in Hillsbrad Foothills. He’s sort of a pain to get to especially if this is your first time hunting him down.
  
  
• A Bubbling Cauldron
  After completing The Source Revealed you can interact with the nearby cauldron to obtain your choice of very nice looking roleplay clothing. Completing this quest will grant you an achievement!

Blue Dinner Suit

Purple Dinner Suit

Red Dinner Suit

Lovely Blue Dress

Lovely Purple Dress

Lovely Red Dress

Achievements to Achieve

There are 14 achievements available to complete for this event. 12 are required to earn the title “The Love Fool”. I’ll first list the required twelve for the title and then go over the additional two.

• Heartmender
  Use a Unbestowed Friendship Bracelet on 20 players suffering from broken hearts.
  


• Flirt With Disaster (Alliance / Horde)
  This one honestly cracks me up. You are instructed to get your character completely smashed (just drink alcoholic beverages until it says you are completely smashed), throw a handful of rose petals an a specific NPC and then /kiss them. Horde are to petal and kiss Jeremiah Payson, Alliance chose Sraaz.
  


• Nearest and Dearest
  Complete the event quest line from Dangerous Love to Bubbling Cauldron.
  


• Nation of Adoration (Alliance / Horde)
  Obtain a Gift of Adoration from each of your factions capital cities. Hint: These come from civilians, not guards!
  


• Sweet Tooth
  Sample all of the assorted chocolates found in a box of chocolates. There are four types.
  


• My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose
  Obtain a Bouquet of Red Roses or Bouquet of Ebon Roses. I’ve already discussed these items above if you missed it!
  


• Shafted!
  Use Silver Shafted Arrow on 10 players.
  


• Lonely?
  You or someone must put down a Romantic Picnic Basket in Dalaran and have someone join you for the achievement. Simply click on the basket to join someone with a basket out.
  


• The Rockets Pink Glare
  Shoot off 10 rockets in 20 seconds. Sound at all familiar?
  


• Fistful of Love
  Similar to the Hallows End’s pumpkins on heads and Winter Veil’s snowflakes, this will have you throw Handful of Rose Petals on specific race/class combinations.
  


• Be Mine!
  Collect all the heart message candies listed in the achievement out of your Bag of Candies. If I remember correctly from past years these candies should be able to be traded so you can pass it one once you have credit for obtaining it. Before they really had no meaning but I remember sending Keste and “I LOVE YOU” one I got once.
  


• I Pitied the Fool
  You need to /pity a Love Fool in 5 specific areas in the world.

Additional Achievements:

• Lovely Luck Is On Your Side
  Obtain a Lovely Black Dress from a Gift of Adoration.
  


• Perma-Peddle
  Obtain a Truesilver Shafted Arrow to have the Peddlefeet cupid as a mini pet. Best place to get information on this would be from warcraftpets.com

Naxx Now Cleared to Kel'Thuzad

Our goal for this evening was to figure out the zombie chow kiting for Gluth. Maybe if we had time to finish clearing the Construct Quarter and poke our heads into the Military Quarter. We really need to start making some higher goals for ourselves.

After clearing out both quarters we decided to just "take a peek" at Sapphiron. Just to see our next nemesis. That turned into "lets just try the fight once" so we could get a feel for it before we left.

We ended up one shotting the great dragon. No gear changes, no preparation at all for the fight actually. Many of us didn't even know what the dragon's abilities were.

We were so proud of ourselves we screamed and congratulated ourselves on such a monumental task. Then we were facing Kel'Thuzad. And we again heard those voices. "lets just look at him" oh no "lets just try him once". We got him down really far. I don't remember the exact percentage but it was less than a quarter left of his health to go when things went badly. He called for help and our off tank (Keste) died in a frost tomb.

Still we have plenty of reasons to hold our heads high tonight. This was a successful night of raiding, indeed! Well done Bananas!

Fancy New Duds for Aratria

Just a little note to thank Earynn for making my Earthgiving Leggards and Earthgiving Boots. They fit perfectly and look very stylish. Oh and they're only about a million times better than what I was wearing. Thank you.

Also thank you to Stesha for sewing me up a Wispcloak! It was very much needed and appreciated!

My Friends Have Too Much Faith

As you may already be aware, I recently reached level 80 with my druid, Aratria. Now I am not new to the healing business. Aratria was originally a resto druid and actually leveled to 60 as restoration back in vanilla WoW days. I also have a healy priest that I’ve leveled to 70 as holy and now is trying her hand at discipline healing. Outside of WoW, I’ve been a healer in almost every game to compliment my husband’s tanking addiction.

That being stated Aratria just turned 80. Thanks to Keste's handiwork her gear isn’t horrible but I’m no way near great either. The last 17 levels or so she has been specced as a balance druid to help her solo her way through levels. When I switched to restoration at level 77, I got a bunch of new healy spells that I really didn’t know what they did exactly. Thanks to my husband and blogs like Resto4Life I’m figuring it out but I’m still very new at optimal “oh poop!” button spamming.

The short version of those two paragraphs would be: I’m no stranger to healing, I just haven’t had practice with the high end spells to feel really comfortable healing. I can do it but I need practice.

Last night I was tending banking matters on my priest when Gee messages me asking if I’d like to heal a heroic. I agreed to try letting them know it’s basically their funeral if they trust me to this. Gee voiced every confidence in me and tossed me an invite. Honestly, I was very excited to get to try healing heroics and nervous about messing up.

You want to know what heroic they wanted me to heal? Culling of Stratholme! Uh, this is not the type of practice I was hoping for guys.

My nervousness about this adventure just about tripled but they kept stating I’d be fine. They talked about all the virtues of Resto Druids and how I’ve healed well in the past on my priest. They really just had this blind faith that I could do it without any actual proof! This is a healing intensive very quick moving instance and I was less than confident.

It turns out I should listen to my friends more. Apart from poor Alethea getting insta-killed a few times I did fairly well. In fact, I died more than anyone else and I’m certain that’s just due to my gear being a bit less than the rest. We did so well we almost beat the 25 minute timer even though we weren’t trying. We had the Infinite Corruptor down to about 40k health before he walked through the portal and shattered our chances at the bronze drake. So close!

I still feel I need a little more practice and could definitely stand to pay a little bit more attention on my gear but this adventure has definitely been a moral booster for me.

Arachniphobia and Heigan

I wish I had the presence of mind to snap a few pictures but I was on pins and needles most of last evening. My ten man team returned to Naxxramas last night and first decided to clear out the Plague Wing.

I've mentioned before about my limited personal successes with the plague wing. First time through I got locked out of Noth. Every other time Heigan's stupid room would splat me on the floor despite my trying so hard to live.

Last night though was different. Last night was sweet sweet victory! Not only did I not get locked out of Noth (I hope that never happens again) but I lived through the entire Heigan encounter. Sure I had to use my warlock cookie and Stesha kindly threw me some regens but I made it. I lived and was standing when Heigan bit the dirt. Oh, it was delicious and I felt on top of the world.

After clearing Plague Quarter we decided we were going to try again for the arachnophobia achievement with the Spider Wing. This meant we had twenty minutes from the first boss death to the last boss death. We tried it last week and missed it by a couple minutes is all. It was stressful. It was hectic. But we did it and there was much rejoicing!

Before we left we also killed Patchwerk and Grobbulus and I picked up some new shoulders. Overall a super fun and very successful night.

Aratria Hits 80!

This weekend I decided to take my druid, Aratria, and finish the grind from 77 to 80. Keste made me a nice set of blue armor that sort of makes looks like a lizard or a naga or something. But it's still way better than the garbage I was wearing.

Next I need to figure out what I'm going to do with her. She's currently restoration specced. I really don't have plans with her past now. I'll find something for her!