Legendaries, Keys, and other Odds and Ends

First things first, I got my third legendary.

I swear I’ll stop! This is the last one!!

Anyways, I got the DPS cloak for my disc priest (she is also shadow) since I make extensive use of Atonement healing.  I have no plans at the current to buy the healer cloak, but if my heals start to really suffer, then I might pop the 8k gold for the healer cloak as well.

On another, semi related note, I have a quest! My quest, which I chose to accept, is to get the Ahead of the Curve achievement and down all of Normal SoO before 6.0 drops.  I’ve been trying all my avenues, but most have fallen through.  So now I turn to you all.  Does anyone need a healer or dps, horde or alliance to cover for one of your normal SoO raids? My ilvls are between 544 to 553 and I know all these classes like the back of my hand, so you wouldn’t have to carry me (too) much.  Please get in contact with me if you need me to fill in, or if you are willing to bring me along!

Now I know none of you really care about this, what you want to hear about is the beta key we are handing out.

Which is why I’m now going to give a lengthy article about the lack of dailies in WoD, and what that will mean for reputation gains.
Naw, I’m just messing with you all.

So as you all know, Yotaan and I have a beta key to give away.  I’ve spent the past week wracking my brains, trying to think of a fun but fair contest to give it away.  I’ve come up with two options, but I’m not completely happy with either.

The first would be a scavenger hunt of sorts.  I would hide some sort of riddle within this blog, in one of the older articles.  I would give you a clue to which article, and then the riddle would lead to another article, and another, and another, until you got to the last riddle.  Who ever replies in the comments of that article with the correct answer first would get the key (if you haven’t yet been approved for commenting, don’t worry I’ll pay attention to which comment comes first regardless of whether or not it’s approved).
Now, I don’t really like this one because it would be on a first come, first serve basis, and I know that many people won’t be free the moment this article drops.  To make it more fair, I guess I’d announce a couple of days ahead what time I’d post the article, so people would have a warning.  I like that this one is more of a thinking puzzle than a random drawing, but it’s a bit stacked against those in different timezones, and those who aren’t great at riddles.

The second idea I had, was borrowed from Kibler Bits‘ blog.  The idea was that I would host an in-game event, and the winner of that would get the key.  The event I wanted to try would be a race to the top of Ironforge.  Everyone would roll level one gnomes or dwarfs, so there would be no mounts or speed boosts (and if you do use one, you would be disqualified).  Then, at the same time and from the same spot, everyone would run up the mountain as fast as they can.  The first person to the top wins.
The problems with this idea are as numerous as the first one.  I am on US realms so any players from around the world would be unable to compete.  It would be even more tricky to plan with timezones, and many people may not be able to come because of the time.  While I don’t think any of you would cheat, that is still a risk, as well as interference from players outside of the race.  This challenge would be far more luck and WoW skill oriented, but with the pitfalls of timezones.

Instead of deciding by myself, I have decided to put this one up to you, the readers, and the beta keys hopefuls.  Which challenge would you rather do, or is more flexible for everyone involved?  And if you have any other ideas, by all means, put them in the comments! Voting will remain open until Friday.

Also, I was thinking of maybe providing a second and third place prize.  No, it wouldn’t be a beta key, but I was thinking of maybe doing a painting of their main toon (I dabble in some watercolor) or perhaps a Blizzard store pet of their choice.  But like the challenge itself, this one is up in the air.

An Aggregation of Answers

It seems there are a ton of blogger questionnaires going around right now.  Instead of answering them all individually (which would take a bunch of posts), Yotaan and Fussypants are going to answer them all right here, right now!

Cannot Be Tamed is reinventing itself as a source for information about all games, not just WoW.  In honor of this, Jasyla has created a questionnaire for all gamers to answer, as a way of discovering new bloggers. Her questions are below!

1)    When did you start playing video games?
Fussypants: When I was eight years old, after watching Yotaan play World of Warcraft for some time.
Yotaan:  Remember Battlezone?  Yep, I’m that old.
2)    What is the first game you remember playing?
Fussypants: World of Warcraft! My first memory of WoW was starting my draenei hunter Eightandgreat and exploring the world.  And fishing.  Lots of fishing.
Yotaan:  For home games, King’s Quest.  I distinctly remember having the worst time climbing the 3 screens of stairs to the clouds.  For video games not at home, my friends and I would spend entire Saturday afternoons at the video arcade, armed with pocketfuls of quarters.
3)    PC or Console?
Fussypants: PC all the way.  I can’t remember the last time I used the family Wii.
Yotaan:  Mac of course!
4)    XBox, PlayStation, or Wii?
Fussypants: Wii, because it’s the only one I’ve played on enough to judge.
Yotaan:  Where’s Atari?
5)    What’s the best game you’ve ever played?
Fussypants: Well, given as this whole blog is about it, I’d have to say World of Warcraft.
Yotaan: Yep, I agree with Fussypants, WoW.
6)   What’s the worst game you’ve ever played?
Fussypants: I haven’t played a game (yet) where I was just like ‘Wow, this sucks’.  But I guess Guild Wars 2.  I was gifted the game by a friend, played it for an hour, got bored and never went back.
Yotaan: Dragon’s Lair – the silly animated classic arcade game.
7)   Name a game that was popular/critically adored that you just didn’t like.
Fussypants: Angry Birds! I found that game irritating, annoying, and really dumb!  It was theoretically a game of physics and angles, but it would bug out so much, and they added so many different birds and crap that it was just foolish.
Yotaan:  Right now, it’s Threes – I just don’t get it.
 8)   Name a game that was poorly received that you really like.
Fussypants: I’m not sure on this one, but the newest Sim City? There was a lot of flack about the online aspect of the game (which I honestly didn’t care about) in the reviews, but not much on the game itself.  I enjoyed it tremendously though!
Yotaan: Sorry, can’t come up for answer for this.
9)    What are your favourite game genres?
Fussypants: MMORPGs and sandboxes all the way.
Yotaan: MMORPGs.
10)    Who is your favourite game protagonist?
Fussypants: Gee, this one is a hard one. I would say Jaina Proudmoore, but then she went all crazy and stuff.  Hrm, probably a tie between Wrathion and Moira Bronzebeard.  Hold on, scratch that! Bowser.
Yotaan:  Lady Sylvanas
11)    Describe your perfect video game.
Fussypants: Wow, this one deserves a post of its own! My perfect video game would have an epic and layered story that you would get to play through and change as you go.  There would be three faction vying for dominance, and a ton of other groups on the sidelines.  It would be sandbox-y, but not uncontrollably so.  For example, if someone killed one faction’s king (which would be hard to do) then someone else would become king.  It would be an MMORPG, and you would have to work together with other players to change the game world.
…In other words, nigh impossible!
Yotaan:  I like Fussypant’s game, I’d play that!
12)    What video game character do have you have a crush on?
Fussypants: Erm, well… given as that I’m a teenaged girl, its kinda obvious.  Anduin Wrynn. (*blushes*)
Yotaan:  Ha!  No way!
13)    What game has the best music?
Fussypants: World of Warcraft without a doubt, followed by Zelda.  I love the epic orchestral stuff that Russell Brower has been coming up with for WoW, and Zelda music is amazing too.  I could listen to that all day.
Yotaan:  I actually have WoW music and have listened to it.  Favorite is Grizzly Hills.
14)    Most memorable moment in a game:
Fussypants: Ok, this is a doozie!  I’ll pick three from three different games!
The first moment is pretty simple: Beating New Super Mario Bros for the first time.  I spent months working up to that final castle, when Bowser fell for the last time, it was a pretty awesome feeling.
The second moment is when I decided to make a city in Sim City with as much crime and pollution as I could.  I was doing this with a friend, and we were laughing our heads off at my feeble attempts to attract crime.  We ended up with a casino town with no police stations, completely polluted ground water (people were leaving left and right), and absolutely no crime what so ever.  Obviously, we were doing something wrong!
The last moment is from WoW.  I was in the Jade Temple instance leveling my mage.  No one else in the group knew the dungeon but me (it was early on into MoP).  But instead of charging in for an inevitable wipe, the group ask me for instructions.  So I gave a run down of every boss before we fought them, and gave advice on how to handle certain adds, and what to CC (remember, this was the beginning of MoP so this sort of stuff mattered).  We slowly but surely made our way through, everyone being patient with each other when we made mistakes.  It was the most supportive, most friendly, most positive group I think I’ve every had the pleasure of being in, in my entire LFG career!
Yotaan:  I have so many memories, from discovering games to trying out WoW.  My best memories are sharing game time with my kids.

Shot from the game. Still gives me the shivers!

15)   Scariest moment in a game:
Fussypants: Have you ever heard of the app game Limbo? Basically in the game, your this boy who is trying to save your little sister.  Only, you’ve gotta overcome obstacles in your way, and you have no powers other than jumping.  And a lot of times, if you fail to do so, you die pretty horribly. The entire game is in black and white, and the music is insanely creepy, making it a very atmospheric game.  The scariest moment was when I was trying to get beyond this giant spider, that when you got too near would stab you.  I had figured out how to trap it’s legs, and had trapped all of them.  Or so I thought.  So I ran up to the spider, expecting to be able to walk right by and continue on. SPLERCH! The spider’s eight leg shot through my avatar’s chest with this horrible noise, and I died.  It was just so sudden, and so terrifying that I actually screamed as it happened.  Needless to say, I have not played that game in a while.
Yotaan:  I first leveled on a PvP server in WoW.  I was in constant fear of ganking.  Scary but thrilling too.
 16)   Most heart-wrenching moment in a game:
Fussypants: Wrathgate from WoW.  To be that close to victory, and then fail due to a horrible betrayal is really upsetting, doubly so for how well made that cinematic was.
Yotaan:  I really can’t think of time that I had a heart wrenching moment.
 17)   What are your favourite websites/blogs about games?
Fussypants: I love WoW Insider for the great community and up to date information.  Also, WoWhead is a fantastic resource for pretty much all things WoW as well.  Then there are the numerous blogs I read.  Currently, I’m reading a ton from Lockandbolt, Gnomecore, and Blog of the Treat, though I do read countless more.
Yotaan:  I love to listen to podcasts, Convert to Raid, The Instance, and Angry Chicken.
 18)   What’s the last game you finished?
Fussypants: I generally play games that you can’t finish, so Kirby: Mass Attack was the last game I truly completed through and through.
Yotaan:  Plants Vs Zombies
 19)   What future releases are you most excited about?
Fussypants: Warlords of Draenor!!
Yotaan: WoD!
 20)   Do you identify as a gamer?
Fussypants: Absolutely.  In fact, I’m one of the few girls my age that do, so I’m the only ‘gamer gal’ at my school currently.
Yotaan:  Not as such, gaming is a part of my life.
 21)   Why do you play video games?
Fussypants:  For fun  mostly.  I love video games; they are entertaining, they can have great stories, they are fantastic time passers, and I meet fantastic people because of them.  Now, I also play video games so that I can write about them!
Yotaan:  For fun and as a distraction.

Over at Mr & Mrs WoW a plea has gone out to the community.  We need to stop the negativity that’s overshadowing the Warcraft community.  In order to achieve this, Mr & Mrs WoW have asked the community to list three things that we do in WoW that we love.  Yotaan and Fussypants blogged their answers below!

Fussypants: It’s no secret that I love raiding and healing, but for this I want to choose some more unusual and out of the ordinary things to do.  Without further ado, my list!
1) Anyone who has read blog has noticed the tab on the top saying RAOU.  This stands for Random Acts of Uberness.  Basically, I collect all the moments when someone I don’t even know does something awesome for me, without asking for a reward or anything. I’ve written quite a few posts on this, and have gotten some submissions from other people too!
But, as well as collecting when these moments have happened to me, I also love to do this to other people as well!  It’s the awesomest feeling to go up to a random stranger, and give them several Frostweave bags and a hundred or so gold.   Or take over and lead an LFR that’s falling apart.  Or compliment players that are especially helpful or good at their role. Every time I play, I try to hand out a RAOU to at least one person!
2) I’ve gotten to the point in my game play, that there’s not much more of the typical stuff that I want to try.  I’ve done raids to death, I’ve dungeoned, I’ve PvP’d, I’ve run old content, I’ve leveled every class I wanted to 90; there not much else to do.  So, I’ve taken to challenging myself in more unusual ways.  Things such as low-level PvP wearing only a Lovely Dress or healing dungeons as a feral druid are super fun ways to past the time.  My personal favorite it a game I play with my guild.  I call it the Portals Game.
So I will be on my mage, and I will create every portal that I can in one huge pile.  Then, I will pick a destination city.  My guildies will randomly click a portal from the pile.  If they find themselves in the destination city, I will give them 50g.  If not, they must pay me 5g.  It’s a great game to play at the end of a guild event, and it’s easy and funny!
3) I have three different healers, two ranged dps, and a kinda awful feral druid.  The one thing missing from that list was tank, and in response I rolled a protection warrior.  So, my last fun thing to do in WoW is try out new roles!  Tanking has been challenging, at times stressful, but completely new to me.  It’s like this little pocket of the game that I’d never touched before, and honestly it’s been a blast!  I tried out healing last expansion doldrums, and that soon became my favorite role, so trying new is always a good idea!

Yotaan:
1)  I still love to PvP – I can’t wait until Ashran comes out, I think it will really enjoy it.
2) I really enjoy finding new things I haven’t seen before and WoW has so many nooks and crannies to explore.
3) I love playing with my daughter (and other kids too!)

It’s the end of the expansion, and Gnomecore has some questions about Pandaria as we move on to Warlords of Draenor.
1. Is Pandaria worth replaying if you must level your alts here?
Fussypants: Yes, I definitely think so! I have the feeling that I will continue to discover things about the continent that I missed as I level characters through to get beyond it.  The music, zone atmosphere, and story of MoP is well crafted and interesting, and I really enjoyed questing through it four times over.  And if I was still interested and engaged alt number four, I will most likely stay the same for alts five, six, seven and beyond!
Yotaan:  Actually, I will probably treat Pandaria as I have with Cata, Northrend, and Outland.  Just passing through…

2. Compared to previous expansions, what place in the row will Pandaria take? And which expansion is best for leveling?
Fussypants: Pandaria is currently my favorite expansion.  I started raiding, started really healing, and met a ton of people this expansion, so I will probably be most nostalgic about this expansion.  That being said, I have no clue how Warlords will be, so WoD could possibly overtake Pandaria as my favorite, once all is said and done!
I think Wrath is the best for leveling because everyone is OP, so you blow through it very fast.  At the same time, the storylines are among my favorite, and the zones incredibly atmospheric.  Pandaria is a close second, only because it takes so much time.
Yotaan:  I think it will be my favorite, the scenery is amazing and the tone is not threatening overall.

3. Which Pandarian storylines you will do when you level up through it again? Which you definitely won’t?
Fussypants: I will definitely go through Kun-Lai Summit, if only for the Grummlepack.  I’ll also hit Krasarang Wilds and Townlong Steppes, since I didn’t quest either place very much.  I will definitely be avoiding most of the Jade Forest and the beginning parts of Valley of the Four Winds, because I have done both to death.  All in all though, the Pandaria quests have great replay value, so I wouldn’t mind doing them all again as I level 85-90.
Yotaan:  Sadly, I’ll probably just dungeon my way through…   I will be too eager for Warlords!

Yotaan and Fussypants would highly recommend taking part in all or any of these blog projects.  The WoW community is a fabulous lot, and we think everyone’s voice should be heard!

The WoD Live Premiere!

After a long and action filled vacation, Yotaan and I have returned! Those of you who follow us on Twitter already know this, but Yotaan and I got a special treat on Thursday of our vacation.  It turns out, we were within driving distance of L.A. on August 14.  What was special about that day? Well, I’ll just point you to the image above.

Yes, Yotaan and I were able to go to the live cinematic showing for Warlords of Draenor! It was complete happenstance, and completely awesome!

The day we arrived at our vacation destination, Yotaan mentioned to me that we would be near LA on the 14th.  I had not connected the two events, until he explained to me what that meant.  We were in California and free to go to the WoD cinematic premiere live.  Suffice to say, I freaked out.  I begged Yotaan to take me, explaining how once in a life time this opportunity was.  I will probably never be able to go to BlizzCon for a number of reasons, so this was the closest I’d get to seeing something like this live.  Yotaan discussed this with my mom, and eventually said yes. We would be going to the Ace Theater on Thursday.

The week flew by until Wednesday night was upon us.  Yotaan and I mapped out the quickest route to the theater and got all prepared to go once we got up the next day.  Then bright and early Thursday morning, banana breakfast in hand, we were off.

This was the backside of the line that no one took pictures of but me

We arrived at the theater at about 6:30 in the morning, a full two hours before the doors opened.  But already, the line was MASSIVE.  It stretched all the way around the block so that we were on the backside of the building.  Apparently people had been camping out over night, and one dude had been there since the day before.

I went on a mission to walk the entire line, since we would be there for a bit.  I set out, Yotaan saving my spot, and hiked around the whole block.  It took me about ten minutes to get to the front and back while walking at a brisk pace. I saw people of all backgrounds, ethnicity, heights, genders, and ages as I walked around.  It was truly awe-inspiring to think that one video game, World of Warcraft, had brought them all together.  There were families all wearing WoW shirts and old people shouting ‘For the Horde!’ at all those around them.  There were clusters of young men all babbling excitedly about the game and one girl done up in fangs and face paint waving around a horde flag.

After walking to the front of the line, I quickly made my way back to my dad again.  We stood in line and chattered with the people around us for a bit.  I was checking my Twitter periodically, to see if I could meet up with any famous people (I actually saw Rygarius, but didn’t realize it was him until afterwards).
About half an hour passed, and I decided to head out again, this time in search for Olivia Grace to get a WoWhead bracelet.  I got halfway to the front when Yotaan called me frantically, telling me to run back to our spot.  I dashed back, and was given an orange bracelet with the WoD Warcraft logo on it.  At the time, we had no idea what the bracelet meant, but were stoked all the same.

The Blizzard bracelet is above and the WoWhead one is below

The line moved up a few times, and then a woman with a British accent whipped around the corner, and asked the people behind us if they’d like a photograph.  I realized with a start, that she was Olivia Grace.  I dashed after her, and asked her (using the magic word) for a WoWhead bracelet.  She only had one left, which was the one she had on her wrist.  Ms. Grace didn’t skip a beat; she took the bracelet off her own wrist, and handed it to me! I thanked her heartily, and she again dashed off to do more Olivia Grace work.

It was now about 8:30, and the line was started to inch its’ way forward.  Yotaan and I didn’t know if we would get in or not, but the event had already been a fantastic success.  We turned one corner, and then another until we could see the front of the building. The Ace Theater entrance was ahead of us, and the hype was real.

There were some people at the side of the line, beta keys already in hand.  They told us that they had been too far back in the line to get in, so they were given beta keys and an apology, and had been asked to go.  I felt bad for them, but at the same time excited that we hadn’t been told that.  We could have a chance at getting in.  The line  moved up, and up, and up, until we were under the Ace Theater sign.  We showed the door dude our wristbands, and we were in!

According to the doorman’s conversation with another guy, we were in the 700s of the people allowed in.  But Yotaan and I believe that we were later than that, due to the ground floor being completely filled up and the balcony seats almost as well.  We quickly found seats, and settled down to wait.

Our view from the balcony

First and foremost, the theater was beautiful.  Ornate stonework adorned every wall, and two gorgeous murals were painted on the sides.  The whole theater was cast in a ethereal blue light and down on the stage a huge screen blazed the Blizzard logo.  I’ve been to a few theaters in my day, but this one outshined them all.

For about half an hour, the crowd murmured with conversation, anticipation buzzing in the air.  Then, the lights changed to an orange-red, and Warcraft music began to play.  The crowd cheered and sat up, but the show was not set to start for another 10 minutes.

Ten minutes flew by, and a dude sauntered on stage.  The crowd went quiet, then roared, and the show was on!

Those of you watching the live stream know what went on, but I’ll provide a brief summary for those who weren’t.  There was an interview with Holinka and Hazzikostas with great information on Ashran and the pre-expansion event, and then a video detailing the game play of WoD.  After this, Metzen walks on, and introduces the Lords of War video.  That is also shown.  Finally, the cinematic starts.

As it begin, there is a tremendous cheer.  Shortly after, we fall silent, and watch.  The sound it booming through the theater, and everyone’s eyes are on the screen.  We watch enthralled until the very end, when the WoD logo is shown.  An even more tremendous cheer rings through the air, the release date is shown, and the event was over!

E-E-E-EPIC POSTER S-S-S-SWAG

Yotaan and I slowly made our way out of the theater, flowing with the crowds.  Upon leaving, we got two epic posters, and two beta keys. And stay tuned, we might be giving that extra key away in the next week or so.

All in all, that was the most fantastic, video game filled, nerdy-licous, incredible morning I’ve ever had.  The whole thing was like a mini taste of Blizz Con.  It was fantastic to be surrounded by people who all played WoW and who all felt passionate about it.  The hype was real and the cinematic was so powerful and well done.  That event was EPIC!

10 Years, 10 Questions

Forward: Yotaan and I may be on vacation, but there’s no vacation from blogging. 😛

So I saw this on the internets, and I just had to contribute. ALT:ernative Chat is attempting to make a documentary about World of Warcraft players of EPIC PROPORTIONS! She is asking everyone who plays WoW or has played WoW in the past to answer 10 questions (as it is WoW’s 10th anniversary coming up). Then, rounding up all of the answers, ALT:ernative Chat will create a series of six 30 minute podcast documentaries containing the best responses. I highly encourage you all to take the time to take part in this documentary; you will find all the info you need here. Without further ado, here are mine and Yotaan’s answers!

1. Why did you start playing Warcraft?

Fussypants: A little back story before I answer this one.

When my dad and I first heard of the game, I was very young (about 7). A family friend was telling my dad about the game, calling it the best video game he had ever played. I had never played a video game before, so I had absolutely no idea what this friend was talking about. At that point, I didn’t really have an interest. My dad got the game and began playing.

At first (I didn’t know this at the time, but I have learned this as I’ve grown older) he played when I was in bed so I never even saw WoW. Eventually, my dad let me watch him play. So, every time he would log on, I’d be right there, waiting to sit on his lap and watch. I remember being enraptured by WoW. It was like a movie, only my dad could decide what the characters did. It was an entire world in that screen, and I was incredibly curious as to what that world held.

I began to ‘help’ my dad play by mashing the space bar as fast as I could, and sometimes moving the character around. Then, I asked my dad if I could create a character for myself. Thus was born a lifelong career of World of Warcraft.

So I guess you can say I started playing because I saw my dad playing, and I wanted in!

Yotaan: I would like to add even more backstory:

When I was in middle school, I had a group of friends who played AD&D. Now, only the old folks reading this know what that is! I had a cleric who I played steadily the entire time. I have a lot of great memories of that time, drawing pictures of the character, imaging how the gear looked, and looking forward to the next dungeon we would run. I even recall the sex change he (then she) had, by sitting on a chair!

So, fast forward to 2007 and I learned about WoW from the family friend and it sounded like playing AD&D. I had missed the whole MMORG emergence due to work and family life, so it was brand new to me, that you can play online in a fantasy world with other people, lots of other people.

Tried it once, and I was hooked!

2. What was the first ever character you rolled?

Fussypants: The first character I rolled was a draenei hunter named Eightandgreat. Each part of that character was carefully thought out, as only a child would. I spent over an hour designing that character, agonizing over her hair and face. Draenei was because they were the ‘prettiest’ of the races, in my little kid mind. Hunter because I could get a pet who would follow me around where ever I went. How cool was that? And the name Eightandgreat was because I was eight years old at the time, and I considered myself pretty great!

Yotaan: A dwarf hunter, because in the vanilla cinematic, that dwarf with the bear looked so cool. He lasted all of a day. I don’t even remember his name.

3. Which factors determined your faction choice in game?

Fussypants: Honestly, I don’t think I got the idea of ‘factions’ as a kid, and I just picked the most visually appealing character. I stuck with Alliance though because as a kid I always wanted to be the ‘good guys’ races. Horde was evil you know!

Yotaan: Don’t the “bad guys” always get the most fun? That’s part of the reason I went Horde after the dwarf hunter. Additionally, the friend who introduced me to the game had a belf warlock, so I was leveling a troll shaman to play with him.

4. What has been your most memorable moment in Warcraft and why?

Fussypants: This is a hard one. I’m stuck between three different moments!

The first was when a good friend of mine started playing. A different friend has gotten him to start the game, but I was the one to really play with the guy. Some of the noob things he did were hilarious! He only played blonde blood elves and to give you an idea about his character names, ‘Nobananas’ was one he took pride in. Watching him march into a BG, a dress wearing fish wielding rogue was one of the funniest things I have seen in a while. So that whole time period while he was learning the game was a ton of fun.

The second moment was when I first joined my current guild. I had just created Fussypants (the namesake of this blog) to play with my no longer noob friend, when he invited me to his guild. I was welcomed warmly by everyone online. Someone from the guild personally flew me to Stormwind, gave me one hundred gold, and several netherweave bags, before promising that if I ever needed help, the guild would be there. This sort of thing had never happened to me before, and I was floored. Needless to say, I’ve stayed with that guild and am now an officer!

The last moment was more recent than the first two. I was in the Jade Temple instance leveling my mage. No one else in the group knew the dungeon (it was early on into MoP) but me. But instead of charging in for an inevitable wipe, the group asked me for instructions. So I gave a rundown of every boss before we fought them, and gave advice on how to handle certain adds, and what to CC (remember, this was the beginning of MoP so this sort of stuff mattered). We slowly but surely made our way through, everyone being patient with each other when we made mistakes. It was the most supportive, most friendly, most positive group I think I’ve ever had the pleasure of being in, in my entire LFG career!

Yotaan: I always enjoy playing with Fussypants; she is one of my main motivators to keep playing. We coordinate our mains and alts in many ways and that keeps me engaged. I love her excitement and enthusiasm. I have the best memories of when she was starting out, and I have too many to list here.

My two best memories before Fussy started both were in a BC era. One of them was when I was leveling my troll shaman (then named Yotin) in Tanaris. A request over chat came up, looking for more for a dungeon run. I was free and joined. Sadly, there were no tanks or healers. I was elemental, and another shammy was enhance and there was a hunter and a mage, plus one other DPS. We decided to go for it, with me as heals, and the enhance shammy as a tank. It was awesome! This was very unusual in those days to try this without the proper specs. We barely made it but it really felt like a true challenge and the group was amazing. My other great memory is a Warsong Gulch battleground. Off in the corner, again on Yotin, I faced off against a human paladin. We were so evenly matched in skills that the 2 of us personally battled for what seemed like 5 minutes. Both of us did great saves, interrupts, and cc’s, and, finally, I lost. He /bowed to me and I could tell the other player had enjoyed it as much as me. For the rest of the battleground, we did not attack each other out of respect.

5. What is your favourite aspect of the game and has this always been the case?

Fussypants: My favorite aspect of the game is by far raiding, especially healing in raids. But, since I only started in raiding in MoP, that hasn’t always been the case. Before I loved raiding, I think leveling was my favorite thing to do. And when I was really little, fishing and exploring.

Yotaan: Leveling and battlegrounds are my fave in general. I am really looking forward to the PVP changes in WoD because currently I do not the PvP as it stands. Before I started playing routinely with Fussypants, I was on a PvP server, which I think is more exciting, cause you never know if a gank is around the corner. Plus, I admit, I like the lore.

6. Do you have an area in game that you always return to?

Fussypants: Most of my characters hang out in Ironforge when managing bank, AH and profession business. I wouldn’t say I always return there, but I do hang out there a lot.

Yotaan: Since I have switched from Horde to Alliance, I don’t really have a spot to go back to now. It would have been Ogrimmar.

7. How long have you /played and has that been continuous?

Fussypants: Oh dear, dare I look?

Wait, I’m on vacation, I can’t! Ha ha, let’s just say a lot for the time being (I’ll update this when I get back).

And yes that is continuous, as I have never taken a break from WoW

Yotaan: Dude, no way will I ever check /played – I have played continuously since 2007.

8. Admit it: do you read quest text or not?

Fussypants: When I was little, I did all the time as that was how I improved my reading skills. I kinda fell out of that habit over the years, and tend to skim. But with MoP, I tried and successfully started reading quest text again! So the answer would be yes!

Yotaan: Always – have done so from the beginning.

9. Are there any regrets from your time in game?

Fussypants: YES! You know that beloved character from a couple questions above? Eightandgreat? Well, I deleted her! To make room for a worgen warrior nonetheless! If there would be one thing I’d like to go back and change, that would be it.

Yotaan: I have no true regrets, but I do miss being on a PvP server.

10. What effect has Warcraft had on your life outside gaming?

Fussypants: World of Warcraft has had a truly enormous impact on my life. As I have said before, I’ve grown up in this game. I’ve gotten better at reading, pretty much learned to types, and learned how to talk to people of all different ages. I’ve learned how to deal with trolls, and how to thank those who are nice. I’ve learned how to prioritize my time (I used to have little books filled with information of who to play, for how much times, and what I would do in that time) and the basics of supply and demand (AH for ya). I’ve met amazing and famous people, learned how to work as a team, and eventually learned out to be a leader. And, Warcraft has led me to blogging about it. So in a way, Warcraft has helped me to become a better writer too! I have really grown up in Azeroth!

Yotaan: I would have never thought that a video game would impact my family life in such a way. Fussypants is not the only household member to play beside me. And, doing a little writing in a blog about it too never, ever crossed my mind. Plus, it is exciting to see Fussypants grow and change!

11. BONUS: Would you be comfortable being interviewed?

Fussypants: Sure!

Yotaan: Wait a minute Fussypants, did you ask me if it’s okay to be interviewed? Hmmm, I think it would be fine.

 

So there you have it! Probably far more than you’d ever want to know about Yotaan and me!

WoD Cinematic Supposition

Created by the magnificent Scott Leyes

Since the cinematic for Warlords of Draenor isn’t due to come out till August 14, there’s still plenty of time to speculate on what it will contain.  Will it be a montage like BC? Will it contain a story line like Mists?  Will there be gnomes??  Inspired by an article on Wow Insider, I’ve decided to write up what I would like the Warlords cinematic to be.  And hey, after the cinematic’s done, I can go back to see just how close or far away I was.

It would start with a black screen, and some serious sounding voice speaking about old stories becoming new.  Then, the black would morph into the sky over the Blasted Lands, and the camera would pan down to that camp in front of the Dark Portal.  Guards and whatnot would be milling about, some playing cards, others napping, generally not paying attention.  The camera would stop with a view of the camp, and the Dark Portal as the background.

Suddenly, the Dark Portal would start swirling, and it’s color would change from green to red.  A gnome mage would notice, and she would start to stand up in confusion.  The screen would cut to only the portal, and it would finish swirling and changing.

Then a huge flaming boulder would shoot out of it, crashing into the middle of the camp.   Whatever music that was playing in the background would cut.  Now everyone’s eyes would be first on the boulder, and then on the portal.  People would be tensing and falling into almost battle positions.

With a tremendous roar, orcs would pour through the portal and begin attack.  A quick battle scene would go on, and then the camera would cut back to the gnome mage from before.  She would be casting a spell, and right as the orcs got close to her, she would vanish in a flash of arcane magic.

Now, the scene would change, and the proud towers of Stormwind would be shown.  There would be a brief clip of the gnome mage telling Varian about the attack, and Varian looking pissed.  The screen would again cut to another view, and this time it would be the various faction leaders with entourages charging across the Blasted Lands.  They would come to the Portal, and find the guards’ camp destroyed, but a few battered looking guards still lived.  These guards would point to the portal, and again the camera would focus on the now red portal.

Now the camera would focus on the steps in front of the portal, where Varian, Vol’jin, and the gnome would be standing (the other faction leaders would be behind them).  The gnome would slowly step through portal, and we would now see her in Draenor.

A massive amount of orcs, orc machinery, and an impressive fortress would dominate the landscape.  These orcs would notice the gnome right away, and would charge at her weapons raised. (The music would start building like crazy.)  She would raise her hand to cast a spell when the music would cut and…

Warlords of Draenor Logo!

(Yotaan thinks the cinematic would be the exact same except that it would be a troll mage.  And yes, said troll would still go to Stormwind to tell Varian.  Don’t ask.)

So what do you guys think the cinematic should be like?

Addendum: Yotaan and I are going on vacation, so we will be AFK for a little over a week.  See you when we get back!

An Announcement about an Announcement for an Announcement

For those who don’t already know, Blizzard has announced the day that they will announce the day that WoD drops.  Confused?  Just wait till August 14th and all will become clear.  Also, the Warlords cinematic is due to come out that day as well, so whoopie!  Mists of Pandaria is officially coming to a close.

Fussypants: MoP might be reaching it’s final hours, but I have a ton to do before the next expansion drops!  My druid and my priest both are working on the legendary cloak; my druid is at the Valor portion (ugh) and my priest is finishing up with Runestones.  I definitely think I’ll be able to get the priest’s cloak by WoD, but I’m not so sure about the druid’s.

On the tanking front, my warrior is sailing through Wrath right now, and totally enjoying the increased ease of tanking that comes with level 68-79.  I’ve been able to level her blacksmithing and mining as she goes, keeping it at or above her level.  Also, who knew how entertaining archaeology was?

I’ve created a bunch of transmog sets, so I’m thinking of going out to farm a bunch for all that soon.  Other than all this, I’ve just been doing what ever strikes my fancy.  I’m not really in much of a rush because most of this won’t matter come WoD.

Also, my release date prediction is October 28.  LET THIS BE SHOUTED FROM THE MOUNTAINS THAT FUSSYPANTS THINKS THE RELEASE DATE WILL BE OCTOBER 28! AND IF SHE IS WRONG, LET US MOCK HER INCESSANTLY… ok, maybe not that last part, but yeah, this is my guess.

Yotaan:  So, originally, I had big plans to get the legendary cloak on my worgen warlock.  But that turned out to be boring, even with the random Gaze of the Black Prince & Heart of the Valorous buffs.  Naturally, I created a new character and am leveling a forsaken rogue.  He is on the server that hosts the raid team Fussypant’s has been been blogging about.  I have to say it, low level rogues in heirlooms are OP.   They are glorious!

This whole transmog thing that Fussypants does makes no sense to me – seems like a lot work for pretty pixels….

Now to the important bit.  Fussypants is completely wrong, of course.  The release date is not important.  What is important is when patch 6.0 drops.  The pre-patch to WOD where everything changes, when the squish squishes us, when Mythic raiding arrives, when pre-patch events occur.  This will be when new stuff finally happens!

Pre-patch day is … September 9th!

Yotaan has spoken!

Drop mic.

 

So when do you all think the expansion will drop?