Link Roundups – A Blast From The Past!

Yeehaw! It’s a link roundup! (This is still a WIP, though now that I’ve posted it, I’m likely never to finish it!)

The past month or so, that is. At any rate, let’s dig in!

This time the topics include an epic RP Storyline, some Auction House stories, thoughts on Spending Cash in the cash shop and elsewhere, some thoughts on the Past, Future, and the Present (of WoW).

RP Storyline

I don’t know if you keep up with the Feathermoon crew much (I haven’t of late, to tell the truth), but Too Many Annas has a nice short with our good Headmaster Arrens in it. It made me quite curious to find out what happens next, and luckily I got to read on, as seen in the follow-up stories in this mega-storyline:

• Old Enemies: The Magical Rogue by Lorelei. (Also found on Anna’s site.)
• Old Enemies: Demonology 101 — Introduction to Disappearances by Sarcanna de Roux.
• Old Enemies: Intellect, Reason, and The Self by Order of the Rose’s Hinote.
• Old Enemies: Trailing Off (Part 1) by Order of the Rose’s Shalia and Hinote.

Hopefully there will be more soon!

Auction House

Phat Lewt’s Gold Blog points out that TSM 2.0 is in open beta. I didn’t even know there was a 2.0! I think I’ll stick with the old fashioned TSM for now until more info is out on TSM 2.0, because at least I know how it works!

Power Word: Gold gives the rundown on how iLvl jumps work and how you can profit from them. Full of pretty graphs!

Spending Cash

The Grumpy Elf has some thoughts on WoW, the new cash shop model, and if it will ever go F2P.

If Navimie from The Daily Frostwolf was in charge of the WoW Cash Shop, this is what she would add (or remove).

The Daily Frostwolf also reports that one of their guildies has actually bought the transmog helms from the ‘pet store’. They actually look pretty nice on a Tauren, as seen in the post. But… I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be paying $15 for them. Maybe if they go on sale…

And for a slightly different take on how you can spend your money, Cold’s Gold Factory reported way back in July that the most recent WoW TCG expansion has all the loot cards! Maybe it’s time I get back into that hobby? Maaaaybe.

A Look To The Future

WoW Rare Spawns gives us a preview of … well, rare spawns! In 5.4 on the Timeless Isle, apparently. Neat!

In a look at futures that could maybe (possible) be, Variant Avatar suggests Blizzard make guilds more appealing. A compelling argument, with good improvement ideas to boot. (Yes, I would like to create my own guild quests!)

Herding Cats writes a little on the future (or lack of future) of MMO blogging. Not specifically WoW-related, but this is a blog about an MMO (or two, or three), so it’s a good read for you bloggers out there.

A Look To The Past

Tome of the Ancient prefers the places in Azeroth that haven’t changed. I must say, I’m rather adverse to change as well. But I haven’t even touched most of the Cataclysm leveling zones yet… (not that surprising, knowing my leveling record).

Power Word: Gold got a rare drop and asks if you remember a time you got an exceptionally rare item? I know I do; it was a fancy purple ring I got in a Scarlet Monastery run that freezes enemies that attack you. She’s outgrown it, obviously, but I’m pretty sure I’ve kept it in her bank.

WoW In The Present

Now with sub-categories: Just Playing and Raiding (which I suppose is a subform of playing but nevermind that!)

Just Playing

The Grumpy Elf talks about soloing WoW for the challenge.

Is leveling too easy? Not if you forget how to play your class, as Tome of the Ancient helpfully demonstrates. Don’t worry — I’ve done that very thing P L E N T Y of times.

Fellow altoholic at That Was an Accident has a goblin problem, I presume much like I have a Tauren problem.

Why do you play Warcraft? The Grumpy Elf examines this in a thoughtful post; I agree with many of the sentiments expressed.

Raiding

The Daily Frostwolf gives an example of how they decide who sits out for their 10-man raid. My guild does it easy — no backups. Of course, this means sometimes we don’t raid at all when people are missing… >_>

The Was an Accident! has been having fun in LFR. First, a look at healing LFR without friends, and then going to LFR with friends. Plenty of screenies in these posts too!

— — —

That’s all for today! Happy gaming, everyone!

—Misha

Link Roundups – From Last Month And Beyond!

Yeehaw! It’s a link roundup! (This is still a WIP, though now that I’ve posted it, I’m likely never to finish it!)

Welcome to yet another edition of Link Roundup, where I share with you some neat blogs I’ve read as I’ve ever so slowly catch up on my blog reading (people keep posting when I take a break for a few days — how rude!)

This week I’ve picked up on quite a few WoW Topics, including Auction House players, tanking, healing, PvP, GMing, art, and so much more! Including a few people talking about the upcoming in-game store. I know a lot of people wrote about this, so maybe I’ll catch up on those when I do another archive binge in Feedly. 🙂

Oh, and there are a few other links regarding other games such as SW:TOR and everybody’s favorite, Animal Crossing! (Be my friend so I can visit your town? >_>)

Auction House

Theoretical Gold Farming, the ‘new kid on the block’ if you will, has a pretty good post on how to do ‘the shuffle’ without using spreadsheets (as long as you’re already using TSM, which I am). I’d put this to use but I don’t have JC at a high level. Maybe next expansion! XD

Power Word: Gold has a good analysis of what gear sells well (for them) based on the item’s suffix. I found it quite interesting. (Maybe because I like spreadsheets and numbers?)

Tanking And Healing In WoW

Tzufit explains why she’s monk healing nowadays instead of tree healing, and goes a bit into character identity too. (And one of these days I may have a Monk at max too… *laughs and laughs and laughs*

A Sunnier Bear lists off different ways fights encourage (force?) the use of two tanks. A very good summary of MoP tanks fight styles.

PvP!

Alt:ernative will be hitting up arenas again soon, with the upcoming changes. Will you? (As for me, maybe, maybe not. I’ve enjoyed a bit of pvp here and there, but unlike Alt:ernative, I’ve lived all my WoW days on carebear servers. 🙂 )

The Daily Frostwolf has a series (term used loosely) on their latest forays into the world of arenas and tournaments and the like. Pretty neat stuff, especially when reading from the perspective of a pvp noob like me. Here is the second post on arenas, and then the third is here.

In-Game Store Musings

Achievements Ahoy has a list of cosmetic-type items that would be cool to have in an in-game WoW shop. Looks good to me! Though really, wouldn’t scribes make dye since they’re already milling herbs for ink? /SCRIBEPOWA (Plus, some of these, for the WoW game engine, would be hard to implement, like armor dyes (the coolest idea, of course). And trading in multiple pets for a better pet? Yes please!

Alt:ernative also talks about what would be on her list of things to buy in an in-game store, as posed by the Community Blog Topic from WoWInsider.

Variant Avatar also has some thoughts on Blizzard’s cash store.

Other WoW Type Stuff

GMing can be hard. Alt:ernative gives an example in the post, “When Love Breaks Down“,  and further elaborates on her GMing in “Cruel to be Kind“.

Bible of Dreams lays it out pretty clearly: The Raid Boss Doesn’t Care if You’re Not a Raiding Guild.

Look at this pretty watercolor art Vidyala did! Pretty! (And she does commissions too! 😀 )

Spellbound is too cool for Tirion’s help while defeating Arthas.

Let’s do the time warp agaaaaain! Or… just read this article by The Grumpy Elf on how time perception during fights in-game can seem to warp. That’ll do.

Other Games

In An Age has been playing a game called Don’t Starve, and boy does it sound hard. Not too sure if I’d enjoy it or rage quit after dying for the 10th time. Seems interesting though! (You can read a follow-up post on Winter here).

MMO Melting Pot pointed out MJ’s delightful article on Barping – Bar RPing – as it is in SW:TOR. A very good references for RPers, even if you do not play SW:TOR as much of the advice can be ported elsewhere!

Also on SW:TOR Life, MJ interviews a person who RPs as a droid. Sounds like fun, and a nice change of pace to boot!

Tales of Aggronaut lists out the top 10 must haves for MMOs. I rather agree with the list, they all seem rather nice to have. And here’s the follow-up post: Other MMO Wants. I especially approve of mentoring – it was really nice in City of Heroes. /weepsForTheFallenGame

The Wolf Den has an interesting post called “Confusing Gear-To-Play with Learn-To-Play“, stating that while people may say ‘l2p’ in games, nowadays no skill is involved with games – merely more gear (gotten through time). I’m not sure if I entirely agree, at least when thinking about WoW — after all, even if you put a poor player in the best gear, they still will not function as well as well-communicating highly-skilled heroic teams. And I would expect more parity in raiding (such as everyone at the start of an expansion doing nearly equally well on all bosses in an instance). The article still makes a good point, though.

But Mostly Animal Crossing

Lady Jess has caught the bug that’s been sweeping twitter — Animal Crossing. And it leads to much much more than that!

Hestiah is also playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and has lots of advice to share. For example, I’m really wishing I had planted my first perfect pear! Oh well, a little late now. And thank goodness I ended up with an eye shape that I like!

— — —

And that’s all for now! Must. Keep. Reading. XD

—Misha

Liiiiiink Roundups is the place for me….

Yeehaw! It’s a link roundup! (This is still a WIP, though now that I’ve posted it, I’m likely never to finish it!)

Welcome to another edition of Link Roundup, where I, Mishaweha, walk you through posts I found interesting 2+weeks ago and have finally found the time to format and post them for your reviewing pleasure, in case you missed them. (Really, I don’t understand how the rest of you manage your awesome posting schedules!)

This latest entry for Link Roundup was, in part, inspired by Google Reader shutting down, which forced me to start anew elsewhere. I had taken a look at commafeed, but when Feedly finally showed me their cloud version, I was hooked. (Amusingly, my husband also started using Feedly independently.) It seemed like the perfect time to get back into reading WoW blogs on the regular! (Too bad I’m already behind).

Anyway, the topics for today’s link roundup include: WoW – Lighter Side, WoW – Moar Serious, Other Games, and Transmogs. Because I love me some transmogs, even if my grand outfit plans have barely come to fruition.

WoW – Lighter Side

Want to feel rich every time you sell something on the AH? Power Word: Gold points out the addon for you!

The Lion Guard, responding to the community blog topic, states Humans as their favorite race. Fah! Tauren are clearly superior. (And yes, a Tauren is my main… and I have lots and lots of Tauren alts. Femtaurs ftw).

Tzufit talks about her Mom playing WoW; a good read for those interested in seeing something from a new player’s perspective.

Tome of the Ancient has a chain-smoking Death Knight. Yeah, you should go read that post.

WoW – Moar Serious

Life In Group 5 has a nice analysis of how healing is coming along in this post: Status Check: The Healing Game as of 5.3.

The Grumpy Elf has an epically long post with thoughts on LFR (and whether Flex raiding will end it), CRZ & Virtual Realms, and random grouping in general.

Alt:ernative talks about server communities and if there is any hope for them existing again, what with those virtual servers looming in the distance.

An interesting post at The Daily Frostwolf continuing discussion on women in WoW. (I know a lot of other people wrote about this too: You can find some linked in The Daily Frostwolf, and I’m sure you’ve seen even more).

The Grumpy Elf also talks about how people are feeling ‘the end of expansion blues’ already… or is it something else? (Something that I am currently feeling, I think. I agree with this post wholeheartedly).

At Tree Heals Go Woosh, Tzufit muses on why the Battlefield: Barrens is not the most exciting battlefield out there. I tend to agree — I was all gungho the first 3 weeks, and now suddenly I don’t have the time/interest to head out there and kill bosses. Least I got my pet.

In An Age talks about why, in this day and age, warriors still need to have shields to do a Shield Bash. Or rather, why they won’t anymore.

Other Games

Tales of the Aggronaut talks about Rift and how you should play it (I’ll play it with you!), along with how consoles — specifically their graphics and gamplay — used to have an advantage over PC gaming. And then starts a series on how to Rift, starting with character creation!

In An Age gives us impressions of the Firefall Beta. Seems interesting, but I already have lots of game on my plate! (Plus, I’m still keeping an eye out for Wildstar beta invites. *stare* )

Transmogs

Phixuscarus‘ transmogs! I love the rogue! :3

Klym on Ravencrest certainly has a striking transmog, as pulled by Transmog Fashion.

And the WoW Fashion Police have found this stunning number in black. Along with this awesome transmog, with a goblin lady model to boot!

Shorts? There are shorts! Cool!

Someone else is wearing Mandlebrot’s number – the Ancestral Woolie! (Well, at least something sharing the same model.) And they’re making it look good, too. (Coincidence that this one is a blood elf guy too? I think not.)

This pose with this outfit is awesome, right? I thought so. (But for a minute I thought she was a DK wearing this – sorry!)

You do not mess with the lady in blue holding a scythe.

— — —

And I think that’s all for this roundup! See you again in a month (or two). >_>

-Misha

Announcing the Twitter “Summer” Santa Art Trade 2013!

The Twitter Secret Santa Art Trade is back — this time for summer! (Hence the clever title – Thank you @riththewarluid!)

“But Misha — what is the Twitter Secret Summer Santa Art Trade?”

I’m so glad you ask, non-existent person! The Twitter Secret Summer Santa Art Trade (abbr. SSArtTrade) is when artists (who are on twitter) draw art for each other as a Secret Santa present (which means they don’t know who will be drawing their character) during the summer time, as to avoid the busy rush of Thing To Do around December.

I believe @LoreliAoD originally came up with this idea, and has hosted it in 2009 and 2010. I organized another one back in 2011, and now am trying my hand at it again this summer!

This is the 2013 site. And if you’re an artist type, feel free to join! Just send me a tweet before June 15th, and make sure you have some character references ready to go!

Happy Drawing!

– Misha

My Fascination With Pandaren Kites

I think it’s because I don’t understand how they go. How do they keep propelling themselves ever forward as I stand astride them from flight point to flight point?

Do they have a little engine inside? Does the air flow through the bamboo and somehow propel them that way?

It’s probably for the best I haven’t gotten a player mount version yet. Otherwise I’d work myself into a tizzy trying to figure out how they hover midair.

But they sure look lovely gliding through the air.

Friday Screenshot – Sha-Touched Sky

Sometimes looking up at the sky can be a little less relaxing than clouds…

I’m not exactly sure where I was when I took this screenshot, but I bet a Sha was around.

Or I was dead. The spirit-realm sky has its share of freaky skies too.

A funny thing happened on my way to Patch 5.2…

So the other day I went to play World of Warcraft on my laptop, and being that I haven’t played on my laptop for awhile, it had to update to the latest patch, 5.2. I waited for it to update fully… or at least I thought I did:

Censor bars for Tauren – it’s the new thing!

At first I wondered if there was a ninja patch since last I played that was purposefully adding that… but then I thought better of it and assumed my copy was glitching out just a little bit.

(My first hint at that is when I got to the login screen and the flashing cursor marker on the password field was about 10 times as tall as it should’ve been. It looked hilarious but I wasn’t able to grab a screenshot as it flashed. Oh well, maybe next time).

Friday Screenshot – Flying Through Clouds

The sky is often beautiful rendered in World of Warcraft. I suppose it should be, with all the flying done in and around it. But the clouds! *swoon*

My only wish is that I had been wearing something a little prettier in this shot, haha.

(Okay, two wishes — the second wish is that it would be easier to take screenshots while flying!)

The Love(bird) of My Life

I haven’t been completely idle during my long posting absence (and won’t be next time I disappear, I’m sure). In fact, I’ve been busy doing all sorts of WoW content, aka mostly complaining about dailies, gearing extremely slowly, being unable to pull together a second raiding team for my guild and therefore not raiding, playing the AH to mild success, and — most importantly — remembering at the last minute I actually want to participate in a holiday celebration.

You see, last year I didn’t realize Blizzard had added a new mount, the Swift Lovebird, to the Love Is In The Air event until after the event had finished. And alas, it was one of my favorite model/skins, the pink tallstrider Mazzranache (two of my many hunters use this as one of their main pets – Mamisha, my Tauren hunter, and Likal, my Night Elf hunter. Yet for some reason I had not gotten the Mulgore Hatchling pet until just a few weeks ago when I purchased it off the AH. Wait, I remember why — it has to do with dailies). As soon as I saw the mount I knew I had to get it.

Flash-forward to this year, and on the Wednesday before Love Is In The Air ended I remembered my deep desire for this mount. A bit late there.

Nevertheless, I carried on, and with the help of a few guildies and Jed from twitter to get into a farming spot, I got enough tokens to get my very own!

A fellow Tauren also got her pretty pink mount. 🙂

Even more excitingly, my Night Elf hunter Likal, who is on an RP realm, can use the Swift Lovebird as a way to ‘ride’ her pet bird, Kanoni!

Here she is with her pet…

Likal and Kanoni

And here she is riding her pet!

Likal riding her trusty pet and steed, Kanoni

I’ve even made a macro to assist in the mount switching, so two Kanoni’s don’t show up at once!

The ‘Ride Kanoni’ Macro

Here’s the macro text:

/cast [pet] Dismiss Pet
/cast Swift Lovebird
/cast [nopet] Call Pet 1

Sure, it takes a little longer to mount up, but it’s totally worth it!

(Especially once I get into RPing on the Alliance side again >_> ).

My First Stop In 5.2

… Was the farm, of course — to take ownership!

Yes, a greater responsibility. Now hand it over!

And after commandeering the farm, I immediately set about working on some work orders, due to my aversion of actually doing dailies (my dislike of quests is high enough that I would rather do this activity of farming than quest. Though admittedly the farm is pretty fun).

Come to me, oh sweet sweet rep.

And did you know the nice seed vendor now sells bags of seeds? You can throw them down in a targeted area, reaching a 2×2 square of plots. Faster planting? Sign me up!

Only downside is that they sit around, taking up bagspace. Of which I don’t have much. Because I never throw anything away.

(And when I do I regret it).

Merchant Greenfield shows off his new wares. I show off my incredibly full bags.