Random Diary of Wowness

~~DISCUSSION~~ So I was logging in this morning, and I accidentally clicked on the advert part of the screen instead of the 'play' bit. 'Bah!' I thought, as my geriatric machine creaked into action to deal with the complicated task of opening another window. Eventually, up popped a website with the 'one day we're going to give you patch 3.1' spiel, and I had a scroll down to look for pictures rather than reading it all (educated person that I am).

Finding only a couple of vaguely interesting illustrations, my attention was drawn by the final paragraph:

'Of course, the vehicle gauntlet, the Iron Army, and the battle against the Flame Leviathan are only the start of World of Warcraft's most ambitious raid to date.'

Flame Leviathan? Armies?! VEHICLES?! Omgoodness, with those few words I am now super-excited about patch 3.1! I just thought I'd share that with the world.

You can see the page here if you haven't read it already…

~~DISCUSSION~~ And so, as my dreams of the violet proto-drake hang in candy-stained tatters from the broken remains of an eerily waving lovefool, it seems I must re-examine my gaming meta-goals – things to do in downtime. These, as always, are based around the most important aspects of the game: pets, mounts and pretty clothes. Now that the primary drake-based target is out of reach for another year, it’s time to look at the competition.

So – the options left for 310% mounts now:

• Black proto-drake – all the heroic raid achievements
• Plagued proto-drake – all the normal raid achievements
• Ashes of Al’ar – from Kael’thas in TK

Or… if we eliminate the need for speed, there are some other cool looking proto-drakes and drakes at 280% that I have yet to obtain:

• Blue drake – Malygos 10 man
• Azure drake – Malygos 25 man
• Black drake – Sartharion 10 man (3 drakes up)
• Twilight drake – Sartharion 25 man (3 drakes up)
• Green proto-drake – from the Mysterious Egg (Oracles revered rep)
• Blue proto-drake – Skadi the Ruthless, UP (heroic)
• Time-lost proto-drake – rare spawn elite hanging out somewhere in Storm Peaks

Eliminating the current 25 man content, this leaves the following plan of attack options:

• Hassle everyone for heroics until all achievements are complete – shiniest option with the fastest drake as the prize!
• Repeatedly run UP until Skadi gives up his ride
• Continue to rob eggs from the Oracles… the aged yolk makes my tummy feel bad…
• Sort out TK runs… fly in the face of improbability
• Sartharion 3 drake run!
• Scour the Storm Peaks for rogue elites

Well… at least it looks like I won’t run out of things to do!

~~DISCUSSION~~ So… yeah. Valentine’s day achievements: bit of a bust. This only goes to confirm my complete belief that probability either does not exist, or is completely out to get me for my chance-based blasphemy.

Of course, as always, I’m stoic in defeat. No stampy feet or whining, as that would be completely out of character. Not one peep of complaint about logging in almost every hour for days in a futile quest to get some stupid box with the stupid wrong thing in it. No telling people how tired I am because I actually set my alarm for 2am so I could get up for another box. No siree. I’m completely and utterly fine with it. No bitterness, no QQ… Nope. Fine.

Not everyone seems to be accepting their loss with as much good grace, however. A quick look at the forums at any time during the festival would have revealed a collective outpouring of geek-rage and protests of foul play not seen since the Halloween mask achievement of last October.

As much I sympathise with the frustration, it does make me wonder what we (as a geek-based community) could achieve if we applied such single-minded focus and determination to actual issues, rather than wasting time protesting against the unfairness of chance – world peace, maybe? Actually, no – maybe more nerd-based issues, such as time travel or teleportation!

I’m not sure exactly what I was trying to say with this… maybe it’s something about priorities that I’ve been taught by this weekend. This is why I don’t blog.

~~DISCUSSION~~ A tale of obsession, disappointment, betrayal and sugar-highs

Footsteps echoing up through the cavernous of Ironforge, Lyrea strode purposefully towards her goal. It was early, and the walkways were deserted, but she would not let a trifling matter such as sleep stand in her way.

Dabbing a little perfume behind her ears, she took a moment to select a sleepy looking dwarf propped in a doorway at the end of the corridor. A conspicuous red heart floated above his head, clearly marking him as both useful and desperate. A pitiful target, not made more appealing by the obsequious smile that he attempted on her approach, but he was all that was left.

Peering sternly down at him, she grudgingly threw out a hand to offer him a small, heart shaped scrap of paper. He reached out tentatively to take his token, while at the same time rummaging in his grubby backpack to find a return gift.

A tiny glimmer of hope began to warm her heart as he produced a small heart-shaped box, tied neatly with a delicate pink ribbon. Snatching it from him, she barely had time to notice the surprise in his eyes as she turned on her heel and walked away, ripping off the ribbon and casting aside the lid. This time, she thought… this will be the one… the little pink candy hearts she craved so badly were within her reach, she could feel it!

She paused.

Very slowly, she raised the little scrap of paper describing the contents of the box to read in the gloom… “Very Berry Cream: increases spell power by 35 for 1 hour”

Absently she raised a hand behind her in the direction from which she had come, muttering “Kal Vas Flam” under her breath. Familiar heat surged through her fingers, and the resulting gust blew strands of hair across her eyes. Still transfixed by the tiny message, momentarily highlighted in the glare of the fire, she barely noted the muffled cry from the doorway. “Questioning my dps?”, she exclaimed to herself as she threw the misguided gift into the gutter and stalked off angrily.

“Men… pah!”.