Breakfast Topic Thoughts: Could you step into your character's shoes? & Do you play WoW with a family member?

A two-in-one Breakfast Topic Thoughts today as I didn't finish my thoughts on yesterdays topics yesterday and I thought today's topic was worth a ponder to.

Yesterday's WoW Insider Breakfast Topic (asked by Lisa Poisso) is "Could you step into your character's shoes?". Lisa asks:

"Could you effectively step into your character's shoes in Azeroth? Like my mage, could you get the work done if you could find a non-combat position? Or do you play any characters whose jobs simply aren't a fit in any sense for the real you?".

I have a range of characters from an assortment of classes and with a variety of professions. I don't think any of them fit the real me perfectly. That said I've never really tried to make a character that's like me in every possible aspect - appearance, class and profs. Appearance wise I'm certainly a mix of my Gnome mage and Dwarf warlock.

I don't think I could step into a combat role. I'm really not the athletic type! Running around isn't my thing and nor is swinging swords and axes. My main is a hunter and when I was a guide I was quite a fan of archery & I wasn't that bad at it so I guess that's something that would stand in my favour of being a hunter. I guess I could cope as a caster such as a mage, warlock or druid.

As I'm into science I think I could do fairly well as a herbalist and/or alchemist like my mage. I'm no expert on terrestrial plants but it has to be said I'm not too shabby with seaweeds! Being a marine biologist I think the druid Glyph of the Orca would allow me to carry out my job a lot better (if I an get over the whole diving thing). So maybe I could be a mash-up of my mage and druid.

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Today's WoW Insider Breakfast Topic (asked by Robin Torres) is "Do you play WoW with a family member?"

For starters it depends what you class as family. None of my blood relations play WoW, to be honest I think most of them would be quite baffled by the game concept alone let alone all the buttons etc.

I do however play with my boyfriend who is essentially family. Up until recently we were in the same guild and would do scenarios, dungeons and old raid runs (for pets) together. However, he left the guild a week or so ago and I haven't seen him in-game since. That's not to say that we won't continue to do the occassional thing together - primarily farming for raid pets.
 

My Top 10 Favourite Companion Pets!

Swenyola posted her top 10 comanion pets back on the 9th and since then it's really taken off! Since the original post I've seen Mrand MrsWoW, Lorelei, Zeriah, Luxypie, Navimie all post their own and yesterday Kamaliaetalia posted her own (which I have to confess reminded me about my own draft that's been waiting for some time now!). I think this is a really good idea for a mini community event and it's certainly got people talking and thinking.

I've been thinking about how to define my 'Top 10' and I've come to the conclusion that it's impossible for me to simply say it's an overall 'Top 10'. I could easily name 10 pets based on their models/appearance, pet battle abilities or those that mean something to me. I've decided to post my 'Top 10' pets that I either worked hard to get or instantly fell in love with.

Sprite Darter Hatchling
This is the first pet I ever remember wanting! It really was love at first sight. Once pets were cageable this was my first purchase.

Disgusting Oozeling
As far as I can remember the Disgusting Oozeling was the first pet I decided to farm for. Prior to MoP I went on a mission to get as many pets as possible before pet battles went live. The Oozeling (or Ozzy as I've named mine) is a random drop from Oozing Bags which are dropped my most ooze-like things. I got mine from Shifting Mireglobs in the Swamp of Sorrows.

Tiny Emerald Whelpling
The Tiny Emerald Whelpling is drops from the Noxious Whelps found in Feralas. I'm not sure when I first saw this pet but I started to farm for it before MoP. I managed to get two - keeping one for myself and sold the other.

Tiny Sporebat
The Tiny Sporebat can be purchased from Mycah the Sporeggar quartermaster once you reach axalted status. For me it's a pet that I instantly loved the look of and wanted which spurred me on to do the rep grind.

Minfernal
Minfernal makes the list for two reasons - not only did I put a lot of effort into getting my own but I also love his design. He really was one of those pets that I saw and thought I must have one. On top of this they were extremely hard to get when MoP launched. You can read about my quest to find the Mysterious Minfernal and about when I finally got my own by clicking on the links.

Enchanted Broom
The Enchanted Broom is another pet that I thought was not only awesome but very unique. The Broom can be purchased for 40 Champion's Seals from Trellis Morningsun. As I had no Horde characters at a high enough level I had to wait 'til pets were cageable and for onr to turn up on my realm AH before I had my own.

Phoenix Hatchling
The Phoenix Hatchling is a drop from Kael'thas Sunstrider who can be found in Magisters' Terrace. Now I have to confess whilst I have farmed for this pet repeatedly I've never got it myself. Rather a guildie who had several caged one and gave it to me.

Perky Pug
The Perky Pug is a reward for getting the achievement Looking for Multitudes which I got quite recently. I think the Pug is an awesome pet and in all honesty it's one of the reasons why I've used Dungeon Finder to find groups. I'm not sure if I'd have sone so many otherwise!

Singing Sunflower
The Singing Sunflower is another pet that I went back to get prioro to MoP and pet battles. You get it for completing Lawn of the Dead in the Hillsbrad Foothills.

 

Scourged Whelpling

 

The Scourged Whelpling is another pet that became available for wild battling and capture with MoP. Similarly to the Minfernal I liked the design of the pet before I became aware of its rarity and this only encouraged me to work harder to get my own. You can read all about my hunt for my own and when I finally got mine by following the links.

Deadwind Pass : Screenshot Special

 

Daily I visit Deadwind Pass to battle the Grand Master Pet Tamer Lydia Accoste. Also, with the release of Patch 5.3 I will now be visiting Karazhan in search of pets for Raiding with Leashes II: Attunement Edition.

 

This week I decided to have a closer look around the area immediately surrounding Lydia and it's quite a spooky place...


Lydia Acocste & her battle team.

The Church.

Graveyard.

Waiting for the sermon.

No-one turned up so I decided to give my own.

Checking out the books.

Perfect fit.

One from inside Kara. Taken just after winning the chess match.

A Nautical Day Out

Today I decided to take part in the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza. I hadn't taken part in a long time - since I got the Accomplished Angler achievement back in January. I guess I had no intentions of going back but a recent post by Tome of the Ancient made me think about taking part again. Having decided that I'd go back an give it a go I then made the unusual (yet logical) reason to take part on my mage - to improve her fishing skill and hopefully get her some new fishing gear *fingers crossed*.

I arrived with three minutes to go and was quite surprised at how empty the coastline was! It would seem that less people are taking part in it nowadays whether thats because most people have won the tournament or perhaps given up. Once the tournament started I thought it was a bit weird that no fishing pools were appearing on my mini-map and then I realised that I hadn't ever got the Weather-Beatne Journal and therefore the Find Fish ability. Fortuntely the fishing gods had seen my plight and rewarded me with an Iron Bound Trunk, containing the journal, on my second cast.

 

The tournament then continued as usual - casting, catching fish, people sharing my pools (to put it politely). I even managed to get a special fish - Keefer's Angelfish. First and second place went and I was on 36 fish with 4 to go. People from other servers were already talking about how all three winning spots had gone on their respective servers.

 

I got my 40 Speckled Tastyfish and headed straight back to Booty Bay and finished in third place! This got me the Master Angler of Azeroth achiev, a High Test Eternium Fishing Line for coming third and the Lucky Fishing Hat for the special fish.

Following this I went down to the barbican where there was a pirate festival going on with lots of little events in the sun etc. All-in-all a pretty successful and rather nautical day so far.

Pet-mog!

A couple of weeks ago I invited my blog readers & twitter followers alike to enter a little transmog contest that I decided to host as part of my birthday celebrations. Firstly, I should thank those that took the time to make a 'mog. They all really impressed me and inspired me to 'mog more often. The proviso was simply to make a 'mog based on the appearance of a companion/battle pet. On with the show...

Tome of the Ancient sent me this screenshot and a description:

"Here's Cat getting ready to garden in Halfhill. She was so excited she finally got a deal on a Sen'jin Fetish at the AH she decided to pose with him and try to impersonate him!"

 

Tyledres who writes the blog Frost and Claws sent me this Clockwork Rocket Bot impersonation. The helm works perfectly and I think as a whole it works brilliantly on a goblin body!

 

Here we have Zeriah of Azeroth Life with her Plump Turkey companion pet. Again, another good choice of race to match the 'mog.

This is Farli of The Overcut's 'mog to look like the Purple Puffer. Until I saw this screenshot I didn't realise there was so much purple clothing in the game!

 

Fianlly, Mrs B (of MrandMrsWoW)'s "silly entry" to look like a Winter Reindeer. As there was no red nose in game she settled for an offhand which I think works really well anyway.

 

Again, thanks for entering peepsie. I really will be trying to make transmog sets of my own rather than using pre-defined sets (yes, I'm lazy!). So, start off with here is my slightly cleaner than the pet looks version of a Clockwork Gnome.

 

Party Pics!

On Sunday I had a mini Azerothian party to celebrate my birthday last week. I'd like to thank everyone who made it and those of you who couldn't make it but have subsequently spoken to / visited me in-game. We had some [virtual] cake and booze, a showering of gifts, went skinny dipping and played hide & seek (which was much more fun than Id imagined!). I also received a few companion pets which I have since named after those who gave them to me.

 

 

 

 

A dirty Hordie turned up too!

Despite their size Pandaren's can hide pretty well...

From @Farli

From @Laeleiweyn

From @Leonilda & @JamesNaktul

From @MrandMrsWoW (it's an amalgamation of their real names [sort of])

Breakfast Topic Thoughts: Do You WoW-Craft?

On Sunday (yes, I'm a little behind) WoW Insider's Breakfast Topic by Elizabeth Harper was "Do you WoW-Craft?". Personally I do quite enjoy crafty stuff but it's finding the time to get it done that causes me issues. A few of my work colleagues are also ino crafty stuff and we attempt to have weekly craft nights (aka Crochet Club). However, as I struggle with crochet I have been cross stitching instead. I am currently working on my first WoW-Craft and whilst it's a work in progress I am really happy with it. Hopefully it will be finished fairly soon and then I need to decide what exactly to do with it!

Stage 1:

Stage 2:

Stage 3:

Birthday Celebrations!

This week I've been fairly quiet when it comes to both writing my own blog posts, reading others and tweeting. It's been quite hectic with work and birthday celebrations. It just so happens that I share my birthday (which is today) with a work colleague so we had a work meal on Wednesday evening and post-work drinks this evening. My uni friend came around last night which has meant that the last few nights have been mostly spent away from WoW-stuff.

I've been waiting to share with you pictures of a birthday gift that I received last weekend. I woke up Sunday morning to find I had an email from Tyledres that contained a TCG loot code which turned out to be a Gregarious Grell. This is my second TCG loot pet and both have been gifts. Tyledres informed me that she'd had the card for a couple of months and after I commented on one of her recent posts (about the grells ear-rings) decided to give it to me for my birthday. Nonethless, I really love my new pet which I have named after her. Thanks again!!

The second bit of exciting news is that my work colleagues surprised me with a cake today. But it wasn't any old cake - it was a WoW cake. I hadn't expected a cake let alone one so amazingly tasty and well decorated by people who really have no idea about or interest in WoW.

Finally, thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday via twitter. I have replied to all (or certainly most) of you. Also, don't forget that my Azerothian birthday party is this Sunday and that the deadline for Pet-mog is next Wednesday (22nd). Here's a link to the original post with all the details.

Breskfast Topic Thoughts: How do you start a new character?

This morning's WoW Insider Breakfast Topic by Elizabeth Harper was How do you start a new character? I'm a bit of an alt-aholic and have made a dozen or so characters in the short time I've been playing WoW. I don't have a serious problem or rather addiction to making alts like some players but it's still a large part of my in-game experience and enjoyment.

Night Elfs have an awesome array of hair colours.

Normally when I'm making a new character it's because I've already decided to roll a particular class and/or race. If I've only chosen the race (for example) then I set about picking a complementary class. There has been one case where I had my heart set on a Pandaren paladin (Palminglee) but sadly Panda's can't be paladins so I made a shaman (Shaminglee). Now that's the relatively easy part over with.

Tauren horn style can be changed.

I find picking the character features can vary from being quite tricky to almost too obvious. As I'm sure we're all aware the customisable options vary between races, some have lots of options and others only a few. For me, this can pose an issue. If we take the faces for example - some I don't like, others I love and some I'd pick but they don't jump out at me. I, therefore, usually go for the one's that really appeal to me. I also try to keep each characters features unique - so when I have two or more of a single race I try to pick different features etc.

Goblin ear customisation also alters the nose and chin.

My final step during character creation is the naming. I don't follow any particular naming convention and so there's no limit or criteria that I need to follow. In a way I have shot myself in the foot by not having one. I am yet to think of a character name during the creation process that I've then chosen and has been available. There are so many names already taken, yet the number available is still enormous. Nonetheless, it's incredibly hard to pick the right name. I'll admit to having created a new character, played for a bit, decided I don't like the name and re-rolled the character exactly the same bar the name! For me, paying to change a character's name isn't a financial option and so I give myself until level 20 to make the delete/re-roll decision.

I'm really intrigued how others create new characters and would definately recommend reading the comments section of the original article.

Breakfast Topic Thoughts: What type of character would your mother play in WoW?

It turns out that yesterday (Sunday 12th) was Mother's Day in various countries but not here in the UK. Our Mother's Day was back in March and to celebrate I did a post on in-game Mummys (mounts) and their kids (pets) which you can view here.

Yesterday, WoW Insiders Dawn Moore asked What type of character would your mother play in WoW? and I thought this was a pretty neat question. It really provoked some thought as well as I'd never considered my mum playing WoW or even what race/class she is most like in personality etc.


Firstly, what would my mum play? Well it's safe to say my mum isn't the best with computers. She's approaching 60 and whilst she is suitably skilled to do a lot, with computers, I don't think games is her thing. However, if she ever did play I think she'd enjoy pet battles and leveling professions - much like myself. I think she'd find the combat a bit too much - too many buttons, too much going on etc. (again, a little like myself!). As such I can't really say what class or race she'd play out of choice but...

 

What is she most like? Race is easy - a (ginger) dwarf, much like my warlock Boltzy whom I pride on looking most accurately like myself. Class is slightly more tricky. She's got a range of qualities; good with plants, nature and mending (like a healer [primarily druid]), a stubborn battler (which I imagine to be a tank-like quality) yet she can be a bit of a witch. Overall, I guess my mum is more like a druid but dwarfs can't be druid. I guess the next best thing is a shaman - she can heal but can also deal some serious damage!

Running into a brick wall!

I'm sure I'm not the only person who sometimes feels like their running into a brick wall - whether that is in the real world or in Azeroth. Having said that I've always been determined to never allow WoW to make me feel like this - as far as I'm concerned WoW is a game and something that I enjoy and it shouldn't be a chore etc. The same feeling extends towards this blog. Anyway, you'll (hopefully) be relieved to know that I'm not writing this as a way of saying I'm giving up either. Rather in the last week I have expereinced hitting that Azerothian brick wall head on and fortunately wasn't permanently injured!

There are some nice walls in Azeroth - Shrine of the Seven Stars, Panndaria.

Thursday I'd had a pretty long and not particularly successful day at work. I guess you could say I had hit a fence already that day. So, when I logged onto WoW I was immediately invited to a group with no prior warning and some very limited greeting (the odd couple of hellos). In the past I do know of other guild members who have got a little riled by the immediate invitations to something that you're unaware of and are virtually forced to accept to know what's going on. Anyway, I accepted - probably my first mistake. It seemed that some people were running old raids (I thought) but first they were in Firelands farming for some gear. In the mean time I just pottered about mining, pet battling etc. 

Ironforge.

And then the summons came. Apparently we were going to 'BoT' which it turns out is The Bastion of Twilight - a Cataclysm raid. I had no idea that it was a Cata raid or I can safely say I wouldn't have bothered! I, stupidly, trusted a guildie who said it would be fairly easy and we didn't need to know tactics - second mistake. There was six of us, all level 90 - including one healer and two tank/damage. Now, I am in no way saying it was anyone in particular's fault -  I don't blame the healer for not being able to cope or anyone else. But we wiped about 4 times simply through not knowing what we were doing - so, we did need to know tactics! I then learnt that it was a Cata raid, that gigantic brick wall appeared and I smashed into it. (I left thr group).

The Mage Quarter, Stormwind.

I guess I felt like I had been lied to. Maybe I simply misunderstood, but I had not expected us to be doing an old Cata raid with 6 people (not even enough to get the achievs) in an impromptu manner with no tactical knowledge etc. I'm someone who likes to be organised - events on the in-game calendar should be up atleast a couple of days in advance so that people have time to prepare and hopefully avoid the issues that we suffered on Thursday. Some people might say that I should have taken some time to read up on the tactics anyway - and to be honest I probably should have. I am not a raider so I generally don't know any raid tactics (either current or old content) but if I ever were to raid I would pride myself on being organised and knowledgeable of the encounters which brings me to an slightly different guild-related issue that I will be writing about later in the week.
I realise this is the first time I've written a post like this - I guess you could say it's a guild-related rant. But it feels good to get these things off ones chest.

Rant over!