Kallixta's Notes

Blog Azeroth Shared Topic: Nerd Badges!

The Shared Topic this week at Blog Azeroth was suggested by Akabeko:

How do you express your geekery? Do you own obvious paraphernalia like a Horde-symbol bumper sticker, in-joke tshirts like the dps/ups pun, or less obviously related items like a gift from a guildie? Rather than physical indicators, do you mix nerd lingo into your everyday speech or talk/post about geekdom in non-nerd spaces? How do you advertise your nerd tendencies? Does it help you to attract new nerd friends?

Home has plenty of signs of my geekery, but they aren't badges to others. My family already indulges in geekery and I have few interests that aren't already covered by someone else in the house. (I've mentioned how geeky my family is before in a prior post.) In fact, whenever I interest someone else in the family in something I enjoy, it doesn't take long before I find I've been overtaken. It's happened for years: Star Wars, Legos, Dr. Who, Game Boys, Magic:The Gathering, Joss Whedon, Harry Potter, Warcraft, Big Bang Theory. About the only thing I've left is J-Pop (Namie Amuro!) because everybody else at home prefers K-Pop (2NE1? Really?) (Did you check out my WoW Music Playlist post?)

Still top of my playlist

The workplace is different. There, I do display "Nerd Badges". We've plenty of freedom at work to display things that mean something, but few of my interests overlap with my workmates. I'm older. My kids are in college. Most peers have young kids. None play "Video Games", unless you count that some have kids that play "Pokemon". The older son is twenty one and spent the holidays playing Pokemon with his college friends. (And watching My Little Ponies. Those crazy college kids!)

The Nerd Topic of conversation at work!

So, how do I badge?

On the wall, my calendar of choice has been the WoW calendar for several years. It has NEVER had a comment by a co-worker. I've even seen that the new college recruits don't seem to notice it. I'm guessing maybe they're unsure how much to say about their off-hour hobbies.

The geekiest things I display that attract far more attention is the little Star Wars Lego mini-figures. It's just three figures: two Biker Scout Troopers and Chewbecca. They attract comments and folks will pick up and play with them without asking. I'll come in to find them re-positioned, although never as creatively as I hope. Being a Star Wars fan now isn't a big deal. It's Mainstream!

Almost boring.

End of the Molten Front

End of the Molten Front 12/31/2011

Kallixta sat heavily on the chair. Her enthusiasm drained as muscles unclenched. She was tired. The dwarf had been diligent, spending her time fighting on the Molten Front. She had found herself returning to assist the Wardens far more often than elsewhere. This regular exercise yielded its own rewards. Every week seemed to see more measurable progress

King of the Spider Hill 11/19/2011
Have... Have We Met? 12/22/2011
500 Daily Quests Complete 12/23/2011
Unlock Varlan Highbough
Nemesis Shell Band 12/24/2011
Lylagar Horn Ring 12/24/2011
Relic of Tortolla 12/24/2011
Unlock Ayla Shadowstorm
Moonwell Phial 12/31/2011
The Molten Front Offensive 12/31/2011

Now with the completion of the offensive, Kallixta finds herself at loose ends, but too weary to worry what comes next. The obvious thing would be to advance into the Firelands or the like, but the ache in her bones fills her with more doubt than she's used to. She wonders why she can't feel more satisfaction for her existing accomplishment. Maybe tomorrow she'll feel it.

Low level dailies, part 4

Low level dailies experiment

You can read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of the Low level dailies experiment.

Around 6 weeks ago, Aldonza was level 42. She has been travelling between the Alliance capitals, cooking and fishing the dailies and gloating over how much gold she squeezes from the Auction House. Her progress has slowed down as these quests make a smaller contribution to the XP she needs for a new level. She is now level 46. Achievements are not being directly pursued, but rather signposts of her journey.

Winter Veil arrived in a cacophany of a crowd in Ironforge. They spilled forth, surrounding Grandfather Winter and otherwise providing an obstacle course, occluding her path between the bank and the auction house. As happened the year before, a frown donned Aldonza's face for the season, "Bah! What are they expecting? Something different?"

As she shuffled through her mail, sorting and comparing to her notes, her own words echoed in her head: something different, something different. She looked up from her work, preparing to return to the auction house, and felt her frustration fire up again. -It isn't going to be different. And they don't want anything different. They'd pay good gold to keep it the same.- Her jog falters as she negotiates the bridge. Thoughts of gold and how to gather more always burn brighter in her mind. "Bah! I blame the noise for forgetting this is another good opportunity for profit."

Aldonza's notes remindes her that eggs for cookies were especially good last year. Her instincts also lead her to check for new opportunities. What might have changed? Well, she was an improved cook this year. In fact, there were some other cookies that had excellent potential. And she had working diligently developing a perfect source for the cocoa beans!

Illustrious Grand Master Cook 12/26/2011

Aldonza felt great satisfaction with her improved cooking skills, not so much because there weren't plenty of other good cooks, but rather how inexpensively she acquired those skills, mostly during that profitable Pilgrim's Bounty time. Now she had new recipes at hand and a plan for generating foodstuffs in demand by folks with plenty of gold that she would be happy to take.

There was another skill that had recently been showing slow yet steady improvement. Her fishing hadn't had any easy boosts, but had been rising frequently as she found opportunity fulfilling the daily needs of one or another capital.

Master Fisherman 12/27/2011

Back at her table in the Stonefire Tavern, Aldonza smiled in satisfaction at the improvements to her bottom line. Her visits to the Darkmoon Faire had not shown much new earning potential, but it did exercise some skills. Far better news were how many folks wanted Chocolate Cookies to make themselves Feel Right As Rain. In her notes was an instruction to review the calendar more often. There must be more profit in the Lunar Festival...

Low level dailies, part 3

You might want to read Part 1 and Part 2

When last I updated news of my test subject, Aldonza was level 34 and I'd found a comfortable groove popping between capitals, running the cooking and fishing dailies and making gold from the Auction House. My time on WoW can be haphazard. I was only visiting Aldonza a couple times each week, typically, but she was making steady progress.

Regular progress yielded some achievements just due to their accumulative nature:

Professional Artisan 9/17/2011
Artisan Fisherman 9/30/2011
100 Cooking Awards 10/22/2011
Lunch Lady 11/20/2011
Artisan Cook 11/22/2011
Level 40 11/25/2011
Master Cook 11/25/2011
1000 Fish 11/26/2011
200 Daily Quests Complete 12/4/2011
Journeyman in First Aid 12/4/2011
Grand Master Cook 12/4/2011
One That Didn't Get Away 12/4/2011

Y'all know that there have been a couple holidays and these had an impact on Aldonza's journey. In particular, as many folks know Pilgrim's Bounty is an excellent time to level up one's cooking skill. It's also easy for a Mage with Teleports to run the dailies between the capitals.

Now We're Cookin' 11/20/2011
Pilgrim's Paunch 11/20/2011
Pilgrim's Progress 11/22/2011

With 4.3 out, the new Darkmoon Faire has some quests perfect for my experiment, profession quests that yield some easy XP and cheaply raise my professions. Of course, beyond Aldonza's miserly ways, her cooking got high enough that new avenues for revenue generation has her reaching for the top. All those Cooking Dailies mean a clutch of Cooking Awards asking to be turned into profit. Crates yielded some meat that both levelled her skill and became something to sell. The Baked Tender Turtle was a big surprise seller whereas I already knew how to profit from Chocolate Cookies.

And now Aldonza has reached level 42, which is an answer to life, the universe and profit from Mage Portals!

Blog Azeroth Shared Topic: Thankslinking!

The Blog Azeroth Shared Topic this week, Thanksgiving Event 2001, was suggested by Amerence.

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a blogging life
That started with Pink Pigtail Inn,
A haven from all strife.

The Inn was a friendly, blogging spot.
Larísa, bright and gay.
As I learned how this blogging worked
I returned most every day (returned most every day).

My roaming started fast and wide
Many bloggers were soon found
If I wasn't scared off by the Greedy Goblin
I soon was quite Spellbound (Soon was quite spellbound).

A Pugging Pally showed to me
How leveling could be fun!
A Giant Spoon gave added weight,
My new class search was done (My new class search was done).

My blog set ground on the shore of this uncharted blog-a-verse.
With Windsoar,
Kurn's Corner, too.
The Flinthammer (and his wife),
A Bubble lover And many more to quote!

This love comes from Kallixta's Notes!

Achievements, What?, I don't even... 1 Nov 2011

Kallixta has been running Molten Front dailies enough to have unlocked both Shadow Wardens and Druids and will start unlocking the Vendors next. She'll log in, fly around Mount Hyjal while keeping an eye out for Mankrik, the last she needs to wave at, before she "breaks on through to the other side".

Despite trying a few times, she hasn't managed to get the top spidery view achievement either. One time she was on the right path when she got caught in a tug of war between two spiders and dying. Bah. At times like that I remind myself that Kallixta isn't the achievment whore, despite Martuska never having visited the Molten Front.

Speaking of Achievements...

Kallixta did Tricks and Treats for the Creepy Crate. I should have had Martuska do it. I don't know now why I didn't.

Mentally I've told myself and told myself that Kallixta isn't pursuing achievements. And then I see things like that.

Days One Hundred and Something - 20-29 Oct 2011

The Diary Theme doesn't work well any more. It was fine when I logged in for a couple hours, two times a week, but it fails when I log in for 30 minutes at a time for seven out of ten days. It also worked when I was only following one character, but fails as I'm spending time on more than three. I still enjoy the blogging, but expect some changes in format soon.

A couple other important things that are demanding change to the blog. Kallixta has reached level 85 and it's been over a year. The Diary served its purpose. It got me comfortable with writing and supported my goal. Martuska took 3 years to reach maximum level, but Kallixta only 1. I've managed to post something every month and some months, a lot!

Kallixta has still been dithering over her equipment and trying to transition to a new and different life in the end game. She has gotten comfortable running the dailies at the Molten Front. She has revisited Faction Vendors for potential upgrades or for a second copy to be reforged differently. Here are some of her recent purchases:

I enjoyed visiting the Headless Horseman multiple times, all but once as a tank. One time I went as Retadin, just to measure myself against others. By Hallow's End, I managed to pick up

I love "/use 1" It's my Tanking Helm of choice.