When Legion launched, I was excited and participated more than my usual. In particular, I actually joined a couple dungeon queues until one horrible Maw of Souls run where I couldn't figure out where I needed to stand without dying instantly. Dying, being Combat Rezzed and dying immediately again before I could move must be counted horrible.
I continued to play, just avoiding dungeons, yet again. Things went well until the holidays arrived. My son returned for a visit from Korea and we had plenty of other things to do than play Warcraft, including helping my daughter move apartments and go to movies. Guess which movie has this for a sign:
It was actually Hidden Figures. Their spelling is as bad as by dungeon experience.
Sometime in January, my daughter and her husband were waxing excitedly about how their Guild was doing and I realized I had effectively stopped playing. It was on their encouragement that I started back up. We had long talks about what we each enjoyed in Warcraft. I pointed out that I still didn't enjoy dungeon groups.
Of course, you can't complete the Order Hall Campaign without killing Dungeon Bosses. So, my daughter goaded me into agreeing to be carried by her and her friends so I could get through it.
And it was clearly a Carry. On my first run I did about half the damage of the TANK!
Yes, I got a Legendary on my return to dungeons. Shouldn't I be happier?
Of course, the tank was my son-in-law doing mad damage as a Bear and the pair helped me with reviewing my equipment, rotation and some other tips. The next week when we ran a few more dungeons, I was relieved to discover I was only doing about 3/4th the damage of another kitty. It was substantially better.
I also subsequently realized they had me doing these dungeons at Mythic. Oh. Non-observant much?
With the breakthrough they allowed me, I managed to finish up my Campaign and reexamined where I am. I just need to spend more time in Suramar and make the Nightfallen happier to finish Pathfinder Part One. Okay, I can deal with that.
I have not been keeping up with the World Bosses. Ok, you dang fool. Pay more attention.
The other thing I've at least managed has been Pet Battles. I just need to be more organized about it.
Yes, I enjoy my time in the World of Warcraft.
It's just that I'm a casual.
It's not like Nothing Else Matters.
I've been enjoying the answers others gave to these questions and I found myself asking Navimie and Cymre to answer some of their own proposed questions. I'm not ready to restart blogging about WoW, but since Kamala mentioned she missed reading, I thought the least I could do was give some more answers about myself.
If you couldn’t blog about Wow anymore, what would you blog about?
I'll start this by answering a bit of "Why haven't you been blogging about WoW anymore"?
I'm trying to write for publication. When I have spare time, I've been participating in a writer's forum and write there instead of blogging. I'm not going to say more unless it gets further along than the pitiful scribbling it is currently, but it's in the Historical and Science Fiction genres.
My son asked for and received Burning Crusade for Christmas, 2006. My first character started during the "Love is in the Air" holiday, February 2007. That Netherwhelp was my first pet and still a favorite, except it's on the account my daughter plays on, not mine.
My son-in-law and I still bond over talk about our Burning Crusade experience. He was actually a Vanilla raider.
How long have you been playing computer games?
I was profoundly influenced by playing Star Trek on a mainframe in 1975. It was part of the reason I became a computer professional. I remember transcribing the Basic program from a listing in Creative Computing and playing it on the school's Commodore Pet, but that was a couple years later.
Oh, yeah. I'm old.
Where do you prefer to go, Mountains or Beach?
We spend every summer at a lake cottage with a small beach. I still build sand castles.
My preference for beaches does not mean I dislike Mountains. I grew up camping in the Appalachians and have hiked part of the Trail. My most profound religious experience was watching sunrise from atop the highest point east of the Mississippi, Mt. Mitchell. I'm still proud of a very technical climb (5.5) of the very recognizable Mount Moran.
Transmog, yay or nay?
I love having my characters wear transmogs. I've discovered I'm horrible at making my own. I should have had a clue because I need my spouse to put my own outfits together. Maybe I was in the military because that meant I didn't need to think about what to wear?
What kind of car do you drive?
Until last year I drove my Ford Escort for fifteen years.
My father-in-law loves gadgets and cars and often gets the latest thing. He currently drives a Tesla. When he gets a new vehicle, we often purchase his not-very-old car, either for ourselves or our kids. Thus I have a Toyota Prius and a Chevy Volt I drive now.
What locations in WoW have the best background music?
I wanted to answer this because it needs to be said. I almost always play WoW with the sound turned off. Even when I turn sound back on, I usually keep the music off as I prefer my own playlist of music. Which calculator format do you prefer?
I'd prefer RPN, but my HP 12C sits unused in my drawer at work.
Give me a recipe for something that you like to make for dinner when you don’t have much time or energy for cooking.
Chicken Carrot Soup is my go-to recipe:
1 onion, chopped
1.5 cups chicken, cut up
salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
1.5 cups chopped carrot
6 cups water
2 T chicken bouillon
Half bag of Whole Wheat Egg Noodles
Saute the onion, add in chicken. I usually used cooked chicken, but if it's raw, continue sauteing until cooked. I usually only add less than 1/4 t of garlic powder.
I typically throw the carrot in as I'm chopping them and when I finish, that's when I add the water and bouillon. I cook this about 20 minutes, mostly to soften the carrot.
We've recently switched from the egg noodles to soba noodles. All of these amounts are subject to change. This is just a fast and easy bit of comfort food for us.
If you could choose your spirit animal, what would it be?
I find it awkward that my spirit animal is boring compared to my sons proudly claiming Otter and Elephant. Mine is a wolf, but it's never been in a lycanthropic way. Still when I'm feeling particularly ornery and misanthropic, I do snarl a bit more like a Lone Wolf.
There’s a meme going around and Cymre picked me and awoke me out of a slumber, something like Sleeping Beauty.
How awesome is that?! I mean, if you're going to be awakened, who better than Cymre, right? And she's having me grouped up with folks like Coolidge and Dragonray.
Here are the rules:
Thank and link the person who nominated you.
Answer the seven questions your nominator has provided.
Nominate 7 other bloggers and create 7 questions for them.
And the questions I have to answer:
1. How would you pass the time during a blackout?
I can tell you exactly how I spent my last couple of blackouts. We sat around playing cards by candlelight, especially Sushi-Go. When a prior blackout turned out to be extensive, we went out to a restaurant and after the meal, played more cards. I should point out, my family doesn't need a blackout to initiate a game of cards.
2. If you could be any superhero for a day, who would you be and why?
Squirrel Girl. She's unbeatable. It says it right there in the title of the comic book "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl".
I'll add here that when the question was "favourite villain", I think the Phantom of the Opera gets a bad rap. Raoul is colourless. All that Erik has done for Christine and she chooses Raoul? Bah.
3. What is one thing you love collecting or loved collecting as a child/adult?
I collected many things as a kid, but one of the few things I continue to collect are coins. However, saying that sounds boring.
Something less prosaic is my now huge Map Collection. I save every map that is put in my hand, including some on placemats or brochures. My kids know when they return from a trip, to give me their maps, too. I think they make fantastic souvenirs, but I also just love maps. They are like puzzles!
4. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
My spouse and I were just discussing this. I was charged with being unimaginative in my initial answer. I can now say "Boryeong, South Korea". Well, in summer. Otherwise maybe Jeju Island, Mont Saint-Michel, Capri or another Island I think I'd like, Bennelong Island. I bet you can guess how I'd answer the "Beach or Mountains?" question.
5. If you could only take one item to a deserted island, what would it be?
My Hearthstone, so I can leave when I want.
6. Who is your main and who do you love playing her/him?
For Legion, it has been Kallione, a feral druid. My main has been a Human Mage and a Dwarf Paladin in the past. I like trying out new characters each expansion or so. I'd rather learn something different and have some variety than staying with one character for all time.
7. Favourite phone app?
Kakaotalk. It's how my family stays in touch, especially as my son is overseas. Again. For another year.
As far as nominating other bloggers. No. I'm the sad type than breaks the chain. Yes, I'll pretend it's a matter of principles, not that the only bloggers I'd be comfortable with nominating have already gone or something.
My early experience in Draenor saw Kallixta run up to level 100, build a nice garrison, and then reach the limits of my old machine. It just didn't have the horsepower. So I took time off.
My return was slow, but facilitated by my son giving me his old computer while he took off to Korea. Again. This was a much faster machine, but I had to re-establish atrophied gaming muscles.
I had forgotten how to play a paladin. Now I could certainly relearn, but I decided this would be as good a time as any to learn a new class. I had received a free level 90 at the start of the expansion. Why not experiment. So in January, I brushed off my 91 Feral Druid and jumped in.
And discovered fun. I'm still totally perplexed by how to AOE as a kitty, but I quickly adapted enough to level up and set out with Flying as my goal.
Which I succeeded last week.
As I was finishing up, I started thinking about "What Next"? I don't really know. I've a soft target of finishing So. Many. Pet. (44 to go) but that's more of something to do in between other goals. I need another goal.
One point is that Kallixta/Aldonza/Kallione is a different account from the one I'd started with, so it doesn't have the Achievement Points I had earned in my first few years. I might need to do some catching up.
One thing that has NOT happened has been the RP. I miss that a lot. My guild is quiet and I haven't really gone looking. Kallione's personality is still fluid. Maybe I can find something that will inspire my writing again. Until then...
Navimie is the one that inspired me to post food pictures. Complain to her if you get hungry.
My older son, the one that first boght Warcraft, is about to return to Korea for another year of teaching English. He and his older sister have both done this in the past, so eating Korean is not new. For his birthday the whole family went to the best Korean BBQ in Ann Arbor, Tomukun.
We ordered the BBQ Combo Platter which comes with 8 different meats. Prominent in this picture you can see my kids favorite, the Samkyeopsal, or pork belly, aka uncured bacon. There is also seen a bowl of another meat, I think it's Galbi or short ribs. Also to be seen are a wide variety of side dishes and sauces, known as Banchan. Kimchi is the best known but can't be seen in this picture.
Another favorite is the spicy chicken, or Dalkbulgogi, seen here which some of the smaller bits of beef. There is some of the thinly sliced brisket in the left foreground. You can also see the important cooking tool for this meal, the scissors.
Also notice how the grill, despite our efforts with the lard piece, is accumulating, um, "color".
The lettuce is not just for presentation purposes, but used as a wrap, ssambap. We had to ask for more.
Here things were finally winding down, but not over. About all that's lest is a big piece of Korean ball squash. We also didn't finish the jalapeño. So here is what the grill looks like by the time we'd finished.
Yes, I'm playing Warcraft again, but that's not what this post is about.
As Autumn started, my sons and daughter stopped playing Warcraft. I let my subscription lapse while I found other things to do. In particular, the family played other games. Between November birthdays and Christmas, we had lots of new games. The spouse and I had a great time buying presents at RIW. The store owner knows us and more importantly, knows the kids we were buying for and made some excellent recommendations.
Here are some winners:
Sushi Go! is an excellent, fun card game that takes little time. It's the family's favorite card game and we'll often grab it to occupy a few minutes, often while waiting for someone to get ready for something else. We've each experimented with different strategies and I've seen different ones succeed.
Roll For It! is another quick fun game, this time using dice. It's easy to think of it as something like Yahtzee. It's fast and simple and we've enjoyed it. The family seems to prefer Sushi Go, but YMMV and when we want a quick game of something that's different, this has our recommendation.
As for the big games, I received Ticket To Ride: Europe. My sneaky Son-In-Law excels at being quiet and getting away with building incredible links without anyone noticing until too late! One difference this version has from other the other Ticket to Ride games is the Train Station. Few of us paid much attention to them, but last minute stations allowed me to surprisingly jump up into second place. That won't happen next time, sigh. My family learns from their mistakes.
A big winner is Tokaido. Some of us had experimented with it at a games convention last year and we bought it for Christmas. We've enjoyed it more than a couple times. It's very different and somehow doesn't bring out the competitive edge. Well, unless you're trying the two person rules. My son and I tried it with different starting characters and enjoyed frustrating the other. It really is a beautiful game and usually relaxing.
One final word about electronic games. We had the usual electronic games, but those are almost always played individually. In the past, we've had super Smash Bros Brawls and that won't stop, but one present this year was the Jackbox Party Pack. This is a new family favorite, especially Drawful. Oh my gosh we can crack each other up! This can be hilarious and lead to more family in-jokes that can cause disruptions days later.
I have a personal guild for my Banker Alt that sports a Guild Tabard that proudly recalls the gold earned by selling cookies for the You'll Feel Right as Rain achievement. It's a cute, happy cookie! What could possibly go wrong?
Aldonza was not afraid in the kitchen
Well, do you know what happens when you change your bank alt to a Worgen that crouches over, obscuring part of the Guild Symbol?
How dirty is your mind?
Gee. What craft makes those? Maybe there's a market for that...
There have been interruptions. Despite the distraction of my daughter's wedding, I'm reporting a better than average participation in a new expansion.
I hit 100 on 12/14, one month after the Expansion Release. As I was only playing on weekends, and not for long stretches even then, I was happy with my progress. I was not the quickest in my Guild, but I managed it before anybody dinged an Alt.
Ding with Yrel
I managed my Minions well enough that I had a good selection of Munificent items ready when I dinged and Turbulent soon after.
I max'd my Mining and Blacksmithing quickly and smoothly with a iLevel 630 Steelforged Greataxe ready by 11/29, when I dinged 98. I've since improved to Stage 3, iLevel 660. I've been prepared to craft other items, but haven't needed it so much yet.
Despite dinging, I returned to Nagrand for the Plainsthunder gear I could pick up. My rings were dragging my iLevel down, so I went after a treasure ring that needed a little special jumping.
Treasure location
This allowed me to have an iLevel 620 average right away. Again, this might not impress anybody except me. Kallixta was ready for Heroics sooner than I've ever had before.
It was at this point that even my weekends were no longer available for more than an occasional visit to managed missions. Actually, while this was all I could manage, I felt more engaged for the pittance of time allowed. I did manage to help my Guildies, typically when someone wanted assistance in tackling a tough rare.
The Saturday after Christmas, Matty sent out her OLRG notice and I looked over at my family, all taking a break from frenetic activity. I asked and received indulgent smiles. Yes, I could take the evening off to Raid the new Molten Core! I explained my excitement to my son-in-law. He was a Vanilla Raider (and BC and WotLK) and had helped me through MC my first time.
I think a few others can understand my excitement and pleasure this achievement gave me. It was a real raid and it took us hours and more than a few wipes. My family was helpful and I only needed to run and let the dogs inside once. I EARNED that Crown. My DPS wasn't near or below the tank except on the fight I died early. I might not have been in the Top Ten, but I wasn't embarrassed
OLRG in the Molten Core
Note: In general, Disco gets a bad reputation, but on the plus side the times allowed for Rock and Pop fans to discover Jazz! Let's hear a bunch of Scots teach us a thing or two with 'Pick Up the Pieces' from 1977
It has been months and only recently has anything interesting occurred.
First a quick summary. Aldonza and Kallixta have spent enough time on the Timeless Isle to accumulate some nice purples. My characters have also been keeping up their profession daily cool downs, which often mean they have discovered some helpful recipes for even nicer gear. At least, I consider having everything over ilevel 450 nice.
Second, my guild shrank. The most active raiders moved, leaving mostly those with low activity. I lost a crutch!
Third, Hallow's End allowed me to easily test how well I could do in a low pressure queue. The practice made the final step much much easier.
Yesterday, I queued in the Throne of Thunder LFR!? OMG.OMG. OMG. Where's the notice about Average Wait Time? I was more than a little nervous. I'm afraid I bugged Matty, asking a few questions.I'd have asked more as the Average Wait Time would occasionally show up, saying 1 hour! then disappear and then surprising me with a pop!
I joined the raid after the first boss. We fought trash while more new members were brought in to fill those that had their fill after one boss? I knew what to do for Horridon and before long we had a dead dino.
Again there was a flush of folks leaving and arriving. It gave me time to remind myself about the next boss battle and in what seemed like no time at all, another boss battle was over!
A desire to develop an improved Pet Battle Team for my daughter was the primary instigation for my return to WoW. Pet Battling with Martuska reminded me of the fun I had with my little Gnome, but I wasn't yet doing anything different with her than I was with Aldonza.
So this was the reason I was playing Warcraft? Pet Battles? That was my only competency?
It didn't used to be. I once ran dungeons. I ran dungeons after dungeon in Northrend. I had run one Pandarian dungeon, Stormstout Brewery with Kallixta, and hated it. This was mostly because I was still learning the Retribution spec, but also the Brewery had some boss battles with fiddly mouse clicking required to hop on soap bubbles or whatever. My eyesight and a different mouse have made this troublesome and I need to get back on the horse.
Well, a mount of some kind. I have non-horse choices.
Martuska reminded me that I enjoyed my zippy little Gnome. She was fearless. Aldonza was supposed to have left her fears behind, but hadn't, really. Aldonza already had level 90 and was fully equipped. So one night when my guildies were asking who wanted to run some heroic dungeons... I squeaked. (I imagine an adolescent boy's voice cracking here.)
Of course, I had read the Dungeons Guides.
(I had read them back when Mists first come out.)
I ran two dungeons.
(I was the only one to die and I died twice, once in each.)
So, I'm back on a mount of some sort.
(It's not like any I've been on before. I'm looking at changing it.)
The family was back from Gencon and I was busy with new books and games and organizing them into the older books and games. There were new autographed books and nearby were all those Mercedes Lackey books still sitting on a shelf that I didn't take to Indianapolis because I didn't know she was going to be there!
The time came that I once would get online and play WoW and it occurred to me that I didn't mind being offline. For certain I missed the people, but not necessarily the game. I decided I might try turning off one subscription, but didn't get around to it yet. Still, there had been a tentative decision made.
Then my daughter proudly showed me her pet team she had leveled to 25. It was apparent she'd paid some attention to my suggestions months earlier, but it also was more revealing about what she liked when playing Pokémon! She and her brothers and, well the whole family really, started playing on a pre-color Gameboy. Her team consisted of:
Do you remember how hard it was to level up your first team to 25? She wasn't discouraged, exactly, but certainly wasn't enjoying it like I had. As I tried to explain how it would get better and what her next pets should be... She challenged me to use Martuska, my character on her account, and we would share the team.
Now I still felt guilty about abandoning Martuska for Kallixta and Aldonza. She was my first to level 85, but she was still sitting at 85! When I played Warcraft with my son, Kallixta and Aldonza were on the same account as his favorite character, so he could play with his sister. He would prefer if I could brush the dust off Marty so we'd have a better match.
Martuska and Aldonza are both Mages. Aldonza had overcome much of her cowardice, but I was the one avoiding Marty. Hm.
I concluded that before I stopped entirely, I owed Martuska some attention. With that miniscule commitment, I decided to send Martuska to Pandaria. Someone had mentioned levelling a low level in Pandaria, battling those wild pets. I could at least do that for Syylia's team. Martuska ran like a little child, or more accurately a small gnome, all the way to Half-Hill, set her hearthstone and started battling.
And I've been playing World of Warcraft ever since. I remembered the fun I had with my little gnome!
Marty needed to discard those Cataclysm blues and purples and her shiny new Zen Tailoring gave her a set of Windwool greens. That led to visits of the Silk Fields and confirming that playing a level 85 Gnome Mage really isn't that different from a level 90 Human Mage, provided you bother to set up the GUI! And the Macros! Oh, and choose your talents and glyphs. Good grief!
Marty's first new level since a month after Cataclysm came out!
Martuska is already level 87, almost all from Pet Battles, but she's reminded me of things that should have been apparent on Aldonza. Can you guess what I learned?
How often do you apply lessons learned on one character to another? Apparently I haven't been liberal enough in that reapplication!
All these reputations meant she also earned herself a Mountain o' Mounts, which pleased her to no end. These are the sorts of things Syylia enjoys in WoW. I'll help her, but it isn't as important to me. In fact, seeing all that she was accomplishing wasn't drawing me back.
What did bring me back? Oops! Not there yet.
One thing I knew about Aldonza and Kallixta was that they were poorer and I resented the pressure to return just so my kids could spend more gold. It wasn't the earning of that gold that I enjoyed. Instead it was a sign that I was good at something in Wow. I might not know my class, but I knew the Auction House! I knew how to relieve others of gold that they wanted to spend. Is that all I do in Azeroth?
Of course not!
I also had a better Transmog than Syylia!
Oh dear. What competence are you proud of in Azeroth?
The factions that put Syylia over 40, earned on the same day
August was not a calm month in the Kallixta household.
My older son returned from Korea for a break in his year of teaching English. The family took our third trip from Detroit to Fargo this summer and we did it without stopping overnight since theoretically we had four drivers. Practically, I drove more than half of the sixteen hours or so. Funny how that works.
We also packed into the month a trip to Gencon in Indianapolis, squeezing two more friends in the car and the motel room. Having done this once before, we made better management of our time and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Among the lessons learned, however, are that we'll split the seven of us into two rooms and two vehicles next year. Syylia had made costumes for herself and her boyfriend. Wil Wheaton spotted them, took their photo and posted it on twitter!
It rocked her Little Big Planet.
One Monkey flew back to Korea and things got much quieter. I had the chance to return to the World of Warcraft, but I was surprisingly ambivalent. It wasn't a habit anymore. The kids still played, but I had plenty to keep me busy. Maybe it was time to stay off?
The short answer is "No". I'll detail just what's happened next time, but just posting this much should break the logjam!
My time spent with Aldonza and Kallixta is to explore. The plan had been that Martuska, being on my daughter's account, would continue to pursue Achievements, but the second account wouldn't drive for them in any special manner. I've been pretty good about ignoring the pursuit of Achievements just for a higher Achievement score.
The closest thing to an exception has been that Kallixta worked hard on the Molten Front, earning the Hippogryph, while Syylia didn't. She is still spending time catching up on a bunch of Cataclysm stuff.
With summer, my son has been spending much time using the account, playing with his sister. They're having a good time, but it does mean that many of Ellyiia's achievements show up on Aldonza or Kallixta's Activity log.
Luckily Equipment rewards don't show up. That would be even more confusing.
About my only activity in the past couple weeks has been Aldonza doing Tiller and Angler dailies. Just so you know what I was really doing Last Night:
The family has had three accounts for years. During the school year, use of the second account has been minimal, but the summer vacation has started. And on Friday, I arrived home to find my son and daughter running around Pandaria together. My son has characters on both accounts (and so do I) so we can play in different combinations of two of us. But we can't all three play at the same time.
One time of conflict doesn't justify a third account, but it got me considering it.
Contributing to this thought experiment when I brushed off Martuska, my original main. She is a level 85, like Aldonza, but gnome instead of human. She'd also been Frost spec for a long time. By the time I'd finish spec'ing, fixing glyphs and macros, I was not ready to play with her. I wanted back on Aldonza! I didn't want to bounce between them.
The account with Martuska was the original Achievement junkie and my daughter is happy to carry on. I've tried to resist repeating and bunch of things, just to improve an achievement score on Aldonza, but...
Aldonza comes in fourth on search. They appear to be ranked by Achievement Points. If that is true, Aldonza only needs a few more to push up to third! Second is probably out of reach as both of those are way ahead.
Saturday night my kids went to what they called a LAN party.
Technically, I think it was a Wi-Fi party, but nobody likes those
pedantic complaints. My daughter was content to play WoW there while my
younger played other games, including Starcraft with my older boy who is
in South Korea. They also chatted with him on Skype and had a good
time. The point was that I got to play on Aldonza, including a little
time with my daughter. We finished Lorewalkers together and got our
flying clouds. I did LBRS and UBRS to complete all the Classic Dungeons and attune for Blackwing Lair.
So I guess I am interested in Aldonza's Achievement Points
Even while showing my old Dalaran Transmog yesterday, I had been working on a new outfit. I had tried out different outfits, but nothing attracted me as much as the simple wizard robes style. And then my Guild Mistress asked for help doing some Classic Dungeons for Guild Achievements.
That's how I rediscovered Robe of the Moccasin and Anacondra's Robe, both found in Wailing Caverns and both simple recolors of my purple Lesser Wizard's Robe. That led me to the various Apothecary's Regalia and its recolors. The Black and Purple is much too Warlocky for my tastes, but I like the teals in the blue outfit. I haven't bothered with a different belt. My current cloak works while my weapon is a fine match.
The headband underscored how little I cared for long blone hair. I'm sorry, but I've never liked blonde. I have no idea how Aldonza ended up blond anyway, but I wasn't about to have a radical change. Simple greying works fine for me and a shorter style just looked better to me.
I pay for two accounts. The original account has been taken over by my kids while I got the new one. Of course, my younger son has a character or two on the new account so he and his sister can play simultaneously.
My daughter can fit many female wow-player stereotypes, delighting in pets and mounts, preferring healing, avoiding PvP and Dungeons. She has a good time, but hasn't been as active as she's wrapping up her degree and her boyfriend isn't raiding anymore.
Meanwhile my youngest has matured and has his own preferences. He will probably spend more time in Azeroth over the summer, but as he eases back in, he had some leftover goals on his old bucket list. He accomplished one last night and he gets full credit even though Aldonza and Kallixta benefit.
There are times it is hard for me to write because there's just too much to write about. After a while, it becomes embarassing because some bits are important.
Aldonza hit Level 90... before Memorial Day. Of course I was excited, but I had no chance to celebrate before we hurried off to the In Laws and the long drive from Detroit to Fargo and back, which we've since repeated, this time towing a trailer. We've finally got them settled into a new apartment, and most of the furniture and other accumulated goods of a lifetime living in a much larger space, now all sorted to one family or another.
The fact is, reaching level 90 this late in an expansion means there's a wealth of options and little guide in where to start. On recommendation of my guildmistress, I managed the Arena of Annihilation scenario for the weapon.
I need to explain something. Aldonza went from leveling via Cooking and Fishing quests up to level 85 where upon she entered Pandaria. She then leveled mostly via Pet Battles. This is my screenshot of hitting Level 90
For whatever reason, the WoW Messaging System decided my Terrible Turnip hitting level 22 was more important than my character hitting level 90. You can see it is Aldonza that's glowing, not the turnip.
Can you guess how well equipped Aldonza was for the Arena of Annihilation? Do you know how many green and blue items you earn while doing Pet Battles?
Right, none.
Aldonneeded a trip to the Auction House. Her fiscal frugality came in handy, purchasing decent items that where mostly Disenchant fodder, but allowing her to upgrade her item level to something that wasn't too embarassing. She survived the Arena.
Her Auction House skills over the next week allowed her to find more and better gearing upgrades and she decided she was ready for the next Guild Event. Perhaps a nice Dungeon? Of course not! Aldonza jumped straight into the fire. Well, the Firelands actually!
The Guild was working on Glory of the Firelands Raider and Aldonza has now helped. We didn't manage Barrel Roll that night.
It was after these events that Aldonza realized her new gear needed mogging. I've returned to my Kirin Tor outfit. It isn't original, but you can see how much fun Aldonza has with her friends back in Dalaran.
That Arcanist Ginberg is such a jokester!
Having got this out, maybe I can write about less important things, like our Guild's weekly Pet Battles!
I was trying to write down all the things I wanted to write about, but I discovered my List Making Mojo has gone the same way as Mataoka's. We suspect Sunspots are to blame. She convinced me to put something down. If she can write three excellent posts in one weekend, I should be able to manage something.
Cowardice happens to be something I'm deeply familiar with. It was a topic among my friends when I was in the service. I once knew how to surrender in 5 languages. I still remember "Nye Streelya!" and "Nicht Schiessen!" We figured that was more important than "Which way to the bathroom?" Pantomime would typically get the answer for that, but knowing the other might keep bullets from flying.
So as Aldonza explored her experiment, it was easy to understand her preference for staying out of trouble. As of last week, she'd already hit level 86 and I spend more time with her than any other character. And I enjoy my time with her more than any other character. However, should she be my "Main"?
For the years before Cataclysm, Martuska, a Gnome Frost Mage, was my Main. I didn't need another Mage, so Aldonza was idle and put to work dealing with the Auction House. The DPS wait times for the LFD went a long way towards convincing me to start Kallixta. She never tried the Retribution Spec until last year. If I was going to be DPS, I could be a Mage.
A complication is that Martuska is actually on a different account. This is solvable with the application of dollars, but I've become very happy with Aldonza. She's got much more personality and character than Martuska. She also has more height and weight, but that's because she's human. -rimshot!-
I'm a hindsight role-player. I don't plan much ahead, but discover a character's past as I play. When looking at Aldonza's avoidance of violence, I concluded "She's a Coward". If I decide I want Aldonza to become my main, it'll happen and I'll come up with the justification after. "She's working through her fears by confronting them." It really is that simple.
What isn't so simple is she has a big personal guild-bank full of glyphs and herbs, inks and enchantments, et cetera, et cetera. If she were to become my main, she'd need to give that up and join my "Real Guild" with Kallixta. I like my guildies and time spent on Aldonza is lonely. She's on a chat channel with them, but when it becomes filled with gratz over an achievement, I don't see that Achievement Spam. When they decided on an Amani Bear Run last night, it was inconvenient to swap over to Kallixta.
As I write this, it's clear to me that by the time Aldonza is level 90, she'll be my main. The only question is "Why Delay?" Why continue only levelling by Pet Battles and non-violent dailies. The experiment has been proven, right? Shouldn't I just push the button?
Aldonza has started exploring Azeroth without fear. Well, without fear from the roaming creatures that had grey numbers in their name plate. I've already talked about Aldonza dinging level 80, and needing a new goal. She has still been leveling, but with Inscription max'ed, it wasn't the priority it had been. However, nothing new had popped up to replace it. Also, the XP was coming quicker, too!
Her leveling experience was gathering momentum. Then Pet Battles brought Aldonza out of the capitals and spending serious time elsewhere. Pet Battles brougth some surprising amounts of XP via quests as did Archeology in low level zones. The whole effect meant Aldonza hit 82 much quicker than expected.
And then I've spent a month away, so that acceleration was not taken advantage of.
Still, somehow when I returned, I discovered Aldonza had TWO Motes of Harmony in her bags. I have no idea where they came from. I suspect the rewards from witnessing the death of the Greench. Twice Aldonza watched from a safe distance and swooped in like a greedy ..., uh witch, for credit. That's the only thing I can guess. Just because they weren't reported as a reward on wowhead doesn't mean it didn't happen. Where else did they come from?
Aldonza would love more. A single Spirit of Hamony would allow her to craft an Inscribed Fan and subsequently a Red or Jade fan. She can get the other materials. Those motes are the limiting factor to profit! -much gnashing muted-
With a bit of research, I discovered one alternate method for accumulating motes without visiting Pandaria, fishing on Darkmoon Island! It seems some of the pools have Sealed Crates with an 8% chance of containing more motes. This is certainly in keeping with Aldonza's ideals of making a profit without danger.
