Thursday (27 Sep) - Fist Wastes No Time

Thursday (27 Sep) - Fist Wastes No Time

Armed to the gills with heirloom armor, Fist got off to a quick start with her training. Her weaponry included the newest and baddest staff designed with monks in mind called Burnished Warden Staff which just tore through anything and everything like the target was limp noodles.

Monks are pure, in your face melee fighters. Fist first learned a simple Jab, which more or less meant pounding heads with her staff. More importantly, though, is that jabs generate "Chi" (the equivalent of energy in a druid). More fun was her second combat skill, Tiger Palm, a very cool looking maneuver that does damage and reduces armor effectiveness through Tiger Power. Completing a threesome attack is the impressive Blackout Kick. The kick is fun to watch and can be used in two different ways. Kicking from behind, Fist does extra damage. Kicking from the front does normal damage and also heals. Those three combat skills took Fist all the way through Sunstrider Isle and Eversong Woods.

Naithipe had already commissioned sets of crafted gear for Fist as she continued to grow and learn. The additional gear helped as Fist outpaced the questing and found herself taking on more and more difficult quests well above her level. Fist swept into the town of Tranquillen in the Ghostlands, one of best questing areas in all of Azeroth for a young adventurer. Fist took full advantage of that, traversing the terrain with usually a dozen or more quests in her sights.

Fist felt invincible, but did get a sudden jolt of reality when she carelessly tackled the abomination Luzran as he patrolled the Scar in the Ghostlands. Luzran was not only six levels higher than Fist (which she figured would make it a fair fight), but he was also Fist's first encounter with an elite. It did not go well. Fist took it well, though, chalking it up to experience, and continued her rampage, letting Luzran live - for awhile, anyway.

Fist grew tired of having to run everywhere, even though she did have a blast using Roll to provide short bursts of tumbling speed. She became obsessed with reaching level 20 in order to be able to mount up - and very late Thursday night she made it there.

Fist never got to the flight trainer, however. At level 20 she received a "Zen Pilgrimage" and was summoned to the Peak of Serenity for additional training as a monk. Fist had had a long evening, and decided to get a good night's sleep before taking on this special training, located on the Kun-Lai Summit in Pandaria.

Mother Mew continues to keep tabs on Fist, and spoke with Grand Master Hight, the head panda trainer at the Peak of Serenity. Fist would get no special treatment - if anything she will be tested harder than any other. Fist is proving to be a quirky girl. Her combat gear is well cared for and improved on at every opportunity. Away from danger, however, Fist fancies green and brown, carries a pair of showy one-handers, and refuses to wear shoes. Not only does she still get stares for being a monk who's not a panda, she now gets strange looks for her bare feet. Mother Mew thinks Naithipe would approve.

Fist at Level 20

Tuesday Still (25 Sep) - Wandering Isle is Impressive

Tuesday Still (25 Sep) - Wandering Isle is Impressive

Between the 3am Monday night launch fun (lack of sleep) and the Tuesday evening baseball game (we won!) Mew had to squeeze into the schedule whenever she could. A good bit of that time came after the ballgame and into another after midnight leveling session.

A few hours later, I am even more impressed with how well everything is working. The Panda starting zone is well designed and laid out. It's much larger than the usual starting zones. Despite what had to be a huge demand for creating Pandas, the instance system worked superbly. Mew was never entirely alone as she quested, but the questing areas never seemed overcrowded, either. Single person quests were well balanced with light challenges. The more dangerous quests nearly always had enough other folks around to help out. There were a small number of quests that also provided a helper.

There were no technical problems. Not one. The very few that originally looked like a bugged quest were not - it just took Mew a bit longer to figure it out. There were a few that stumped Mew for awhile that she'll mention below, but every quest worked, and Mew would finish all of the starting zone quests by the end of the evening.

I won't give the secrets of the trickier quests, but I will give tips so that future trainees don't, for example, have to spend way too much time in a pumpkin patch, baffled at why it was so hard to find three lousy pumpkins.

So, #1 - pumpkins, carrots, and turnips. The turnips were easy to find, but it took awhile to figure out that the pumpkins and carrots could only be found in respective caves that were located in the fields.

#2 - Ruk-Ruk is a minor boss in a village that is boiling with mobs like someone kicked the ant hill. This series of quests includes bringing along a pretty potent helper, but after killing way more minions than Mew needed to, we still couldn't seem to spawn Ruk-Ruk. That's because he is not in the village - look for him outside the village where he immediately respwans after each kill.

#3 - Mew was really baffled by this one. She had to rescue three injured soldiers. The injured soldiers were very visible and all sparkly, but Mew couldn't figure out how to save them. Clicking on them didn't do anything, nor did anything else she tried. It was by accident that Mew discovered that if she clicked on one, and then just waited for a few seconds, Mew would then pick up the soldier and drape him across her shoulder in a fireman's carry. Mew could then walk back to the triage area, dump the soldier, and viola! she had her saves.

The quests follow two main threads. Saving Shen-zin Su (a mystical sea turtle, I believe) takes up much of the story. The horde and alliance factions turn up toward the end, and Mew had opportunities to help both.

The completion of Mew's training had an interesting surprising ending which was fun and which I appreciated. I won't reveal it right away in case ya'll want to experience it yourself.

The Panda starting zone is truly in it's own private world. No one but new toons are allowed there. No mailboxes to deliver goodies. No way to leave the place until all tasks are completed. The very last task from the Panda Elders is to select which faction, horde or alliance, they will choose. Even then, the now rookies (no longer trainees) still have a couple more steps to complete even after that choice is made.

At it's true ending, Mew reached level 12. A proud Panda Mage - with responsibilities that will take her to the other side of the world.

Tuesday (25 Sep) - The Wandering Isle

For Mother Mew, the Wandering Isle was both a return to her roots and a new beginning. As her spirit floated gently toward the Isle, she gazed with great fondness at the lovely little hamlet.

Nearing her destination, Mother Mew prepared herself and then slipped into a young trainee who had just arrived. The trainee was named Mewgoogaipan, and she had been carefully selected for this duty. The two were both separate and the same, now.

Mew arrived at the Shang Xi training grounds, was welcomed to Wandering Isle, and then took a few moments to look around.

All of the expected training facilities were present. Conspicuously missing, however, was a mailbox. I think I knew why, but just in case, I haf Jocey send a test email to Mew. The response was "Target has not selected a faction." As I suspected, not only could no one enter the training grounds unless they were a trainee, no mail could be delivered until the trainee chose their faction. That choice did not come until the end of their training. There would be no heirloom draped level 1s would be running around in this starting zone. Mew was just as proud of her new Initiate's gear, which she would add to over the course of several tasks.

She picked up a sword as her first weapon, hammered away at target dummies, dueled with npcs (ala death knights), and took on more challenging tasks easily accomplished with a little thought and a lot bursts from her magely fire bolt spell. As she was granted greater liberty to travel, she acquired a couple of children for a bit. They were quite taken with Mew, but were soon called back by their mother.

Mew decided to spend the rest of the evening with Old Man Liang, who lived not far from the pools. Mew now knew four spells and had made it to level 5.

Tuesday (25 Sep) - The Art of War, Mists of Pandaria Launch

Wildshard camped out in Orgrimmar's Valley of Strength on Monday night, awaiting the transition from Cata to Mists of Pandaria. There was a bit of a holiday atmosphere among the dozen or so guildies hanging out in game or in chat via the remote access feature. Those who did not buy the digital version of the game would have to wait until the midnight hour to buy the boxgame version. At least two guildies were in line at stores to buy the game.

As the time ticked closer to midnight, Wild joined the crowd outside Grommash Hold. Inside the hold, Warlord Garrosh made final plans for the launch of his war.



At about a minute before midnight, Wild and every other level 85 in game received the quest "The Art of War." The crowd outside the Hold flooded inside to talk to General Nazgrim, who would be leading the fleet.

There was a short cutscene that showed Warlord Garrosh incensed by reports that the Alliance fleet off Theremore had found Pandaria ahead of the horde. He ordered the fleet, which was headed for Theremore, to change direction and head for Pandaria.

The crowd inside he Hold was large but manageable. The General tallied up his soldiers quickly and sent us on our way. Wild was directed to report immediately to Hellscream's Fist, a newly commissioned skyship on the waters of Bladefist Bay outside Orgrimmar.



Wild took flight, following a solid stream of airborne horde heading for the ship. The first signs of confusion came when a great many of the General's soldiers descending on the ship at the dock. The deck of the ship was completely lost under the tide of horde milling about. Wild was one of those doing the milling, trying to find the General, who seemed to be both on the ship and still in Org collecting recruits.

After many minutes of this Wild figured something had gone wrong. Wild checked the directions from General Nazgrim again, and then checked the map to see what direction the Hellscream's Fist lay. Hmm, it seems like the ship on the docks was NOT where the General was. Wild followed the directional arrow to a spot off the coast. There was nothing there! Wild even did some deep sea exploring - maybe the ship had been sunk! Well, perhaps midnight was a little past Wild's bedtime, because it took a few minutes for Wild to figure out the obvious. The Hellscream's Fist is a skyship - shouldn't Wild be, like, looking UP?

There it was! Wild flew up to the ship - and joined a packed group of horde milling about on the deck - with no sign of the General. Wild stuck around for more than fifteen minutes. The crowd began to thin a bit, but Wild still had no General to report to. Several of Wild's guildies had found the General, and had moved on. Figuring Wild had encountered a bug, Wild returned to Grommash Hold, abandoned the "All Aboard!" quest and picked it up again. This time, General Nazgrim appeared on the skyship. Wild was in business.

The skyship sailed "Into The Mists" and into a fairly long cutscene. The horde fleet approached Pandaria and the battle began. Wild got his camera out, hiding from the General so he could play tourist for a bit. I mean, how often does a guy get to see a new land?

Snap! First glimpse of Pandaria through the mists.

Snap! General Nazgrim notices Wild taking pictures just as he sounds the attack. Oops, better keep that camera under wraps.



The General glares at Wild, but we're both soon pretty busy as the ship came under fire.











 Wild helps soften up the landing with some pretty easy potshots using the ship's big guns.

Wild was a bit embarrassed when he fell off the ship after getting a little too animated with his cannon fire. The fall knocked off half his health, and he was in enemy territory. "Am I supposed to be here?" Wild asked himself. Spotting a teleporter booth not far away, Wild decided he was not meant to be on Pandaren soil quite this soon. Wild hopped into the teleporter and was instantly back on the ship. Wild won his first Pandaren prize of war: a two-handed caster staff. Woot! Oh, wait. The staff is a green ilevel 372. Wild's mace is i397. Well, at least it's kind of neat looking. Sort of. Umm, never mind.

Wild gets additional orders from the General, and finally is officially on Pandaren soil as part of the assault to set up a beachhead. 



Wild stayed with the battle for several more quests. An hour after the launch, with several quests still to be done as part of the initial assault, Wild took a break. He found a quiet balcony out of sight of horde officers and checked out. He'll be refreshed and ready to continue where he left off at another time.

Overall, things went very smoothly for a new expansion launch. The storyline was well designed - although pretty bland so far. I don't know how many more steps there are before Wild reaches a true base of operations where Wild can operate from.

There will be more coming from Mother Mew next.

Monday (24 Sep) - The House of Naithipe?

Monday (24 Sep) - The House of Naithipe?

Picture a map of Pandaria - an island continent, discovered by war and revealed by the breaking of the mists which had enshrouded it.

Mother Mew was as happy as an excited child on Christmas morning. She stood in line, waiting for her turn to collect a quest from a Panda Elder, one of several Elders that trained young Pandaren at Wandering Isle. Mother Mew was a special kind of trainee, a Mystic with the physical form and experiences of a child and the spirit of an Elder. "Mother Mew" was largely dormant at Wandering Isle. For now, she was simply "Mew" and she danced lightly from footpad to footpad, anxious to get started on her training. The sooner she completed her training, the sooner she could start on her real journey.

Picture a map of the Eastern Kingdoms - place a finger on the Eastern Plaguelands.

The Scarlet Enclave, home and sanctuary of all death knights, hovered in the sky above the Eastern Plaguelands. Dark, forbidding, and unapproachable by the rest of Azeroth. Deep within the fortress, in a room few death knights ever saw, or wanted to see, a still form lay on a roughly hewn slab of rock. A second figure stood watch, standing motionless beside the rock, arms limp at the figure's side. The room was in deep shadow. The only light came from the slab - it cast a blackish red glow that filled the shadows with shapes that danced to sounds only the shapes could hear.

The standing figure slowly raised a right hand. The hand extended toward the form on the slab. The blackish red glow grew ever darker and the dancing shapes crowded close.

Only one figure came out of that room. A death knight. With the name of "Babe" she could fool those who thought her pretty and vapid. With the name of "Bruiser" she chilled the souls of those who looked into her bright, clever, dangerous eyes. Her full name was Bruiserbabe. But she was a whole lot more than that. She had considerable business to attend to.

Picture a map of the Eastern Kingdoms - slide a finger north and west from the Eastern Plaguelands, let it rest at Eversong Woods.

Back on the road from Silvermoon City, Jocey returned once more to Sunstrider Isle. There she waited for a miracle.

Monday Night Looms - MoP Readiness

Well, despite all of my poo-pooing of Mists of Pandaria, I will be in game when MoP goes live Monday night at midnight. I've made every prior expansion launch, and I can't stay away from this one. The launch start this time has been designed to be seamless. There is no need to logout and then back in. Just be in game at the stroke of midnight, server time, and MoP is live. The first task for all level 85s is to talk to our leader - Garrosh for horde, and Varian for alliance. So expect Orgrimmar and Stormwind to be shoulder-to-shoulder packed. All level 85s will also receive a quest ordering them home, no matter where in the world they are, in case they didn't get the word to hightail it to their leader. To get to Pandaria, you must do that quest.

Another thing to remember is that the Panda starting zone, Wandering Isle, opens for business as well. EVERYONE can make pandas, even those who did not purchase MoP, and everyone WILL be making pandas. The zone is instanced, and Blizzard promises they'll open as many instances as needed to meet the demand.

As far as the midnight launch goes, Wild gets the nod as the first representative of the family to experience MoP. He'll be in Org and will attempt to complete as much of the "routine" beginning as he can (ie, I do not intend to start questing in Pandaria). Wild hopes he will be able to get as far as shores of Pandaria's Jade Forest, which is the starting zone for level 85s.

Once Wild settles down somewhere, it will be Mother Mew's turn. I'll spill a few beans and reveal that Mother Mew will be a Panda mage. I wanted a warlock, as it fit the story better, but, alas, pandas can't be warlocks. I'll make it work.

I intend to take my time, read the quests, take pictures, and not worry about the frantic leveling going on all around me. There will be no dash to level 90, or even to level 10.

Last minute Details - I expect there to be some. One I just finished this morning is collecting Essence of Air. Stupid me waited too late to get them, and farming for them became ten times as difficult due to cross realm players camping Silithus to farm them. JB had avoided Silithus in her leveling and never discovered the alchemy recipe that transmuted essence of water into the much rarer essence of air. JB promptly went out and got the recipe from Stratholme on Sunday. However, the cooldown on the transmute is still a full day despite it being a level 275 skill. Sigh. JB was able to make two, but Wild needed two more. Philly got the order to go farm the other two. Long story short - Philly got an essence of air on her first kill. 51 kills later, battling three other players for the spawns, Philly finally got her second essence. I THINK I've thought of everything, now ... but we'll see.

Friday (21 Sep) - The House of Wild Evolves

Friday (21 Sep) - The House of Wild Evolves

[Ok, it's a pretty elaborate tale, but hey, MoP is almost here!]

Once upon a time the House of Wild was a family of two - Wildshard and Rheebah, Wild's sister. Wild was the adventurous one, and his story is well documented. The sister, Rheebah, showed some early daring in an attempt to keep up with Wild. Ultimately, though, she chose a different path, deciding to stay in Mulgore, the land of her birth, and live in the only place she called home, Bloodhoof Village. In time she became a revered Earth Mother, both protector and wielder of great nature powers. Rheebah and her flock survived the great cataclysm that rocked all of Kalimdor. As a result of Rheebah's great power, the Bloodhoof Village of today is exactly the same as it has always been. Rheebah lived quietly, tending to the tauren people. She loved her family. Despite the remoteness of the Village, Rheebah kept a close watch over all of her family through her benign power as an Earth Mother. She did not meddle in their affairs and let them live their lives as they wished ... but she was always open to those who sought her council.

Rheebah had a special interest in Naithipe. All death knights must live with the special curse they carry. It's not an easy burden, but most death knights find ways to cope with it. Naithipe, however, seemed unable to get past the horrors she had faced. Rheebah went so far as to offer Naithipe her own Earth Mother healing powers to close the wounds of her soul, but Naithipe would not accept it. She held on to that pain, remaining broken, and cut off from all help.

Time passed, and Naithipe took to staying at the village when she wanted solitude. Wrestling with her demons, Rheebah would tease her. Avoiding a world of idiots, Naithipe would reply. One such visit was different from the others. Naithipe came to the village not just for solitude, but to talk with Rheebah. They sat in the cozy hut where Rheebah stayed, and drank herb tea. Well, Rheebah did. Naithipe stared moodily out the open flap of leather that made the door. Rheebah listened to the children playing outside, and the whack of axes making firewood for the evening meal. Eventually, Naithipe spoke of what she called "her project." Naithipe asked for no help, but asked how such a thing might be done. "Why?" Rheebah wanted to know. "For what purpose?" Rheebah doubted that Naithipe could put into words what was driving her. Rheebah knew. As an Earth Mother it was plainly obvious, though Naithipe would have to find her own way to that revelation. There was little Rheebah could do for Naithipe, however. Rheebah alone did not have the power, and Naithipe herself was not ready. Despite the bad news, Naithipe had proceeded with her plans, making every preparation she could and determined to find a way to overcome the impossible stuff when she had to.

The first slim hope Naithipe got that the impossible might indeed be possible was the arrival of the delegation from Pandaria. This was still days before the launch of the war. Rheebah had always sensed a presence to the south, but the mists that lay between were deep and impenetrable, both physically and spiritually. However, the Pandaren delegation practically oozed the mystical power of their race. Rheebah and the head of the Pandaren delegation were able to communicate, and Rheebah asked if the Pandaren could help in Naithipe's quest.

The Pandaren agreed to speak with Naithipe. If Naithipe was known to be inscrutable, so were the Pandaren delegates. In what amounted to a very long conversation for Naithipe, very little useful was actually said from Naithipe's point of view. The delegation had no authority to help, and whatever help might be possible could be found only in Pandaria. Naithipe angrily ended the meeting. The stoic Pandaren bowed in regret and waited patiently until Naithipe stormed off to steal her ship - setting in motion all that followed in the wake of Naithipe's great disappointment. Rheebah never gave up on Naithipe, though, even after Melasahnd. As terrible as that battle had been, it quickened a change in Naithipe buried so deep she could barely name it - remorse.

All of that was the past now. After leaving Jocey at Sunstrider Isle, Naithipe worked her way back to the ship she'd paid for in blood. The pirate crew was in place, and the plan was to pick up Gamon and his cutthroats at a secret cove in Dustwallow Marsh. From there, they intended to take sail for Theremore and raid both alliance and horde shipping. Naithipe's private intent was to hunt down Warlord Garrosh's ship. She did not much care whether she survived the encounter. Melasahnd weighed on her with a kind of pain strange to her, but it was a small wave compared to the tsunami of loss she felt when the Pandaren had turned her down.

Naithipe sailed into Dustwallow Marsh and anchored in the cove, but Gamon was late in arriving. Despite the anger and pain that drove her, Naithipe could sense the bright warmth of Rheebah just a few leagues away. Before she could change her mind, Naithipe offered the pirate captain double the spoils if he would ensure the ship would still be there when she returned. Then Naithipe headed for Bloodhoof Village. If there was any chance at all, Naithipe meant to have it.

Naithipe's arrival did not disrupt the quiet, industrious village. Naithipe was well known here. Naithipe sat with Rheebah, and Rheebah offered tea, but Naithipe dispensed with the civilities, her patience long past it's end, bouncing between hopelessness and desperation, willing to seize on the slimmest of chances at whatever the cost, but afraid to trust in it. Naithipe spoke. "Tell me there is no hope, Rhee."

"That you do hope, that makes hope all the more possible," Rheebah replied. Whatever nasty impression Naithipe had thought she'd made on the Pandaren delegation, it had not kept them from further studying such an interesting challenge. Rheebah wasted no time, but did not hurry her words. "We have made a bridge melding together the powers of the Earth Mother and Mystic," Rheebah explained. "There is, now, for a short time, power to make what you ask for possible."

Naithipe would not allow the iron control she maintained to slip, but she knew there was more to come. "And?" Naithipe bit off the word.

Rheebah stared intently at Naithipe. "There is a part you must play in this, Naithipe. You must be the bond that unites the two powers." Naithipe was already shaking her head. "No."

Rheebah suspected this would be her answer. "Naithipe, you have said many things about your "project," coming at it like a blacksmith crafting a helm. Useful, even elegant, but inanimate. But is it not more like growing a seed into a beautiful, flowered shrub?" Naithipe set her jaw and said nothing. Rheebah tried again. "Tell me what you want, Naithipe. What is in your heart?"

Naithipe made a wrenching sound, stumbled to her feet and scattered cups. She paced. "You know what I want!" Rheebah did know. Naithipe wanted something that only the gods could provide her - a child. After so many disappointments the impossible gift seemed almost in her reach, yet immeasurably far away. Faced with real hope, Naithipe quailed. "I cannot ...  do ... this."

Naithipe, like any mother, wanted her child to be perfect. Naithipe, far from perfect, fresh with a new wound of self-loathing, did not want her child to be burdened with any part of her. The Earth and Mystic powered birth should be pure, in Naithipe's eyes, and that meant leaving her out of it. Ridiculous? Certainly, but Naithipe believed she was not worthy of such a gift. Rheebah saw a deep darkness descending on Naithipe, ready to swallow her whole. Naithipe would sail for Theremore, and die there.

Rheebah could not let that happen. A way was found.

Naithipe left the village and returned to her ship. Gamon never arrived. In fact, Gamon had sailed with the Warlord's fleet, getting passage on a ship in the confusion of the early launch. Naithipe's pirate captain had only enough crew to man the ship. Naithipe offered the captain a bigger prize than the spoils of raiding ships. Naithipe promised the captain he would see sights no horde had ever seen, and that when they returned the ship would be his.

Naithipe sailed back up the Kalimdor coast, making one stop in Ratchet to pick up a Pandaren delegate who had agreed to accompany them. With the Pandaran as a guide, they were able to navigate the dissipating mists surrounding Pandaria. They were not allowed to land on Pandaria proper, but did allow the ship to anchor off the beach of the northernmost island.

Naithipe was met by a young mystic still learning her craft. "My name is Mewgoogaipan," she said softly," and I am honored to be Mother Mew to your future daughter."

Wednesday (19 Sep) - Blood on Our Blades

Wednesday (19 Sep) - Blood on Our Blades

Most of the level 85s in the Wild extended family have now experienced Theremore Falls (TF). JB and Sin were the first to tackle the scenario, and on Wednesday night Philly, Daeth, and Lao took their shot. I think the only two left are Wild and Sis.

TF is/was an easy romp, but it did provide a bit of no-pressure practice to shake out some cobwebs and to start figuring out the many changes to spells, abilities, and talents.

The rest of the large family have at least gotten the minimum done to be able to function when MoP arrives, although not much more than that. There are still a few technical problems with addons that behave well with some toons and cause problems with others. So far, no amount of tinkering has figured out how to fix some of the issues, although all have workarounds of some type.

Happy has started hedging his bets on the AH as prices continue to fall despite Happy's diligent effort to prop them up - or, when that fails, buy them out. Happy is pretty much out of room in his warehouses for any more stuff, but refuses to sell at the heavily discounted prices. In another week, all that is expected to change in Happy's favor as the entire realm of Silvermoon (and all those cross realm intruders) start birthing a sea of pandas, monks, and panda monks.

Speaking of intruders, I still can't get used to seeing players from other servers running around our realm. They come through The Undercity all the time, for some reason. Happy sees them every day. If they want to compete with Happy on the AH - well, bring it on!

There has been no further news about Naithipe. There has been no word about the missing Melasahnd, either. EZ is back in Org, but whatever she knows or saw, EZ has refused to talk about it. Strange rumors have been emanating from the Sunstrider Isles in the far north of the Eastern Continent, however. There is word that a mysterious stranger known only as "Mother Mew" has been seen about the Isle. She appears to have taken on the responsibility of caring for and instructing many of the children who begin their life journey on the isle. No one knows where she came from or why, exactly, she is there.

Tuesday (18 Sep) - Surprise Attack!

Tuesday (18 Sep) - Surprise Attack!

Happy was rather desultorily stacking boxes of goods that wasn't selling. Not much of anything was selling. This was on Monday, and everyone was anxious for Tuesday to arrive for the launch of the war. Happy then started seeing comments in the trade channel referring to the start of the war. What? Really? Yes, Blizzard pulled a fast one. Sometime on Monday the Theremore Falls scenario became available to level 85s.

Warlord Garrosh must have gotten very impatient, setting sail a full day ahead of the planned launch. So much for the schedule. On Monday night JB (melee shaman) hooked up with Sin (druid healer) and friend Dm (warlock) to take part in the attack. Dm had already been through the battle, but for Sin and JB, it was a rush to join the fleet in the assault. We did not have a tank in our group. DM said that having a tank was "helpful" but not required.

There are four stages of the battle. In the first stage, we made landfall, jumped on our mounts, and rushed down a series of piers to the first ship, which were still tied to the pier. There were numerous defenders, but nothing too difficult for the threesome. We had to set a barrel to explode while fending off the bad guys. Dm and Sin did most of that. JB just killed things. One major tip is - Don't fall in the water. Its a long swim back. There are six ships to board, and there are patrols of mobs on the piers to deal with, too. Each ship captain is like a mini-boss and have their own special abilities.

In Stage 3 (ok, so we rushed through stage 2 too fast for me to see what went on) we talked to a flightmaster on the pier, and then we went around and killed a bunch of mobs. There are three gryphon riders to deal with that was a little bit challenging. Sin earned his keep keeping us alive. With no tank, JB also helped a little with self-healing. 

Next, we had to sabotage some tanks, and then battled a special tank that was one of the more engaging fights. It wasn't hard, unless you stood around where you shouldn't. The tank is just like one of those you'd ride in Winterspring, including battering ram. 

In the final phase we headed into a castle, killed our way to the basement, where we then killed a jailor and freed a spy that had been captured. Once the spy is freed a portal opens, and we went to a cut scene. In the scene a horde zep drops a mana bomb that destroys Theremore.

You get a prize for each completion, as well as a small chance of getting gear drops. On the battle itself, I thought it was fun but not very challenging. JB worried that she would be too rusty to deliver the necessary DPS and would hold the others back. But even without a tank to absorb damage, a melee shaman, druid healer, and a warlock made pretty short work of the Alliance at Theremore.

Frankly, overall it was a bit of a disappointment. For example, there are hardly any explanations of what is supposed to be going on in each phase. I had no idea we were supposed to be rescuing a spy. The scenario was over-hyped and a lot of folks are going to feel let down.

As news of the victory at Theremore filtered to the lands of the Horde, Jocey was on her way back from Sunstrider Isle to Silvermoon City. On the way she made a detour and gathered up the still in hiding EZ. Jocey and EZ shared their stories, fitting some pieces together, but there were still questions. Did Naithipe and Gamon sail off to Theremore? According to EZ, the ship Naithipe captured did set sail. On the assumption that Naithipe was on that ship, Jocey was certain it would have raced to Theremore. Theremore was obliterated, and Warlord Garrosh still lives. Does Garrosh know of Naithipe's treason? Did Naithipe even make it to the battle? Where was she when that mana bomb was dropped on the city? Jocey thought a lot about Naithipe on the trip back to Silvermoon City. She didn't have any firm answers to those questions, of course. She knew she had seen a side of Naithipe never before revealed, though, in those few hours they spent together. Jocey hoped Naithipe had survived, and was safe. But she didn't believe it.

Monday (17 Sep) - Dress Rehearsal

Monday (17 Sep) - Dress Rehearsal

Naithipe came for Jocey late Monday night, waking her up just shy of midnight. Naithipe was restless, pacing about the small room overcrowded with bags, satchels, and traveling gear Jocey didn't trust to leave at the inn's stable with the pack animals.

Jocey had hastily gotten out of bed when Naithipe made her unannounced arrival. Wearing nothing but her undergarments, Jocey glanced hopefully at the pile of plate armor arranged carefully in a corner of the room, but Naithipe practically pounced on her. "Is everything ready?" Naithipe demanded. Jocey hesitated.

"Well?" Not waiting for an answer, Naithipe swept around the room, opening everything and laying out each and every item. Before Naithipe could say anything more, Jocey managed to stammer out, "I haven't received the last two pieces!" Naithipe rounded on her and Jocey took two quick sidewise steps toward her gear. Jocey knew she would never reach her mace in time.

"Stop." Naithipe spoke the word softly. Jocey froze where she stood. Naithipe regarded Jocey with a critical eye. Jocey's slender frame beneath her undergarments could not hide finely honed muscles and an easy strength from long practice in her heavy plate gear. The continued scrutiny frayed Jocey's nerves, but she held silent and poised, waiting for - whatever came. "You have grown strong before my eyes," Naithipe finally said, with something that might have been appreciation. Jocey allowed herself a small breath.

Both were still for another heartbeat. Naithipe then gave herself a little shake. "Get dressed," Naithipe said brusquely, but not unkindly. "No need for worry. I have the last of the items with me. I want to get all of this" - an arm swept around the room - "to it's destination. Tonight."

The journey took two hours. The few locals about at that time of night stayed well out of sight of the forbidding Naithipe. If there were bandits about, they sought easier prey.

Naithipe was unusually cordial and talkative during the ride. Mostly, Jocey thought, Naithipe seemed to be speaking more to herself than to her. Jocey didn't mind that at all. For some reason, Naithipe being nice to her was far more frightening than Naithipe angry at her. An angry Naithipe she understood, but Naithipe's mood under the depthless night sky of Sunstrider Isle confused her greatly.

Naithipe told Jocey that she had tried to confront Warlord Garrosh when she learned she would not be allowed to participate in the attack on Theremore. Not enough experience, Garrosh's lieutenants had told her. More than one paid for that assessment, first with curses and then with cracked heads. But the number of guards grew and Naithipe started drawing too much attention from onlookers. She cast baleful stares at the nervous guards, all of which were bleeding, but had to retire from the fight before she jeopardized her other plans.

"What are you going to do?" Jocey asked Naithipe, when Naithipe seemed to run out of words. Jocey watched Naithipe's silhouette, unable to read what she could see of her face. "The fleet sails with the dawn."

"So it does," Naithipe answered, still lost in her own thoughts. "I will be sailing, too." Naithipe then told Jocey of the plan she had put together with Gamon. Gamon was a deadly fighter, but was no friend of Garrosh. Gamon was too unruly for the Warlord's army, and in any event had no interest in furthering Garrosh's goals. But Gamon loved a good fight, and Naithipe could provide one. I stole a ship, Naithipe told Jocey. There was pain in that telling that Jocey did not understand. Naithipe spoke on. Gamon had enlisted a pirate captain to recruit a crew and Gamon was bringing his own gang of cutthroats.

Jocey tried to put this all together. "So, are you going to join the Warlord's fleet with your own ship?" She asked, not sure how that could work out in Naithipe's favor.

Naithipe laughed. Jocey almost fell off her mount. "Of course not," Naithipe replied. "Theremore will certainly have their own fleet guarding the harbor. We will take our pick of them." Jocey was still absorbing that when Naithipe continued. "And if one of Garrosh's dunder headed captains blunders into our path, we'll pay his ship a visit as well." That would be treason, Jocey immediately thought. Naithipe mirrored the thought. "Treason, it would be ... if I much cared about Garrosh's leadership of the horde." Naithipe seemed to realize that Jocey was hearing all this. Naithipe gave Jocey another smile, one of Naithipe's nastiest. "I don't plan to ever fall into his hands." Pause. "Should Garrosh manage to survive the battle." That truly was treasonous words, Jocey thought. That thought followed others. The simple act of arriving with a pirate ship at the battle would net Naithipe a death sentence. Therefore, Naithipe doesn't intend for Garrosh to survive. And if he does, Naithipe will not allow herself to be captured. Which means she'll be dead.

With those sobering thoughts bouncing about in her head, the two travelers arrived at their destination. No matter what happened now, Jocey did not expect to see Naithipe again. Ever.

On the other side of the world, the down to the second timing of the attack on Theremore suddenly changed. Instead of a morning launch on Tuesday, an impatient Warlord Garrosh set sail a day early. By mid-afternoon on Monday the Alliance and Horde were at war off the coast of Theremore. Word from the battlefield was uncertain, with few details.

[Note: Blizz pulled a fast one and launched the Theremore Falls scenario on Monday! instead of Tuesday. The scenario is found by opening the Looking For Dungeon (LFD) tab, which now handles dungeons, raids, and scenarios. Sin, JB, and friend Dm got a first taste of it Monday night. More to follow.]

Friday Plus (16 Sep) - Guild Update Going into MoP

Friday Plus (16 Sep) - Guild Update Going into MoP

Saturday Morning, a visit with an old friend - Happy was all hot and bothered about getting some heavenly shards made. The AH had picked up considerably as players get more and more antsy about the coming expansion. Prices nearly doubled on shards and Happy needed more. Wild eventually made an appearance, checked his mailbox, and retrieved the maelstrom crystals Happy had sent for Wild to turn into shards. In the middle of his work, Wild saw a friend arrive who he had not seen in a very long time. Wild and Jo (who was once a warlock, then a priest, later as a paladin, and referred to as Priestly-Jo, P-Jo, and now just Jo) first got to know each other a hundred years ago (so it seems) when she corralled Wild into joining the guild FS (which was the smartest decision Jo ever talked me into). I'm talking about the days of raiding Molten Core in vanilla WoW. We danced and hugged each other in Org, and had a nice chat. Jo said she'd been on hiatus for awhile but is back to check out the new expansion. Jo would be a lover of pandas, that's for sure. She's still with FS, which she said is now mostly a social guild. FS has had a long, storied history, and everyone ever associated with that guild should be proud of it's enormous accomplishments. Jo was the guild leader of FS for a time, as well. I was very glad to hear that FS is still around and doing fine. Jo was in game to give the LFR a whirl. Wild wished her well with her dragon hunting in Dragon Soul. Jo certainly added additional cheer to my already fine morning.

Well, you know what this means. It's time to update Wild's long list of guild affiliations in a "what are they doing now" post. With MoP on the horizon it seems the perfect time. The below takes a quick look at Wild's transition from guild to guild, while updating the current status of each of those guilds. Note that Wild is currently in the guild MM2 (just so you won't get confused). For a more thorough history, you should check out the following post.

http://wildfamilytales.blogspot.com/2010/08/monday-3-aug-guilds-look-back-and.html

FS was Wild's first raiding guild. "On 4 Jun 2006 FS held their first guild only Molten Core run. Over the course of two nights we downed FIVE bosses. Now that was a rush. FS guild raiding was born."

Today FS seems to have returned to it's social guild roots, which I believe has been the key to it's continued successful existence. A quick look at the guild shows 135 members, including 76 level 85s. Guild leader Rx still holds the reins, assisted by some very old friends (Gn, Kz (old blogs name him surveydrood)). Wild recognized at least a quarter of the names on the roster, and that whos-who of FS brought back lots of memories. A random check of guildie achievements revealed several with solid raiding credentials in Normal DS and a few Heroic DS kills. Raiding still seems to be at least a part of FS, and I expect it will blossom again in MoP - if surveydrood has anything to say about it. Wild guesses that surveydrood still leads the guild raids.

Despite considerable movement of former FS guildies and friends into and out of several other guilds (lots of drama), Wild steadfastly stuck with FS. However, in late 2009 FS became a fractured guild with increasing tension  between the social/casual raiding guild element and a press by a group of members who wanted to take a much more serious approach to raiding. That fracture led to the formation of the spin-off guild MM, with a great many of the social/casual players joining MM. Wild did not join that exodus, staying with the FS raiding crowd until Jul 2010, when it finally became obvious even to Wild that he was about to become a fill in raider and was essentially told his raiding days in FS was soon to be over.

The final push for Wild came when Jo left FS, and then left the game for personal reasons. After more than four years with FS, there was nothing left to hold Wild to the guild, and Wild joined MM on 22 Jul 2010. Today, MM is a guild of 142 members, 86 of which are level 85. I don't recognize the guild leader (Kr), but two of the Rank 1s Wild knows well - Wb and Ld. Wild even spoke with Ld a few months ago, and the guild was doing fine. MM has completed normal DS and has two Heroic boss kills, very similar to the FS level of progression. Wild saw a few more familiar names, but most of the members of MM are strangers to Wild now.

In Aug 2010 FS fractured again, with raid leader Rh leaving FS with a core of raiders and forming the guild WC. Today WC has 77 members (61 85s). Rh is still the guild leader with raid accomplishments similar to FS and MM. Wild doesn't recognize anyone in WC other than Rh.

On 26 Feb 2011 Wild had been a member of MM for about seven months. The title of the post on that day, however, was "CRACK! Goes the Guild." On 1 Mar 2011 it became official - MM guildie Sh broke from the guild to form his own guild, MM2. Sh took 54 members with him. Wild remained loyal to his guild, MM, despite the continued bleeding from MM to MM2, and as more and more of Wild's closest friends - his "cabal" - made the jump to MM2. On 14 Apr Wild was raiding twice a week with MM, but had also agreed to a third night of raiding - with MM2. As with the FS/MM transition, Wild was now straddling two guilds again.

At that point in the guild history, the next transition kind of snuck up on Wild. There was no big announcement, or special post touting the change. In fact, I had a hard time even finding it. Eventually, it turned up in a report titled "A Mish Mash of Stuff" that was focused on Patch 4.2, which included a new raid, the Firelands.

Buried halfway through that post was this: "So, that brings us to Thursday night and Wild's first official raid as a member of MM2. What, didn't you get the memo?"

On 29 June 2011, Wild quietly moved from MM to MM2. Wild informed the MM guild leader ahead of time, who admitted that he was expecting Wild's move (probably even before Wild admitted it to himself). MM2's guild leader, Bd, was the first to get the news in MM2, and Wild's request to join was accepted immediately. No guild drama this time, just a friend changing his address.

Today MM2 has 443 members, the largest guild remaining of all of wild's former guilds. We have 266 level 85s (a preponderance of which are alts). Still, the guild has grown, with many new members that Wild has yet to meet. With three raid groups still in place, there should be plenty of opportunities. Wild will not be raiding, at least not right away. MM2 is Wild's home, though, and he is quite happy. In fact, Wild intends that MM2 will be Wild's final guild home.

Pushing Against Inertia - Some non-guild news

Wild and JB have a job to do, but they'd rather just hang around Org, drink beer, and take long siestas. The two of them still have enough justice points not to waste them when all JPs are converted to a small handful gold on 18 Sep (four days away as this is written on Friday).

Wild has it the easiest. One normal LFD dungeon run should raise his JPs to over 3500, with which Wild could purchase another heirloom item, probably a caster staff. JB needs to do a little more work, maybe 3-4 LFD runs, to get enough JPs to buy another heirloom trinket. It's not that the heirlooms are absolutely necessary to have, but it would be a shame to waste all those JPs. There is also another good reason to run the LFDs. Wild and JB both really need to get some live practice, considering all of the changes to gear, specs, and talents.

It took the whole family half a day to tease, cajole, and shame Wild into reluctantly leaving his hammock and signing up for an LFD. JB was noticeable absent from that deluge of family members.

But then the temperature just got hotter and hotter, and Wild thought better of it. [In reality I had to shut the computer down. When it hits 90+ degrees with hot winds and no air conditioning, the computer starts to complain - not to mention our fussy cats]. Getting those LFDs done ... well, we'll see.

Monday Plus (12 Sep) - Sleepy Hollow

Monday Plus (12 Sep) - Sleepy Hollow

I'll be checking down the days until the pre-launch on the 18th and the full launch on the 25th. There will likely be several days between posts because, frankly, there is very little going on.

Happy has filled every corner of his warehouse with goods and is having to push stuff off on other family members to find room for all the excess. Profits are still trickling in even with all of the buying, but overall the marketplace has gone into a half slumber. Happy is mostly just checking for the insane bargains instead of just lower prices. He had one such find on Monday morning, when a foolish player dumped 200 volatile air on the AH. Even at the depressed prices, volatile air still sells for 9-10 gold each, which would put a price of 1800-2000g for all 200. Happy bought all 200 for 100g. Happy would have paid five times that much, easily. Happy still has eternals (Burning Crusades version of volatiles) that continue to sell even now, so Happy is sure that volatiles will still be selling long into MoP.

Beyond Happy's work, there isn't much else going on in WoW-world. There should be some stirring in the Wild family as the Theremore Falls battle draws nearer (a week from Tuesday). That is a three player scenario - maybe Sis and Daeth/Sin would want to team up with Wild and company to run it?

Once the battle is fought, that final week could be truly quiet. Or, hopefully, there will be some surprises to experience in that final week before launch. One such surprise has already happened. A contingent of envoys from Pandaria have come to see Warchief Garrosh. No Wild family member has been around to see them, but they do walk around in the Valley of Strength now and then.

Maybe this lull is a good thing. I still have Major League baseball to watch and now have the start of the football season in full swing.

Tuesday - Guild Reputation

Patch 5.0.4 changed guild reputation: "The cap on weekly reputation gains has been removed. Furthermore, guild experience gains from quests have been increased from 25% of quest experience (17350 guild experience for most level 85 quests) to a flat 60000 experience for every green or better quest and nothing for gray quests. Since guild reputation from quests is based on their guild experience yield (1 reputation per 360 experience before reputation bonuses), this dramatically increased guild experience from quests, from ~48 at level 85 (and significantly less at lower levels) to 166-167 (before reputation bonuses) at all levels. Guild reputation doesn't automatically reset to Neutral on joining a new guild, now only drops to next level down, Exalted->Revered, Revered->Honored, Honored->Friendly, Friendly->Neutral."

For players who want to change guilds, the news is good. Players leaving a guild no longer lose ALL of their guild rep when joining another guild. Now they only lose one level. I think that's the right balance. Guild hoppers will still take increasing hits to their rep, while those who don't change guilds frequently will be able to regain their lost rep relatively quickly with less impact.

If I decide to level any of the family's languishing younger toons, I'll have to decide whether to leave them in Happy's Rank 2 guild, or move them to Wild's Rank 25 guild and the gain the benefits of that. This doesn't affect JB, who is already in Wild's guild. It would certainly affect Philly, and to a much lesser degree, lower level toons. Since I don't plan on leveling any of the level 85s right away, I'll just leave things as they are for now.

As for the other lower level toons, I think I'll let them stay in Happy's guild and see if their activity can make any kind of dent in the guild reputation. It'll mean a slightly slower leveling pace, but then no one is in any great hurry, either.

Patch 5.0.5 arrived this morning. Surprise, surprise, I didn't know there would be another interim patch. It's all bug fixes and tweaking, though, no major new developments. Based on the comments on the WoW website, there are still a lot of problems to be fixed.

Wednesday - In news from the non-Wild family side, Sin and DB continue to pound the alliance in pvp battlegrounds while hunting achievements. Sis has been trying to get resettled and back into action after taking a hiatus, but has been meeting some technical difficulties.

As for the Wild family, I'm becoming more sure of what I want to do once MoP launches. First off, there will, of course, be Naithipe's "project," which remains shrouded in secrecy. Suspicions and rumors are rampant about it, some of which might even be accurate. Second, I am going to focus more on the lower level toons, giving them time to do some leveling, some pvp if they like, etc. With many achievements now becoming account-wide, some family members may choose to chase some of those, too. Those goals may not be as sexy as running raids, which may still come later, but Wild and JB have made it clear that while they are available to help out in any way they can, raiding is just not on the table for now. Both Wild and JB will remain in the MM2 guild, keeping tabs on the progress of the guild.

Special Section, "Order of the Dragon"

As we wait for the world to change, Happy continues his role with the Auction House, and leadership of the family guild, "The Order of the Dragon." However, there is serious consideration toward changing the name of the guild. Why? Well, it takes a look back at the history of the guild to answer that.

First of all, the family member who should do the explaining is not Happy, but JB. The date was 9 April, 2007. JB wanted to get to the Outlands, but was still too young and un-credentialed to be allowed to enter through official channels. JB wanted to get her Masters skill in herbalism and alchemy, and the trainers were in the Outlands. So, JB was lobbying for a mage to teleport her there. While waiting, JB got into a conversation. I'll let JB take up the tale.

9 April, 2007
A very nice level 38 asked if JB would sign his guild charter. I said yes, because I know how hard it can be to get enough signatures (10) to start a guild. But I told him that I would quit the guild after it was formed if that was ok. He said he would rather get sigs from those who wanted to stay. No problem, JB told him, good luck with your guild. Later on I got another whisper from him asking if I was still interested (he couldn't get enough signatures), and said it was ok if I quit once the guild was formed. Sure. JB signed up.

The level 38 managed to get his guild started, and JB got a message welcoming everyone to the new guild. After those who were staying and those who were leaving were sorted out, the new guild, "The Order of the Dragon", consisted of a grand total of 8 members, with JB as it's highest level member by a good margin (JB was level 50). Quirky JB decided to stay in the guild. But I warned them that I did not play much and as the guild grew they could ask me to leave any time. We'll see how things work out. By the way, JB has already been promoted to High Council, second only to the Guild Master. I feel more important already.

17 April, 2007
JB's guild remains at around 20 members. There is now a level 53 rogue in the guild, so JB is not the highest level anymore. But there aren't any other members higher than level 45, and most are under level 20. Despite getting in game several times, there were never more than two other guildies online. Even if all of the highest level characters were in game at the same time, we could not form a functioning group.

29 April, 2007
JB and the Guild Leader (GL) had one of those rare periods where we were both in game at the same time. We were both in Org. We were both in the AH standing 5 ft from each other. Another guildie was also in game. Three at the same time. Hard to believe. Anyway, the GL and JB started chatting and JB was asked if I could join the GL in the bank.

Of course, JB replied, Why? Well, he said, I can't repay you for the 14g you gave me, but I wanted to show my appreciation somehow. JB really didn't want anything, but it was clear he wanted to do something and felt that JB had done him a huge favor. In the end he gave JB a swiftness potion recipe which would sell for several gold on the AH. It was the most I would take from him. He was very happy I accepted and I was very glad he got his mount.

We chatted some more and sort of out of the blue he said that he didn't think he was getting the guild anywhere and wondered if I was interested in taking over. He didn't want to leave the guild, but really didn't want to run it anymore. Not that there is much to run. We talked some more. I gave him reasons why JB likely wouldn't be around enough to be an effective GL. But then again not many of the current guildies were around much either. It was becoming clear that the GL was going to give it away to someone, so why not JB? I accepted.

When I agreed to sign the charter in the first place I intended to leave as soon as Ab (the GL) got his guild formed. Then JB decided to hang around, liking the idea of having a guild tag which discouraged folks from asking her to join their guild. I even conjectured that if the guild failed I might try to take it over just to keep a guild tag. And now here I am. JB is the guild leader. And I find I don't really want to just let the guild fail without some attempt to see if anyone other than Ab is even interested in more than having a guild tag.

3 May 2007
JB made her first changes as Guild Leader, posting a note in the Guild Information section with a set of questions for guildies to respond to. JB also simplified the rankings among the members. There are members who haven't been on in more than 20 days. JB is going to give members through the weekend to turn up, and then remove non-playing members from the guild. They likely won't even notice. I expect that in a week there will be only 8 members in the guild.

8 May 2007
JB removed four members from the guild. All had been missing in action for at least 21 days. That leaves the guild with ten members.

25 May 2007
JB found a letter from the former guild leader, Ab, when JB checked in. Ab has left the guild, disappointed that the guild didn't expand as he had hoped. The letter was very polite and JB was thanked again for helping Ab afford his mount. I'm sorry it didn't work out for Ab, but for JB it doesn't really matter. I've got a guild tag and the remaining 6 other guildies seem to like things the way they are. One of those guildies has now been absent 22 days, so his days as a guildie may be numbered, though. Even Hidden, the most active of the guildies, has been missing 9 days now. Maybe it's JB's perfume? Hmm, when was the last time JB washed under her arms? Let's not think about that.

12 June, 2007
JB's guild is down to four.

5 July, 2007
JB DINGED! to level 53. JB can now claim to be the highest level member of her guild, a guild of three now, counting JB. This guild thing is easy; why do guild leaders claim its such a bother?

9 Nov 2007
The one surviving member of the guild other than JB is clearly an alt, and has never leveled past level 53, which is what he was when he joined the start up guild. No problem, he is on every three of four days, and as long as someone is using him JB will let him stay. So it was kind of ironic that a day later, who should JB run into but the original guild leader, Ab. He was still a level 46 (same as when he turned the guild over to JB). He plays mostly on another server, and it was never really clear why he even bothered to come back here. He asked how the guild was doing, and I guess still felt some attachment to it, but I told him it was basically just JB now. We chatted for awhile longer and then parted ways.

16 Nov 2007
One of the major new additions with patch 2.3 is guild banks. Now here comes JB. JB has a guild of two. She is the guild leader, so she can set up a guild bank. Of course, JB did not give the other guild member access to the bank.

20 Nov 2007
So now JB has her guild bank all set up and the other members of Wild's family have been asked to ensure that shared stuff gets placed there. Happy, still struggling a bit with the new AH addon, wants a better way to get the stuff there other than sending it all through the mail. How about adding me to the guild and giving me access to the guild bank? Happy asks. Wild is still pretty careful to keep the personalities and lives of all of the "family" separate. Collecting them all in a single guild did not really give any advantage in the past, so I never considered it. It would be very, very, convenient now, though, with a guild bank. There was just one small additional thing JB needed to do. The guild's "other" guildie would have to go. JB then began sending invites out to the rest of the family, and now has a nice little group of guildies.

The End - So now you know the whole history of how the Wild Family wound up with a guild called "Order of the Dragon." I have to admit that when I started researching past posts for information on the origin of the guild, I figured it would be a quick job. I would not have believed that JB would have taken the family that long before filling the guild with family members. On the 9th of April, when JB joined the guild, she was a level 50. JB held the guild more than seven months, and made it to level 61 before opening up the guild. The key to the whole thing was the creation of guild banks, though. The only thing I didn't find was when the guild leadership changed from JB to Happy. I was just too tired to research that, but it had to be when JB moved over to Wild's guild. I think.

For a very long time, guild names could not be changed, but that restriction has gone away, many patches ago, and now all it requires is cold, hard cash. The old name served the family well, and perhaps there is no strong reason to change. But, because we can, I'm thinking about what that name might be.

Weekend (9 Sep) - DMB Shines

Weekend (9 Sep) - DMB Shines

The Dave Mathews Band concert was every bit as good as we expected. The Cricket Amphitheater is a great venue with great sight lines and a superb audio setup. We were just to the right of center stage and toward the back of the main seating area, but there is enough elevation in the outdoor arena that we could see everything going on.

The opening act was singer Alan Stone. I didn't know anything about him. The short bio on his website mentioned that he began touring about four years ago and sings R&B/soul. Stone has a self published digital album - ie, he isn't working with a label. He does have an incredible voice, and his songs were easy to listen to. He likes to sprinkle some jazzy riffs into his songs, which sort of helped to overlook a sameness to all of his songs. Likable music, but not something I'd go out and buy. The crowd really wanted to get to DMB, and Stone several times had to almost plead for the crowd to get loud, with not much success. The sell out crowd didn't even start to really fill up the place until Stone was two-thirds of the way through his set.

This is the second time we've seen DMB in concert. If anything, Dave and his band have gotten even better. He opened with the song "Why I Am," a big hit from his last album, which got everyone on their feet, and played almost non-stop for the next three hours. He also showcased several of the new songs on the album that should be out next week, called "Away From The World." In keeping with DMB's fan centric approach, the entire album is available to listen to on iTunes. There were plenty of folks taking pictures and video-recording the concert as well. The only caveat is that they didn't allow "professional video/audio" equipment to be used.

One of the things that make DMB concerts so good are the way they can extend songs into something like a battle of the instruments, with every member of the band getting a chance to chime in. Their saxophonist was a little off early on, but then he was playing several instruments over the course of the evening and was soon spot on. DMB is heavy on sax, trumpet, clarinet, flute, violin, etc, with guitar taking mostly a back seat - until near the end, when Dave let them really go crazy. Vocals, of course, are prominent. Dave engaged in his own musical battle with the instruments, using his incredible voice as it's own instrument, sometimes in gibberish, which was both awesome and hilarious at the same time.

DMB rotated between stand and dance numbers and softer stuff, but no matter the song nearly everybody knew the words and sang along. I didn't realize just how loud the singing in the stands had gotten until Dave stopped singing for a couple of stanzas and the crowd loudly filled in the words for him.

The funny moment of the evening for us came early in the concert during Alan Stone's set. This is an outdoor venue, that also has a very large, open lawn seating area. We caught a whiff of what we was sure was a skunk, and for maybe thirty minutes the sharp odor would spike up, carried by the light breeze. It wasn't until a lot later, with the odor still making itself known irregularly, that it dawned on us that what we were smelling was a particularly pungent variety of pot. I can't say that breathing that in for three hours gave me a high, but I did come away with a behind the eyes headache I still have this morning. And no, it couldn't have been the beer. :-)

Friday (7 Sep) - On With the Show

Friday (7 Sep) - On With the Show

A member of Wild's guild has started writing a weekly report on guild activities. It started last week, was delayed a bit this week, but finally hit the guild website on Wednesday. Two guild raids are still running. One is running Dragon Soul, routinely clearing it on normal each week. I appears that there are more alts running DS than mains now. The other raid has gone a bit retro and has been running Firelands so that new guildies and guild alts can get their Ragnaros kills. The guild that Wild knew when he was raiding looks much different now. I take that as a good thing, with many new guildies to help us get off to a good start in MoP.

The "Theremore's Fall" scenario will go live on 18 September. The rest of this paragraph is something of a spoiler (although it is pretty much common knowledge already) so skip the rest of this paragraph if you don't want to know - at the end of the battle, both the Alliance and Horde fleets are destroyed and the survivors are washed up on the shores of Pandaria. This is the means being used to get players to the new area. What still confuses me a little is what goes on between 18-25 Sep. MoP doesn't launch until 25 Sep, yet supposedly we have access to Pandaria on 18 Sep? My guess is the Pandaria in the scenario does not link to the actual Pandaria at launch. Perhaps we get a quest at the end of the scenario for the launch. Or there could be other launch activities that will get us there. Should be fun, though!

And speaking of shows, we'll be heading to our local amphitheater tonight to see the Dave Mathews Band. They are one of my favorite bands. Their last album was unbelievably good, and they are releasing their newest next week, so I expect to get to hear a lot of the songs off the new release.

Wednesday (5 Sep) - Cougar Jocey Eyes the Boys

Wednesday (5 Sep) - Cougar Jocey Eyes the Boys

For all that she grew up a blood elf, Jocey still managed to get lost after leaving Tranquillen. After wandering about Eversong Woods for far too long, she came upon Fairbreeze Village, and decided to stay the night. She was lucky enough to pick up some dragonhawk hatchlings at a good price to add to the family collection of pets.

To this point Jocey's whole attention has been focused on accomplishing Naithipe's tasks. While at Fairbreeze Village, she finally had the time to do a full inventory of her gear and skills. Jocey was dismayed at what she found. First of all, her gear was a sad mess of cloth and leather, with very little mail gear, which she of course preferred. Most of that gear was heavy +int gear, suitable for her holy specialization as a healer before the Change, but now woefully inadequate.

Jocey needed a new specialization and the gear to complement it. Her new role would require the strength of arms of a paladin specializing in retribution. Her holy powers would have to wait until she could reach level 30. Jocey considered her options, but the reality was that she needed a her paladin class trainer. Which meant she would have to detour back to Silvermoon City.

In Silvermoon City Jocey had half hoped that she would run into Naithipe, but she did not turn up and the innkeepers had not seen her. With no further instructions, Jocey headed back into Eversong Woods, now at least two days behind the schedule Naithipe had set. Jocey felt much better, though, as she learned her new spec and the abilities it gave her. She was less happy with her gear. The recent upheavals and potential war had driven the price of gear way beyond the meager purse Naithipe had given Jocey for her personal needs. Jocey thought about the other, very heavy purse hidden with the rest of the goods Jocey carried. No, that one Jocey dare not disturb. Jocey made do with what gear she could afford. At least she got rid of most of that cloth and leather junk.

Jocey's next stop was Falconwing Square. She planned to stay there for at least a few days. Boring days, Jocey thought. Although she did observe some young, eager, male blood elves about who might like the attention of an experienced blood elf paladin. Perhaps things wouldn't be so boring, after all.

The family also welcomed level 85 druid Sin back into action this week. Her fellow devouts at the Nunnery gave her quite a going away party! She must have been well loved there. The word is the Mother Superior was so excited she practically threw Sin out the convent doors.

Sin is working on her skills and gear in preparation for the new pvp season. Philly was happy to help out with that. Philly crafted a Rosethorn Staff for Sin, and the skill she learned helped Philly to earn her the top honors as an Scribe. Happy also tried to help out. The cost of gear has remained stubbornly high, however. Happy did find a decent pair of bracers that would provide some modest help. Depending how things go with the Darkmoon Faire, there might be an i359 trinket crafted as well.

Speaking of crafting, JB will need to get up to speed on what is new with MoP. The important raiding consumables for healers/casters look to be:

Flask of falling Leaves: +1000 spi, requires Green Tea Leaf (4), Golden Lotus
Flask of the Warm Sun: +1000 int, Silkweed (4),Golden Lotus

There are also flasks for sta (rain poppy), agi (snow lilly), and str (fool's cap). All still require a golden lotus as well.

Master Healing Potion: restores 60k health, green leaf tea (1)
Master mana Potion: restores 28k-31k mana, snow lily, green tea leaf, fool's cap

Based on the above, it seems the new herbs are green leaf tea, golden lotus, silkweed, rain poppy, snow lily, fool's cap.

Golden Lotus is likely to be rarer to find given only a few are needed, but nearly every recipe requires them. Green leaf tea will be needed in abundance since many are needed for each recipe.

Monday (3 Sep) - A Waiting Game

Monday (3 Sep) - A Waiting Game

The Horde armada sits at anchor. The defending Alliance army at Theremore must know by now that the assault, when it comes, is aimed right at them. The two sides now play a waiting game.

Among the Wild family there is another kind of waiting game. A waiting game full of secrets, plots, and missing family members.

Jocey - Sent by Naithipe to Silvermoon City; known to have passed through Tranquillen in the Ghostlands; present whereabouts unknown; purpose unknown.

EZ - Sent by JB to find Jocey; has not been seen since she departed Tranquillen in a big hurry; whereabouts unknown.

Melasahnd - Sent by Wild to find EZ and Naithipe; has not been seen since she left Org; present whereabouts unknown.

Naithipe - The renegade ship recaptured for the Horde at Shalandis Isle was reunited with the armada; Naithipe was not on the ship when it returned; whereabouts unknown.

Adromache - reportedly killed in a bar fight by his best friends cousins former neighbors co-worker.

Slash - reportedly ran off after being linked to a bar fight involving friends, cousins, neighbors, and co-workers.

Wild, JB, Philly - Completing preparations for the Theremore assault. Well, someone has to get serious around here.

With the senior members of the family caught up in the preparations for war, Happy had to step forward to keep his own operations in functional order. Happy relied on Mel to handle the horde side transactions on the neutral Auction House. Happy wasn't very engaged in the family feuding. All Happy cared about was that Mel was not at her post in Booty Bay, and what to do about it.

Happy got hold of Mery, and convinced her (with gold) that it would be great fun to take a trip to Stranglethorn Vale. Happy couldn't get her to agree to take Mel's job, but she did agree to escort Happy's second choice. That choice was the level 16 troll druid Hapless. Hapless was already handling a part of Happy's empire at The Undercity. Happy now wanted her in Booty Bay.

There were a number of ways that could be accomplished, but Happy left that up to Mery. Hapless could easily have taken the zep outside the Undercity to Grom'gal and then taken the flight from there directly to Booty Bay. But there was some concern that Hapless might not have learned the flight path to Booty Bay. No one seemed to think to tell Hapless she could have checked that flight path while in The Undercity, and it would have taken her all the way to Booty Bay if she had learned the route. Oh well. Instead, Mery told Hapless to take the zep to Org and join her there.

Mery, being a merry sort, dressed in her finest and called for her new Traveler's Tundra Mammoth. Mery thought it just wonderful that all of the great riding beasts belonging to the family could now be shared. The great beast was not only of impressive size, suitable for the hefty tauren hunter, but it had a pair of extra seats, one of which was reserved for Hapless.

Once Hapless arrived in Org, Mery trotted out her mammoth wearing her most flamboyant outfit and told Hapless to hop on. Oops, Mery forgot to let the two vendors who cared for the beast know that she did not need their services, and the two were occupying those extra two seats. Getting that straightened out became a bit complicated. The vendors wanted to come along. Hapless had a very dubious look, seeing the size of the beast and nearly stepping into a mammoth pie, also of impressive size. A crowd began to form around the small troop with the big mammoth, clogging traffic coming in and out of the Valley of Strength. Mery dismounted to get the two vendors out of those seats, but as soon as she mounted the two would just jump right back on. The crowd must have thought a show was in progress. They laughed and cheered, while the vendors waved and hawked their wares. Hapless made a couple of timid attempts to climb aboard, but the vendors would tickle the mammoth so it would shake Hapless off.

About the time an Org guard captain figured he ought to unclog the growing chokepoint, Mery figured out how to kick off the vendors without actually having to get off the beast herself. The crowd had more fun at Hapless' expense, then, when, try as she might, Hapless couldn't find a way to get seated. Finally, Mery invited Hapless to group with her, and the mammoth suddenly calmed down and let Hapless board.

The ride from Org to the harbor town of Ratchet was short and uneventful. Mery was a bit surprised that a village of pig people had established themselves along the river beyond the Orgrimmar gates. They made threatening noises at Mery and Hapless, but kept their distance from the mammoth. Mery dropped Hapless off at the pier in Ratchet and headed back to Org. Hapless boarded the boat to Stranglethorn Vale. She enjoyed the few sites along the shoreline, although she did get a little seasick on her first ship voyage.

Hapless has set up shop at the Booty Bay inn near the bank. There should be no interruption of service as the exchange of goods between the two factions continues despite personnel changes, travel glitches, or even wars. The gold must flow.

Happy has some new friends back at The Undercity. A guild called The Sewer Rats liked to hang out at the same spot where Happy did business. When things started changing that guild disappeared for several days. Then, a couple of days ago, a new group showed up in a guild called the Knights Equitable. Many of the names looked suspiciously familiar, and Happy asked the obvious question - Did you guys change your guild name? They had. Happy approved of the new name, and chatted a bit with them. Privately, though, Happy thought the original Sewer Rats to be the best fit for a guild that hung out in the sewers of The Undercity. Just saying ... Hmm, maybe Happy should adopt their old guild name?

In Other News - I finally got around to installing my new video card. I'm very happy with it. I have a lot of video settings set to minimum in WoW for speed reasons which I will be slowly increasing to take advantage of the new card. My monitor, however, while a large 27", maxes out at 1920x1080 and is not HD. One of these days ...

Wild and JB have been in game more often getting their own stuff together. JB even went to the raid target dummy and banged around, practicing her spell priorities in enhancement spec. JB has fewer totems to manage now, but there seems to be a lot more to remember in managing the many procs and knowing when to use the new cooldown spells. I couldn't check her DPS, since I couldn't get recount to work.

Wild's guildies have been practicing and learning their new talents and spells in Heroics. That's something that Wild would normally be doing as well. I'm not really all that excited about that, though. Wild's raiding friends certainly want Wild to come back to raiding, and to be ready for that come MoP. I just don't see me raiding any time soon, though. The most Wild is likely to do is pursue his enchanting profession, and doing whatever leveling might to needed to do that. Happy would insist on having an up-to-date enchanter. Philly leveled to 85 while hardly touching Cata level quests and such. Wild may end up doing something similar - getting to 90 over time without every going to Pandaria. We'll see.