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.