Get Your Motor Runnin…

That would be Oddfodder flying off one of the hills on his fancy new Goblin Trike.  Got Pésus to 20 this morning so that I could stroke that off my small to do list.  This morning yet I’ll also likely have my pet bank toon set up.  Depends if I work on that…or house cleaning.  I do have the transmog contest ready to post so it isn’t like I’ve been idle thus far.  Though, I will admit Carrera hasn’t had her experience bar move in the slightest.  I was too busy getting Horrux to 60 because I decided I wanted to take him into the Laid Back Raid later tonight.

Speaking of which, just a friendly little reminder for those attending that it is Gaudy Sweater Night in the Molten Core.  Nothing says fun like an ugly sweater and Horrux’s Skullflame Shield as far as I”m concerned.  Also note that we’ll be starting a little early.  Further to that, we can do an attunement run around 7pm EST for those who might need it.

Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to do a pass through Storm Peaks again.  I was there yesterday, found a skunk to fight, and proceeded to get my arse handed to me.  Two skunks in the battle resulted in way too much healing for the pet configuration I had.  As such, I still need a capture from there for my Northrend Tamer.

Musings About

Sipping my morning coffee, I find my thoughts filled with a number of WoW related topics.  That I’m currently scanning the Auction House couldn’t possibly be related.

• Some people really have no concept of what things sell for and how short they sell themselves.
• Still amused that someone was giving away Leaping Hatchlings for a copper last night.  It was indeed a fun Auction House game.  Closer to Winter Veil I might have to perform something similar.
• I need to get cracking on Secret Santa Claws soon.
• It’s a small number even before I know how many guildmates are participating this year.
• Patch 4.3 is coming.  Sooner than I thought, too.  I have work to do.
• Better change the topic for Monday’s gold column to the Transmog related one I had on the backburner.
• Besides, that goblin probably won’t be through the start zone by then.
• Rolling him after I set out my goals for November wasn’t brilliant.
• Am I accomplishing any of the tasks I set out at the beginning of the month? Well, somewhat.  Guess I’ll see how this weekend goes.
• That other project I started is considerably more involved than I imagined.
• It’s fun, if not difficult at times.
• Can’t believe I’m going to write two of them.
• At over 200k at the moment I never thought I’d say I need more gold on that server…fast.
• I’ve found way too many great blogs to read as of late.
• I’m happy people have found mine good enough to read as of late.
• I really want to do Eye of the Storm and have a Death Knight jump off the edge, hit Death Grip on a target, and then have me hit Leap of Faith on the DK.  I think it would work, and look amazing.
• For all the Transmog talk I’ve been a part of, I’ve not really sought out my outfit components yet.
• Well, two characters have a complete outfit.  It’s a start.
• The Guardian Cub seems to be settled in around 4.5-6k.  Guess that adjusts the real world price of gold for sellers now.  I also see that it clearly destroyed the market as many predicted.
• I know I still have to finish Through Your UI…did I ever finish 20 days of WoW?
• Why do people think I hate Pandas?  I just wanted them to be NPC’s is all.

Goblin Be Gone

Today was supposed to be a comparison between the two newest racial start zones in the game, the Goblins and Worgen.  In order to meet that, I had to first finish the Goblin zone on Xelkrik.  As you can see, that’s not going to happen today.  He’s dead now, courtesy of the sailors on the Vengeance Wake while trying to retrieve some Precious Cargo.

Xelkrik is dead.  Total play time: 1 hr, 54 min, 26 sec

So, character number two in my One Life To Live effort is also gone…even earlier than the first.  In true goblin fashion, I blame my pet crab.  He had a tendency to wander off while I would shoot something and thus create a scenario where I had to shoot many somethings.

So, my article comparing the two zones will wait for now.  My efforts begin anew.  It’s time to flip back to the Alliance side of things, and I’ve drawn a combination with interesting coincidences if you read Saturday’s post.  Indeed, I’ll be playing a Worgen Druid:

Alas, I Barely Knew Him

Golstaff.  Defender of the Northshire Abbey.  Fierce “taker-down” of Murlocs in Goldshire and Eastvale Logging Camp.  Level 10 Fury Warrior.  But most importantly now, dead.

That’s correct, the first character in my One Life To Live adventures has bit the bullet as it were.  Actually, he was on the wrong end of a sword, and a second sword.  I was collecting some Linen Scraps for Sara Timberlain.  I took on bandits in Southern Elwynn Forest, along the river.  Things were going fine.  I saw a Warrior and Mage and charged the Mage.  He went down fast and I was still in decent shape against the Warrior, until one on patrol joined the fracas.  I took down the first Warrior and thought I was in good shape until my Victory Rush missed and Bloodthirst did as well.  Moments later I was staring blankly at the screen.

Golstaff is dead.  Total play time: 2 hrs, 26 min, 32 seconds.

I’ll admit, I did mourn him a bit.  Despite my loathing of the Human race, and the tediousness of another lowbie Warrior, I gave him my all and he was the very first candidate of this project.  I was actually starting to become intrigued about what the Fury spec was going to be like to play.

Alas, out with the old and in with the new.  For contestant #2, it’s over to the other side of the faction fight.  As random luck would have it, I go from a race I don’t like to the only one I haven’t played.  Meet my Goblin Hunter:

The Cataclysm Comes

Within the slight realm of possibilities, you may have missed today’s official announcement for “World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm.” The next expansion for World of Warcraft was unveiled at BlizzCon. With it comes a tonne of news, many of which can be found in the trailer itself. With so much to come from the announcement, I’ve got enough inspiration for 8 days of writing I think.

One of the big things to come from today, is the confirmation of new race and class combos. Oddly enough, only the Draenai failed to grasp any new classes. To be perfectly honest, there’s no lore way that would work. They’re too big and clumsy to be Rogues (don’t even try to mention Orcs), no way they would become Druids, and are just too Holy to become Warlocks. Their Burning Crusade counterparts, the Blood Elves, have fought a little harder than before and can now be Warriors. Personally Warriors are a class I think any race can have. At times of war, someone in every race grabs a sword and shield.

This folks, is one of two new classes for the Tauren -a race I happen to think has been underserved for a while. The picture is for the Paladin, while they’ll also wield the Light as Priests. Seems like a natural progression from the spiritual driven Tauren, as some will likely embrace Light as much as nature. Speaking of Nature, Trolls gain the Druid class and if you’ve been in anything that starts with the word Zul, it’s no wonder…and a no brainer.

The Orcs were granted one new class as well, Mage. Let me tell you, I fought enough of the buggers as NPC’s to have no reason why this would not have happened. It’s pretty overdue. Plus, with the expected changes to the Horde that are rumoured, I can see the Orc Mages playing a part.

The Undead and Humans were basically toss-offs of one another, as both races can now become Hunters. Humans make sense to me, but Undead don’t. I guess Undead retain their Human nature of having pets.

The two new Dwarf classes make me very happy. If you’ve read this for more than two posts, you’ll know that I never understood why Dwarven Rogues existed and Dwarven Mages didn’t. Blizzard has heard the cry as not only will they wield the Arcane powers, but also nature as well. Dwarven Shaman are also on the way. I actually think I’m more excited about that aspect. It makes more sense as well, based on the Dwarven connection to stone.

The only two other new combos are Gnome Priest (which, again, seems overdue), and Night Elf Mage. The Elves are so woven into the Magic of Azeroth, limiting them to Druids and Priests never did seem quite right in retrospect.

The Worgen and Goblin classes were also revealed in the news, and it makes sense to me that neither is a Paladin. The only other class Goblins will miss out on is Druids, and that one’s pretty straight forward. The only ones I might’ve questioned are Shaman and Hunter. It’s no secret what the Goblins have done to Azeroth’s environment, but these are a secondary bunch of Goblins (akin to the Troll situation) so perhaps Nature has given them a chance. On the flipside, no Shamans for the Worgen. Based on the trailer, the Night Elves draw the Worgen into the Alliance, so it makes sense that they can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Sorry, that was bad. Still, the idea of Worgen Druids seems a bit bipolar: I’m a cat. I’m a dog. I’m a cat. I’m a dog. Then again, Shamans get Spirit Wolf, so maybe the exclusion of that class was Blizzard’s way of avoiding redundancy again (see Undead Death Knight).