Pugging Kara Blues

My new favorite song !
Thanks to Dax of Musings of a Nutjob.

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Having run Kara with Johnni for several weeks now, I can certainly relate to this song.



My usual group, Drunk With Power, is pretty awesome and we run really well together. Last week, on the first night we got 17 badges, clearing everything except Prince and Nightbane. When we have a lot of substitutions or I join another group for a run, things are a lot different. I get lots of aggro, and die a lot. Just shows that familiarity with a group of players goes a long way toward raiding success.

Outland is Sweet !

Johnnypriest is now level 63 and I freakin' love being in Outland. My first two hours (after I dinged level 58 and went through the portal) I had new (and much better) hat, leggings, robe, wand and staff. The quests are very fun and the whole place just feels more vibrant.

I also seem to run into and group with guildies more often. Had a great time last night in Ramparts with Persica and Badcow, and picked up some great new leggings. Thanks guys.

Sweet 40 !!

Yahoooo !! I finally dinged 40 on my priest.


And its brought two big changes to my play: My mount and shadowform. This is my first skeletal horse mount. I think they are awesome looking. I chose blue. Running around gets very tiring, especially the closer to level 40 you get, so I am very relieved to be able to ride. It makes things so much quicker. I also got to play in shadowform for the first time & it is very pleasant. Kills come much quicker and easier, and I can face higher level mobs with confidence.

The mount and shadowform sure seemed to quicken things last night. I played less than two hours and gained the entire level (70k-plus XP and with only 5%rest bonus when I started), and finished six quests in Arathi Highlands that netted me from 3.5-5.5k XP each. I only grouped once, with another kindly priest, for less than 5 minutes to kill Mazrel for the quest we were both working on when we ran into each other in Stormguard Keep.

I'm looking forward to speeding along as a shadowy priest. Cya.

Priestly Fun

I've been leveling an undead priest for the last couple of months, and speccing him full shadow. Johnnypriest has been a lot of fun, and just reached level 37, which just surpasses the highest I've ever gotten a priest. My plan is to make him my main, but also continue to level my warrior, Commish. That way whether someone needs a tank or a healer, I can jump in.

I've also been two-boxing with them a bit. But since I use my iMac and MacbookPro, its a bit clumsy when I have to look at both screens and work with two keyboards. It only becomes an issue when Johnnypriest has drawn aggro, and I'm so focused on Commish, I don't notice till its too late. =-(


The patch 2.3 XP changes have made things leveling much faster. I'm gonna take both these guys to Outland soon !

Still New

I've been playing this game since August 2005, and I'm still a long way from having seen it all. Granted, I probably create too many alts, but I enjoy that. I have seen no Burning Crusade content, except for the new Blood Elf starting area, and a bit of the Dranai one. I inherited a couple of 70 characters so have trotted and flown around Shattrath City, but haven't really seen the Outlands (I prefer using my own toons).


Anyway last night I started questing in Feralas with my Orc Warrior. I'd only been here once before - a quick in-and-out for a quest with my Human Pally that I haven't played for a year. It's a beautiful zone, and I really enjoy the scenery, mobs, and the quest lines. This game is so big, I'll never see it all, but am constantly amazed when I go into new areas (even when they're old).

Last night I also tried the new Mac movie feature that came out in the 2.2 patch. Looks pretty cool, and it's super easy.

Something else to blow my time !

Back in the Saddle

After months of distractions, I'm back to leveling Commish. The kids are back at school, so they have no time to play WoW. Thus, I don't always have to play alliance with them. My dwarf hunter has pretty much all the battleground rewards I want from the level 29 bracket (except the battle standard), and I may start to level him again.

But it's great to be more active with AIE again. Very helpful and fun folks.

What's In A Name?

I recently started an Alliance character to level up with my kids. I chose a dwarf hunter and named him "Whatsfordinr". I really grew to like the name, especially when I got the ability to train pets. My Ice Claw Bear I named "Chickenagain". I really enjoyed seeing it on the screen next to my own name.

"Whatsfordinr - Chickenagain"

Then I made the long trek to Wailing Caverns (with a high-level friend) to train a raptor that I wanted to use in Warsong Gulch. I named him "Hordemeat". I really love my litte Hordemeat, and we got quite a few compliments on the name combination from fellow WSG teammembers.

Subsequently, when in front of the Ironforge bank, I got my first ever message from a Gamemaster. I was going to be disconnected in 15 seconds, and I should check the email account of the registered user for further information.

When I got booted and checked my email, I was shocked to find out that someone had reported my name as being offensive/taking away from their role playing experience and that I would have to choose a new one. I fail to see what was offensive about my (old) name, and am perplexed as to why it might "take someone out of the RP experience" !!! I have seen myriad player names and even many NPC names that are far worse in that respect. It's sad that someone spent the time to complain about "Whatsfordinr's" name. It makes me want to report others, but this would only screw others who I'm sure were not the one(s) who complained about my name. I'm confidant that the complainer's name is RP-respectfully derived from latin, italian, greek or japanese. I also wonder whether the GM's actually consider whether the name violates their policy or if they just strip any non-latin (etc.) name that is complained about. What is it with some people?? DOH!!

Okay, it's out of my system now.

In conclusion, because I was in a bit of a rush to get back into the game, I didn't give much thought to my dwarf hunters new name: "Olddwarf" - as in old dwarf (hey, he has grey hair, and I'm kinda old too). "Olddwarf" doesn't sound as good as the old name when he runs with Chickenagain and Hordemeat - but I still like him anyway.