An Odd Thing To Make Me Reflect

I have not yet wandered away!  I was soooo sick last week.  I never got around to writing my first post, but this Friday my first feature column goes up and I’ve got some plans and some notes already ready to go already!  But in the mean time, I give you something I posted to my guild forums a few weeks back because it made me think quite a bit.  I thought a wider audience might appreciate it!

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So I was out fishing on my druid the other night when I fished up a Ephemeral Fishing Pole. I looked at it in my inventory and realized this would be the first new pole I would use on my main in a long long time. My trusty Mastercraft Kalu’ak Fishing Pole with the +30 fishing has been my go to fishing pole for quite a while. (I never have been able to quite get my hands on Arcanite Fishing Pole, so other poles have shown up, but I never saw a reason to switch because they were just as good.) I went to my achievement tab and looked up Tuskarrmageddon, it was dated 12/9/08. I’m sure I bought that pole as soon as I hit exalted, so that pole has spent most of it’s time in my backpack for over six years.

This lead me to another odd thought. That fishing pole has probably seen more use and been through more things with my character than any other single in game item. It’s a hassle to fetch it out of the bank every time I want to fish, so I keep it on me. Its been whacked against countless mobs heads when I forgot to unequip it. (It’s hard to tell you have the wrong weapon when you’re in bear or kitty!)  Granted, I don’t know if that’s quiet whacking, the mechanics of druid weapons are funky. It was probably was in my bag for the fall of the Lich King and when my guild got Realm First Level 25. It has been there for countless battlegrounds, quests, (Including most of pre-Cata Loremaster) and dungeons, basically all the usual WoW things I’ve done over the years.  It has been with this toon when she was a Tauren, a Night Elf, and now as a Troll.

Academically, I knew the Ephemeral Fishing Pole was waaay better, but there was a degree of the familiar to my trusty fishing companion with its High Test Eternium Fishing Line, even if it is just a bunch of pixels, which are ephemeral in their own way.  I was going to be a little sad to retire it.

Then I looked up to see if maybe I had missed a better pole along the way, other than the Arcanite, since the Ephemeral was sooo much better than any other pole I had seen, and in my research I realized the Ephemeral Fishing Pole, really is ephemeral and after 24 hours logged into game it would be gone.  Well good thing I didn’t hasty with the sell button!

It’s odd to think, that in all that has come and gone, in a game with gear that we know will obsolete every few months, a fishing pole is something that’s been stable. One day, I’ll have a better fishing pole, and like so many other pieces of gear with memories, my Mastercraft Kalu’ak will be tucked away in the bank or void storage. But I’m kinda glad the Ephemeral is going to disappear, but glad it appeared as well.

This is a weird world we play in.

Press Conference: Talbukgate!

I called this press meeting today to say one thing to my readers. I want you to listen to me. I’m going to say this again. I did not have relations with that Talbuk.

~brief interruption from offstage~

What do you mean there are photos?!?!

I’m sorry folks, that’s all the time we have today. Unfortunately, I am quite busy and will be unable to answer any questions!

Thank you for your time!

A Tribute to TripleB!

I had originally planned a very different post, with my first major post since I came back going up today.  But it didn’t seem right, as this is the last day for someone who gave me one hell of a jumpstart when I first started blogging.

Way back in Jan 2010 Big Bear Butt linked this blog and I had a traffic explosion.  I was just starting out at the time and I was amazed at all the people reading all of a sudden.  Unfortunately, like the kitty I am, I got distracted by something shiny multiple times and lost quite a bit of traffic over the years.  But I never forgot about that help he gave me when first starting out.

But not just that TripleB is a great guy.  I remember a slow night during MoP when I needed help summoning my wife and he was the only one on my f-list playing Ally side at the time and he popped over to help me out, even though we don’t talk a lot.

While you have moved on from your theorycrafting ways when I first started reading, I have really enjoyed your humor over the years and seen so many reflections of my own life as I raise my two geeklings.  (One is already a Geek-teen.)  You made us laugh.  You tugged at our heartstrings in tender moments.  And you made me want want a goldfish hunter pet.

I don’t know why you are ending you blog, but thank you.

Thank you for helping out this little blog so many years ago.

Thank you for helping me out when I need to summon my wife.

Thank you for the joy your writing has brought to me over the years and I’m sure there are many others who feel the same way.

If you are still playing, one of these nights I’m actually going to have the free time to take you up on a run you’re putting up in Battle.net.

My best of wishes wherever this journey takes you and thank you for letting us ride along for a while.

~salutes~

 

A Kitty/Bear, A Plan, A Blog, Feral Instincts

Alrighty all, so after mulling it around through the weekend, I decided for a plan for the blog.  I am going to try and have big article on Fridays along with other randomness interspersed.  I also thing I am going to mull on a weekly achievement article, but let me get the Friday Druid one rolling first and see how I fit it in.  Welcome to all the new folks!  I hope you enjoy!

A Heads Up For Leveling Alts

For any of you that don’t mind an old school XP grind, this week the perfect time for it.  The in game event Love is In the Air, is currently running.  The daily quest, Crushing the Crown, has you going out killing five mobs and blowing up their chemical wagon.  The thing to note is these mobs respawn really really rapidly.  So you can chain pull these over and over.  (Also good if you are in need of cloth.)  This alone makes for a great place to XP grind.

However, what makes this even better is tomorrow is the start of the Darkmoon Faire!  This means you can hop on the carousel and get the buff WHEE!  This buff gives you an extra 10% XP, it starts out at 5 mins, but the longer you ride the carousel, the longer the buff lasts up to 1 hour.

If you have already completed Crushing the Crown, WoWHead has a great list of the various zones where the daily will take you on their Love is in The Air Guide found here, using that list you can find where the level appropriate zones are if you get to high for the one the daily gives you.  Unfortunately, the event hasn’t added areas for MoP and WoD, so once you get to the one in Uldum, that’s as high as it goes.

Happy Leveling and May the XP be with you!

The Time Has Come for a Regeneration!

The most amazing thing has happened in the last week, we saw the end of a WoW icon over at WoW Insider.  It was one of the first sites with WoW content I regularly followed.  I was saddened by this, as was much of the community.  But the wonderful folks there decided that they didn’t want to give up what they love and have created BlizzardWatch.  BlizzardWatch is a crowd funded project, if you’d like to be a supporter, you can set up a recurring donation here.

But this post isn’t an ad for BlizzardWatch.  After watching the community come together for something that meant so much to them, I realized how much I miss writing about WoW.  I’ve decided after yet another extended absence from the blog, I’m going to resurrect it…again.

But unlike previously, I’m going to set myself a schedule.  I will post that schedule when I figure out what the heck it is going to be, so hopefully ya’ll will give me a hard time if I’m slacking again.  I need to definitely work on some admin stuff on the site.  I think my plan is going to be a weekly feature along with random posts when they come to mind.

As always, I would love to create a conversation here, so don’t be afraid to comment.  We need more content and engagement for the only spec that “Complains when they get a buff!”  But as you continue your journeys through the World of Warcraft, always remember these wise words:

“CAT DURID IS 4 FITE!” – ALAMO