The Curious Tauren

Holy hunter macros, Batman! I just now spotted the news--late as usual--that the Druids' beast forms are getting an aesthetic update! New skins for their shapeshift models, which are meant to reflect more of the Druid's own appearance, rather than all one generic bear/lion/panther. Bwaha!

This is something I've been rooting for since...well, practically Year One. My little much-ignored droodlet will be ecstatic! He's a black Tauren, and has always wanted to be a black bear/lion, rather than dull brown or blinding yellow. (We were always jealous of the purple bears--they didn't look like the ones in the woods.) This is an awesome change.

Now, next order of business: extend the change to other beast forms, like bird and travel and water form. Also, can we make it so female Tauren Druids don't have to have beards and lion manes? Tauren women get enough flak as it is. XD Srsly.

Also, what are the odds of making the Nelf and Tauren travel forms look different? How 'bout if the Tauren one stays yellow, and the Nelf one is switched to that purple/black leopard kitty with white spots. That looks nice and Nelfy, right?

Keep on making things more pretty, Blizz.

I've been sort of following the advent of WotLK from a distance, and keeping an eye on things from the vantage point of other bloggers, Petopia, WoWHead, etc. And since I'm planning on getting back into the game...well, sometime in the near-ish future, I took much closer looks.

Bwaaah! They turned my poor Trailseeker into...a cat! with no Prowl, and a Howl buff he can't even cast on the party any more! ( *flails* )

I really am still alive out here somewhere, lost in the Nether of Real Life.

Summer is coming soon, and with it, a celebration of Graduation and finally...freedom!

And responsibility. But I think I'm quite ready for that, and quite ready to be done with higher education so I can get on with my life. ^_^ And my hunting. So much has changed, and I've missed so much. It'll be overwhelming, almost like learning a new game--and familiar, like comfortable old gloves.

Sometimes, on these slow evenings, I miss Azeroth terribly. But I'm forging on! It's already May; the last term is half over.

Summer is coming soon.

I can't wait!

Long times between posts! Insanely long--I am a bad blogger. But a busy player! So much has happened! Mad questing and instancing with guildies and friends, faction farming, getting awesome new weapons, learning the dailies, getting my flying mounts...

The awareness that I had so little time to do all these things made me frantic to get everything done--so much that I neglected to think of taking the time to post. I paid for a three-month subscription span for the summer, canceling it almost as soon as I paid. I knew that I'd have to go back to school and devote 110% to finally getting my degree, while everyone else went on to new expansions without me. The day my time expires is too fast approaching.

But I got so much done in this wondrous, whirlwind summer! Much of it thanks to the generous help (and crafting/enchanting) of guildmates and friends. Let's see if I can even cover it all...

( Emira's Last Great Adventures. )
Someday, hopefully even as soon as next summer, I'll be back! I hope to see you all again when I return! Be well, you brave souls, 'til we meet again!


So long, dear friends, and thanks for all the Netherwing Eggs!

Safe paths to everyone!
<3

After having a great Fourth afternoon with the family, despite that we were unable to attend any fireworks, I managed to level to 70! Check me out, I'm now a flying curious Tauren! Look out, world!

It was a little funny getting the control down pat (and a bit of panic until I realized that falling on my windrider means he'll fly), but I've played Horizons and flown there too, so it was familiar enough. What fun! I can now mine with impunity! Well...mostly. Lots of new pictures in the album too, check it out.

Whew, I've been so busy exploring and leveling I haven't stopped in to blog. Shame on me. I've just been so excited to be so close to several goals--70, Mag'har exalted status, and starting the Netherdrake quests. Two out of three ain't bad! Still got a bit to go with the Mag'har, and then I'll have a fast ground mount that's a little more secksay than Ol' Trodd the Swift Brown Kodo. ^_^ The old boy needs a vacation after all the running we've been doing lately anyway.

And I'll be working on that Netherdrake too! Wish me luck!

Safe paths!
~Emira

...I really just gave away my age with that one, didn't I?

I have good news, and I have bad news. The good news is: Emira is back! The bad news...it's only for the summer. I managed to scrape together some time and pennies! It might only be for three months, but I'm back in the saddle!

^^; And it's been over a year since I last played, so I took a lowbie alt for a spin last night to Lrn2Play again. Whew, if I thought I kinda sucked at it before the Great Sleep...now I'm downright embarrassing. And so much has changed! I was barely able to keep up with knowing some of what's going on by checking in at the Petopia blog and BigRedKitty (thank you for just being there, you guys!) and things, but I was still surprised at a lot of things. Some good, some bad; here are just a few things I noticed, before I dive back into the world again! ( ...read more! )

Hi folks! Did everyone have a good New Year? Gosh, it's been a long time. (A long time to be WoW-deprived!) Emira-the-toon still sleeps, but I just wanted to let anyone who might still drop by know that I'm still alive, still out here, and still intending to come back!

It is, after all, one of my foremost New Year's Resolutions.

Not because I'm an addict or anything. ^^; I mean, I've survived since last April, haven't I? *cough* I still pay attention to what's going on in the WoW world, I read up on updates so I won't be totally brainless when I get back, I stay hopeful of the direction the game's going. I want to come back, not because I'm an addict, a PvP monkey, a min/maxer, or a farmer...but because I had fun in WoW, I enjoyed playing my class(es), I had some friends, I loved my pets, I had lots of stuff left to see and do, and I didn't care about being the all-out uber-best in the world. I was happy playing WoW just to be playing, like I was happy playing Horizons (or even a brief stint in City of Heroes). ^_^ So I do intend to return.

I've heard good things and bad about what's going on since I left, both in server "politics" and in game mechanics/patches/updates. I can only hope things are still going well for my old home server, guildies, friends, and etc. I miss everyone, and am hoping to be back this year. ( ...read more. )

Due to financial reasons, my family has cut DSL from the budget, so I'm sad to say I'll be out of game until I figure out a way to resolve this; either by finding a new access point or getting the funds to assist my family with the internet bills. Dollars have been tight in these parts for some time now, so it pretty much came down to choosing between internet or groceries for the month.

But I'll be working my tail off to get back in the saddle! Hope to see y'all soon!

~Emira,
signing off for now

I keep being so busy! Grrr. And I thought my week off was supposed to be relaxing.

But anyway... questing questing questing. And trying to figure out the fine art that is Crystals And Slots. What to put where, where to get them, etc. I can do some serious attack power boosting if I can get the right crystals, I figure. And sure the vendor ones are cheap, but they're kinda wimpy.

Also, I really need to find an excuse to go level my mining skill. It's been parked at around 275 forever now, especially since I can't do anything in Outlands with it. I know! Mining gets gems! There's an excuse!

*sigh* Time to go muck around somewhere and find lots of thorium nodes. At least I have the swift mount for that!

Put on my Dwarf suit again and played around, but also stopped by Ironforge on my way through, just to visit the trainer. Brinanna has had her first talent respec ever! I trimmed some places and restacked others; poor Brin is apparently being a guinea pig for Emira. So she has some more points in BM and a few less in MM...we'll see what happens.

If nothing else, I'm hoping trying out a bit of the BM spec will turn Thorn (and maybe even Avalanche) into the machine of massacre that BRK keeps talking about. XD

And for Emira, ol' Trodd got an upgrade. I finally gave up and got a Swift Brown Kodo...ugly thing, though.

I needed some decompression time after this week, so I put on my Dwarf suit this afternoon to meet up with some friends Alliance-side; Myself/Brin (52 Dwarf Hunter), my friend a 38 (now 39!) Draenei Shaman, and her friend with the white lion problem, a 63 Night Elf Hunter. Our little Shaman needed a run through Scarlet Monastery, so I toddled over for the fun of it (it's not as if I haven't razed that place enough times as a Tauren!) and joined up. For fun, I brought Noggenfogger Elixir and the Hallow's End Wands that had been sitting in my bank since forever and we rocked the joint.

On our way back toward Southshore, our Nelf friend thought it would be a good idea to show our little Shaman the Lordaeron Throne Room, the place where the old king died. It worked out even better, since I had been playing with Noggenfogger and the Random Wand and we were skeletons already; I slapped the Skeleton Wand on the little Shaman and we took a sharp left at the Zep junction. (We thought maybe the "disguises" would help. XD) ( ...read more about our trip and the results. )

I'm still suffering from finals insanity. But I'm giving myself a much-needed, if brief, break from studying to natter about something funny. I need lighthearted for a minute.

How To Get Away.

I'm not much of a PvPer (as I've stated), so when I do catch myself flagged, and alone, for whatever reason, more often than not there's a Rogue waiting in the wings to take me out--kinda like a chainsaw creep in a horror flick. You know he's there, but the main character just can't see him coming until the VRRRM VRRRM VRREEEM!!

Or in the case of me and Rogues, the squishy BLAM in my back. So I developed somewhat of a trick for getting the heck away from these Rogues, either to simply clear out of their vicinity entirely or to run and fetch help. (Like I said, I'm a chicken in PvP, but not a stupid chicken.) It also has a startlingly high degree of actual success. It also worked well before I had Scatter Shot, because as a Tauren I also get War Stomp. ( ...read more about silly Rogues! )

Like these three fellows. I about died laughing when I stumbled across them. XD Homage much? I used to love that show...

The weekend ended on a fairly positive note. I dinged 64, got some sweet new gear, and shocked myself by having my very first Aimed Shot crit over 2000. O_o And that was before I dinged and got a couple of shiny new pieces of serious attack power gear. But I haven't had another crit that good since; I'm currently sitting around 1900 per crit, usually. (I need to pay more attention to smart Hunters and their numbers, and figure out what goes into a crit. Not that I want to have massive, aggro-grabbing crits going off all the time, but to understand the mechanics involved.)

Also tossed a few more random oddball pictures into the gallery to keep me going. And thus, into a week of pre-finals and preparation I go! I beg pardon of everyone; I shall be quite insane for the next two weeks. ^_^;; Cheerio!

Since I'm a total huntard for pets and things, I'm always happy to help people tame theirs. Even this Night Elf Hunter for example, from some friends Alliance-side, who lost her white lion and needed to tame one at ~60. So last night, we made nefarious plans, rode off to Frostsaber Rock, and got to work.

It was so much fun! It all started out fine, but then Shy-Rotam has AoE fear, and it got nuttier from there. Then Sian spawned, and he apparently fears too, so we had people running every which way, cats running every which way, pets running every which way... XD a hilarious madhouse of fleeing and attacking and traps going off and stuff blowing up! It got too crazy keeping Shy's attention off the Night Elf, so I didn't keep track of her taming. But when it was all over and Shy was dead...lo and behold, the white lion was tamed!

Check us out. ^_^ I don't think I've ever been hugged by a Night Elf quite that much. She was very very happy to have her white lion back! And congrats to her.

It's been such a long wait, but finally it's done! Here they are: the photo album galleries. No particular order for now, just whatever stuffs y'all would like to look at. It's pretty random; bit of old junk, bit of new junk, bit of pointless junk...

^_^ And now, I'm off to log in and do a little hunting! Catch you on the flip side!