Mini-Post: Letters From the Mists

I have been thinking lately about doing a series of letters from my characters' points of view. I'm an avid roleplayer, and I have a few ideas for some of them, misty my little panda family. It could be an interesting way to flesh out their characters, give those who read this a bit of insight into them. Now with the Siege of Orgrimmar upon us, it could also be a good way to bring their worries to the surface and hopes for the future. This idea is still in the concept stages, but I hope it will turn out well.

All Good Things Come to an End

The last night on a server before maintenance shutdown can be very strange. I had never stayed logged on long enough to experience one myself. But tonight was different. Tomorrow, as you all know, 5.4 will be released. It isn't my first major content patch, but definitely one that had changed the game world around me so radically, I don't know what to think. I started playing not long before patch 4.1 dropped, and I think this is the one content patch I'm most excited for.

I was never a big Garrosh fan. My first meeting with the man consisted of him telling me he'd personally kill my Druid if I didn't kill the Warlock who used demon magic in Ashenvale. Not exactly the greatest of first impressions there. So I never really liked the guy, despite how awesome Vid and Rades make him in their comic. So finally being able to kill Garrosh Hellscream after scaring my poor newbie self so long ago will be gratifying. Plus after all those failed For the Alliance raids, I deserve the kill, even if it is done on my hordies.

Also, I am absolutely dreading the destruction of the Vale. I have several toons camped at our faction Shrine: one because I was snagging the last few screenshots I could of the Vale, the other left there for rp reasons. I did a roleplay walk with the girlfriend on two of our Pandaren toons (my resto shammy and her mistweaver monk) to talk about the coming storm. Since my big plot point for my shaman is that he draws his healing powers from the waters of the Vale, this will affect him greatly. I obviously won't be keeping that character trait in the game all the time, but anything outside of instances will be a no-heal situation for him. My priestess has taken to hiding in the Temple of the Jade Serpent. As cliche, all too common, and poorly done as it is on rp realms, she is pregnant (I'm hoping mine isn't so horrible because she and her husband have been together for years before they decided to have cubs over the oopsie surprise pregnancy and "OMG it's so wonderful" most players go with). She needed to get out of Orgrimmar before the war, where she can be safe.

The screenshots (which are forthcoming as this is another phone post) were almost too perfect. It was a misty, gloomy night in the Vale with just the barest annoying touch of lag from everyone flying around for screenshots. My Druid, who is a different Druid from the one Garrosh yelled at, was my screenshot whore the entire time. I even joined in for a group shot over at the entry to Mogu-Shan Palace, near the Golden Lotus quartermaster. Good times, and thanks to everyone from Wyrmrest Accord who were there!

As for my goals before 5.4 launched, I made most of them. I wasn't going to try for Ahead of the Curve: Lei Shen, so that was one I didn't care about. What I did manage, however, makes me happy. I managed to get the Barrens stuff done on my two mains and I got Eternally in the Vale before the questline disappears forever. All in all, I'm pretty happy with that. I even helped the Girlfriend get her Hordebreaker title on her Alliance main tonight. So many raids on the commanders. So many people flagged for pvp. Thankfully, I know when to Feign Death. Anyway, screenshots are coming and I'll see you all on the other side when we finally stick it to Garrosh.

A Most Creepy Journey

Hello again. Long time no read, dear readers. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten this blog. There just hasn't been much worthy of a post going on lately. Except for last night. While waiting for my girlfriend to do my weekly Kara run for a mount chance, a pet chance, and wonderful transmog gears, I ran around the grounds while waiting for her to finish her Shado-Pan dailies. Instead of my Kara run, I embarked on a much more exciting journey. And infinitely more creepy.
After running around the grounds, I made my way to Morgan's Plot. You know, for shits and giggles. Lo and behold, there was a group of people beyond the inaccessible gate in the crypt. They were having a little party of sorts, and they invited me to join in. Little did I know, I was joining a party in progress in the fabled Karazhan Crypt.

Oh my God, it is every bit as scary as you'd think! The most tame part was the entry area itself, before the Pauper's Walk. The fall down the Well damn near killed me due to being a derp and not popping Deterrance before I landed on the huge pile of bones at the bottom. Of course, my girlfriend declared "pics or it didn't happen." I did her one better and summoned her in. So, we did what anyone else in our position would do. Explore and screencap! (Screencaps are coming soon for this post. Posting from my phone at the doctor's office. Screencaps are here at the bottom!)

After falling down the Well and jumping off of the bone pile, I made my way to what is possibly the most creepy part of the crypt; the pool of the Upside Down Sinners. Really, screencaps cannot do this justice. And oh God, the noises. They are terrifying! If you mute your music (the standard graveyard theme) and just listen to the ambient noises, it really is creepy. It's filled with chains, the scraping of stone on stone, the occasional whooshing and building-settling creak. But the oddest part? The heartbeat. I'm not sure what Blizz was going for with that mix of noises, but it's overall very disturbing and made me go "oh holy shit" when I heard the noises for the first time.

So, after exploring on the hunter, I grabbed my DK and brought her into the group. It seems like the perfect place for a DK to live, really. Peita even claimed a crypt for herself down there. Many thanks to an awesome Warlock on WyrA for getting us down there! I will leave him nameless for now, so he doesn't get in too much trouble.

Also, if you've got the urge to hear what the crypts sound like, go to the very end of the catacombs in the Cathedral in Stormwind. The exact same ambient noises happen down there. Just be sure to turn the music off, but turn the ambient sound up! And be sure to have headphones just for the extra creep factor!

Can't Wait for 5.3!

I read over the patch notes for the 5.3 PTR a few days ago. While the PVP and Brawler's Guild changes don't phase me because I'm not a participant in those, the upcoming content is making me absolutely drool with excitement. Especially the escalation of the war to bring Hellscream down.

It pleases me to no end that dear Vol'jin will be leading the insurrection to free us from our power-mad Mag'har overlord and his Blackrock Kor'kron cronies. I have very little love for Garrosh of late, despite how adorable Rades and Vid make him in From Draenor With Love. On WyrA, my guild, Revolution, roleplays a tiny faction of like-minded Horde who want to bring Garrosh down, but we work to keep the innocent members of the Horde, those who didn't ask for this war and all things that have come with it, safe. We plan, we plot, we send members on "missions" to undermine Hellscream and escort civilians to safety in an Argent Dawn camp. To finally have characters that can have a physical in-game way to stop Garrosh and weaken his power base is something I am all for.

The next little tidbit that made me happy - hunters can now stable up to 50 pets! No more having to pick and choose who to release when I see something pretty that I want to tame! I'm not on my hunter as much anymore, but this is such good news for us, at least for the rare-tamers and pet collectors out there. At last, my little army of Dinosaurs will be in good company with the likes of Chromaggus, Ban'thalos, the Molten Front Spiders, and many more!

What are you guys looking forward to in 5.3?

Pandaren Babies?

I have to say, I love Luo Luo, the little panda cub sitting outside the portal to the Horde starting village in Pandaria. Especially the fact that when you /love at it, it gives you a magical bamboo shoot that turns you into, well, into a baby panda. It turns out, while you can't mount up on your own mounts, you CAN mount up on someone with a Touring Rocket/Sandstone Drake/Obsidian Nightwing. And its the most adorable freaking thing in the world! It added quite a bit of fun to our BWD guild run for the meta guild mount, especially while waiting for our tank's rez sickness to wear off (long story short, don't jump places where your body is not easily retrievable).

When in Doubt, Sacrifice a Panda!

I server/faction transferred my priest, Sunchati, to Wyrmrest Accord recently, and while the getting was good with the anniversary tabard and a full suit of heirloom caster armor, I managed to get the girl to her 80s. Which means one thing...

Sun got to go on her first raid! And what a first raid it was, too. I ran with a group of mostly 90s and one 87 with my Horde guild through ICC. Sun spent most of the raid dead on the floor, sadly, but I got some nice loot for her that carried her through 83. I still even have the necklace that dropped in there! And then there was the big bad himself, the Lich King. After forcing a wipe due to all our ghouls dying from Necrotic Plague, or our off-tank dying (because there's no way you can outheal the million or so damage from twentysomething stacks of that), our intrepid raid leader came to one conclusion. The lowbies had to die. But we were well compensated for being canon fodder to carry the plague to the new ghoul spawns, and I was quite happy with the end results. Even if it did result in looking like a stylish bear throw rug in the throne room the whole fight.

Um, could you please get your left boot off of my head? That plate's kind of heavy!

Kind of makes me wish I had capped my MRP from that night. I changed it from Sunchati Pureblossom to Sacrificial Panda, the Sad Panda. My guild title in the roster still says Sacrificial Panda, which will be our raiding in-joke now.

In other news, having so much more fun Hordeside on an RP server than I ever did Allianceside on my PVE server. So much that I'm thinking of giving my hunter and shaman the same treatment that Sun got. I'd probably keep Hecubah as an elf and change Taiaa back into the Tauren she started life off as. But who knows?

Rectifying a "Stanank" on the Bifaction Thing

I know there hasn't been much of the "bi" in my bifaction blog. I mean, the majority of my posts have been about my alli characters and the pve scene. But now I plan to fix that and start posting a bit about my horde toons!

I've recently started playing on Wyrmrest Accord, and I've been finding the roleplay scene to be so much nicer than pve! There is so little stress to get your toons geared up to raid in a week, like there is on pve servers. I like taking my time, playing with guildies, fine-tuning my toon's backstory, that sort of thing.Wyrmrest has been so welcoming and it doesn't have that creepy Moon Guard vibe that gives that server its bad name. I've only had my horde toon hit on once, and she swiftly threatened to shove her hoof through the poor undead's skull for talking so disrespectfully to her. Tauren warriors, you know? Especially Tauren warriors who are former gladiators. No patience. None.

Because storytime is always awesome. Especially with a Treant!

Meet Bahunada Darkhide, my little level 23 Fury Warrior. She is a former Grimtotem who left her tribe after Magatha's betrayal, which led to the death of Cairne Bloodhoof. Wandering tribeless for a long time and very angry, she was surrounded and almost overwhelmed by Quilboar and trying to fight them off with her bare fists when Alek'togia Ashmane, a Bluffwatcher from Thunder Bluff, found her. She offered to train Bahunada, and she took the guard up on her offer. She still has much to learn about patience and definitely needs to learn how to hold her tongue around the orcs and goblins of Orgrimmar, but she's quickly learning the way of a true warrior. In her early days, she proved herself to the Tauren by cleansing their wells of any Grimtotem corruption (and she may have gleefully slaughtered a few of her former tribe members along the way). She was fully accepted by the Ragetotem tribe when she completed her trials to become a warrior, and she eagerly followed her mentor to Orgrimmar to hone her training. Along the way, she learned how to scout out mineral veins and craft her own armor and weapons, a skill she had wanted ever since her days with the Grimtotem since she had to fight for every piece of armor or sword she used. Recently, she and Alek have joined a revolution of sorts in an attempt to spread the word to others that the Horde is not just full of bloodthirsty killers or crafty, polluting goblins.

Not Yu'jane, but she IS one of my Pandaren Priests. Plus this is an awesome picture.

Then there's Yu'jane Pureblossom, my Pandaren Priest. She started life as a farmgirl on the Dai-Lo Farmstead until she discovered she had the power to heal. She didn't know what the power was or where it came from, but she was offered the chance to hone her craft at Master Shang Xi's academy. While studying, she learned of the Lorewalkers of the Wandering Isle, and she learned how to read and write, along with discovering she had a voracious appetite for stories and history. The Lorewalkers taught her how to mill herbs and make ink, and she became a scribe for them, taking down stories as they were told. When Shen-zin Su was injured by the Allaince Airship, her training in the healing arts was ramped up. She was paired up with a young monk named Fan'jian, and they learned how to work well with each other. He fought and she healed, and together they discovered the Alliance and Horde in the Pei-Wu Forest. After saving Shen-zin Su, she and Fan decided to travel with the Huojin to Orgrimmar. Their arrival to the city was less than a welcome one. To Yu'jane, Garrosh Hellscream was rude, condescending, and just a little too loud for the meek Lorewalker. Then there was his "gift," a battle with three strange and dangerous beasts, and she did her best to protect Ji Firepaw and herself from Gronn, Magnataur, and Ettin.After meeting up with Fan'jian in Thunder Bluff, she realized that the Horde wasn't entirely about the glory of battle. She rather likes the Tauren and their ideals, finding them on par with how she was raised back in Dai-Lo. Perhaps Yu'jane will be coaxed to join this revolution, and maybe it will make her feel better about her choice to join the Huojin and the Horde.

I have a few more RP toons on WA, but I don't have their stories completely fleshed out yet. Especially my insane Forsaken Warlock. All I know is that she's batcrap crazy, has a fierce devotion to the Dark Lady, and was a Mage of the Kirin Tor in life, before Arthas slaughtered most of the city and then Archimonde went all HULK SMASH on it. Plus I don't have screencaps for them all yet.