Shared Topic - Three Must Haves

My first Blog Azeroth Shared Topic comes from Mataoka of Sugar and Blood;

...with the new patch, and all the new things coming, what are three things that you will absolutely not leave behind? Consider these three objects your virtual backpack- the twist is, a tiny story to go along with each item.

My priest, has many sentimental memories associated with her, but not really a big amount of items I would save. I rifled through her bags to see which items I would never be able to delete, and came up with three things - though one is a "set".

 WoWHead Image

Argent Dawn Commission

I remember picking this up and thinking I would farm Argent Dawn rep at the time. I was hooked on this trinket because it used to make your character salute and a light effect would surround you (kind of what the leveling "ding" animation is).

There's no way I'm getting rid of this now, as the trinket is no longer available in game. I like to have things that no one else does!



Original Tier 6 

My first full tier set on my priest was T6. I raided in T4 and T5 but the Frozen Shadowweave Set was far too good to replace until T6 (and even then, the Shadowweave chest was still better than the T6 chest).

My dagger is still enchanted with Frost and Shadow Damage, my cloak still has 2% Reduced Threat and all the gear has the original gems and enchants.

I have great memories about T6 and the Burning Crusade, so my T6 will always have a place in my bank - no matter how many spaces I seem to keep filling!

"Best in Show!"

Precious' Ribbon

I love this pink shirt, and I love that it gives your character a "Best in Show" buff! I remember looking at Precious when we were in ICC and thinking that it was adorable that she had a ribbon on her neck! Obviously someone really cared about that pooch.

When I won that shirt I wore it around everywhere and it's my default shirt when it doesn't clash too horribly with my outfit.





Since I've had my druid as long as my priest, I decided to check what items she had that I placed value on.

Chained Essence of Eranikus

Ah, yes. I love this trinket, and I really thought the questline was neat up until it just kind of... stopped. I did this quest on my priest first and lost her trinket but decided to keep it on my druid.

Everytime you use this trinket, Eranikus speaks to you;

• It hurts so much... Itharius, my old friend... please help me...

• Will the nightmare ever end?! I cannot force myself awake!

• Torture me no more! Release me, mortal! The Swamp of Sorrows... mortal... please

• My eyes! It burns... it burns...

• Foolish mortal, I will rend your soul in two once I am released!

• My charge to watch the temple has failed... my corrupted soul knows no peace...

• My soul is not a trinket! Mortal, you must release me from these chains!

• Foolish mortal, I will rend your soul in two once I am released!

• You are an agent of their wicked god, fool. I will see you destroyed!

I remember when I first used the trinket and Eranikus was quite angry. I'd never seen anything like this before, and I still feel sad for Eranikus being trapped wherever he is.

This particular version of the Essence is no longer available in game, but I plan on keeping this trinket forever.

That green stuff is the Essence of Eranikus, I swear!

Essence Infused Moonstone

Once upon a time, druids had to complete a long (awesome) quest chain in order to get their final flight form. This key used to be part of the chain where you had to go summon Anzu, the Raven Lord and defeat him to move on with the chain.

Afterwards, you got to keep the Moonstone and go back to Sethekk Halls whenever you wanted to farm the mount Aznu drops.

I had a group of people who I used to bring my key for so that we could farm the mount. Now that you no longer need a druid there's no reason to keep this key, but there's no way I can get rid of it.

That's me in the middle!

Earthwarden

My very favourite weapon. I farmed Cenarion Expedition rep so hard to be able to have one of the best tanking maces ever. I collected spears, unidentified plant parts and ran Underbog so much I'm sure I went crazy.

It was sold by Fedryen Swiftspear for 265g, which at the time for me was not a trivial amount.

I tanked with this mace for a long time, I never did get a Wildfury Greatstaff... I loved that bear druids got a mace called Earthwarden - it's a very fitting title!

I'm saving this mace in the hopes that one day, druids will have a viable tanking mace to use so that I can transmog to Earthwarden.

Meet The Exodar Athletes: Transmogolympics

A familiar face to many, the Exodar flagbearer was pictured on WoWInsider just weeks before the competition!

All good things must come to an end, and with the event of the summer nearing its closing ceremonies, the athletes of the Exodar will strut their stuff one last time. I had a wonderful time creating all of these outfits, and I'm excited to finally be able to reveal them (without the anonymity).

I worked hard to put together some outfits that I thought were great and fit the themes really well - this competition really got the creative part of me working in overdrive. Hats off to JD and the judges for all their hard work!

Check the links to see the actual event posts! Cycling, Hammer Throw, Discus, Wrestling, Archery, Javelin, Equestrian, Freestyle, and Fencing.


Cycling (matching the Mechano-Hog):

When I think of ladies in a biker gang, I think leather, goggles, and studded shoulders.

I tried to go with a red and black theme to keep with matching the Horde version of the Chopper. I also included two Bloody Brass Knuckles because this lady means business.

Check out her gear set here!








Hammer Throw

I agonized over this set. I couldn't decide if I wanted to go with more purple or if I wanted the mace to stand on its own.

In the end I went with a grey/purple scheme and I really like the way it turned out. I think if I had to do it over I'd pick a more purple-y set of boots.

Check out her gear set here!
Restricted to Paladins: Shoulders are Heroic tier.





Discus

I was a little disappointed with the posted results for this outfit. The gold winner looks remarkably similar to this set!

In the end, this set didn't place at all and I can't help but wonder if the judges don't like all the dwarf skin.

Check out her gear set here!






Wrestling

I found this great belt and lo and behold there were matching bracers! Since we weren't going the traditional Olympic style I thought this was perfect.

This Tauren is ready to ruuuuummmmmble!


Check out his gear set here!








Archery

I love this bow, and this set looks incredible with a Stormwind Tabard. Unfortunately, I was unable to use another faction's tabard but if you wish to recreate this set I recommend it.

Check out her gear set here!





Javelin

I really like this set. The replica Beastmaster gear worked perfectly with this great polearm.

I came super close to the podium on this event at 382 compared to the winner's 387!


Check out her gear here!





Equestrian 

I chose to match an outfit to the Baradin Wardens Spectral Horse.

I'm pleased with the icy blue look I achieved and I think it matches that horse really well.

Check out her gear set here!









Freestyle

My freestyle outfit ended up being a creation of a new goblin banker. I wanted to use the shoulders so badly, and it works with the rich colours of green and purple.

This lady is trying to explain to these people that time is money, and they're wasting hers.

Check out her gear set here!



Fencing

The final entrant in this years Transmogolympics!

I chose a fiery sword, and matched elements in her outfit to the fire theme.

Check out her gear set here!









In the end, none of my sets gained any medals but my Javelin set came the closest. I'm a little disappointed, and I have some disagreements (for sets that weren't even mine!). Overall this was an excellent transmog event to participate in and I had an absolute blast creating everything.

I really enjoyed participating in this, and I hope that I can find some more Transmog events to try my luck at. It's hard enough competing in an event such as the Transmogolympics, but it's another thing entirely to organize and judge the entrants. Thanks again to JD at Amateur Azerothian, Tome at Tome of the Ancient, Matty at Sugar & Blood and Khizzara at Blog of the Treant.

Grinding for Archaeology mounts?

So remember that pet and mount you never ever ever got from Tol'vir solves? And how you hated having to bust ass all around Kalimdor for a measly 1 Tol'vir dig site and 3284091238 Night Elf dig sites?

My rogue got lucky, but you may not have!

Well, my pals, those days are over - and honestly, if you're currently trying to get that mount, STOP NOW.

Here's the scoop (and this isn't a full archeology preview, I'm just here to let you know that the Tol'vir mount WILL BE YOURS):

All those extra white/grey items you used to get doing all your other solves are now (with Mogu and Pandaren solves) white items with an on-use that puts them in a crate. Once you have maxed out archeology (which takes very little time in Pandaria) you can trade those crates in for any pre-MOP fragments you like! I had about 25 boxes to turn in when I maxed out my archeology so I got 25 boxes of Tol'vir fragments - they each had 6-9 fragments each and I was able to do 7ish Tol'vir solves right then and there.

Of course, I didn't get the mount to pop but it's only a matter of time, right?!

If you're into achivements, there are some achivements that require you to solve 20 of each white item for the Mogu/Pandaren items so right there is 20 boxes of Tol'vir fragments per achivement!

Not only are you going to get all your Pandaria archeology items and achivements, you will simultaneously be working towards that elusive Tol'vir bug mount.

For a complete archaeology preview, check out the Wowhead Archaeology Preview by she of the best socks, Perculia

Lulls and Changes

Expansion transitions are interesting times. People start to review what they need to finish before they have to worry about leveling again; old achievements, battleground goals, profession material farming and more. So a few posts have been circling about that are listing what folks are trying to finish up before the Mists of Pandaria comes to Azeroth.

Profession Work

With my main swapping from priest to guardian, I had to look at what I needed to get Kalbeari raid ready (aside from leveling her to 90). Currently, I have Leatherworking and Skinning but have gathered all of the mats needed to level Jewelcrafting once Mists hits and I've leveled Leatherworking.

The problem with this set up is that I've recently found out that Alchemy will blow JC out of the water for my choice of second crafting profession. Currently, the Guardian druid mastery is scaling things like armour elixirs and potions, (GC confirmed that it is intended) and with the Alchemist perk Mixology, it's clear that I'll have to farm mats for yet another profession.

The plan is to level in Mists with LW and Skinning, then drop Skinning and powerlevel my second profession - Alchemy.

Filling Time

There are things that Kaleri has that I would like Kalbeari to have, so I've been leveling my cooking and fishing so that she'll be self-sufficient. I picked up a Dalaran ring, and a guild cloak for easy transportation back and forth.

I've been doing mount runs every Tuesday with Serrine and Serrath two guildmates of mine, and so far we have: an Ashes of A'lar (mine), a Blue Drake from Malygos (Serrinne) and an Azure Drake from Malygos (to Serrath). Not bad for about a month's work!

Caw! Caw!

Raising some gold is a priority, too. I've never been super rich in WoW and with the introduction of some big gold sinks (Grand Expedition Yak, new JC mounts, Black Market Auction House) I'd like to have some extra gold.

I've tanked an LFR on the Beta, watched a bunch of livestreams and videos, recorded my loot list and have generally been itching for new content. I want to make sure I'm as prepared as possible!

Blog News

With main-swapping comes the consideration of what this blog will be once Mists rolls out. I originally intended to write about priests and raiding but I feel that once I am no longer playing my priest I won't carry the same authority that I did in Cataclysm.

I've asked my friend Sara (@SerrinneWoW) if she would be interested in writing some posts come Mists of Pandaria for priest related info, so expect to see some posts written by her in the future. (Plus that means I can keep part of the blog name the same - bonus!)

I'll still be here, but you can expect some more tank-centric and druid related articles from me in the future.

The url of this blog may be changing, not sure to what yet - have to pick a good name! If you notice some funky things happening with the layout and background don't worry, it's just me futzing around with some changes for Mists.

What are you doing to prepare for Mists? Are you taking some time off between expansions? What are you up to in the meantime?

A Crisis of Identity

Flying through the Vale

Preparing for an expansion is no small task. There are mats to farm for leveling professions or making gold, there's massive amounts of guild organization and there are decisions to be made about characters and roles you want to play. If you read Kurn's Corner, you'll know that there are steps to take when preparing a guild for a new expansion, and having guild members decide what role they'd like to play in the future is one of those steps.

I had to decide; healing priest or bear tank?

Ultimately, I chose to play my bear in the upcoming expansion. I've been having a bit of an identity crisis with my priest lately, and the more I play on my druid, the more I enjoy the game. I love my priest, I even wrote a post about how much I love her, but we've had a disconnect somewhere down the line.

Knight-Captain Kaleri on her Vicious War Steed

I am a good healer. Hell, I'd venture to say that I am a great healer but it just doesn't feel right and it doesn't feel like a challenge. I think that part of the reason for this is the race change of Kaleri from draenei to human back before Firelands, and the other part are the nerfs in Dragon Soul. She's still my priest, but she's not Kal. This fierce little human with a penchant for PVP and Hardmode bosses isn't the draenei I rolled back on Bronzebeard, clumsily fighting through Karazhan, applying to guilds through the mail system, and tailoring her own clothes.

SUPERBEAR

Taila (or Kalbeari, now) has been a steady rock since Karazhan. She's mangled and swiped her way to victory over Malchezzar, Kael'Thas and Vashj. She held the lines while Illidan was vanquished, used the Tears of the Goddess to thwart Archimonde and stood in awe of the Sunwell. Together we've been the shield for the healers and the damage dealers through many battles, and that will be our role in Pandaria.

I leveled Kalbeari to 90 on the beta, and started goofing around in heroics with my friend Sara, a healing priest. Watching Cascade bounce around, or seeing Spirit Shell makes me a little regretful, but as soon as I hit that Incarnation button and become SUPERBEAR, those feelings go away. I watch the boss previews from MMO-Champion and I think, "I get to tank those. My raid will need me to be at the top of my game to survive and take the hits.". It's exciting and scary but I know it will be the challenge I need.


Does the class make the person?

My priest was my safe haven for some time. I created her just before University began, and played her while my struggle with Crohn's Disease was at it's height. I accomplished a lot with her, and many memories are recorded in her achievements and Feats of Strength. I was Kaleri.

My druid was created before my priest but the guild I had joined needed a priest healer (I was later asked not to heal, but to instead play as shadow). Kalbeari was always there when I needed a break from priesting, and I always thought of those two characters as friends of a sort.

Kaleri with the DS raid achievement mount

When I play Kaleri, I am a healer. I support my teammates, I take care of them and they keep Horde and enemies away from me. It's not my fault if someone dies to a loose add, but it is my prerogative to heal the tanks, so they can catch those adds. Healing can be a thankless job, especially when you do it so well no one will know what you had to do to pull it off.

Take Heroic Spine as an example. My job is to heal the tanks and watch the dispels. It's not a particularly hard job to dispel, but if you screw it up the entire raid knows it was your fault. However, if you do it perfectly the raid never has to know that there is a dispel mechanic and you take away that problem for everyone. You rarely get thanks, but there's a certain satisfaction when you can do it that well.

But when I play Kalbeari, I change a little. I have to be a little harder, take more control and be ready to help the raid as I can. Meaning anything from tanking more adds if someone goes down, using cooldowns like FR to the raid's benefit, to battle-rezzing someone or doing as much DPS as possible while I'm tanking. There is so much a bear tank can do right now to help out, it's insane.

Will a new role change me?

I think it will, a little. I feel like I've changed and grown as a person since I first created my characters. I've always been in awe of excellent tanks, and it never ceases to amaze me how a good tank can make or break a dungeon or raid run. I will have to take charge more than I do now, and speak up with more authority if I have to call something tank-related.

I'm afraid that I will feel a little helpless at times, not being able to heal but my priorities will shift from watching the raids HP to keeping an eye on my own. I used to get really antsy watching other healers while tanking but I've started to learn to let it go. How can I be a good tank when I die because I'm too busy watching the raid frames and I miss my cooldown? That can't happen and I'll have to place my trust in the healers, just like our current tanks trust me.

WoW needs more tanks, in particular it needs more tanks who are women. I'm proud to have the ability to switch to my druid and fill those roles.

Mists of Pandaria is approaching and it's nearly time for Kaleri to take a break from fighting monsters and the Horde, and fish by the gates of Stormwind for a time. The world has changed, and so have we.