Happy Halloween!

I decided to be BigRedKitty for Halloween. Like my costume?

Just for fun...

This is from one of my regular sites I visit. http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Outland Baby!

Taken right after I arrived.

Look at all those sexy cats.

I was digging through my screenshots and I found this. A while back there were a couple of posts about how the size of a cat (or any pet) increases as it levels up on BRK's blog. Then I stumbled upon this unique photo opportunity. I should have written it down but I believe their levels were 8, 21, 54.

Yes, I’ll take a one way ticket to Outland please.

So I’m in Outland now.

I don’t even know which topic to start with.

The experience is awesome. The loot is awesome. The quest rewards are crappy. Just kidding, they’re awesome too. The instances are awesome. The sky is absolutely awesome.

This reminds me of something…

DOG DIARY

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

CAT DIARY

Day 983 of my captivity.

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. T here was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs. I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now...

This was emailed to me by a coworker. I can’t find the original source, but I wish I could give them credit.

Anyways, I’m like the dog…everything in Outland is my favorite thing.

And the cat one is just…well…hilarious.

I can has a mount?

It was with Catja – human mage that I made my first grind to 40 in Wow. Gaining a mount might be one of the single most exciting milestones a player reaches. Tack and Catja were still the same level back then and we hit 40 on the same evening. Tack had no problem with the horse mount provided to humans. As a warrior the classic horse seemed fitting. Catja had different plans. A cat mount. Yes, definitely.

“I’m all magical and mana filled and girly and I love kitties and yes I would like a saber mount, please.”

And then that snooty b*&#* Lelanai – animal handler said, “No.”

“What? But I’ve waited 40 levels for this.”

So I spent a very upset evening reading forums about why the heck I couldn’t buy my Saber. Not enough reputation with Darnassus. Now I could be wrong about this…but I believe at this point in time the patch hadn’t been released to solve the rep/level problem. (The bulk of quests that grant Darnassus rep are for levels 1-30. So as a 40 doing these quests would grant me little to no rep at all. Now they have changed the system so that a player will still receive full reputation for a lower level quest.) It was impossible for me to get enough reputation with Darnassus as a human.

/fell asleep on a tear stained pillow

Fast forward to when I was leveling Cerwyn up to 40. I did my forum research and found that I need to be revered with Darnassus to get my kitty mount. (Wait, did she say revered? /sigh Yes, I said revered.)

So as soon as she got to level 10, I fled from Azuremist Isle and hit the shores of Darkshore. Then for 20 levels I did just about every quest in Darkshore and Ashenvale. Somewhere along the way I hit revered. “Yes, I’m ready.” And then I chose to do the rest of my leveling to 40 in Stranglethorn.

So 40 rolls around and go see if Lelanai is ready to talk business.

“No.”

WTF. After some more forum research I realize that I have been misinformed and I need to be exalted to get a Saber mount.

I chose to keep leveling and work on the Saber slowly. I would rather be a 70 riding an Elek than a 50 riding a cat. So a Teldrassil quest here and there, a little runecloth, a little morrowgrain.

And at 58 I finally got my Saber mount.

I got the white saber with spots. He looks like Caedmon inversed.

I will admit though, there is definitely something wrong with the animation for a Draenei riding a cat mount. It looks fine from the front and side I guess, but from behind it’s…well…awkward. Almost painful to watch. They sit too stiffly or something. I don’t know if they use the same animation as when they ride an Elek or what. She just sits to rigidly and the saber is very fluid. And then she is also sort of floating above the seat. Eh, I’m thinking when I get my epic the saddle will help mask the problem.

▲ The section up above was actually drafted out about two weeks ago and then never finished. Since then I have purchased an epic. The saddle and the faster speed have seemed to help the problem quite a lot. In the future I’m going to try and post a comparison video.

Ironically/coincidentally as I’m writing this post my boss shows up with her new Porsche…just released from customs after being imported from Europe.

http://www.porsche.com/usa/models/911/911-targa-4s

Now that is a mount.

Dermatology FTW?

Recently many exciting events have taken place in the World of Warcraft.

Many things that we not had time to write about and here’s why…

http://www.skincaredrs.com

Completely designed and programmed by yours truly in one week (7 days straight with no weekend break).

/wallow in self-pity

So over the next few days there will be quite a flood of posts coming in to update you on my adventures.

I’m not so sure about PUG’s.

Quite a long time ago Tack, Thegorke, and Catja started a guild. Originally we had a few people…enough to get the charter signed at least. Now it’s dwindled down to just us and our alts. There is actually one other person. They’re very mysterious though. They log in quite frequently but never seem to level up. Gold farmer?

Anyways, it’s been handy for situations for when we all want to talk, but aren’t in a group together. Other than that our guild is useless. I’m getting to the point where I need one. So the time has come to either start some sort of wild marketing scheme to get our attendance in the hundreds…or move on to greener pastures.

This whole subject has become relevant because I’m trying to get back into instancing. Friday night I did a PUG and ended up running around the Sunken Temple with a bunch of 15 year olds. /sigh

The whole experience was a disaster. I’d even call it a debacle.

First, we had no tank. There was one other hunter and so our pets were the tanks. Ok fine, I can live with that. This is, however, where the stupidity began. Throughout the entire instance we rarely had a “plan”. But occasionally the group leader came up with this. There are 3 mobs. The rogue zaps triangle, the group kills skull, and the pets attack square.

“Wait, what?” you say. My thoughts as well. So if everyone is attacking skull, but the tanks are attacking square…who’s skull attacking? I mean, if there is one thing a BM hunter needs to work effectively it’s their pet…so I spent about 6 seconds burning down square by myself and then assisted in finishing off skull. (I was about 5 levels higher than everyone else, so I was able to take down mobs by myself.) And when the group leader would present this plan I tried to explain that the hunters and their pet should work together…no response.

There were countless other problems and miscommunications that I’m not even going to get into. The one good thing I can say is that we never wiped…but that was because we were very overqualified for the instance.

Anyways, after we got in there and I realized it was a bad group I didn’t want to be a jerk and leave right away, which would ruin their fun…so I stuck around for about an hour. Then the rogue or someone had to leave and I grabbed the chance to get out as well.

So I’m in the market for a new guild.

‘Hi, my name is LittleBlackKitty and I have an addiction.’

Typically, I first wake up in the morning at 7:00. This is when the alarm goes off and I hastily hit snooze. Don’t be mistaken. This is not when I get up. This is when I make sure that Mr. Tack has heard his wake-up call. After he gets out of bed this is when the good sleep starts. Can anyone deny that stretching across the whole bed produces the best quality sleep? I didn’t think so. So the kitties curl up on top of or beside me and we slip back into blissful dreams.

Moving forward. At 9:00 (eh, maybe a little after) I finally open my dreary eyes and get ready. After a quick shower and some necessary primping I head off to work. The goal is to make it there by 10:00 (give or take 10 minutes). Then I head over to my computer. Check for any urgent emails and then go grab some coffee.

Now it’s time. I launch Firefox > Bookmarks > Entertainment > BigRedKitty. First one on the list. There is almost always something waiting for us. Whoot. Usually it’s a letter from some level 70 hunter whose problems are about 15 levels ahead of us and the witty solution BRK provides won’t help us for quite some time…it doesn’t matter. We check his blog approximately once an hour for the duration of our workday. It’s this humorous ‘fix’ that gets us through the day. My fellow designer whose cubicle is behind mine probably wonders about me. “What is that girl up to?”

In fact, I just checked it now…nothing new. /sigh

I just can’t get enough of it. Is it the witty humor? The oversized ego? The kitty? Probably all of the above…but in addition I think it’s the knowledge I gain.

There are many people in the world (none of whom are reading this blog) that feel video games are not useful. They feel that video games are a waste of time, as they produce nothing…nothing tangible at least. Perhaps part of that is true. Do I play to relax and forget about my long day? Yes I do. Have I spent many a Saturday hermitted up in my apartment playing…when perhaps the laundry should have been done instead? Well of course.

But I think that games generally (and for me this game particularly) are much more than a way to spend aimless afternoons. It can become a hobby and a learning experience. I’ve increased my vocabulary, learned about strategy, and most importantly teamwork.

Anyways, this is my hobby and I love to study it. This is why I’m so hooked on BRK’s blog among others. For every piece of information that doesn’t pertain to me there is one that does. I may not be doing upper level instances yet, but I will someday and the content there won’t be a huge surprise when I get there. There is also a lot of content that is aimed at lower level players and I’ve benefited from all of it.

I think reading wow blogs and wow sites improves us as players in many aspects…not just the hunting ones.

Just checked his blog again.

Holy Hell...8 minutes until the new BRK WowInsider column.

Funny Bunny FTW

When you are living/sleeping/raising kittens with a level 70 warrior there are perks. For example, there is typically no quest you cannot complete. When a red quest should present itself, merely turn to the desk next to you and sweetly whisper “Hey ‘Funny Bunny’*, could you maybe help me with this quest when you get a moment?”

If you haven’t met a warrior, specifically the fury kind, know this: they like to show off. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good thing. They won’t object one bit to coming to the rescue. And then when you see the sweat on their rippling muscles and the sun glinting off their shiny armor you’ll be glad they like to save damsels in distress (or whomever might be in need). Oh and then there’s the sword…big and aglow with some flashy enchant. Yes, I’ll take a warrior bodyguard any day.

So in addition to quests, we’ve had many adventures running instances together. In the beginning it was probably too easy. We completely breezed through Uldaman and Zul’Farrak. Often I barely had time to send Caedmon after a bully and fire a shot before the fiend was dead.

Then we got to Blackrock Depths and that was slightly more difficult. Not that we couldn’t do it, but it took a little more strategy which was good. At first I wanted to learn chain trapping, but we actually found the most success with dropping my frost trap to slow the mobs down….which equals less damage for Tack. So between Tack, Caedmon, and I we could take on 4 or more mobs and live to brag about it.

Recently we went and tried out the Temple of Atal’Hakkar (Sunken Temple) because I had about 7 quests to finish in there. We actually haven’t finished it yet, but so far we have been receiving suburb loot and that makes me happy. I also have zero competition for the stuff I can use, so I picked up a pair of shoulder pads the other night that are pretty solid.

Then Sunday we went and tested out Dire Maul east. We actually wanted to find some additional party members…but for the love of Elune there was no one interested. Anyways, it was considerably more difficult and we are starting to reach our limit. We did, however, clear out 2 bosses with only two deaths. Honestly though, the loot there was ‘eh’. Nothing spectacular at all. Did anyone else experience this? Maybe it was just the section we were in.

Anyways, this evening I plan on whispering sweetly to my 'Babester'* that we should make a temple run.

* If you didn’t already realize it from our cat names…we like to name stuff. We have lists upon lists of nicknames for each other that have evolved over time…you don’t even want to know some of mine.

My identical hand twin

Saturday I’m in the Ironforge auction house trying to upgrade my pooie armor. And for the record…I can’t seem to find anything decent armor within 10 levels of myself. I need to start running more instances…more on that later. So I happen to look to my left and notice that my long lost twin is standing right next to me. Anyways, she grew up to be a Shaman I guess…hunting must not run in the family.

Mervyn "The Infinite"

It’s Friday night and my red-hot plans involve running around Darnassus trying to earn rep. I’m handing in Runecloth and Morrowgrain, because Elune as my witness my Epic mount will be a saber. Dahlia and Pene are running around like crazies, playing a rather rambunctious game of “Who’s chasing who?” Dahlia makes a not-so graceful land onto my desk and knocks over some stale orange soda. “OMG WTF…does someone need a timeout?” Anyways, I go grab a towel to begin the recovery effort on the beige carpet.

Then Tack – human warrior (who is helpfully watching this whole mess go down) points out that someone has whispered me in the game. It says, “Hi, LBK.” LBK? But that’s my blogging name. Whoot, it’s a reader! I didn’t believe that in all the realm of Hyjal there was a soul who’d read my blog.

So Mervyn - Nightelf Hunter gets a shout out because:

1. He’s the first reader to say hi.
2. It’s cool when a level 70 hunter acknowledges my presence.

Check out his blog The Eternal nOObie.