Who's That Pet?

It's nice to be nice

The past month or so have been a bit dull in real life for me. It's mostly consisted of nagging and waiting. But I won't get into that. Instead I'll just say that right now I have way too much free time on my hands and not much to do to fill that time. So I've been playing WoW and watching Star Trek. Two really awesome activities but having finished up all the seasons of Deep Space Nine and completed almost the entirety of Voyager I can't help but think I have way too much time on my hands and not enough to do. 

But a comment from Nelix last night really got my brain spinning. He said his Grandmother told him "It's nice to be nice." True, at the time he was working with Tom Paris to con a con man but that statement struck me.

I'll try and explain.

I haven't always had very good luck with guilds. To tell the truth when I read that WoW players feel there is less of a community now than there used to be I found myself agreeing. It's been a very long time since I've been in a group that's left a lasting impression on me. Back at the beginning of Wrath I had been in a guild with a great group of people that managed to form a bond that had us sticking together though pugs, bad guilds, and eventually into a new guild of our own. We ran raids together and attempted progression but eventually the guild was disbanded and our group finally went in separate directions. I think I've been a drifter ever since. I've been in some awesome guilds, don't get me wrong, but there didn't seem to be that sense of community anymore. Maybe it was just me. I thought maybe I was holding on to something that wasn't really what I was remembering it to be. The rose-colored glasses kind of thing.

I never intended to stay on Drak'Tharon. Honestly. It just sort of happened. I just wanted to say thanks for a pet. But I was there so I leveled. And the warlock was fun. But Shadow Rising was even more awesome. Even just sitting back and watching I could tell that these people truly cared about each other. I didn't really want to leave. Before I knew it my warlock was 90 and I was getting help and offers of help for gearing her up from what felt like everyone. It left me stunned. How long has it been since I've had help from someone and even more important how long has it been since I've helped someone the way they were helping me? It's humbling. I was very tempted that week to server and faction transfer my death knight. But after inventorying my Christmas money I realized I had a choice between the soda machine or a horde death knight. The soda machine won but only after I decided it isn't that difficult to level another death knight. And I still feel a bit awkward about being in the guild. Do I really fit or are they just being nice to me? My self-worth and insecurity issues aside I figured I really couldn't justify spending the real world money when a bit of time would have another death knight leveled.

Raiding with Shadow Rising was an experience in itself. The first time I was caught off-guard and really surprised to find myself in Throne of Thunders. I didn't expect to be raiding with them. Especially not there! I didn't have any flasks or food. I even had to double-check to make sure I had everything gemed and enchanted. But rather than receive flack for being unprepared they let me get flasks from the guild bank and they dropped a feast before each boss. I've been in a few guilds where they dropped feasts before boss fights but getting flasks blew my mind. These people looked out for each other. It seems like such a little thing but it's really not. I couldn't quite figure it out. Why would all these people do so much to help each other?

I've been thinking maybe it's because they are on a smaller server then I've become used to. I've looked but I haven't yet found flasks for my warlock on the auction house. On Korgath it was usually so much easier to just find something on the auction house than to make it myself. I think it really became the answer. Buy it on the auction house. When you go to a raid you better have flasks, food, gems, enchants, and the recommendation of the raid leaders ex-girlfriend's sister's cousin's best friends' uncle otherwise you'll never be invited along. Korgath is a big server and they have a large pool of people to choose from. If one person leaves they can find another. Guilds are similar. There are lots of guilds to choose from. If you don't like the one you're in than a bit of searching and you can find another. Drak'Tharon has to be different because the server is so much smaller. Less people, less guilds, less junk on the auction house.

But that reasoning felt cold. It didn't really feel right. But then I heard Nelix say "It's nice to be nice." Because it is. I'm not saying I won't do all so that I don't feel so unprepared for raids. I have no intention of being a leech. But it was like a curtain being lifted. It's nice to be nice.

It also helped me understand something else. Since patch 5.3 hit I've given away quite a few pets. I won't lie. The first one was very difficult to do. But each time it got easier. I even began to look forward to it. I started thinking about not which ones I wanted to keep but about who would like these pets more than me. I thought it was some weird sort of madness. The first I could excuse as extras I was handing out. The next were ones I could get again next week. But after awhile I figured I'd just call it patch 5.3 madness. But then it hit me. It wasn't a madness. It was just nice. I enjoyed doing something nice for others. I do have some idea of a few others I'd like to get some pets. But that'll have to wait until at least Tuesday. But then I think my frenzy of pet giving will be close to an end. But I don't think it's a permanent end. Nope. It might be some time before I go though an obsessive spat again but I don't think I'll forget the most important lesson. It's nice to be nice.

And before I go I do have one more thing to say. Not so much about what I learned. Instead I have a thanks to give. I'm sorry to say I'm not always prompt but I need to give a big digital hug to Tome and a thanks as well for my new pet. I love the Water Spirit! Thank you so much!

The new me

Lately I've been a little obsessed with a project of mine. Well... ok, majorly obsessed with this project. And what was this project? Leveling another death knight! 

And last week my newest lady managed to hit level 90!

And I quickly qued for a dungeon run. I was a bit nervous because I choose to tank. I worried about how well I'd be able to survive and hold aggro.

It turns out that my fears couldn't even begin to touch the reality. I entered my first dungeon to find it almost to the second boss. One of the dps had switched to their tank spec to continue. Sounds like a decent start right? I asked the dps if they wanted to continue tanking or if they would like to switch back to dps. And the monk responded that he'd be happy to go back to dps if I would get into my tank spec. Or was I just undergeared? Then the pulled the boss along with two groups of adds and promptly died. I managed to scoop up aggro. Blew though cooldowns and somehow got everything under control. The monk began demanding a rez because we were taking too long to kill everything. I had the runic power so I decided to rez. The monk then said that he liked fast dungeons and if I didn't pull fast enough for him, he'd start pulling. So when the boss died he ran into the Cathedral and began pulling scarlet mobs and the boss. Unfortuantely he died again where he joked that he should have stayed tank spec. He also began demanding a rez again. I was never so happy when a dungeon was finished as I was to have that one done.

While that first dungeon was a nightmare the rest have been much better. I did worry a bit about being a squishy tank until I had another interesting dungeon run. The healer in the group had zoned in but then disconnected. I had started pulling the first group and I didn't realize I didn't have a healer until we reached the first boss. We stopped for a bit to try and kick the healer but none of us were able to do so. So I decided to go ahead and pull the boss. And then we made our way to the second boss where the healer was finally removed from the group and we got a new one. But that dungeon run made me stop worrying about being a squishy little blood tank. I was well able to handle anything in the heroic dungeons. And even better I would be able to handle the raid finder raids as well. 

Raid Finder Raid

After running heroics and even raids all that was left was to level professions.

Although I'm still working on leveling up my professions. Actually, I always forget just how painful profession leveling can be. And how much time. And did I mention pain?

And now it's a whole new week. I'll have to see if my little Tyle can get herself the gear to move to another raid finder.

No Pet Post

Sorry for not putting up a Who's this pet post this weekend. My little sister has asked me to help her with a project for school. Sucker that I am I forgot to ask what she was going to pay me to help her. She just called me an awesome artist and I got flattered into making 10 illustrations for her anatomy book project. Apparently she had to write a children's book explaining something about muscles and then either draw the pictures herself or get someone else to do it. Smart girl that she is she decided to have someone else do it. So I've spent this weekend drawing pony, girls, veterinarians, muscles, trucks, trailers, and I still have 4 more pages. At least I'm not coloring those pages.

I'm not too sure if I'll have one up next week either. My dad is going on a weeklong biking vacation with my brother. That leaves Mom, my sisters, and me in charge of the farm. I'll be honest and admit that there are only two of the four people staying behind who have any idea what's going on and one of those people isn't me. At least this year will be a bit easier on my older sister since we have the robots instead of having to wake up at 4 am to get chores done and the cows milked. My family is convinced I'll finally hear from the doctor and require surgery next week because they believe I always get hurt when my dad leaves for a week. You go down one bluff under a golf cart and they never let you hear the end of it. Although I don't know why people think the US is such an unfriendly place, two different people pulled over to see if I was ok. One stayed with me and the other went to fetch my sister. Such nice people, I wish I could remember who they were. Anyway, I learned my lesson. No more chasing calves off bluffs. Anyway, what was I trying to say? I lost myself. Oh! Right! No promises on having one up next week but I'll see about it.

10 Days of Pet Battling - Day 6

Day 6: What pets have you got in your favorite team(s)?

I'm still working on getting different pets leveled and am still working my way though the pet trainers but the three pets I use as my default team are:

Gregarious Grell
The Grell doesn't hit hard but it makes a good tank. Everytime the Grell does damage it heals a percentage of it's health because it's a humanoid and it has a pretty decent heal as well. Because of these two reasons the Grell is great for catching pets. It also works well for battling pets as well. Unless it's being hit by undead damage.

Fel Flame
I was working though a questline on my rogue to get an item for a transmog that I wanted to put her in and decided to battle some flames while I was there. I was really impressed with the amount of damage a fel flame could do and was pretty happy when I quickly found a blue one. I've been really happy to have this pet on my team ever since.

and Lil' Deathwing
I regret not getting a Deathy murloc pet so when I saw the Collector's Edition pet for Cata was a Lil' Deathwing I broke down and ordered one. I really loved the pet but I never used it much. I figured with pet battles I was going to use my Deathwing whether it was good or not. But I've been pretty happy with him. He has some abilities that make me laugh because they remind me of the fight against Deathwing: Elementium Bolt, Roll, and Catacylsm. But he also hits really hard. I like stuff that just goes boom. Sure Deathwing can't take very many hits but he really shouldn't have to if all his abilities hit.

My team is pretty decent but an undead team will annihilate me. I did discover that it works well against the Darkmoon Faire trainer. I should go find myself some critters. I do have a fluxfire feline that I sometimes use instead of one of the other pets but I still have a lot of pet leveling to do.

Death Knight origin rambles

Something a little different. A bit of fanfiction. I've recently made a new death knight. This one a blood elf and I found myself pondering what class she used to be. And then this is something of a monologue from my character explaining her story. Sorry if it anything is off about it. I'm not all too familiar with all the warcraft lore.

Most people have something called a sense of honor or a code. Myself, I've never really understood why someone would make up and follow rules when they didn't have to. I have always preferred to do what it takes to accomplish my goal and get paid. If I'm a bit short on gold, I merely have to find someone who was willing to pay to get something done.  Want someone to eliminate your business competition, check, how about someone to obtain a very specific gemstone, check, whenever someone needed something done they came to me. They just had to make sure to offer a high-enough bid. A girl has her needs after all. And mana addiction is a very expensive need.

Unfortunately war isn't very good for business. Especially when it's in your town. People become more concerned about finding ways to leave then about killing someone. So I had to come up with other methods of making some quick gold. And what could be better than removing valuables from the dead? They don't need it anymore. And someone is sure to pay a nice sum to get personal momentos returned from their beloved but deceased relative, friend, or whatever. It should have been an easy job.

Perhaps that was the problem. It was easy. There should have been no risk. I more than anyone should know better. There is no such thing as a no-risk situation. Not that I'm really complaining, mind you. It hasn't all been bad. But I think I'm getting ahead of myself.

You see, there I was following the army. Going from battlefield to battlefield. After checking to make sure there was no sign of life I would cautiously head onto the field. Soon someone would come along to try and remove the remains from the field but for a brief moment everything was mine for the picking. Sometime there would be others seeking to take part in my venture. But a quick dagger between the ribs would usually disabuse them of that notion. But that also meant I needed to make sure I didn't end up on the wrong side of a weapon.

But that day I wasn't being cautious. It had been a long hard battle. I liked to watch from within the shadows so that I would be able to begin searching the bodies for treasure the minute the battle was finished. It would give me the most and best opportunity for my search. But that day the battle took longer than any before had. The armies battled for days. I feared I would have to leave my place of observation because my supplies of food rations were dwindling. I had even begun to make plans for sneaking into one of the army camps to steal some of their rations.

But than I noticed the fighting was finally letting up. A bit longer and the armies were gone. One retreating and the other chasing. It was time to see what my patience had gotten me. I forgot my usual caution and dashed onto the field.

Meanwhile someone else had remained hidden a bit longer. I'm not sure if they were just more cautious than myself or if they had been further back. I suppose it doesn't really matter why they were behind me. They just were. I would guess that person didn't have much of a code of honor either. I never saw my death. I was running one moment and the next I was falling. It still irks that I have no idea who killed me. I just hope it wasn't some pink-haired gnome.

Being a death knight suits me. Sure, some of the other newly freed death knights bemoan their fate and even wish for a more permanent death. If I come across one I'll be sure to help them find it. I rather enjoy it. My life hasn't changed much. I live for a kill which is a cheaper addiction than mana ever was. I did lose some of my old clients. Those looking for a quieter kill and those looking for a quick and quiet extraction of an item have to find some other rogue to do their work but a surprising amount of people are willing to pay to have their work done and don't care if it's my stealth or by brute force. But I do have to be more careful. Not having shadows to hide in means I need to pick my targets by more than just the amount of gold I'll make.

So how much are you going to offer and who do you want killed?

Willie!

He's slightly evil but extremely narcoleptic. 

Keep him away from critters!

Willy is a children's week pet from the children of Outlands.

Grats to Koalabear for being the first responder!

Who's That Pet?

This pet shares a look with a warlock's obsever.

I'll be keeping my EYE on the answers.

Go check your mail!

I'm positive "go check your mail" has to be one of my favorite sentences. I have yet to find an occasion where someone whispering me that has resulted in anything but the best surprises.

So I was surprised and pretty excited when yesterday I got a whisper from Arvash to "go check my mail." What could it be? What could it be?

A nightsaber kitty! I'm afraid poor Tuttle is now going to have to be shifted to second favorite because of my new friend. I was very tempted to name it Radar after my real cat but I decided to name it after the person who gave me the gift and call him Arvash.  Which meant I needed a new name for my Gusting Grimmorie but figured Grimm was the best name for it.

Thanks again Arv. I'll have to do my best to take very good care of my new precious :)

10 Days of Pet Battling - Day 5

Day 5: What pet do you want more than any other pet? What would you do to get it?

Just one? What pets do I want more than any other pets? The cats and a hand XD

1.  Spectral Tiger Cub

It's a kitty and it's pretty. However, considering it's E-bay price there's no way I'm getting this pet anytime soon. Maybe someday but not at this time.

2. Cinder Kitten

I really want a Cinder Kitten. I always felt a little sad that I wasn't raiding on my druid during Firelands and that I would never get the staff that would turn my druid into a fire kitty. But to have a fire kitty is the next best thing. This is one pet on my list that I might actually break down and get. But I keep hoping if I wait long enough I can get it for $5 instead of $10. Which is the point that broke me down on the other Blizzard Store pets.

3. Crawling Claw

I really want a Crawling Claw. I love The Addams Family and I really want a crawling claw named Thing. It's not a very original name but it's the name that I want. I've leveled up archeology on my druid in the hope of getting either this pet or the dragon mount recipe. I suppose I should level up some my archeology on other toons in the hope of finally getting this pet. Someday. Someday.

4. Nightsaber Cub

Kitty! Fine. I want all the cats, cubs, sabers, kittens, and whatnot. I could almost talk myself into buying this pet. Almost. Maybe. Not yet. I have enough pets left to track down that I can distract myself.

5. Wind Rider Cub

It's so cute! And the stuffed animal is pretty adorable as well. And it's got a kitty-cat face! Some day. Maybe. It's something to think about when I've tracked down more pets.