Where's the nearest Mall?

I'm just back from a little vacation to Niagara-on-the-Lake (small pretty town about 30km from Niagara Falls on the Canadian side). It was an awesome trip and I'm going to put up a few pictures later.

Now, lets talk shopping. I have spent a considerable amount of time in the game working my professions and utilizing the AH to put myself in a healthy financial position. As I mentioned before, when my druid hit 80 I was able to walk into 3 lvl 226 pieces from the AH. I WANT MORE!! I want to be able to buy alot more gear, rare mounts and just cool stuff.

Although I don't spend as much time raiding as others, I have spent alot of time farming and so for that work I would love to have more shopping options. It is very limited as to what I can get with my gold. It wouldn't bother me if they had shop that offered high end Tier pieces for 10k and up. Perhaps a handful of rare mounts at 25k or higher (just as an example).

It just feels my options are limited. It has gotten to a point where I'm not sure what I am farming for. I have enough gold for repairs/enchants/gems etc for the rest of my WoW life. A nice mall underneath Dalaran would be wonderful. It would be a high-end mall and prices would be crazy but it gives those who really work the professions an opportunity to get some cool stuff.

With all that being said, Hubby just brought up a good point as to why Blizz would be a little hesitatant about my plan. Gold Farmers. If the gold begins to hold value like that then people will use real money to buy the gold they want. /sigh Makes me angry but I know its true.

Oh well....my dream will be just that....in my dreams.

Wee Lost Girl

It was that time again. The summer has been quiet so hubby and I planned a couple of guild events. The first event was called Wee Lost Girl who was a level 2 female Gnome Warlock. We should first discuss getting this little level 2 to Shadowmoon Valley in her hiding spot. I ported her to Shattrath and thankfully I have the Travelers Tundra Mammoth which helped somewhat stay ahead of the mobs we aggroed but as you can tell from the image above it was an ugly journey. I would be riding along, hear nothing and then like a zipline she was pulled from the mammoth and dead on the road. I wouldn't even see it happen. Terrokar seemed more difficult than Shadowmoon maybe just because we had farther to travel through that zone.

The object of the game was to find this Wee Lost Girl but you must also bring her the items she has requested. In essence, it was a scavenger hunt for teams of 2 or 3 and the first team to find the Wee Lost Girl and open trade with her with the 6 required items, was the winner. We had given out 3 hints as to where the Wee Lost Girl was throughout the hunt and provided teams with the item list at the beginning of the game. The teams then went into different vent channels to discuss their plan. Our first place team with Rorik, his wife Millie & teammate hunter Deebo won 1000g and our second place team of Bre & her hubby Theo came in second with a 500g prize. It was a good time:)

My turn next with "LETS MAKE A DEAL". I had wrapped up 20 prizes with the in-game gift wrap. Any item that was stackable we wrapped an in-game mail note indicating what they had won ie. Abyss Crystal or Stack of Saronite. We rolled for a chance to the play the game and they selected a number between 1-20 as to which gift they wanted. I would pass it, they opened and then would get 2 opportunities to trade in their item. The third gift they took would be their final. Items ranged in price from 10g-800g including a Teldrassil Sproutling, Mechanical Yeti, Storm Jewel, stack of titanium, abyss crystal, cut gems and lots of smaller prizes. In the end everyone that attend the event got to play.

We had a great afternoon and it was a wonderful way to bring our guildies together.

So You Are Gonna Just Drop The Flag Huh?

With the druid 80 I've been practicing some healing in BGs. Not too bad until tonight. Two guys from Stormage server were purposely dropping the flag in WSG even with just one point to the horde. I was beyond frustrated. Trust me, I hate WSG because it can go on for a very long time but I cannot just pass over the game to the horde.

While I was healing him and he first dropped it, I grabbed it but then they both did it again. They were telling folks to let the horde have it and calling everyone noobs in letting it go on so long blah blah blah.

In AB I know there is a point of no return and the last few minutes can be honor kills but the tide can change in WSG and these two guys were decked out and could have won us the game if they played it. I've had some very good turn around matches in WSG that those are the best ones.

Laziness in BGs is so common place now. People just wanna give up the game and get the BG token. Sitting at the Graveyards, yelling out comments. I'm sure it improves their game:P Maybe I'm over-reacting? I love to win against the odds. Definately gotta do more guild PVP. At least I know we did our best and gave a good fight if we do lose.

NO MORE LEVELING!

Hitting 80 last Friday on my druid was an amazing moment only because I wouldn't have to face another quest. 78-79 were the most frustrating...being so close yet so far from 80. During part of level 79 my quests were in Scholozar Basin which was a mistake on my part as it's like another STV. Dunno what it is about that zone but there is always a gankfest going on. So hubby came with me to K3 in Storm Peaks and I finished things up there.

The last couple of days I've tried to wrap my head around healbot. I think learning not to over heal and waste mana is my biggest challenge. Staying calm during alot of group damage is also something I need work on. Doing BGs is a good place to practice with the healbot as there no great pressure there. That is the plan for this week....get my heals under control and learn to use the right heals at the right time. Any tips are greatly appreciated:)

I cheated a little and bought two Ulduar pieces for a good increase in my spell power and had a couple of other epics and blues ready so almost immediately I had my spell power over 1800 which was nice. Here are the two big pieces I've bought.

My head is swimming with all the druid healing things to learn but I'm really enjoying it.

Meters - Use Them, Don't Abuse Them

Upon reading gnomeaggedon and his discussion of the Seven Deadly Sins of WoW, I mentioned that I felt meter spamming was a top sin in my book.

You would never see the lowest damage raid member linking the meter in the raid. It is generally first or second in DPS that puts it out there. Not everyone is equal with their abilities in the game and no one wants to be embarrassed. Link the meter in PM if someone is asking for it. Hell, just give him/her the link to get the addon themselves. For me the meter is just a personal check of where I am and not a boasting tool. Don't use it to embarrass others but as a means to get your own game in check.

If it's a guildie you see that is struggling with DPS, private message with a suggestion of a rotation or a website with some helpful tips. Be tactful but helpful.

One of the most popular damage meters is Recount from Curse.com

Stacks for Snacks!

With a home daycare of 5 kids between the ages of 4-9 it is always tempting to use their computer skills for toon profit. No I wouldn't do it but the idea is kinda fun to think about. Hmmm I would set up 5 computers in the office and have 1 fishing, 1 mining, 1 getting herbs, 1 making pots/flasks and 1 workin' the AH. My own little gold farmers. Yes I would give them snacks (once they had 10 stacks of everything). *Stacks for Snacks* would be our motto.

Every so often I would hear their whining little cries "I don't wanna fish anymore" to which I would reply "this is how we build character sweetie...learning commitment and dedication to a task". Geez I'm almost convincing myself it would be a good idea hehehe.

Instead of giving these kids a valuable WoW education we are swimming, doing parks, going to movies, creating crafts and all that kinda stuff. My WoW daycare is just a dream.

A Leveling Server...I Think It's Brilliant

A post from WoW Insider discussed the idea of a "leveling server". A server where folks would go to level their toon then upon hitting 80 would move to another server. I think it's an awesome idea for several reasons.

Firstly, many of us end up leveling alone, which can make leveling kinda lonely. It can also be difficult to get groups together for group quests. Often you'll end up calling upon an 80 from your guild to come kill a mob for you. What about all those great low level instances? You can never get a group for your level to do them. I think that they are an important part of the game to get to know your class and understand teamwork in the game. People level to 80 sometimes never seeing these great instances.

Unfortunately from the article "A leveling server, just for leveling" WoW insider is pretty certain that Blizzard wouldn't be interested in such an idea. On a social level alone I think it would be worth it.

Speed leveling is nice but there is something to be said about really seeing the game and all it has to offer.