50 Shades of Grey: The IntPiPoMo edition

Karazhan in the rain

Incy wincy spider

A Tree

The Theramore Graveyard

Safe Passage – IntPiPoMo

The Wanderer’s Festival – IntPiPoMo

We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams.
World-losers and world-forsakers,
Upon whom the pale moon gleams;
Yet we are the movers and shakers,
Of the world forever, it seems.

Arthur William Edgar O’Shaughnessy

With so many of the WoW festivals revolving around killing and death, the Wanderer’s festival is a real breathe of fresh air. There is no big bad to slaughter, no towns to save, just a leisurely Sunday beach party focusing on celebrating exploration and dreams coming true.

The party starts with the celebrants emerging from the jungle, some carrying lanterns which they take to the water’s edge.

Once released these glowing beacons float out to sea, drifting out to explore.

I find myself returning week after week just so I can sit on the beach watching the world go by.

I love the idea of a regular festival and/or event that happens all year around and really hope it’s something that Blizzard develop further at some point. So far we have the Wanderer’s Festival with it’s hatchling and of course the Darkmoon Faire but perhaps the market at Halfhill could expand into a proper market on a Saturday with twice as many stalls, some selling unique items and recipes. Maybe those enterprising Goblins in Booty Bay could set up a Fish market to help fund the rebuilding project or the Vrykul could host a little gathering once a fortnight to help draw people back to Northrend, obviously we’d have to dress up to avoid being on the receiving end of a pointy spear but the opportunities could be endless.

The Darkmoon Faire: IntPiPoMo

The Darkmoon Faire is Sprout’s spiritual home from home. For one week of the month, she can escape from the hustle and bustle of her day to day life and escape to the Faire. To play games and eat deep fried candybars washed down with iced berry slush. To wander on the beach and saunter through the deep dark woods.

The carousel wheeled, a great back-drifting lunar dream, the horses thrusting, the music in-grasped after, while Mr Cooger, as simple as shadows, as simple as light, as simple as time got younger. And younger. And younger.

(Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury).

Not surprisingly I’m really looking forward to the forthcoming additions to the Faire with the next patch. New pets and of course the carousel implied by the datamined objects on MMO Champion.

Día de los Muertos and the Feast of All Souls: IntPiPoMo 2012

The rules for IntPiPoMo can be found here at Revive & Rejuvenate.

This time of year has to be my favourite, despite being born in the heat of midsummer, I’ve always been a child of the autumn and winter. Preferring cold crisp nights and the smell of apples drifting in on the mist to long hot days. Choosing  Bonfight night with it’s leaping flames casting dancing shadows on the grass and that soft transition period as All Hallows Eve slides silently into the Day of the Dead and then to the Feast of all Souls to the boldness and brashness of the summer holidays. Thus it will come as no surprise to you  that to kick of IntPiPoMo in 2012, I will be starting with images which reflect my love of this time of the year.

I had the privilege to spend la Día de los Muertos in Mexico a few years ago and one of the most beautiful memories I carried back was that of watching the trucks full of marigolds otherwise known as the flower of the dead being brought into the cities in preparation for the Day of the Dead celebrations. I found myself falling in love with the idea that their petals can create a bridge between worlds bringing the dead back for a few scant hours, breadcrumbs for the souls to follow.

We should too, like Webster see the skull (and the rest of the bones) beneath the skin.

Here we see the WoW version, the decorated sugar skulls and the vase full of marigolds whose petals allow us to pierce the veil and give us a fleeting glimpse of what lies beyond the shadows .

Thoughts on being 90

Whilst levelling is a journey full of wonder and amazement, arrival at 90 is like landing at the airport to discover they’ve lost your baggage, customs want to strip search you but you’ve won the lottery to compensate. Sure there are a lot of positives but some definite negatives thrown into the mix as well.

1. Dailies, dailies, dailies as far as the eye can see. The choice is overwhelming as is the feeling that you should ignore the “fun” ones (Tillers/Anglers/Cloud Serpents) whilst concentrating on the rest in the run up to raids and the arena season starting. Given that I don’t go back to work until Thursday, we have been spamming the lot but it definitely feels like overload. On the plus side (a phrase I never thought I’d ever use in this context) most of the daily hubs involve going to one specific area and slaughtering & collecting. On top of that, compared to the Molten Front, killing vermling, playing catch with baby dragons and beating up sharks with your bare hands is a refreshing change.

2. Heroics aren’t really heroic in any shape or form. When I queued up for the first time I was really nervous remembering back to the start of Cataclysm when on some trash packs mana was an issue. I didn’t need to worry, in fact even after boss fights my interweaving of power word:solace into the mix meant I didn’t need to drink then either. I know the challenge modes are there for just that purpose but I would have liked the Heroics to be slightly tougher. It just feels a bit wrong where the Stormstout brewery for example felt harder on normal at 86 than it did at 90 on heroic (just wearing blue 450 gear in every slot apart from my 463 legs and my epic trinket from Coren).

3. PvP is awesome. My favourite all time battleground now has to be the Temple of Kotmogu. It’s fast paced, fun and a bit like arenaing but with objectives other than making sure you’re the last team standing. I definitely don’t feel squishy as Holy unless the whole opposing team piles on top of me (or I’ve been hogging a power ball too long) which is a good start to an expansion too. I plan on doing a proper post covering my choice of glyphs + talents as Holy for each of the maps once I’ve finished testing a few things.

4. Scenarios! I love all of the ones I’ve played so far (apart from Theramore). They’re quick, varied and because it’s not just standing still and healing like a proper dungeon, great fun (ignoring the lore side of it, Theramore is just a bit too much like running a dungeon).

The loot bags are annoying though, I know RNG is RNG but so far Mr Harpy has had an item from pretty much every second bag and I’ve had zero which makes gearing up a little more irritating.

5. Priesting. Why oh why can’t chakras last after death and on zoning. I know it’s not a massive issue for most things but it’s still a quality of life issue. Other than that, I’m pretty happy with Holy. Mana is 10 times better than it was at the start of Cataclysm in both pve and pvp. In fact the only other thing which annoys me is the lack of useful minor glyphs for my chosen spec. We have a choice of ten, four are shadow specific, one is disc specific, one is holy specific but requires your death and the others are just flavour.

6. Pet battles. Fear my Hopling because it will lick you to death! This turned out to be more addictive and less annoying than on the beta. I’m still working my way through pre Outlands pets but I hit 250 unique pets a while back and am route to 400 albeit slowly. I have to admit I went and tamed an Infested Bear Cub even though I said I never would. (By the way, they only seem to spawn after midnight if you’re looking, at least that’s the only time I’ve ever found any sign of them). Also whoever designed Jaguero Isle to have a separate weather system to that of southern STV can take a spinning crane kick to the face.

7. MoP transmogrification. Yes please! The cloth pvp set consisting of a pants suit had me panicking slightly but the weapons and off-hands are stunning.

8. Pandas. I’m still not 100 percent convinced, but I’ve made one even though she hasn’t made it out of the start zone yet. She’s a Priest (surprise surprise) called Snowflower after a book I fell in love with a little while ago when I found a beat up copy in a charity shop. I’m slightly saddened by the fact that my favourite beta hairstyle isn’t available at the character creation stage but am hoping it will be an option once she escapes the Isle.

9. The Storyline in general. I’m really impressed with the stories this time around. Blizzard have added some really lovely touches and some tragic moments. I was particularly taken with the fact that my evil double giggles.

It’s a great mix of tragic, comedic and thought provoking.

I think I started out looking for things to criticise, wanting to believe that WoW had nothing left to offer me, that I reached my final destination as far as the game was concerned but it seems that somehow despite my cynicism, Pandaria’s beauty and sense of wonder has managed to pull me back.

The Darkmoon Dolly

My fascination for the Darkmoon Faire is well known and documented. Even though I don’t particularly need anything from it’s stalls any more, I still venture there every month to wander around soaking up the creepiness. One of my favourite items has to be these dolls and if Blizzard ever added one as a mini pet which levitated around after you my happiness would be complete. As I’m not convinced that will ever happen, I thought I’d have a go at making a version of my own.

One quick doodle later, I was ready to go.

I was a little concerned as to how I would manage to make her bonnet look three dimensional but so far so good.

She then had a brief stint as a hand puppet. Oh the indignity!

Before finally finding her hat:

There is a spring lurking underneath her but it’s rather hard to make out in the picture. Should I make her a sister at some point there are a few things I would do differently, mostly to do with her face shape but all in all I’m rather happy with the way she’s turned out. I’m going to call her Olimpia as a reference to one of those horrible tales which helped frame my childhood. There is definitely something of the uncanny about this particular doll.

Next on the creative list is to finally get around to making a cushion sized version of this:

So whenever a Druid annoys me, I can jump up and down a cuddly representation of one.

On the subject of crafting things, you should also check out Veroicone’s WoW charms. I particularly love the boomkins.

Screenshot Saturday – A farewell to Theramore

Two factions, both alike in dignity,
In fair Theramore, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

With apologises to Mr Shakespeare but I’m sure he’d understand

Theramore as it currently exists is one of my favourite cities, a place which holds many happy memories for me. From my first and rather pathetic foray into dubious RP with long forgotten Nightelves in the Inn to pvp on the long and twisting road through the marshes. Disembarking on the dock having sailed from the Wetlands to take on a dragon in her lair and sitting fishing on the pier watching the sun sink behind the horizon, painting the waves pink in it’s wake, so many things spring to mind when I think of Theramore.

The scene is set and the players assembled. Soon the Marsh will never be the same again.

Sunday Screenshot – Fire Festival

It’s been a while since I did a screenshot post and since I’ve been taking quite a few pictures whilst flying around stealing flames and honouring fires, I thought I’d post a few.

We might have failed to take Gnomeregan, but taking Silvermoon was a push over!

The Fires of Stratholme

The Gates of Mulgore looking towards the ruins of Camp T

Tarren Mill in the rain

The Bonfire at Bogpaddle

I just want to be a real Gnome!

It would seem as if the air in Pandaria is reversing the Curse of the Flesh…

The hooves are a nice touch, suggesting the truth behind Gnomish origins.