Topic 21: I’m not a hoarder, honest!

I’ve been meaning to join in with Z and Cinder’s fortnightly blog challenge for a while and this prompt is most definitely apt. It doesn’t matter how big the bags and bank get, space is constantly something I seem to lack.

So what is in my bags?

I have a soft spot for Griftah, dubious Troll and seller of possibly useful but probably junk items. Plus if I don’t carry such talismans such as the Infallible Tikbalang Ward and I get carried off by a Tikbalang, well then I’d feel rather silly wouldn’t I.

Who knows whether I get shiny loot because of my Talisman of True Treasure Tracking or not (okay, it’s probably not but would you risk it?).

 

I know they say some people wear their hearts on their sleeve, well Erinys carries someone else’s heart in her bags and bank. It’s okay, she took them from a Forsaken Warlock or two so it’s as not if they needed it to function or anything.

Looting them from a corpse was a bit icky and probably frowned upon when it comes to treating the enemy with respect on the battlefield but sometimes you have to fight fire with soulfire and it’s not as if the Forsaken are known for keeping their sticky mitts off other people’s body parts is it. She also has a couple of vials of Darkspear Troll Mojo which also found their way into her bags from the mostly dead bodies of a few Trolls during those first skirmishes in Alterac Valley.

 

My original Blizzard Baby bear also lurks within a bag. I know I could delete it and that it’s safely captured within my pet tab but I can’t quite bring myself to do so. Apparently it was Blizzard’s 4th anniversary gift to us, so it also acts as a reminder of just how long I’ve been playing.

 

I also carry far too many potions for various things including speed pots (running away from angry Horde, primarily Bloodelf Paladins wielding huge swords) and invisibility pots (hiding is a useful skill). Plus those Darkmoon Tigers and such seem to breed in my bags, get two end up with 20. It’s very disturbing.

 

This challenge has proved useful both in terms of tidying up and also of reminding me how much fun I’ve had playing over the years. It turns out that at some point I picked up a Brawler’s Guild invitation that I knew nothing about, not to mention the small collection of shadowgems my Shaman had been working on and all the old sentimental junk I’ve been hanging on to (keeping the hearts though). I now have bag space although I suspect it’s purely a temporary measure.

The Dorrie Report

Well short of a miracle I suspect my little Warlock won’t be completing the Green Fire quest before the patch. The blame for this is entirely my own as I’ve been a bit magpie-ish in recent weeks. I went through a bubble of “must read every Agatha Christie/Ngaio Marsh and similar crime novel I can lay my hands on” then there was my temporary insanity regarding Dragon Age Fan Fiction and even a spot of soup making. In short, anything apart from playing WoW.

Even when I have been playing, I’ve been more interested in farming those toys I’m missing from the soon to be implemented Toybox than I have been leveling poor little Dorrie. The sad thing is, it was all going so swimmingly until around level 50 but I just can’t get my head around the gutted Un’goro Crater or the changes to Winterspring even though Cataclysm was years ago. So the current state of play is level 53 with approximately two weeks to go. Given that I’m currently “resting” I do have enough time on my hands to get her to 90 or at least exceedingly close but whether or not I have the real desire to do so, I’m not so sure.

Dorrie and the Quest for Green Fire

As the next patch draws closer I’m ever so slightly in panic mode. There is one thing I’d love to do before every changes once again and that’s level my little Warlock to 90 and give the Green Fire quest a shot. So in the next month can I get a level 39 Gnome to 90 plus acquire enough gear and then learn to play her well enough to get shiny green flames? I suspect not but there is no harm in trying.

Also if you didn’t read the Dorrie books whilst growing up, keep an eye out for them because they are wonderful. Thanks to them I spent my childhood wishing I could ride a broomstick and have my very own cauldron.

Dorrie the not so little Witch

I went through a brief phase of Warcraft burn-out but am slowly rediscovering my love of the game thanks to my little Warlock. I suspect I might have to redesign her face post Warlords but I’m having tremendous fun dotting things to death.

My plan was to follow in the footsteps of my original character, also a Warlock, at least as much as I remember where I quested back in 2005. Darkshore has long been one of my favourite zones, one I’ve skirted through post Cataclysm but according to my achievements never completed and that journey is proving surprisingly tough.

The devastation wrought on my much beloved zone along with the corpses of favoured quest givers has left me growling at my screen, wishing I could slaughter those responsible over and over again.

From those first few quests in which you find yourself hunting for survivors in the surf, finding your arrival is often only seconds too late, the zone sucks you in with it’s storytelling. Plus even now, in it’s broken, burnt and battered state, there is a beauty to it.

Dorrie is now level 20, proud owner of a slightly singed Demonic horse and looking forward to her next challenge. I’m semi tempted to have a go at soloing Shadowfang Keep to get her first scythe from the Warlock quest. I imagine this is doable with the capable assistance of her faithful Voidwalker and should be fun to try. Ultimately, her aims are green fire, a proper witch hat and one of those scary Demons with lots of arms. It will be interesting to see if she gets there, especially as I don’t intend purchasing flying skills on her.

A Wandering Warlock Enters

To live in hearts we leave behind
Is not to die. Hallowed Ground by Thomas Campbell

So the Godmother suggested a thing which resonated me with. For reasons I haven’t quite managed to pin down yet, I don’t like the idea of a boosted character. I think that a part of my issue is that characters gain personality and history from their possessions as they progress from level 1 to 90 but it goes deeper than that.

To go back to the beginning in the truest sense required me to roll a Warlock of some sort which tied in a with a project of my own that I’d considered but not started. Dorrie the little Witch is the hero of a series of children’s books which I adored as a little girl. It’s a combination of the illustrations and that sense of untidiness, of trying hard in an adult world where the rules seem to flex so you’re always on the wrong side of them and of course her constant companion, Gink the cat which sucked me in.

So Dorrie the little Warlock was born. Her transmogrifications will of course involve pointy hats and her leveling might be more of a meandering journey than a straight forward path from A to B but I’m sure she might manage to restore my flagging WoW spirits. Following in the footsteps of those who have gone before, I will try and emulate (as much as I can remember) my original Warlock’s road across Azeroth. I know Darkshore was definitely on the list and so was Redridge but other than that, I’ll have to piece together what I can from the screenshots which remain. I might even not bother purchasing flying on her to experiment with having to ride everywhere and after all, Felsteeds are creatures of beauty. The goal isn’t necessarily 90 but to explore, to wander and rediscover that sense of wonder. 

My First Love was a Warlock

It’s Warlock week, one of my secret guilty pleasures along with haribo, cherry coke and running around in the rain. My ever first proper character back in those “innocent” days when battlegrounds were still a figment of the imagination was a Warlock and I loved it. I have many happy memories of hiding behind a wall in Crossroads soul firing people for silly amounts not to mention being accused of cheating in duels because I used “fear”…… Then there was the fun of having to take breaks from PvP every so often to go farm soul shards in a higher level area. That said I really did enjoy playing a Warlock even in the days when every Rogue worth their daggers rolled Undead for the dual bonus of Will of the Forsaken and being able to munch away at your fallen corpse whilst you consulted the combat log to see exactly what happened whilst you were stunned. However despite reaching Knight-Captain in about four weeks of the new PvP system and despite enjoying defending Southshore and attacking the Crossroads, I allowed myself to give in the to the siren lure of healing and rerolled Priest.

Instead of creating the character I thought most represented me, I picked that which I wanted to be (which with hindsight shows a disturbing glimpse into my psyche).

Yep, I really went through a phase of wishing to be blonde and slightly bovine looking.

Since then, I’ve had several attempts at playing a Warlock. This one is abandoned on Kazzak, quite possibly the last female Human Warlock on that server (yep, the Alliance really are that extinct there).

She also looks slightly more like the real me, although my eyes aren’t quite that colour and I have been known to smile.

Finally we have my baby Warlock who is also my first proper attempt at playing a Dwarf. She is a Wildhammer gone wrong complete with hair dye (to be like her hero Saripal Smolderbrew) and bags of attitude as befits someone who knows they are doing something which will really annoy their parents.

 

The Worst Warlock

To celebrate her second anniversary, Saga over at Spellbound is hosting a “worst dressed Warlock” competition.

So let’s turn it around. Let’s find the worst possible Warlock outfit available in the game. Something that would make other Warlocks shun you and not let you near them. Something that would make your demon take one look at you and return back to the Twisting Nether laughing all the way.

Naturally I couldn’t resist joining in.

I’ve always thought of Warlocks as the “Fords” of WoW, wearing any colour as long as it’s black. Spikes, bleeding hearts and skulls being optional extras, the more glitz you can pack on an outfit, the better you look and everyone knows Warlocks are all about style, sex and stealing souls.

So if that’s fashion 101 for a Warlock, what would a self respecting demon summoner never been seen in? Floral prints, fluffy sweaters with kittens on them, Mage gear?

Unfortunately WoW doesn’t offer us the “fluffy sweater with kittens on” option, so I had to settle for the fresh flowers and Mage gear. Everything in the first two outfits is suitable for transmogrification, unfortunately the final option is purely for hanging out in the city of your choice scaring impressionable Imps.

Outfit 1.

I call this “hug a Tree of Life today!”

She is barefoot on purpose, all the better for feeling the grass wriggle under her feet.

• Shoulders: Greenweave Mantle
• Chest: Willow Robe
• Gloves: Gold flecked gloves
• Belt: Silksand girdle
• Boots: Greenweave sandals (not shown in the picture but added in case of hot coals or ice-fields).
• Staff: Draenic Wildstaff

Outfit 2.

“The I really wanted to be a Mage but wandered into the wrong classroom whilst distracted by a fluffy bunny hopping by” look. By the time she realised her mistake, they’d already got her signature in blood and handed out an annoying imp. Once you’ve got the demons and the scythe, there’s no way out, not even dying!

• Head: Cowl of the Grand Engineer (this is one of my favourite cloth helms in-game).
• Shoulders: Mantle of the Closed Door
• Chest: Vestments of the Sea-Witch
• Shirt: Orange Mageweave shirt
• Gloves: Gloves of High Magus
• Bracers: Furious Gladiator’s Cuffs of Salvation
• Sword: Vibro Sword
• Off-hand: Lei of the Lifegiver
• Shoes: Gnomish Casting Boots

Outfit 3.

Finally, I got a bit obsessed with fluffy jumpers, the sort that my Great Aunts would produce every Christmas which led to this brain wave. We might not have sweaters with kittens on, but we do have a suitably tasteless one to play with. This is Snowdrop, my baby lock  modelling the latest in Winter Veil carolling gear. Just the thing for the discerning Warlock to run a mile from (even more so when she starts to sing!).

• Shoulders: Consortium Mantle
• Chest: Gaudy Winter Veil Sweater
• Kilt: Elunarian Sarong
• Dagger: Miniature Winter Veil Tree
• Off-hand: Evergreen Branch

So Happy Anniversary Saga, I hope I’ve conjured up three horrific ensembles, the likes of which could make your Voidwalker sacrifice himself and your Succubus turn her whip on you. I know that in order to convince my Warlocks to model them, I had to send their demons away and promise them that no one would ever see the pictures…. (whoops!).

Also no Warlocks or demons were seriously hurt in the making of these transmogrifications, other than an Imp who almost died of laughter when he sneaked back from the Twisting Nether to have a closer look.

Outland Bound again

Back in Outlands on my warlock. It feels a bit weird, I mean everyone else is leveling death knights so at least we get to be unique snowflakes. Did some 51-60 and 61-70 AVs and literally it was 80 percent death knights, 12 percent ret paladins and the remaining 8 percent fielding one representative per remaining class. For some strange reason I find being bounced all over the place rather frustating, in fact if I ever got the person who conceptualised death grip alone….. hmm lets leave that train of thought right there.

When Teasel bravely entered the Dark Portal looking for career prospects and all that, I’m pretty sure she wasn’t expecting to have run around looking like this. In fact on the path to lv 64, I’ve had around 5 pairs of pants… and guess what, they all looked like those. Likewise, I’ve had multiple chests and not one of them has been a dress. Ah, well only another 4 levels and several hundred bloodelf deathknight corpses to wade through before shes in Northrend wearing terribly serious, muted green, gray and dark purple dresses. Maybe I’m just a little picky, but it annoys me on some basic level that all leveling gear looks the same. For casters in the Burning Crusade we have the mismatched slut look and in WotLK we have the governess look. I realise that in the priority list of developer and designer stuff, the look of loot that gets disgarded as soon as people hit the level cap is pretty low and sure I whine when there is months without new content… but if I wanted to be running around looking like a burlesque clown, I would be doing something entirely different with my free time.

More cheerfully, I’m loving the burst of my warlock. Nothing beats being able to chaos bolt for 2.5k annoying little twink mages who think they are safe in their shields, or nuking through pain suppression. My first warlock was destruction way back when demonology hardly qualified as a talent tree and I got addicted to setting things on fire back when PvP equalled Southshore/Tarren Mill (cue misty eyed rant about having to walk up mountains barefoot to farm soulshards to PvP  with). Whilst I accept its not the best leveling spec (I would have serious sustainability issues without a pet priest),  its certainly great fun for PvP.

Curiouser and curiouser!

cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English);

I always knew Cilantro had issues. Deep down the darkness in her soul seemed to almost overcome her on many an occasion. Its not normal for a disciplined priest to hunt down innocents, leaping from her warhorse to plague and smite them. I knew something was wrong, but I chose to look the other way… then this happened.

The most important part of the picture is this:

No longer can I remain silent, something wicked this way comes.

Of warlock trainers and fairytales

Having leveled a variety of characters, one thing that has always bugged me has been the disparity of training offered across the continents. Take priests for example, everyone loves a priest and thus you can walk into any of your faction’s capitials and find people willing to train you in the arts of light and shadow. Even Druids, those dubious types who spend more time frolicing around with fur on than doing anything useful, can increase their learning in 3 out of 4 capitials.

Then we come to Warlocks, ok I admit we aren’t most lawabiding citizens cup of tea, but neither are rogues. However when it comes to training, it seems that the Alliance of Kalimdor seem to suffer from the forlorn hope that if they pretend warlocks don’t exist, we will all vanish into the twisting nether. No trainers can be found within the leafy confines of Darnassus nor within the twisted metal of the Exodar. Ok, perhaps its a little understandable that demons make the Draenei a tad uncomfortable, I wouldnt necessarily want my wicked relatives showing up occasionally in a whiff of fire and brimstone either, but it wouldn’t hurt the Nightelves (much) to turn a blind eye to tiny encampment hidden away somewhere within their tree.

However, in the absence of warlock trainers within the Alliance settlements, remember that if questing in Kalimdor you don’t need to brave a sea journey in order to study. Ratchet, that truely dubious goblin town can along with several complelely seedy and no doubt warlock pleasing services offer you all the training you require.

Who wouldn’t want to train from this adorably evil looking gnome anyway? I think it would be worth traveling all the way from the Eastern Kingdoms just to have her impart her knowledge.

Shame they gave her a tower rather than a house with chicken legs though. When I was a little girl my favourite story was that of Baba Yaga, told to me by my mother, who in turn had learnt the story as a little girl from her grandfather. Thus as soon as I spotted this NPC, I was straight back to being a child again, curled up on my mother’s lap listening to her voice conjuring up the dark forest lit only by candles gleaming from within skulls. It may come as no surprise that I had nightmares involving being chased by a creepy little shack on chicken legs, I could hear them scratching at the dirt behind me as I ran but inspite of all that, I still loved being told that particular story at bedtime.

In short, remember if you are leveling a warlock in Kalimdor you can train in Ratchet.