Paxton began as a blood elf hunter named Fellacious, on the Blackwater Raiders realm, back in the spring of ’07. He progressed to 70 with BC, and on to 80 in Wrath. He was a way for me to experience the Horde quests, experience, etc.

I became a bit bored with Blackwater Raiders, as well as the Horde, so I moved him twice … once to Whisperwind, and once to dwarfism. He became Paxton, the level 80 dwarf hunter, proud member of the alliance.

For the last year, he has languished at 80, then 81, then 82, and so on. Other things took priority, even though he, and his sidekick Chunky Monkey the … monkey, were still beloved.

I finally just made the time to push him over the edge and get him to 85. It was not too bad, although the Cata zones aren’t my faves.

Now, he’s just 10 points or so away from maxing leatherworking, which will give me maxed professions in LW, enchanting, inscription, alchemy, and herbalism. The other professions are cooking along on other alts, most of them approaching 400.

I’m not leveling up archaeology again. No, not again. The horror. Cooking, fishing, and first aid, yes. But archy, no, not now that Arcanthus is a full professor, no, no, no. I can’t foresee any changes they can make in MoP that would change my mind. Maybe. No, no, no. Can’t do it again …

Back to working on the Horde side; my goblin mage, Steelfire, is 71 and counting, working on the Lunar Fest stuff (which involves huge amounts of travel time), and will be my next 85. Mages are quite awesome, and I do love the goblins … still not crazy about the Horde. But at least on Whisperwind, they’re not too obnoxious …

It was a bitter, frustrating, middle-of-the-night-wee-hours kind of slog, but Fellshadow Shadowdawn the Druid, brother to Arcanthus Shadowdawn the Warrior, finally made it level 85 as the sun rose this morning.

Fellshadow was born near Dolanaar, Teldrassil, a few months after his brother, but took a long, long time to reach the height of his power. His damage ouput wasn’t great, his gear was worse, and he had a pathological distaste for dungeons, which might have improved his two flaws. His situation was tough, almost from the beginning.

There are things that I enjoy about him; rooting enemies in place, almost instantly transforming into something else, particularly a bird; his ability to heal himself, unlike his brother. But last night’s experience was like pulling teeth.

He hit mid-84 thanks mainly to Hallow’s End trick-or-treating and dailies (when the holiday started, he had just started his 82-level Deepholm journey). So, he was able to skip most of the ends of both Deepholm and Uldum. Hallow’s End helped get him out of Deepholm to start Uldum; after completing quite a few of the Harrison Jones jobs there, Hallow’s End then allowed him to hit mid-84 and go right to Twilight Highlands.

The Highlands, however, has some very frustrating quests if you’re rather squishy, as Fellshadow is. Some seem very, very grindy, and some just are cringe-inducing, like having to kill bucks for deer meat as their two does look on in panic. He managed to successfully steal cloth for the wedding from a goblin zeppelin without too much trouble, but had to repeat the beer escort quest because he died the first time. He refused to kill owls for feathers (his night elf/druid reverence for owls kicked in there), so he had to wait around for enough to drop on the ground. With the wedding underway, he died in the subsequent surprise, but resurrected and took revenge. In the ensuing celebrations, he popped 85.

Two tasks await at this point: getting the Flameforge dwarf clan, to their next levels. Paxton Flameforge, the dwarf hunter, has to get to 85 (he’s just ready to get moving in Uldum at 83); Earthsmash Flameforge, the shaman, is at 60 and ready to rip apart Outland; and Blastbang Flameforge, the paladin, is needing the most work; he’s at 54 and working through Winterspring with his cub. He’s the only one in the group who can’t fly yet, so that’s a priority.

Meanwhile, over on the dark side, Steelfire Wrenchbucket continues to be happy being a clueless little goblin mage. He’s up in Outland, in Blade’s Edge, at 65, ready to push to 68 and start tearing up Northrend for the Horde.

The beagle boys, er, worgen brothers, Feargal, Ferghus, Fred, and Bayley Murphey O’Dougal, are all taking vacations at Honor Hold on Hellfire Peninsula. They are all at 60, all winged up and ready to fly, and each one is howlingly ready to put their stamp on the remnants of Draenor.

Arcanthus will continue to make money; but he may need a new way of doing it. Volatile Air prices on Whisperwind have crashed bigtime over the last week or two. One would command 20-25g for each volatile air two weeks ago; last night I saw stacks of 10 listed for 10g a piece. Not sure what the sudden downward price exertion is about or where it’s coming from. But it does seriously cut into Arcanthus’ weekly take. This one could get ugly. Fortunately, Fellshadow is maxed on Enchanting and Inscription, and Paxton is almost maxed in Leatherworking. This will take as much time and figuring out as the leveling over the next week or two.

Tally ho!

It’s really been over a year since I posted? Time flies …

In that one year, Cataclysm came out and people were bored with it inside a month; Arcanthus hit 85 in two weeks and went on to other glories; the four beagles in our house are now represented in game with Worgen characters; I’ve had love/hate affairs with shaman and rogue classes; I really love playing a mage; people in PUGs are still snottier than ever, even when grouping for holiday bosses that take no skill/equipment and less than two minutes to down; Arcanthus has made and spent close to 100,000g’s (mainly from good ol’ «Volatile Air», if you can belief it); I’ve consolidated Alliance characters to the Whisperwind server and Horde characters to Winterhoof; Arcanthus has been mildly stalked by someone who thankfully disappeared after a few weeks; and so on and on.

It’s still good stress relief, so I’m still playing. There are days when I don’t play at all, days when I’m on for hours. Depends on mood and physical distress. We’re approaching my fourth anniversary of starting play, and it’s been an amazing four years within the game space, given all the changes that have occurred. It’s a very different game now. And about to change again; we’re days away from Blizzcon ’11 already.

I also play fantasy football as stress relief (plus a little bit of Angry Birds, Lemmings, and Kingdom Rush); last season, I won the Super Bowl in my league. This year, not so great. But I decided to combine my two main gaming interests this year: behold, the «Azeroth Football League». Took a few hours to set up, but it’s all good fun. My team is the Azeroth Exterminators, who are at this moment losing Week 4’s game to the Pandaren Brewmasters by 10 points. Sigh. The Exterminators are 2-1, but will just be .500 after tonight.

And there we are.

The «official Cataclysm beta patch notes» contain a real gem tonight:

“Players may suddenly die while running around Thunder Bluff.”

Does my Alliance-loyal heart good to read that! You guys really don’t have to fix that, ya know!

Feeling fairly stupid this evening; after over two months of sitting a mere TWO (2) quests away from Loremaster, I finally got my … act … together and successfully completed the achievement for Arcanthus (click pic for larger version):

I had tried to down several of the 80 elites in IceCrown on several occasions. They almost all kicked me dead quickly. Last night, I decided to try «Alumeth the Ascended» one more time. I almost got him down the last time, so I decided to buff up with «Flask of Endless Rage» and a «Runescroll of Fortitude». And this time, it worked. I suppose the only thing I really did differently was activate «Spell Reflection» every time it was off cool-down. At any rate, the baddy went down and I was just one quest away from success.

When I turned in the quest to «Thassarian», I was wondering if I could possibly solo any of the other elites, but he had other plans, which were much better. He sent me to kill «Grimkor the Wicked» and his hound. With fingers crossed, I headed over to the Ironwall Rampart and discovered, to my great joy, that Grimkor is easily downed, even with the hound at his side and several other baddies summoned to help him. Back to Thassarian I went, and Loremaster Arcanthus it now is. Thank god that’s over!

And now, he’s ready for Cataclysm. A patch is downloading and the progression towards that seminal event is underway. Maybe in about two months, we’ll get there.

In the meantime, enjoying the old-world content and starting areas. Since things will change fairly dramatically, it’s time for the sentimental parting of ways with the way WoW has been over the last three years for me. But, onward and upward we go.

Warcraft for me is in the summer doldrums, as it is, I think, for a number of players. The hype and drummed-up enthusiasm for Cataclysm is still very strong, with the advent of the closed beta a few weeks ago, but the release is still an undetermined number of months away. The live game gets patches and updates, realms get 24-hour upgrade maintenance here and there, but Warcraft is pretty static. And quite a few are taking a break until Blizzard actually ships the expansion.

So why do I keep playing? I’ve never raided and will most likely never be part of a group that will take down Arthas. I’ve almost maxed out Arcanthus on his PvP gear goals. He’s now a Wintergrasp veteran with over 100 victories, so while I really love doing battle there, it’s not for a specific purpose or goal he’s working towards. He’s soloed every dungeon he’s capable of and is two, yes just 2, quests away from Loremaster. He completed the Midsummer Fire Festival achievements, which gave him his Long, Strange Trip achievement, which in turn got him his violet proto-drake mount.

So. Again. Why?

Well, for the same reasons I’ve been playing all along; stress relief, the open-endedness of the game, which, while it can be repetitious, is not as repetitious a pursuit as, say, solitaire, crossword puzzles or Sudoku. Most of all, especially on days or nights when I’m hurting a lot, it lets me lose myself in that world, gives time for drugs to do their thing on me, and helps me to stop thinking about how crappy I feel. It’s an effective diversion.

It will probably come to an end at some point a month or two after Cataclysm comes out, however. The open-endedness (or is a better term the huge size of the game?) is great, and will be refreshed with the expansion, but after I level a goblin and a worgen and take my two mains to 85, I’ll most likely be done.

In the meantime, I’ve followed the RealID/real names on the forums issue and worked on various things in game. The RealID thing was hilarious fun; the most entertaining internet forum reading I’ve had in a very long time (at least since about 2001 when I used to mix it up with hard core religious fascists on a Jerry Falwell discussion forum). Don’t get me wrong; the issue itself wasn’t hilarious at all. I had my finger poised on the “cancel” button like many others. What was hilarious was the response by some posters, and the fact that it generated, over, what, a weekend? some 50,000 posts and some 13,000 accounts threatened to or did cancel.

Most of the points the protesters raised were very valid and very real. For my part, I was prepared to cancel if Activision forces Blizzard, (which goes along with it) to accept the move towards more commodification and more Facebook-ization of the Warcraft World. Activision’s CEO made a particularly clear statement when he boasted of taking games that generated $50 per gamer in revenue and turning them into cash cows making over $500 per gamer. Typical American, MBA, corporate attitude. But just because he wants that, doesn’t mean I have to participate.

I don’t have to buy the sparkle pony, I don’t have to give up all my personal demographic information and … I can find other pursuits for my time.

As for what is happening in game, Arcanthus has a spiffy new red outfit he wears when not in Wintergrasp:

«Arcanthus in Red».

He is, like I said, two quests away from Loremaster, but will have to swallow hard and either do a PUG for two Forge of Souls/Pit of Saron quests, or find someone to help him down very hard level 80 elites in IceCrown. Maybe sometime this week. He does have a questing friend now, but she is a level 67 druid and won’t be in position to help out in IceCrown for a couple of weeks, at least.

Fellaficious is pretty moribund at level 80; he wakes up in the inn in Dalaran and yawns, checks to see if the Horde is in possession of Wintergrasp; over 79% of the time, they are not, and he rolls over and goes back to sleep. When the Horde has the keep, he goes out and earns his honor points.

Ferghus the level 41 priest is taking a breather; Fellshadow the level 62 druid is active from time-to-time in Zangarmarsh; and the new little gnome death knight, Feargal Gearbash, has hit level 60, largely by running around discovering everything and leveling up his mining skill.

And that is the latest news from Azeroth.

The following list of guild names were culled from a forum post on the official Warcraft site. I present them here as examples of a few things: humanity’s endless creativity with language, humanity’s endless fondness for the lewd, the profane, the scatological, the racist, the sexist and the sexual, etc.; and to see if, in spite of yourself, one or two of them here and there make you smile or laugh in spite of yourself. If you’re not a WoW player, many of the terms, will not make sense to you, even though you still should get the overall message.

The names were either suggested to the forum thread or they were adopted in game and the offender was reported and forced to change the name. The crucial point here is that there are … a disconcertingly large number of people out there who think these are harmless hilarity. They are not.

Fair warning: Except for maybe the commercial and miscellaneous categories, there’s sure to be something somewhere on this list to highly offend just pretty much everyone who reads it. You’ve been forewarned. I have not changed or censored any of them. So, if you have virginal eyes, skip to the next post. And remember that these are not my creations … they came from the official WoW forums (one of the reasons Blizzard tried to push the whole “you must post with your real name on the forums” thing? Hmmm?). I’ve just copied them and categorized them for the above listed purposes. So … any complaints … take it up with the WoW community, not me. ‘Kay?

Right. Let’s get to it, shall we?

Profane
• Holy Crit
• Kiss my Darnassus
• Strwaberry STFUcake

Sexist
• Come Honour Chest
• hoedepot
• Chicks Dig Stamina
• How to Crit a Clitt
• Sapped Girls Can’t Say No
• Sapped Girls Don’t Scream
• Girls Respec Blood Monthly
• Socket your gfs pink slot
• Id crit that
• Dickens Cider
• Riders of Lohan
• guys who like creampies
• Tappin Mankriks Wife
• Cunning Stunts
• Street Corner Whordes
• EXALTED WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND
• OnyxiaGivesEpicHead
• YourSisterIsMYEpicMount
• Leetsauce in Your Mouth
• Sapped Hos Don’t Say No
• Sapped Cows Can’t Say Moo

Sexual:
• Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo
• Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
• Sick Duckers
• Naga gave me Harpies
• Horde Core Pwnography
• Hordecore Pawnography
• Hordecore Pwnstars
• You raid we get laid
• tauren where it counts
• Sick My Duck
• Huck the Forde
• BallsSoEpicTheyNeverDrop
• Power Of Raging Nerds
• AsNeAxL
• Aye Half Any Wreck Shun
• Mahpehness
• its usualy bigger SRSLY
• Stds are Bop
• Ice Bank Mice Elf
• VIGOROUS HIP THRUSTING
• hasaPigBenis

Domestic/Child Abuse
• Rihanna is not defcapped
• ChrisBrown is Hit capped
• No dad, not the belt.
• No dad, not the stick.

Child Molestation
• My daddy touched me there
• She Looked lvl Eighteen

Racist:
• Big Nick Diggers
• Numb Diggers
• BITE THE CURB NAGA
• Naga Please
• midNIGht ranGERS
• Kor’s Krazy Killers
• Forty Ned Diggers
• FourUnConvincedKlowns
• Imma Let you Finish
• We Honor Grind In Africa
• Obama Carries Black People
• Infront of Home Depot LFW
• Cu Clux Clan
• SUP HAITI, WHAT’S SHAKIN’

Neo-Nazi
• More HKs than Hitler
• More HKs than Stalin
• MoreGasThanAuschwitz
• AdolfCritler
• IworkForChritler
• Mein Kampfy Chair
• Hitler knew to AoE
• Waffle SS

Scatalogical:
• men dont wipe
• Silent but Deadly
• Poops without wiping

Abortion
• The Aborted Fetuses

Homophobic:
• Brokeback Mountaineers
• Bear Force One
• Slip and Slide Sausage Club
• Friendly Alliance Guys
• Your mom is my dad

Aimed at Handicapped/Special Needs People
• Razorfen Downs Syndrome
• Dial M for Dyslexia
• brb grandma fell
• short bus gangsters
• RidersOfTheShortBus
• DyslexicsAreTeoplePoo

Animal Abuse
• Seal Cub Clubbing Club
• chuck norris ate my dog

Making Fun of the Dead
• Steve Irwin needs a rez

Irreligious
• Jesus had a Soulstone

Miscellaneous:
• SeriousOneWordGuildName
• Nine idiots signed this
• Exalted with McDonalds
• Aggro My Own Vegetables
• Whirled Peas
• OMG ICE CREAM TRUCK BR
• BackStabbith
• Bovine Intervention

Commercial
• Retbull gives you Wiiiings
• Bloodbath and Beyond
• Subway, Eat Flesh
• iPug
• DPS Delivery Truck

Y’all ‘scuse me now. I need to go take a long hot shower after reading those. And wash my eyes out. With disinfectant.

The count for Loremaster is down to eight. A magic eight quests stand between Arcanthus and the achievement.

So why hasn’t he done them? They’re group quests against elites that take anywhere from two to five people to do. Quests that most people did, oh, like a year-and-a-half ago. Some are even phased, so even if someone wanted to group, they might not be able to help.

On this one, I have a problem with Blizzard. Forcing you to do 140 quests in IceCrown is no problem, but it is when the final 10 or so require you to group, and unlike group quests in the lower areas, you cannot complete all of them solo when you’re at max level. Not to mention the whole phasing issue, which definitely narrows the options.

Eventually, I’ll have to advertise on trade and see if I can get at least one bored person, or someone closing in on 80, to do the final eight with me. In the meantime … close, oh so tantalizingly close.

And if you have a high-level Alliance alt on Whisperwind, please … help me!

Arcanthus can report much progress over the last three weeks; he finished off Loremaster for Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor and Outland; he only has 10 … a measly TEN … quests to complete in IceCrown for the exhausting Loremaster title and achievement overall.

[caption id=“attachment_144” align=“alignnone” width=“150” caption=“Arcanthus Masters Kalimdor”][/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_145” align=“alignnone” width=“150” caption=“Arcanthus Masters Outland”][/caption]

Which is extremely frustrating right now; the only quests left in IceCrown are group quests against massive elite nasties. I’ve tried to solo some of them, but it’s no go. Will have to swallow hard and start looking for help soon. Sigh.

Ten away. Yeesh.

Meanwhile, an unusual situation in that I got the Noble title for two of my alts, Fellshadow the Druid and Dagorlad the Rogue. While completing Fellshadow’s achievement, the Horde got up a massive IronForge raid and took out the King:

[caption id=“attachment_143” align=“alignnone” width=“150” caption=“Fellshadow gets his Noble title just as Horde Descends on IF”][/caption]

And Dagorlad wasn’t too happy wearing all the Noble Garden clothes and carrying around a stupid basket of eggs:

[caption id=“attachment_141” align=“alignnone” width=“150” caption=“Dagorlad WILL cut you if you make fun of his Noble Garden outfit”][/caption]

But perversely, he did kind of enjoy being a rabbit … it’s a rogue thing, being able to disguise yourself and hop around unnoticed …

[caption id=“attachment_142” align=“alignnone” width=“150” caption=“Dagorlad Made it to Noble”][/caption]

So, it’s been a fruitful couple of weeks around here. In game, at least.

Arcanthus, Loremaster of Outland

Arcanthus, Loremaster of Kalimdor

The King had not a chance.

It was a tough business, but Dagorlad is now the Noble

That’s one pissed-off gnome rogue.

3,000 quests! The Seeker!

Well, let’s see. On 30-Mar, Arcanthus was 65 quests away from Loremaster of the Eastern Kingdoms. He accomplished that part last night. He was also 117 away in Kalimdor; he’s currently 50 away now. (I discovered large number of quests on Azuremyst and Bloodmyst Islands, so that will help). After that, he’ll be 272 away from the overall Loremaster achievement itself. And all but 14 of those are in Outland.

Outland. Ugh. Least favorite area of the game. Arcanthus progressed until level 64 and then he got … very disgusted with Outland. He even took a six-month break because of it, lying in a bunk in the Allerian Outpost in the Terokkar Forest in a deep, deep depression. Once he somewhat recovered, he raced to 70 as fast as possible (in less than a month) and left Outland as soon as the boat from Menethil to Howling Fjord weighed anchor. And returned very few times, except for the push to the Diplomat title, which required Sporregar and Kurenai reputation grinds.

Likewise, Fellacious had similar issues with Outland; he ended up in Howling Fjord at level 68, so much in a hurry was he to escape the shattered remnants of Draenor.

Part of it is visual; there are not very many “nice” areas in Outland, not much comfort. Nagrand is about the only zone that seems … cozy. The others are harsh, ugly, other-worldly (which, I know, is the point, but still). Part of it is the seeming detour into science fiction, which I’m not really a fan of (space goats? space ships? the nether? uh, if I wanted to play Star Trek/Star Wars, I’d go do that). And part of it (okay a major part) is that the level grind between 60 and 70, which has to be done in Outland, becomes hellishly long for the first time in the game.

As a consequence of all this, Arcanthus made it to 70 by doing a grand total of 5, count ‘em, five quests in Netherstorm, and a whopping 1, count ‘em, one quest in Shadowmoon. And now, in order to make Loremaster, he has to pay the piper. 115 quests still to be done in Netherstorm. 89 still to be done in Shadowmoon. God.

At least there is a brighter side: Since he’s so much higher level than these zones, the questing will not be a grind and will proceed quite rapidly. Thank god.

Also helping is a really awesome article by WoW.com’s Anne Stickney: «Know Your Lore: Current Horde politics – the Blood Elves». It makes what’s going on with Outland and the Burning Crusade stuff a whole lot clearer, much more interesting, and far more palatable. An awesome read.

It’s still butt ugly. But we’ll deal with it this time.

A Fairly Typical Post About a Fairly Typical Evening

[caption id=“attachment_122” align=“alignnone” width=“150” caption=“Arcanthus Prepares to Defend Wintergrasp During a Battle Last Year”][/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_121” align=“alignnone” width=“150” caption=“Arcanthus and His Albino Drake Flying Dragon”][/caption]

I decided to record a typical Warcraft evening for Arcanthus tonight. Other Dalaran chat being more … raw (and NSFW, you’ve been forewarned) … than usual, it was fairly run-of-the-mill and had some amusing moments here and there:

Start chatlog:

Waiting in Dalaran for the start of a Wintergrasp battle (Shouldn’t these children be in bed?). NSFW Idiot Chat ensues:
20:58:06.379 T—— yells: lol
20:58:07.509 L———- yells: o rly
20:58:09.929 P——- yells: OHHHHHH SHIIIIT
20:58:13.500 T——— yells: Seriously just stfu C——— go on fuckin smarter than a 5th grader if u think ur so god damn kewl
20:58:14.590 V——- yells: was like a dead fish though so i threw it back
20:58:33.753 T——— yells: Dude..once again orginal
20:58:41.671 A———— yells: im off to watch the neighbors multiply ^^>
20:58:45.034 T—— yells: ive actually never heard that befpre
20:58:49.291 T—— yells: before*
20:58:51.921 V——- yells: and calling someone a retard is a new concept ?
20:59:03.821 T——— yells: o i have u prob havnt cause u got no friends to tell u jokes
20:59:08.380 P———— waves at T————.
20:59:09.530 C——— yells: Nothing wrong with it when it’s accurate
20:59:20.561 P——- yells: Tow, go masturbate and watch anchorman or something, you’re too tense
20:59:37.787 T——— yells: UH OH C——— u forgot the Period!!!!! better Call tha fuckin police
20:59:42.063 A———— yells: Teagan Presley. i win.
20:59:50.153 S———— yells: alexas texas!
20:59:55.141 A———— yells: YEAH BABY!
20:59:56.775 M————— yells: Lexi belle
20:59:59.524 L———- yells: you all are nerd raging right now and its showing
21:00:00.607 P——- yells: shes got a booty on her
21:00:03.386 S———— yells: Jenna Haze!
21:00:10.121 M————— yells: Ummm
21:00:12.245 V——- yells: i’m a wigwam
21:00:13.401 A———— yells: yummm
21:00:20.300 A———— yells: “big booties back”?
21:00:27.145 S———— yells: Rachel Starr!
21:00:30.126 Mo————— yells: No way, Nessa Devil
21:00:53.977 M————— yells: Tanner mayes
21:00:55.377 P——- yells: I love you all
21:01:47.090 P——- yells: so guys, UHHHH Wrathful Gladiator’s Greatsword Wrathful Gladiator’s Pike which im confuzled
21:01:59.750 A——— yells: who gives a shit!
21:02:13.181 P——- yells: i give lots of shits
21:02:27.102 A——— yells: So guys my left nut or my -right nut?
21:02:31.253 M————- yells: Polearm, looks kewler
21:02:48.352 P——- yells: left nut cuz your right nut doesnt have a bracket around the right side of it, might fall off
21:03:35.887 S—— yells: I KILLED THE BROWNIE PRINCE. IM BACK
21:03:51.324 P——- yells: HORRAY, WE SHALL EAT CAKE AND REJOICE!
21:04:04.385 L———- yells: go to RP server faggot
21:04:07.466 S—— yells: What about strippers? Lol!
21:04:09.704 U—————- yells: ^LOL
21:04:13.529 U—————- yells: pwned
21:04:32.551 P——- yells: OH THIS ISNT A RP SERVER? BERB
21:05:00.074 P——- yells: GOTTA DELETE MY GUILD CHARTER NAMED BROWNIE PRINCE KILLAZ TOO, DAMNIT.
21:05:04.295 I———— yells: All hail great almighty P——-! For he has conquered there great and mighty Azeroth!
21:05:15.975 A——— yells: No this is a Mexican Server…that’s why we are all standing in front of Home Depot.
21:05:18.256 P——- yells: the* Joe you’re fail
21:06:42.290 S—— yells: LOOK AT MY HORSE MY HORSE IS AMAZING. GIVE IT A LICK “ OOOO IT TASTES JUST LIKE RAISONS, THEN TUG ON ITS WINKY. OO THATS DIRTY, DO U THINK SO THEN…. ect..
21:07:01.033 E—- yells: Shut up woman, get on my horse.
21:07:13.814 T—— yells: My horse is amazing.
21:07:24.542 C—— yells: lady gaga has a penis.
21:07:33.137 S———— yells: LADY GAGA IS HOTT
21:07:36.525 T—— yells: my penis has a lady gaga
21:07:42.205 C—— yells: :O!
21:07:44.865 E—- yells: Have some sweet lemonade.
21:07:47.425 P——- yells: No, havnt you seen the Telephone music video, those cops said that she doesnt so HA
21:07:55.047 C—— yells: lmao
21:08:04.871 S———— yells: u get to see her fine ass in tht vid too
21:08:09.599 N—— yells: OMFG BBQSAUCE LADY GAGA?!?!?!?!!?
21:08:49.031 S—— yells: that vid clip is F’n weird but AWSOME!
21:08:56.586 S———— yells: she has a swollen clitorious
21:09:51.120 L———- yells: this realm is full of 12 year olds it makes this game rly annoying so can all of you stfu
21:10:09.056 S———— yells: yeah guys
21:10:14.667 S———— yells: when u turn 13 you’ll be fine
21:10:19.972 S———— yells: rated T for TEEN
21:10:23.687 P——- yells: IM ALMOST THERE
21:10:40.517 M————— yells: AWW 13? BACK TO EVERQUEST
21:10:59.685 P——- has defeated I———— in a duel
21:11:06.843 E—- yells: Your contributing to what your complaining about.
21:11:59.605 A——‘s [Pet spider] raises his abdomen and lets a strand of silk float away on the breeze.
21:12:12.043 S—— yells: Whats the point in trying somthing if theres barely any hope left * Sad Face *
21:14:00.276 P——- has defeated I———— in a duel
21:14:23.007 E——— cheers at S—————-!
21:15:13.881 A——‘s [Pet spider] rubs his hind legs together thoughtfully.
21:15:24.954 A——‘s pet begins eating a Spiced Mammoth Treats.

Joining a Battle for Wintergrasp:
Thank god we’re not in Dalaran any more!
21:17:02.519 Looting changed to Group Loot.
21:17:02.560 Loot threshold set to Uncommon.
21:17:02.621 You have joined a raid group.
21:17:25.500 The Broken Temple siege workshop has been attacked by the Alliance!
21:17:25.502 The Westspark siege workshop has been attacked by the Horde!
21:17:25.503 The Eastspark siege workshop has been attacked by the Horde!
21:17:25.505 The Sunken Ring siege workshop has been attacked by the Alliance!
21:17:29.267 R———-: WTS healthstones 10g each!! Cheaper than AH!
21:17:29.529 Commander Zanneth says: Show those animals no mercy, Ceijé!
21:17:30.666 Switchover prepares a Great Feast!
21:17:30.669 M—: ty for buffs
21:17:30.669 M— thanks Chef S————- for the Great Feast!
21:17:30.693 Senior Demolitionist Legoso says: Protect our war machines, P————! Fight for the glory of the Alliance!
21:17:36.934 R———-: If you dont pull aggro, then you wont need a healthstone!
21:17:44.734 M—-: ty for the candy
21:17:48.036 F——-: share all quest plz
21:17:48.044 Moderation privileges given to (null).
21:17:48.044 Owner changed to (null).
21:17:49.925 Commander Zanneth says: Show those animals no mercy, T————!
21:17:56.005 Senior Demolitionist Legoso says: Protect our war machines, T————! Fight for the glory of the Alliance!
21:17:56.716 The Eastspark siege workshop has been captured by the Horde!
21:18:01.205 The Westspark siege workshop has been captured by the Horde!
21:18:14.940 The Sunken Ring siege workshop has been captured by the Alliance!
21:18:21.518 Commander Zanneth says: Show those animals no mercy, D——-!
21:18:48.722 The Eastspark siege workshop has been attacked by the Alliance!
21:19:06.474 Arcanthus kills Hordie, honorable kill Rank: Scout (4 Honor Points)
21:19:53.759 The Eastspark siege workshop has been captured by the Alliance!
21:19:58.593 Arcanthus kills Hordie, honorable kill Rank: Scout (1 Honor Points)
21:20:14.678 The Broken Temple siege workshop has been captured by the Horde!
21:20:22.587 You have reached Rank 1: Corporal
21:20:30.441 The Broken Temple siege workshop has been attacked by the Alliance!
21:20:44.647 Arcanthus kills Hordie.
21:21:00.527 D—————: Horde members slain: 10/10
21:21:20.872 Arcanthus kills Hordie, honorable kill Rank: Scout (30 Honor Points)
21:21:27.938 The Brewmaiden says: Do ye want ta live forever?
21:21:38.732 The south-eastern keep tower has been damaged!
21:21:38.932 You have been awarded 50 honor points.
21:21:40.933 Arcanthus kills Hordie, honorable kill Rank: Scout (24 Honor Points)
21:21:45.889 You receive loot: Extinguished Light of Hope.
21:21:46.253 You loot 1 Gold, 15 Silver, 74 Copper
21:21:57.695 The Broken Temple siege workshop has been attacked by the Alliance!
21:22:12.871 Arcanthus kills Hordie, honorable kill Rank: Senior Sergeant (2 Honor Points)
21:22:20.227 You loot 1 Gold, 19 Silver, 45 Copper
21:22:27.944 Arcanthus kills Hordie, honorable kill Rank: Scout (16 Honor Points)
21:22:35.224 The western tower has been damaged!
21:22:52.733 The Broken Temple siege workshop has been captured by the Alliance!
21:23:17.374 The Eastspark siege workshop has been attacked by the Horde!
21:23:34.055 The western tower has been destroyed!
21:23:34.113 Commander Dardosh yells: [Orcish] Mog magan gi mog Ragath’a aaz’no kaz revash Tov’osh kek no’ku kil gi maza ogerin no’ku tov’osh
21:23:41.921 The south-eastern keep tower has been destroyed!
21:23:42.011 You have been awarded 50 honor points.
21:24:27.494 Arcanthus kills Hordie dies, honorable kill Rank: Scout (70 Honor Points)
21:24:47.817 Arcanthus kills Hordie dies, honorable kill Rank: Senior Sergeant (5 Honor Points)
21:24:57.585 The southern tower has been damaged!
21:25:04.781 The Eastspark siege workshop has been captured by the Horde!
21:25:07.137 You have been awarded 50 honor points.

Victory in Wintergrasp (That was quick!):
21:25:25.661 The Alliance has captured Wintergrasp Fortress!
21:25:27.542 You have been awarded 100 honor points.
21:25:27.555 You have been awarded 100 honor points.
21:25:27.568 You have been awarded 100 honor points.
21:25:27.580 You have been awarded 200 honor points.
21:25:27.584 You create: Wintergrasp Mark of Honorx2.
21:25:30.738 D—————: Victory in Lake Wintergrasp

Questing in Wintergrasp:
21:26:08.159 You receive loot: Efflorescing Shards.
21:26:08.200 You receive loot: Quiver of Dragonbone Arrows.

21:26:14.527 M—: great heals, ty

21:26:29.748 You receive loot: Hoary Crystals.
21:26:29.751 You receive loot: Crystallized Shadow.
21:26:29.754 You receive loot: Quiver of Dragonbone Arrows.
21:26:51.931 You receive loot: Hoary Crystals.
21:26:51.934 You receive loot: Quiver of Dragonbone Arrows.
21:27:08.401 You receive loot: Hoary Crystals.
21:27:08.405 You receive loot: Quiver of Dragonbone Arrows.

Hordies gang up and attack Arcanthus, who really doesn’t care:

21:27:29.625 Arcanthus says: get it over with

Arcanthus dies

After resurrection:
21:30:31.801 You receive loot: Efflorescing Shards.
21:30:31.807 You receive loot: Crystallized Shadow.
21:30:31.811 You receive loot: Quiver of Dragonbone Arrowsx2.

Hordies gang up and attack again:
21:30:37.728 You yawn sleepily at I—.
21:30:42.051 You laugh at Igu.
21:30:48.434 You yawn sleepily at I—.
21:32:28.219 You yawn sleepily at Shadow Revenant.

Arcanthus dies
21:32:38.542 Your equipped items suffer a 10% durability loss.

After resurrection:
21:34:52.491 You receive loot: Hoary Crystals.
21:34:52.494 You receive loot: Quiver of Dragonbone Arrows.
21:35:12.145 You receive loot: Efflorescing Shards.
21:35:12.149 You receive loot: Quiver of Dragonbone Arrows.
21:35:30.640 You receive loot: Hoary Crystals.
21:35:30.644 You receive loot: Crystallized Shadow.
21:35:30.647 You receive loot: Quiver of Dragonbone Arrows.

Hordie tries to shoot a mounted Arcanthus down:
21:35:41.780 A————- yells: [Orcish] thok
21:35:54.000 You laugh at A————-.
21:36:08.945 You yawn sleepily at A————-.

21:36:50.240 You receive loot: Hoary Crystals.
21:36:50.243 You receive loot: Crystallized Shadow.
21:36:50.246 You receive loot: Quiver of Dragonbone Arrows.
21:38:02.959 Bones and Arrows completed.
21:38:02.973 Received 13 Gold, 23 Silver.
21:38:02.985 You have been awarded 3723 honor points.
21:38:02.986 Received 10 of item: Stone Keeper’s Shard.
21:38:03.042 You receive item: Stone Keeper’s Shardx10.

Leaving Wintergrasp, hearthing back to Dalaran:
21:38:58.380 Looting changed to Free for All.
21:39:15.775 Moderation privileges given to (null).
21:39:15.842 Owner changed to (null).

More Dalaran Idiot Chat:
21:41:15.847 F—- says: come back baby
21:41:17.520 F—- grabs e—— ass
21:41:25.775 F—- says: nice and tight
21:41:25.860 F—- says: haha
21:41:27.898 F————— is getting drunk off of Darkmoon Special Reserve.
21:41:39.141 F————— looks tipsy.

Leaving the Raid Group:
21:41:45.368 You leave the group.
21:41:45.538 You have left the raid group.
21:41:51.100 Moderation privileges given to (null).
21:41:51.169 Owner changed to (null).

Questing in Winterspring:
21:57:32.736 You salute Haleh with respect.
21:57:32.737 You bow before Haleh.
21:57:32.738 You kneel before Haleh.
21:57:41.004 The Matron Protectorate completed.
21:57:41.006 Received 57 Silver.

Questing in Western Plaguelands:
21:57:54.548 Wrath of the Blue Flight completed.
21:57:54.549 Received 5 Silver, 70 Copper.

21:58:10.095 Quest accepted: Wrath of the Blue Flight
22:03:22.638 Wrath of the Blue Flight completed.
22:03:22.638 Received 57 Silver.

22:03:25.360 Quest accepted: Catalogue of the Wayward
22:03:27.249 Jeziba says: Study it, Arcanthus: The Catalogue of the Wayward.
22:03:33.995 Catalogue of the Wayward completed.
22:03:33.996 Received 5 Silver, 70 Copper.

22:04:01.906 Quest accepted: Breastplate of the Chromatic Flight
22:04:08.003 Quest accepted: Legplates of the Chromatic Defier
22:05:21.260 You receive item: Relic Bundle.

22:05:21.431 Quest accepted: The Battle of Darrowshire
22:05:41.477 You receive loot: Dried King Bolete.
22:05:41.479 You loot 3 Silver, 78 Copper
22:05:41.513 You receive loot: Nightcrawlers.

Questing in Eastern Plaguelands:
22:09:48.507 The Dread Citadel – Naxxramas completed.
22:09:48.603 Reputation with Argent Dawn increased by 1000.

22:10:11.464 Cryptstalker Armor Doesn’t Make Itself… completed.
22:10:11.466 Received 57 Silver.
22:10:11.466 Received item: Insignia of the Crusade.
22:10:11.534 Reputation with Argent Dawn increased by 1000.

Random Notices appear:
22:19:25.104 Your auction of Imperial Red Robe has expired.
22:19:50.105 Your auction of Righteous Leggings of the Whale has expired.
22:20:05.160 Your auction of Thaumaturgist Staff of Arcane Wrath has expired.

Questing in Burning Steppes:
22:20:37.913 Doomrigger’s Clasp completed.
22:20:37.914 Received 87 Silver.

22:20:46.082 You receive item: Ridgewell’s Crate.
22:20:46.404 Quest accepted: Delivery to Ridgewell

More random notices:
22:21:10.073 Your auction of Pattern: Chimeric Boots has expired.
22:21:50.095 Your auction of Core of Elements has expired.
22:21:50.133 Your auction of Core of Elements has expired.
22:21:50.134 Your auction of Core of Elements has expired.
22:21:55.100 Your auction of Core of Elements has expired.
22:21:55.161 Your auction of Core of Elements has expired.
22:21:55.161 Your auction of Core of Elements has expired.
22:22:55.060 Your auction of Dark Iron Scraps has expired.
22:23:05.091 Your auction of Dark Iron Residue has expired.
22:23:15.068 Your auction of Dark Iron Residue has expired.
22:23:15.068 Your auction of Dark Iron Residue has expired.
22:23:20.100 Your auction of Dark Iron Residue has expired.

Questing in Stormwind Citadel:
22:25:07.127 Delivery to Ridgewell completed.
22:25:07.127 Received 2 Gold, 70 Silver.
22:25:07.127 Received item: Swiftfoot Treads.

Standing at the Stormwind Mailbox:
22:28:43.952 You receive item: Dark Iron Residuex100.
22:28:46.697 You receive item: Dark Iron Residuex100.
22:28:49.440 You receive item: Dark Iron Residuex100.
22:28:52.539 You receive item: Dark Iron Scrapsx4.
22:28:53.015 C———— hugs you.
22:29:01.143 C——— hugs C————.
22:29:02.973 You receive item: Core of Elements.
22:29:05.363 You receive item: Core of Elements.
22:29:08.029 You receive item: Core of Elements.
22:29:11.640 You receive item: Core of Elements.
22:29:13.829 You receive item: Core of Elements.
22:29:16.635 You receive item: Core of Elements.
22:29:19.358 You receive item: Pattern: Chimeric Boots.
22:29:22.028 You receive item: Thaumaturgist Staff of Arcane Wrath.
22:29:24.571 You receive item: Righteous Leggings of the Whale.
22:29:26.971 You receive item: Imperial Red Robe.
22:29:29.264 You receive item: Fish Oilx2.

22:29:29.980 C——— waves at C————.

22:29:32.361 You receive item: Tender Crocolisk Meatx8.
22:29:35.500 You receive item: Shiny Fish Scalesx4.
22:29:37.844 You receive item: Thick Murloc Scalex2.

Creating Auctions in Stormwind:
22:30:35.754 Auction created.
22:30:36.571 Auction created.
22:30:37.437 Auction created.
22:30:38.271 Auction created.
22:30:42.214 Auction created.
22:30:52.634 Auction created.
22:30:56.235 Auction created.
22:31:00.681 Auction created.
22:31:05.491 Auction created.
22:31:06.399 Auction created.
22:31:15.728 Auction created.
22:31:19.172 Auction created.
22:31:24.666 Auction created.
22:31:29.599 Auction created.
22:31:32.962 Auction created.
22:31:42.667 Auction created.
22:31:51.952 Auction created.
22:31:59.467 Auction created.
22:32:07.503 Auction created.
22:32:12.497 Auction created.
22:32:15.847 Auction created.
22:32:19.555 Auction created.
22:32:22.687 Auction created.
22:33:00.840 Auction created.
22:33:01.707 Auction created.
22:33:02.491 Auction created.
22:33:06.417 Auction created.

22:33:58.900 Thomas Miller says: Freshly baked bread for sale!

Arcanthus runs off to sleep in the Inn in Stormwind:
22:35:30.938 |Hchannel:1073752542|h[T——]|h Moderation privileges given to (null).
22:35:30.938 |Hchannel:1073752430|h[T——]|h Owner changed to (null).
22:35:30.938 |Hchannel:1073752542|h[L———-]|h Moderation privileges given to (null).
22:35:30.938 |Hchannel:1073752430|h[L———-]|h Owner changed to (null).
22:35:31.134 Not on channel 2.

End chatlog

Yes, I need a life. An hour-and-a-half I can’t get back. Still, it was more enjoyable than a lot of things I could have done, even if it wasn’t as … productive? Meaningful? Useful? Yeah, those.

Still, the Wintergrasp battle (like an earlier one he fought this afternoon afternoon) was frenzied, highly populated and enjoyable. We won both in record time. And Arcanthus managed some feats in Wintergrasp PvP that I never thought he would: He successfully killed seven level 80 Hordies (one more than once): an Undead Demonology Warlock, an Orc Protection Warrior (twice), an Unholy Orc Death Knight, a Troll Frost Mage, a Blood Elf Frost Death Knight, an Undead Shadow Priest, and an Orc Survival Hunter. It was a good night, and he is also only 64 quests away from Loremaster of the Eastern Kingdoms.

Arcanthus Rides a Ram Into a 2009 Wintergrasp Battle

How Arcanthus escapes enraged Hordies who have just lost Wintergrasp.

[caption id=“attachment_114” align=“alignnone” width=“150” caption=“Arcanthus Picnics in the Rain in Stranglethorn”][/caption]

While Arcanthus wastes time camping out in the rain in Stranglethorn, waiting for a quest he skipped over two years ago to spawn, he is inching ever so close to Loremaster; he just needs 65 quests in Eastern Kingdoms and 117 in Kalimdor, down from over 250 each a few days ago. There’s just 14 in Icecrown for Northrend’s Loremaster. We won’t talk about Outland. (269 or so. Ugh.) Still, progress is happening.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, «Serial Ganker» has a fascinating post on greed, morality and self interest in relation to both real life and MMOs. He makes a point I’ve never actually conceptualized: that there are times when acting selflessly is actually in our own self-interest.

“That’s not to say the best decision in terms of self-interest is always the most immoral choice. If someone strongly believes an act is immoral, then acting that way may not be in their best self interest. For that person, the most self-serving act might be the more moral one. An environmentalist isn’t going to suddenly start littering because it’s convenient. In their mind, the cost (pollution) is too high.”

Read it all, it’s well worth it.

If it’s not ants, it’s rain.

Patch 3.3.3 is live, Arcanthus has made progress in Kalimdor (505 out of 700 done in the quest for Loremaster of Kalimdor), and spring is finally here. It’s all good.

[caption id=“attachment_107” align=“alignleft” width=“150” caption=“Arcanthus, the Twilight Dude”][/caption]

Here’s Arcanthus spruced up as a Twilight … something, while doing quests in Silithus in pursuit of the «Loremaster» achievement.

I think it looks kinda spiffy (although the shoulders are outrageous). I’m at about 490 quests for Kalimdor, meaning there’s 210 more to go. Sigh.

With about 150 left in Eastern Kingdoms, this will probably take me until Cataclysm comes out.

Arcanthus, doing Twilight quests in Silithus

Some highly creative and awesome video work here:

« World of Gnomecraft 2.0 ».

By Soosisti – World of Warcraft Movies