Catching up- Pre-MoP Version

Release date YAY's! Mists of Pandaria will be fo'realz on September 25th, if you haven't heard already! So today is a Mists-prep post.

I've had one goal (among many, yes) that I wanted to reach before Mists hit.... to finish leveling Davoss the pally and get him geared up somewhat. I still don't know how far the gearing-up process will get, but I did finally take care of the first part of that!

He had some valor gear already that Lark had bought for him, so that plus some crafted stuff has his ilvl already up to the troll instances, and he's closing in on the Time-roics. I honestly don't know if I'll do much more beyond that, as his gear is a hodge-podge of tanking and DPS stuff, plus the crafted PVP pieces, but I won't have long to worry about it anyway. So, hurray for another goal getting done!

I do still have pet-hunting to do, though I'm debating having Lark buy the Molten Front ones and learn them, since she already has them unlocked and they will be account-wide in Mists anyway. I have been mostly remembering to check for Pebble dailies, and he almost has his little rock buddy, plus the bonus mini-jouster. Also, theoretically I could farm up Argent Tourney pets on Booggah and Taurros, and not have to worry about getting them to Pitch. Hmm, decisions...

Speaking of Hordies, I think next leveling project will be Taurros, even if I have to teach him archaeology and dig/herb his way there. I am NOT going to worry about gearing him, since I doubt I'll have time left to do anything, but I would like to have the old boy ready to head to Pandaria with the rest.

Roebar is one that I'm not worried about leveling. Not that I plan to neglect him, it's just that he's pretty much just an RP character, so what level he is doesn't matter so much. He'll get there someday, but no rush.

Lark is done with raiding now, I let my fellow raiders know last week. It's been fun, and I'm glad I got to see all the current raid content while it was still, well, current, but work and stuff has been beating my tail so much that I've been too tired to concentrate on what I'm doing, so I finally called it quits. The group will be starting up again in Mists, but due to a planned time change, it's not very likely I'll be able to rejoin them. Which doesn't bother me so much; really, if I'm going to be raiding in Mists I'd rather be with the Riders.

Lark's stable needs a couple tweaks before I'll be ready for the new pets I want to tame, and I haven't even started on Booggah's. That's going to be difficult- he has a lot more pets that he's attached to, while Lark had a number that she just didn't click with. I also really need to level Arnen, my human hunter, so he can "inherit" some of Lark's older pets that I may be releasing (such as Pahk the glowbear and her lynx Mischa). Fortunately for me, Arnen, Kaledain, and Khaotic all still have plenty of stable space!

There's a few more odds and ends I want to wrap up, like Alanon's Guardian of Cenarius title and a couple transmog sets. None of those will really bug me if they don't get done, but I'd still like to try.

RP is picking back up again. Roebar and Rheugan are doing a little side venture of their own, which we're going to try and get more people in on. Meanwhile, other people are making Plans that will help get others involved. And it looks like we're going to start a second RP night each week, too!

*   *   *   *   *   *

I've been on the beta quite a bit this week, mostly for the recently re-added pet battles! If you still wanted to be spoiler-free, I wouldn't advise reading past here. XD

I've been doing all my pet venturing with Pitch, since 1) speedy-birdy, 2) he is my pet-collector, and 3) I'm not that interested in leveling him, since I'll have to do it all over again when Mists is live. I've seen some of the questing and stuff on Lark and my others, so it'd be repetitive anyway.

When I copied him to the beta, he didn't have all the pets he has now on live, plus there's a few he seems to be missing as well. I've been busy fighting and taming stuff like a fiend over the last couple days, so he's just re-gotten Stinker and is closing in on the next achievement. I really like being able to name them all myself, and the battles themselves are addicting. I'm already picking which ones are my favorites, and Pitch will be getting them for real ASAP.

My only worry about pet-collecting is finding pets of the same quality as the ones he has on beta. He's picked up a number of "rare" blue-quality (yes, just like the gear) pets, and I'm hoping he can find some again, because I absolutely love some of them. The battle system and pet system are very Pokemon-like, if anyone's wondering, except you are using traps instead of Poke-balls to catch them. And there are also some actual rare pets, that are either only up during certain conditions (like rainy weather, sunshine, etc.) or they just have really long respawn times, like this little guy.

I still need to level up his pets, right now his highest is his core hound pup at level 8, and I'm finding wild pets that are 10+. I don't want to burn myself out on this, though, so I'm not sure how much more effort I'm really going to put into it.

They updated the stag travel form as well, which I love. This is so much better than the plain stag model they started with, don't you think?

And I think that's all I can think of for now. Off to go catch up on my sleep, til next time Happy Hunting!

Blahs

Not much going on, just felt like checking in. Things are quiet after Feathermeet, as people have new jobs starting or are wrapping up vacations. The Gilneas storyline is puttering along, though with Kyraine's player being one of those on vacation, there's not a whole lot we can do.

Meanwhile, I am mostly dinking around on alts. Roebar's nearly at 66, and I've been playing with a few of my non-Feathermoon alts. Lathenil is 20 and has his mount, and Rajast the troll shaman has been moved to Wyrmrest Accord (again, sigh), where he promptly dinged as well.

Mostly, I am just tired right now. My job scheduled me for 6 days straight once we got back from Feathermeet, all early morning shifts. Since our flight back was a bit messed up and we didn't get home until 5 hours after we were supposed to, I didn't really get the recovery time I was hoping for, plus being slightly jet-lagged. And I miss people- this was the first time in ages that sis and I have been able to be around people we like, with similar interests and all, and just hang out and relax. I really wasn't ready to come home when we did.

But enough moping. Besides playing and working, I've also been catching up on my music, and I'm reminded why these guys are still one of my favorites, if not the favorite. For an example, have a track off their next-to-last album:




I've also been reading quite a bit, and sleeping of course, so that just about accounts for all my time currently. Rheugan is still poking around inside my head, and I think I may get some writing done eventually. Oh, and I actually finished another picture!

Rheugan- as a human! *gasp*- with Shaurria of course. I still need to work on drawing people, but considering this is the first one I've done without a reference in ages, I think it could be a lot worse. And at least it gives people an idea of what he looks like, since I don't consider him to look much like the in-game character at all.

I still have a ton of sketches and half-done pictures I need to work on, but I'll get to those eventually.

Til next time, Happy Hunting!

Back from AFK

Feathermeet is over and I am back home.

I miss people already.

Jet lag is no fun.

Work is crazy.

I have another vacation coming up in August. Anyone know how to fast-forward time?

Feathermeet!

Feathermeet was started I-don't-know how long ago by some of the Riders and friends. Everyone meets up and hangs out for an entire weekend, usually with shenanigans ensuing. Sis and I have heard about them since making Feathermoon our "home" server, but we haven't been to one.

...Until now!

Yep, we get to go this year! So, I will be AFK for the next few days as we go get our geek on with the other crazy people from Feathermoon. XD  We'll be back by Tuesday, and maybe by then one of these things that's been poking around in my head will be ready for me to write out. Til then, Happy Hunting!

Rheugan: Four Little Words

Starting my attempt to sort out what's been going through Rheugan's head lately. This is from a good while ago, though I don't really remember exactly when (it was that long ago XD). Basically, it was after the first "warehouse job", shortly after Rheu'd come back from Northrend. On one of our Tuesday nights, Bricu had hinted heavily that Rheu would be welcomed into the Black and Red, although Rheu was so dumbfounded by the offer that it was decided he'd "think on it." This is the result of his thinking. I'd actually started this a while ago, about when this first happened, but I kinda lost my groove and couldn't finish it until now.

More current stuff will soon follow, unless Rheugan decides to shut me out again. >.<

_________________________

What do you want?

It was a simple question really, just four little words. It was also one that he still couldn't answer, although he thought he might be getting closer to it. Alanon insisted that once he could answer it, he would be all but healed. He just had to find that one missing piece of the puzzle.

Shaurria hadn't said anything when he told her he was going to Hyjal, just given him a knowing look. He felt a bit guilty, but he simply couldn't talk to anyone about some things. He had to find the answers himself.

Everything near the flamegate to the Molten Front had cleared out over the last few months. Ragnaros was defeated, his minions now under control, so most "adventurers" had found better things to do. No one was around to notice the gray stormcrow as it flew through the gate. Once on the other side feathers quickly changed to fur, and the shaggy black cat loped past the never-ending conflict at the gate, heading toward the Forlorn Spire.

At the top of the ramp he stopped and looked around. The Cinderweb spiders' numbers had apparently grown, as now they were all over the place. Perfect. Rheugan trotted to the Shadow Wardens' camp just long enough to check in, then he started his hunt.

The spiders were lazy and confident in their power. That just made them easier targets; the first one didn't even bother attacking him until he had made the first move. His claws scraped over its carapace before finding a hold, then his back legs dug in and ripped, and the thing's guts came apart along with some of its shell as it collapsed underneath him. Without another look at it he went after the next. After a few kills, it was easy to just let the cat take over, freeing his mind to start sorting out his current problems.

The most important thing, it seemed, was that he still didn't know where he belonged. Arvoss had given him a place to sleep at night, yes, but that didn't necessarily make it his home. And he felt no more comfortable with the Night elves, with the exception of Shaurria. But where could he go?

A part of him still insisted that he belonged in Gilneas. That part, however, was thankfully growing dimmer.

But did he want to join the Riders? He just didn't know. Tarquin had said that there would be things for him to do that wouldn't involve killing, but was that the answer? He really knew so few of them, and if he joined they would become his family. He was less than comfortable with the thought.

The one thing he kept coming back to was that it would be easier to stay close to Kyraine, but that was a thought he tried not to dwell on. He was fairly certain she didn't have a clue how he felt, but if she ever found out...

The burning of spider poison was a welcome distraction from that thought, and he quickly shifted out to heal himself, then gave himself up again to the cat. He noticed dimly that they had wandered far afield, and he debated heading back in, but the cat immediately let him know its disapproval. He'd been neglecting it, and it was enjoying itself well enough. He let it be without an argument.

The trouble was, he decided, that there were too many options at the moment, and he couldn't figure out which one might be best. Alanon might be able to help him, but the druid had been pressuring him to find the answers himself, so he left that as a last resort. He knew.... well, what? That at least the Riders would pay him? That would be a relief, and perhaps a way to recover some of his pride, but would it be enough? And what if they did ask him to do something he couldn't? He definitely did not want a repeat of the "dwarf incident."

Perhaps... perhaps it would be better to leave things as they were for a little longer. Alanon did say that sometimes things became clearer with time; perhaps it would work on this.

He'd been concentrating so hard that he was surprised when the cat gave him a "nudge." Rheugan stopped and looked around. There were no more spiders in his vicinity, and he abruptly realized how hard he was panting from the exertion. The cat made no protest this time as he headed back to the flamegate.

Back in Hyjal, the sun still shone down brightly, and there was still no one else in view. Rheugan went from cat to human, then sat on the edge of the bluff and stared out over his surroundings. Thinking.