We're all Ears

Alright, what have I been doing lately? Well, getting back to my obsession with mounts. I'm currently trying to get my rep up with Cenarian Expedition so I get can get my Cenarian War Hippogryph, which you can get from these guys once you are exaulted. So, one of the easiest ways to get rep with these guys if you are already in Northrend is by cutting off the ears of these scuba divers and taking them over the the D.E.H.T.A. (Druids for the Ethical and Humane Treatment of Animals) for a repeatable quest: Ears of Our Enemies. I do think its funny that these druids are all for treating animals ethically, but not scuba divers, well, whatever. As long as I get my Hippogryph.
What's really fun is to live out the last of my Gorilla's glory days. A final tribute to the great gorialladine. We like to pull up to 16 of these guys at a time. And yes, I got a little too eager sometimes and pull too many of them at times. Mungula wasn't too happy about that seeing that he died and me to. I guess 20 guys even at level 70 are just too many. Anyway, good times, I only need about 300 more ears to get my rep up. That may sound like a lot, but when you are pulling groups of 15-17 at a time, its really not that bad.

Level 80!!!!

Last night Kydra and I finally hit level 80!!!! Here are the screen shots to prove it.


I think we may be some of the last people who actual reached level 80 (even though we were 70 before the WotLK came out).

By the way, thanks to all who suggested mods to take the screen shot, I ended up going with Multishot (suggested by Anea). This is a great little mod that takes a screen shot when ever you hit a new level, down a boss, or get a new achievement. I would suggest that if you know you are about to down a boss that you try to position your screen so you can actually see the boss downed or at least angle it to show your better side. Here's a shot it took when we finished Culling the Strat:


So, now what to do, what to do? I thought I would get back with my obsession with mounts and get my hippogryph by getting my Cenarian Expedition Rep up. I need to also get my Chopper which means I need to get off my arss and get my engineering finally leveled. Oh yes, and the many heroics that need to be done. Oh and I could work on my DK who is currently level 71. So much to do now, so little time.

Any other suggests as to what I should do now? Go to disneyland or something? Any suggestions for a new dps pet?

Random Ramblings

So, I've finally dinged 79 recently. Now I'm in the last stretch to 80 (fans gather in eager anticipation). My brother all ready pretty much has a schedule laid out for us once we hit 80 of heroics gearing up for Nax. I have been pretty much clueless as y'all talk about this raid and that. I honestly haven't done that much research in the matter, partly because I want it to be new (to me at least) and also because... well, because of boredom. Not that raiding is boring, but to read about raiding that you aren't able to do as of yet, yeah that's a little much.

Oh, we did AQ40 last night in a pug. I got 2 new mounts out of it (even if I can only use them for AQ, at least they count towards the achievement). I'm up to 62 mounts now, still need 38 for the Mountain of Mounts achievement. I still have a lot of huntering to do for that.

I've noticed that the google searches that make their way here are mostly about hunters. I haven't written too much on huntering as of late. I should get back to that a little more. I probably will when I'm level 80. I did get one google search that found me by searching for "casual bobs". Well, you found one, although I'm not sure sure what that entails. Maybe it could be a title for some future achievement. Casual Bob Aoirselvar the Brave. Hmm, I'll have to think on that, its kind of catchy.

I've been Tagged

I've been tagged...

I got tagged by Brajana from Mend Pet where I get to answer questions from my main characters perspective.

So, here is goes.

What is your name and where did it come from?

My main character's name is Aoirselvar. Where did I come up with the name? Honestly I think I just used the random name button when rolling the toon. The name since then has given me quite a bit of grief from my guildies. My guild leader keeps telling me to get a name change, one guildie even said that he'd finance it. But I couldn't do it. Once I figured out a way to pronounce it that is.

("A"(as in the letter)-"Your"-"cell"-var(rhymes with car)).

I'd write it out in IPA (international Phonemic Alphabet), but I don't have access to all the symbols here. Most people find it easier to just call me bob though.

How old are you and what is your birthday?

Gosh, I've never thought about that. I don't know how old Dwarfs get. Technically he was born in August of 2006 when I rolled the toon (which means he's turning 3 this year). In terms of the game, well. He's in the equivalent of his late 20's (whatever that is in Dwarf years). And his birthday? Sad, I don't have a back story to my main (that's what happens on non-RP servers). Lets say his birthday is August 26th.

Are you in love and with whom?

This is easy, my toon fell in love with a human mage named Kydra (my wife's toon). Right now they are still dating (questing?). I guess dates in Azeroth consist of killing stuff together. So, we're currently killing stuff together.

What is your favorite mount and why?

I really like the engineering mounts, I have my flying machine and I like the gnome mechostriders (especially the yellow one). I'm currently working on making the Mechano-Hog but I still have to level my engineering, farm a million different mats, and get my rep up with Alliance Vanguard. That's still a ways off. But I also love my drakes, I have the nether drakes and the albino drake. Oh, the the red nether ray is pretty cool looking as well.

Do you prefer a certain type of Azerothian meal and where do you get it from?

Definately the ice cream from the the salt flats that you have to get your orphan during children's week. I'm a sucker for ice cream IRL as well.

You know those giant mushrooms in Zangarmarsh? What is your theory on how they came to be and why are they so huge?

Too much mositure I suppose. It happens in my front yard too (although their not quite so large).

If you saw the Lich King walking toward you, what would you do?

Depending on my mood? I would do one of two things, either run in with Mungula and go ape sh1t (and die really quickly) or play possom and leave my pet in a lurch (what a crappy pet owner - either way my pet dies, sad).


These people I'm tagging may have already been tagged, but oh well, I'm tagging them again if that's the case: Jezriyah, Faulsey, and Brigwyn. So, get to it already, lol.

Random Comments on Patch notes 3.1

Lots of new crazy interesting stuff coming out with patch 3.1. I highlighted a few of the hunter changes, but mostly stuck to the BM hunter stuff.

Highlighted Changes to Hunter Glyphs (the ones I choose to comment on anyway):

Glyph - Aimed Shot -- Reduces the cooldown of your Aimed Shot ability by 2 sec. (Old: Reduces the mana cost of your aimed shot ability by 20%)

Why?? well, I guess I didn't use this one anyway. That extra mana reduction was so nice before, especially when the reduction done with the hunter nerf.

Glyph of Snake Trap -- Snakes generated by your Snake Trap take 90% reduced damge from area of effect spells. (Old: Your Snake Trap creates 2 additional snakes)

I think mage AoE will still probably be able to take them out easily, but not as easily as before, this would be better for PvP I think (I could be wrong). Those darn pesky buggers.

Glyph of Explosive Trap *new* -- The periodic damage from your Explosive Trap can now be critical strikes.

Oooo, that's nice if you are an SV hunter.

More hunter changes (or at least those that I choose to comment on):

*New Skill* Call Stabled Pet - A pet of your choice busts out of its stable and joins you no matter where you are, replacing your current pet. Cannot be used in combat. Instant. 30 min cooldown. Requires Level 80.

Yay!!! 30 min cooldown isn't bad at all. The hinted to it being a lot worse. Boo on the level 80 requirement.

Improved Aspect of the Hawk now has a new spell effect.

What? What is it??? New spell effect, ah, too bad I don't have enough time to get on the PTR. Does anybody know what this is?

Duel Specing:

Characters level 40 and up may now use the dual-spec system.

So they decided to lower the level to be able to do this to level 40? That's cool, it'll help leveling (group vs solo) big time. So, you can level as a shadow priest, but still group holy. Not so bad I think. I'll like this for my DK, yes I will. I like unholy spec (because I like having a pet - and its been fun up to this point), but then I could switch over to frost easy enough to tank if someone needs it. That's nice

The cost to activate the ability is 1000 gold.

This was expected, a good money sink for the economy. I'm glad its not like 5000 gold or anything.

The ability no longer requires a Lexicon of Power.

This is nice for everybody, but those who thought they could make money with inscription. I don't have inscription, so good news to me, I wouldn't hold my breath though.

Switching specs has a 5-second cast time. It may not be used in combat, or in battlegrounds or arenas.

Fair enough, I still like the fact that you don't have to go to a capital city to do this.

There is no cooldown on switching specs.

Nice. That makes me happy.

New mounts:

Aquatic Riding Ray

- aquatic ray??? oh cool, now if you could make it so you don't have to breath while riding it. With something like this coming I just got my mind thinking about a whole expansion based on water. That would be soooo cool. Again, as long as they made an improved scuba helmet or gave somekind of buff or something so everybody doesn't drown. And also, if they bring Jar jar binks into the game with something like this??? /quit, I'm pretty confident that blizzard wouldn't do something so stupid.

"Mimiron's Head - Summons and dismisses a rideable mechanical gnome head. This is a very fast construction. This construction can only be summoned in Outland or Northrend."

Okay this is kind of creepy, a mechanical gnomes head??? As long as we don't make this a trend and started making other gnome body part mounts. Who came up with this idea anyway???

New Vanity Pets:

Lots of new cool pets, woot!! I know I only have 40 pets and I am not even close to being obsessed compared to some, but I'm so glad that more pets are being introduced. Woot! Here are a few of the pets that are coming out: Durotar Scorpion, Teldrassil Sproutling, Alarming Clockbot (that would be so cool if you could set this thing to remind you of something, lol), Enchanted Broom (a little reminiscent of Mickey Mouse from Fantasia if you ask me), Gorloc Orphan/Wolvar Orphan (yeah, this means they are adding northrend children's week quests - I suppose we didn't really think they weren't, right?), Sen'jin Fetish (I don't even know what the heck that's going to be), and last, but not least the Plump Turkey - don't pull him out during November.

Current Projects in WoW

Just thought I'd quickly say what I'm doing in the game these days. I have 3 main projects. The first one is to level to 80 (yes I'm not level 80 yet). I know only work on leveling my main (my dwarf hunter) when my wife is playing. So, we're doing pretty good, we're both level 78 now... plugging along.

When I'm not playing with my wife I have two projects going. I'm trying to level my DeathKnight alt as a farming alt. At least that was the idea initially. I'm finding myself really enjoying the DK class. I speced unholy so that I could have a pet. The ghoul might not be as lovable as Mungula my Gorilla, but its comforting to have someone to hang out with, even if it stinks from decay.

My other project is the one everybody else has, to make money. Right now I really want to get enough gold to help fund my wife's epic flying training. When you haven't had an epic flying mount you don't know what you are missing, but when you have had one, you don't ever want to go back.

I'm still obcessed with mounts (I'm up to 60 now) and vanity pets (up to 40). I still have a lot of mounts to get, but there all going to take some work and/or luck. And I just need to get off my butt and look up which vanity pets I'm missing. Oh, and whenever there is a holiday I also get obcessed with that.

I'm still not raiding, so when I hear all of your talk about this 10 man or that 25 man in twitter or on the podcasts I'm pretty confused cause I have no idea what you are talking about. Pretty sad I know, but thus is life.

Anyway, what are your current WoW projects?

Cold Weather Flying - Here we come!

Finally!!! I get to fly again. No more do I have to sneak over to the Outlands to mount up and fly about. I got my cold weather training last night and I can start breaking out my epic flying mounts. Now I need to farm like crazy to help get Kydra her epic flying training. I care a lot more than she does. But she hasn't yet experienced the epicness of epic flying (maybe should have used a different adjective, getting a little redundant).

So, I'm up to 54 mounts right now, I just found out from twitter friends that I could buy all the nether drakes. I thought I only got my free one. So, I'm going to do that once I get my money up. Why would I want to do that seeing how I already have my 50 mount achievement (Leading the Cavalry). Well, I don't have a good answer for that. It is really fun to use a random mount add on (I use Mountiful) and you never know what mount you'll use. Many people in the guild (including my brother) think I'm a little silly with my obsession with mounts. They're probably (most likely) right. I got him convinced that its what I like to do when I'm not leveling with my wife, but truthfully, I would do it anyway.

I just like to collect things I suppose. When I was in high school I was really into collectible Star Wars cards. I spent hundreds of dollars on those stupid things, and now they are just collecting dust. When I was even younger I collected pennies. I have several Indian head ones and one that goes all the way back to the 1880's. Wow, information you probably don't care about. But what do you collect?

I really like getting vanity pets as well, but I've been lazy about doing that lately. I'm still at 39 vanity pets. Need 11 more to get my skunk. Wouldn't want that for a mount, that's for sure.

Mount up... Randomly

So, if you like to randomly pop up on one of your mounts then here are a couple of things you can do:

Here is a link to a great macro that will work from, but it needs some explanation from the place I got the macro at Less QQ, More PewPew.

#showtooltip Swift Red Wind Rider
/run if IsMounted() then Dismount() return end local t if IsFlyableArea() then t={7} else t={1,2,5,6,8} end CallCompanion("MOUNT",t[random(#t)])
/dismount [mounted]

However, if you have over 50 mounts, even if the macro is using numbers instead of full mount names, a macro still can't be long enough to truly be random for all of your mounts. At this point I went to look for an Addon that can do it for me. And i found Mountiful. This addon will let you preselect which mounts you would like to randomly select from and it will know if you can be on a flying mount or if you can't. It also has a feature that will act like a safeguard, not allowing you to accidentally dismount midair. One more thing it will let you randomly pull out one of your vanity pets (but I don't use that feature, I use an addon called Minipet for that.

50 mount achievement, finally!

I finally got my 50 mount achievement. The darn gnome rep was a pain to get, but we finally got it. Runecloth was cheap yesterday, and I farmed Runecloth in some old school instances.

My random mount macro dosen't work when you have more than 50 mounts apparently. If you have fewer its great. You can find it at this link From Less QQ More PewPew. I've heard rummors from the instance about a random mount mod, so I'll have to go find that.

By the way, the albino mount was worth all the work. I really want to get my hands on a proto drake now.

too poor for epicly uber mounts

Well, I'm kind of stagnant at lvl 72 right now. This weekend was too busy to play (BYU vs UofU football game, family thanksgiving dinner, etc etc). I did buy myself an Armored Bear Mount which doesn't do anything that special and only cost like 700 gold or so. But in my casual pathetic attempt to get every mount in the game I had to do it sooner or later. I don't know if I'll ever be able to get the Mammoth /cry. Too poor, 20k gold, it took me like a month to come up with 5k gold for my epic flying training (that was before the days of 25 dailies per day though). Maybe I should worry more about leveling before I focus so much on trying to get the gold for these mounts.

BTW, is there a flying mount that takes passengers? It seems like a gnome flying machine would be perfect for the job. I guess I should stop being lazy and find out myself.

On a complete different random subject, I've been finding myself wanting to do RPing more and more, but all of my family on friends are on a regular server. Should I just roll a toon on a RP server? I hate having to start from scratch, but then if its all about RPing then maybe it wouldn't be a big deal (because its all about the story anyway, right?). Well, maybe I should stop rambling and get to work since I'm at work.