Category Archives: classic wow

I Dreamed A Dream

Most of my favorite hunter armor sets are from TBC (Demon Stalker, Sunwell set, etc.) , but Vanilla had Cryptstalker Armor, and let me tell you, that’s something I’ve long drooled over.  It just looks so neat!  And it turns you into a bug!

BUG!
BUG!

But I’d also acknowledged to myself that it was probably a set I’d never own.  Vanilla Naxx disappeared into the Twisting Nether before it was solo’able (the closest I came was going in there with a group of friends in TBC and still being unable to pass the first trash pull), and with its relaunch for WotLK, the original armor went with it.

But yesterday I found the spaulders on the Black Market Auction House.

I hemmed and hawed for a bit before plunking down 10k gold on it (hey, you make a ton of money in WoD, right?)  I logged in again right before bedtime to discover that I’d been outbid, so I went and made another bid.  I went to bed figuring I’d probably be outbid (again), and in fact forgot about the whole thing entirely until I woke up this morning to a surprise in my mailbox:

CQD5SRNUYAAX89GCryptstalker Spauders are now mine, the first piece of a dream I’ve had since I first saw that set.

It’ll probably take several months to collect the full thing.  I might not even ever complete it.

But ya gotta try, right?

Right!

Flashback Friday: Do You Recall When Leveling Took Forever?

I leveled my first character to max before any of the many assorted nerfs to leveling that inevitably followed.  Do you know how long it took?  Well, let’s just say that I started playing that character in May and I hit the then level-cap of 70 in December.  That’s uh… that’s seven months.  And I was playing quite a bit.

These days, however, leveling is astoundingly easy.  Not only have there been multiple nerfs to the leveling process, but heirlooms and various other things exist to make your grind as quick and painless as possible.  As someone who has been playing this game for years, I’ve gotta say, it’s pretty good.  But sometimes I look back on spending a month just to gain ten levels and I… oh no, who am I kidding, there is basically nothing I miss about that.

"You... you mean I have to spend HOW LONG in Stranglethorn Vale?  And on a PvP server??"
“You… you mean I have to spend HOW LONG in Stranglethorn Vale? And on a PvP server??”

BONUS NOSTALGIA: Remembering the days after Blizzard started to nerf player leveling requirements but didn’t re-tune pet leveling so if you wanted to level more than one pet at once as a hunter you had to sleep outside and forego rested experience.  …what, I can’t possibly be the only person who did that, right?

So yeah.  Old school leveling.  How long did it take YOU to do it?

The Interesting Thing With Exploration In (Old) Azeroth

I recently found myself talking about this in a forum I go to – namely, the really unique sense of exploration that was to be found in this game all those years ago when I was new and the world was young.

Back then, a lot of stuff was blocked off, gated behind walls or doors or what-have-you.  I’m talking about the Timbermaw Fortress in Azshara.  Or old Grim Batol guarded by dragons.  Or the gate to Uldum down in the bottom of Tanaris.  Or the Greymane Wall in Silverpine Forest.  Or Mount Hyjal, which you could barely glimpse through an instance portal in Winterspring.

There was something about all of this stuff that you couldn’t get to.  Something compelling.  Despite the fact that I knew that this stuff wasn’t programmed into the game, it almost felt like it was.  Almost felt like if you could just squeeze through a hole in the wall, you could break in, and discover an amazing new unexplored world ahead of you.  Did anyone else ever get that feeling?  I got it a lot.

Although we went on to get most of those locations actually in game, we did lose the mystery.  Not saying that’s a bad thing, but I kinda like a little mystery sometimes.  And sometimes I kind of miss it.

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It’s Happening: The return of TBC and Wrath DUNGEONS!

Are you a big turbonerdy nostalgia nut like me?  Miss the good ol’ dungeons of TBC and WotLK?

HAS BLIZZARD GOT A PRESENT FOR YOU

HABBEDING
LOOK AT THIS

DO YOU GUYS SEE THIS

look at this listlook at this list

LOOK AT THIS GORRAM LIST

NOW YOU CAN GO BACK AND DO THEM ALL WITHOUT NEEDING AN ALT

Ahem.  Sorry.  Got a little excited there for a minute.

To be fair this entire system isn’t without what I think could possibly be issues:

First of all, apparently this system only exists during “holiday weekends”, like the old Call to Arms PvP quests.  Why?  I don’t know.  Maybe because they want it to be a special thing?  Either way I want my retro dungeons ALL THE TIME, Blizz!

Second, I hope the above list isn’t ALL the dungeons we’re getting.  Basically all of my favorite retro dungeons are missing.  Chief among these are:

  • Mech
  • Underbog
  • Ramparts
  • Sethekk
  • Shadow Labs (yes I went there)
  • Violet Hold
  • Drak’theron
  • Utgarde Keep
  • Culling of Strat

So yeah.  Don’t stop with the ones you’re testing, Blizzard!

Thirdly, I hope they don’t just scale down gear and leave it at that.  Due to the many and often very drastic class mechanics changes that have occurred since TBC and WotLK, I feel like doing that would still overpower most of these instances at level.  Tune them to how they were when they were Heroics, Blizz.  Yes, even Shadow Labs.

But yeah, other than that?

spidey

Shaking the Ol’ Talent Tree

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Whether you’re simply looking to form good diet habits or specifically looking for a healthy diet for weight loss, dietitian Anna Kippen, MS, RDN, LD, offers some basic tips to keep in mind the next time you shop for groceries or order a meal at your favorite restaurant.

1. Don’t go for deprivation over smarter eating

“Just as overeating can spoil your weight loss efforts, so can starving yourself with a rice-cake-and-diet-soda diet,” Kippen says.

Deprivation or yo-yo dieting can in fact eventually slow down your metabolism and increase your risk of chronic disease. Check out the latest exipure real reviews.

Repeatedly gaining and losing weight — called weight cycling — is a common outcome of yo-yo dieting. Weight cycling may be linked to chronic inflammation and can increase your risk of chronic disease.

Whether you’re trying to lose weight or maintain it, don’t deprive yourself of food. You can reduce the amount of food you eat a little if if you choose quality over quantity and follow these next tips. Visit https://www.amny.com/sponsored/exipure-reviews/.

2. Look beyond the number of calories

Eating for a healthy, vigorous life involves more than merely adding up daily calories or points.

“Food is so much more than numbers,” Kippen says. “Your body needs to maintain a certain calorie balance over time to achieve a healthy weight, but that adequate number of calories doesn’t guarantee your body is also getting an adequate amount of nutrition.”

Choose foods based on their nutrient density — meaning foods with valuable calories, packed with plenty of vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein and healthy fats.

Nutrient-rich foods provide the information your cells need to function and may help prevent disease. Best of all, they also make you feel more satisfied!

3. Don’t substitute veggie-based foods for veggies

Don’t fall for the veggie chips, crackers or pasta gaining a presence outside the produce section of your grocery store. At the end of the day, most veggie chips, for example, are a blend of vegetable powder (also called “flour”) with added starch and are comparable to tortilla chips.

If every so often you’re craving veggie chips that will satiate your need for a crunchy snack without regret, check the ingredients first. Try good quality veggie chips made from one or two ingredients only. The actual vegetable and a little salt listed is best, and there are great dehydrated options that don’t have the extra calories or starch of other chips out there. Read more about nucentix keto x3.

“I personally love carrot chips and beet chips because they’re full of flavor and are very satisfying” Kippen says.

Now head to the produce section — and buy real veggies. They provide a rich source of vitamins A, C, potassium, magnesium and fiber (which helps you feel full!) that you won’t find in processed chips. Eating fresh vegetables doesn’t have to be a pain, either.

“Load up on mini vegetables to save on time and effort — baby carrots or mini peppers are great options,” Kippen says. “Just rinse and they’re ready to go. And unlike chips, they’ll keep you full and contribute little to no calories.”

For optimal health, you should incorporate non-starchy vegetables into every meal of your day. Add spinach to a breakfast smoothie or salads to your lunch. For dinner, try cauliflower rice, spaghetti squash or zucchini pasta.

4. Choose whole fruit instead of juice

Fruit drinks are one of the major sources of added sugar in the American diet. They’re higher in sugar than whole fruit, cause a spike in blood sugar and trigger secretion of insulin, the fat-storing hormone. This blood sugar spike is shortly followed by a crash that can lead to exhaustion, brain fog, hunger and sugar cravings. These are the best Exipure reviews.

Fruit juice is also stripped of the fiber found in whole fruits. Fiber is one of four “shortfall nutrients” inadequately consumed in the standard American diet (SAD) and is crucial for a healthy gut and heart.

Instead of fruit juice focus on eating whole fruits such as berries, kiwis and apples.

“A note of caution though, just make sure you don’t overdo your fruit intake,” Kippen says. “While fruit has healthy vitamins, minerals and fiber it does also contain carbs that can spike your blood sugar if you overdo it. Eating a few big slices of watermelon in the summer may end up having more of an impact on your blood sugar than that small piece of chocolate you wanted in the first place,” she says.

5. Limit sugar consumption

Excess sugar intake is a major driver of obesity, type II diabetes and other chronic diseases. One study has linked excess added sugar to an increased risk for death from heart disease.

Well Ain’t That Something?

Hunter/mage vs. Sunwell? You betcha.

I FRAPS’d the whole fight but I figure I won’t toss the video up unless someone asks because it’s fairly uneventful. Honestly Felmyst was the most difficult fight in the entire raid for us to do. Huge props to Mister Adequate for mage’ing it up and finishing her off after I bit the dirt on that encounter.

Now we just need Hyjal and Black Temple and then it’s on to WotLK stuff!

Push it to the Limit

Random blog title has nothing to do with anything!

SSC and Tempest Keep are both down as we continue our two-man runs. My new main is starting to look pretty snazzy now, thanks to transmog.

Tier 5? Tier 5! Just need to get the chestpiece to drop now.

In other news I find it amusing that I now have to tag posts with Burning Crusade content as “classic WoW,” seeing as I invented that tag during Burning Crusade for vanilla stuff.

A Duo

Lately, myself and my other half, one Mister Adequate, have taken to going back to old content and duo’ing it. The twist is that we’re both pure DPS classes (hunter and mage) so we have to make do without heals and that sort of thing.

Some stuff we’ve done so far!

  • Everything left from Vanilla (Molten Core, AQ20/40, and BWL.  That gimmicky first boss of BWL can go step on a lego.)
  • Karazhan; a full clear took like thirty minutes. (Did I mention that Attumen FINALLY dropped that stupid necklace I’ve been wanting since TBC?)
  • Gruuls
  • Mags
  • 10-man Obsidian Sanctum, with all three drakes up.  Juuust barely.
Yes, that’s everyone dead. Boss included.

Things We’ve Tried But Haven’t Cleared Yet:

  • Sunwell Plateau, because the first boss is trolling us

We’re looking forward to doing the other 70 raids as well as giving 10man Naxx a shot.  I’m not sure if that one can be cleared with our hunter/mage setup, due to various gimmicky fights (Razuvious, I’m looking at YOU), but it’s worth a shot, at least.

We’re getting all sorts of fun transmog stuff, anyway, plus mmmm, all that delicious nostalgia.

Anyone else having fun with old content?

Old WoW, New WoW, and Everything In Between

Let’s talk about this game. Who’s been around for a long time? Raise your hand. Ah yes, I see you, and you there in the back. When did you all start playing?

Barring a couple of stints messing around in Vanilla Beta, I started really playing in Patch 2.0.3. Burning Crusade was still shiny and new and a few weeks or so into my entry into Azeroth Patch 2.1.0 happened and it was a big deal. Take a look at some of this stuff:

  • “Replaced the current Mend Pet channel spell with an instant cast heal over time. ”  Yes.  Channeled Mend Pet was a thing at one point.
  • Millions of raids and heroics getting nerfed.  And BC raids and heroics were not terribly easy.
  • Black Temple introduced!  Netherwing Dailies introduced!  Druid Flight Form introduced!
  • “Bonus healing gear will no longer effect Mend Pet.” – This is because hunters were decking themselves out in shaman gear and solo’ing everything, which was hilarious, by the way.
  • “Lightsworn Vindicators outside the Black Temple will no longer attack players who are Hostile with the Aldor. ” – Okay, this is just funny.

Weird to go back in time, isn’t it?  There’s a lot of stuff that I think we forget about old WoW.  We get all nostalgic for the stuff that we liked and then forget about the stuff that we didn’t.  Remember when hunters had three– THREE– stable slots?  Remember when you had to go out and tame new pets in order to learn new abilities to teach your pets?   Remember when mounts and companion pets took up bag space?

Often times when I find myself missing an old expansion pack, what I really miss is the playstyle of a particular class.  I miss the careful manual shot-weaving of Burning Crusade, back before Blizz unhooked shots from auto shots.  And when it came to Druid healing, Wrath of the Lich King was my personal favorite.  And so forth.

I can see why Blizzard doesn’t want to introduce legacy servers and such.  Accessibility wise, the game has done little but improve.  Blizzard doesn’t want to “rewind” and reverse those improvements.  But when you get attached to a certain class or spec’s playstyle and it gets all changed up– that’s what I miss. If you are too looking to try new games, there is a new game that you can play today.

Well, and doing Karazhan at 70.  That was pretty great.

What sorts of things were around in WoW when you started?

Meet My New Friend

That’s Magmadar. Yes, as in that Magmadar.

Solo-tamed him. And yes, I know, he turns into just your average core hound pet once the tame is complete, but there’s something awesome about knowing what he used to be:

A 40-man raid boss.

Can you get much cooler?

…what’s that you say? Taming druids would be cooler?

Way ahead of ya:

Did I mention I’m running Karazhan once a week now? The necklace I’ve wanted from Attumen since Burning Crusade has yet to drop. This and other earth-shattering announcements at eleven.