Tag Archives: mounts

Got Myself a Little Present

Sleep

Sleep offers the body and brain time to restore and recover, affecting nearly every tissue in the body. According to the National Sleep Foundation, most adults need at least 7 to 9 hours of sleep21, yet almost one third of Americans are getting less than 6 hours per night22. Sleep deprivation increases the risk of health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Prolonged sleep deprivation can also affect concentration and other cognitive functions. Learn more about
Alpilean healthy benefits.

Without enough sleep, people tend to overeat and choose unhealthy foods. Sleep deprivation affects the body’s release of ghrelin and leptin, two neurotransmitters that tell our brain when to consume calories23. People who are sleep deprived are more drawn towards high-calorie foods24. Chronic sleep loss has been linked to having a larger waist circumference25, and an increased risk of obesity26. This is the best fat burner.

Sleep allows muscle tissue time to recover between workouts. Sufficient sleep is also important in having the energy to exercise. Not getting enough sleep can lead to being less physically active during the day and reduced muscle strength27 during workouts. Sleep deprivation can also affect the safety of exercise28, with increased sports injuries reported in those who are underslept. This is how Java burn works.

Which is Most Important: Diet, Exercise, or Sleep?

While trying to manage a busy, hectic life, it’s understandable to want to prioritize activities that provide the most benefit. Unfortunately, diet, exercise, and sleep are so deeply intertwined, it’s not possible to say that one is more important than the others.

For people who are tight on time or aren’t able to tackle all three, it can be helpful to talk to a doctor for personalized recommendations. A doctor, with knowledge about someone’s unique health history, can help to prioritize lifestyle changes. Doctors can also refer their patients to specialists, like nutritionists, dieticians, physical therapists, and sleep specialists for more tailored advice.

Improving Sleep Through Diet and Exercise

While most people know that diet and exercise are two important ways to improve their health, sleep is often overlooked. Sleep hygiene, which involves recommendations that promote quality sleep, are a good place to start if you’re looking to improve your sleep. Here are some tips for improving your sleep hygiene through diet and exercise:

  • Don’t eat too late: Be sure to give your body time to digest after eating large meals. Try having dinner earlier in the evening.
  • Avoid caffeine: Beware of stimulants like coffee, energy drinks, and soda. If you do consume these, try to limit them to early in the day. If you find yourself drinking a lot of caffeine during the day, ask yourself if you’re making up for excessive daytime sleepiness.
  • Move your body: Schedule regular exercise to improve your sleep. While any movement during the daytime is good, it’s even better to get regular, moderate exercise a few days a week. Try to avoid working out too close to bedtime, giving your body a few hours after working out to wind down before bed.
  • Get some light: Try exercising outdoors, as exposure to natural light during the day can help keep your body in sync with its natural sleep rhythms.

Twas The Night Before Flying And All Through the Server…

…Pike was running around in maximum fervor
Because suddenly she remembered she wanted to fly
So best run around now so she can take to the sky

I’ve got another forty-ish treasures to nab and I’ve got to hit Revered with my last faction, which is Order of the Awakened.  That should happen either today or tomorrow, so I’m not terribly stressed about that bit.  But this treasure hunt, sheesh.  Don’t you think all this busywork was a bit much, Blizzard?

Are YOU ready for flying tomorrow?

You Wanna Know The #1 Thing I Miss About Playing Alliance?

Mechanostriders.

300px-MechanostridersYup.

Bar none the best mount in the game, and Horde can’t get a single one.  Not as a rare drop (a la the ZG raptor/panther or Kael’thas’ hawkstrider) or anything.  Nope.  We just do not get mechanostriders.

Why, Blizzard?  Why must you torment me so?  I recall so many days spent farming the Argent Tournament dailies specifically to get the greatest of all mounts, the glorious Gnomeregan Mechanostrider.  And now I never even see it anymore.  Guess that’s what I get for being a filthy faction-switcher.

Maybe someday all my dreams will come true.  Maybe someday us Hordies will have access to that most glorious of High Tinker Mekkatorque’s inventions, the marvelous, magnificent mechanostrider.

Until then I’ll just sit over here dreaming.  /sigh

Attumen Promised Me a Pony

I was just in for the music scroll and possibly a pet from Curator but I’m not gonna complain about this one.

WoWScrnShot_022515_124435

(Disregard the pumpkin on my head, I kind of misclicked when I was trying to garrison hearth)

For the record I can down all bosses from Attumen -> Curator in sub eleven minutes.  Probably a good five of those minutes are waiting around doing nothing during Opera and Nightbane.

Back in my day it would take eleven minutes for everyone to get buffed up before the first pull! /waves cane around

Thunder Bluff is a Pain to Grind Rep For

Between a really big questline in Mulgore that ended up being available to Tauren-only, and a further long questline in Winterspring that used to give Thunder Bluff rep but no longer does because it was opened up to both factions, this one was a toughy and I resorted to buying about 40 stacks of Runecloth to slog through the final stretch.

But at long last, my inner RP geek is satisfied on yet another character!

AlthalorKodo

I keep thinking “So, about that ‘of Thunder Bluff’ title that I can get at the Argent Tournament,” and then chastising myself with “WHOA THERE PIKE, one level at a time.”

An Even Larger aMOUNT

A sequel to yesterday’s post about Tawyn’s mounts, here are Lunapike’s:

GrayKodo

This was her first, your standard Gray Kodo. She got it at level 40– she would be my last character to get a mount at 40 because after that the level for mounts would change (my druid was 38 or something, though.) Anyways, Lunapike is one of my few characters who I didn’t strive for a cross-racial mount from the beginning with– I really liked Tauren and I liked Lunapike being a Taureny Tauren with a Kodo.

His name is Rocky. :3

Gotta admit though, the whole bulkiness of Kodos sorta bugged me, so I made a lot of effort throughout levels 51-60 so I could snag…

FrostwolfHowler

My Frostwolf Howler! (Named Snowball)

It actually wasn’t so bad to save up the Alterac Valley marks for him. See, back in those days, Horde on that battlegroup won 99.99% of 51-60 bracket AVs and it was epic and hilarious and there was actually TEAMWORK and people actually DEFENDED AND RECAPTURED TOWERS. An unheard of concept, I know.

I went back there the other day and it had completely changed for the worse, I was depressed. But meh. That’s another story. >.>

So anyways, I hit level 65ish and got to Nagrand. I gotta say, this is a zone that I much prefer on Horde than on Alliance. Better questlines, better rep factions (Mag’har for the WIN), the whole thing with Thrall, you name it.

WhiteWarTalbuk

So combine my love of the Mag’har with my newfound idea that Nagrand should be Lunapike’s home away from home, and my further desire to get the “Diplomat” title for her, and the Talbuk was a given. This didn’t happen until 70 but man, grinding on those ogres was a great way to level pets. I picked the White War Talbuk because it was the best-looking to me at first glance with those bright blue horns, but later I picked up two others…

CobaltRidingTalbuk

Cobalt Riding Talbuk, and

SilverWarTalbuk

Silver War Talbuk!

I have come to see both of these mounts as probably being better looking than my first one, and I gotta say, I think Silver War Talbuk is possibly my favorite of all of them. The colors are subtle, but absolutely gorgeous. <3 Now one of the great things about being Horde is that as a rule, the racial mounts are all Made of Win. Contrast this with Alliance where Mechanostriders and Horses are pretty much the only mounts that I like. Rams are meh, Elekks are awesome if you're a gnome but are otherwise meh, and the Cats are just No. Horde is a different story though, and I've spent the last month-ish working on getting exalted with all the home cities so I could obtain lots of different mounts... SwiftOliveRaptor

I. Love. Raptors. I’m sure most of you figured this out by now. So, the Raptor mount was a given. I allllmost got the teal-colored one but decided I liked the color scheme on this one instead. I’m glad I got him, I <3 him to death. He needs a good name, methinks. (Before you ask, I do kind of want the Ravasaur, but I’m in no rush… and half the Hordies on my server have it anyway. =P)

OchreSkeletalWarhorse

I used to be only a “semi-fan” of the Undead horse, as in, I thought they looked cool from a distance but I couldn’t envision myself with one. Then they started coming out with the new colors that have the stripes and everything on the skirt and I decided I needed one. Very happy with my decision thus far; he leaves a glowy trail behind him and Lunapike looks very good on him. (I have come to the decision that while the male tauren tend to look funny on smaller mounts, female tauren often look fantastic on them! <3) SwiftGreenHawkstrider

Hawkstriders are hilarious and remind me of Chocobos, so I snagged one, but since then I’ve wondered if it’s the right choice. Lunapike really does look silly on it, and it does this weird thing where it bounces up and down and your character just lurches up and down and up and down and up and down… oddly enough, I never felt that way with the raptor, perhaps because I’m so focused on watching the undulating tail, but yeah, this one is different.

I’m still using it for the time being though… >.> Cause it’s a chocobo.

Flying Mount the First:

GreenWindRider

And Flying Mount the Second:

ArmoredBlueWindRider

I think Wind Riders are cute; I love the way their ears bounce up and down when they run. I also like the blue and violet color scheme on the Armored one, which is why I dumped 1800g on it instead of getting a normal swift mount for much cheaper. I actually bought it before I had the swift flight skill and it sat in my bags for a really long time.

All told, 5000g for flying + 1800g for the mount + 1000g for Northrend flight = Very broke Pike. Thank the Earthmother for the Argent Tournament and crossfaction minipets.

Welp, that’ll do it. You may be asking “WHAT ABOUT YOUR DRUID, ISN’T SHE LEVEL 80 TOO?” And she is, but she doesn’t have too many interesting mounts. Between Swift Flight Form and Travel Form, she isn’t mounted very often anyway. She just uses the Swift Gray Ram at the moment, primarily because it Isn’t A Cat. She may get my Recruit-a-Friend Zebra. We’ll see.

As for my lower-level characters who are primarily working on getting cross-racial mounts… well… perhaps a post about that one in the future. *nods*

But yus, there ya have it. Okay, back in the bus, field trip’s over~!

A Very Large aMOUNT

I like mounts. Not quite to the point of obsession as the people who must obtain every mount in the game, but I’ve collected a decent little number of ones that I really like.

Most of my mounts in the “early levels” have some sort of roleplaying reason to them. In my mind, being a relatively low-level character with a mount of a different race makes a great strong-yet-subtle statement about your character. I have done this on multiple characters and it never gets old (although, as Blizzard lowers the required mount level, it does become more difficult to do.)

Unfortunately, in the higher-levels, Blizzard really pushes you to become exalted with everybody thanks to achievements, the Argent Tournament, etc. so the uniqueness of having a cross-racial mount sorta fades away. For that reason, once one of my characters hits 70 or 80 or so, I typically start branching out and riding what I just plain feel like riding.

Come with me on a field trip and check out the stable of my two most played characters, Tawyn and Lunapike…

Tawyn:

ChestnutMare

The Chestnut Mare was my Very First Mount ever. Ever. Remember, Tawyn was my first character (and yes, still my main), so yeah. Let me take you back to a time when you didn’t get mounts until level 40 and before the Great Leveling Nerf of Patch 2.3. Let me take you back to a time when I spent what felt like eons Aspect-of-the-Cheetah-ing my way up and down Stranglethorn Vale. Getting a mount was a Big Deal. My boyfriend and I rode up and down the entire southern half of Eastern Kingdoms just cause we could.

I named my new horse Buckles.

SwiftPalomino

I spent days farming Briarthorn and Swiftthistle for the 600 gold you needed for your epic at that time. This is an absolutely gorgeous mount… I still think so. His name is Chip!

GoldenGryphon

Of the three available gryphons, I picked the Golden Gryphon for two reasons. The first was that I reasoned that as Tawyn lived in Stormwind, she would probably ride your plain ol’ Stormwind-looking gryphon. The second is that eeeeeeeeeeverybody had either the black or white variants and I wanted to be unique. I’m silly like that.

His name is Feathers. I’m super creative. /cough

SwiftGreenGryphon

Saving up the 5000g for this guy was one of the most painful things I ever did. It was accomplished by spending several weeks living at The Island of Quel’danas and it was horrible. The only way I was able to do it was with the encouragement of (and a couple of financial boosts from) my friends and then-guildies. It was worth it though; being able to zip around so swiftly and not have to worry about flight points was an Azerothian Dream-Come-True.

I actually don’t think I ever settled on a name for him. In a way, I think I still consider him to be Feathers, but in Armor. He’s a good-lookin’ bird.

RedDrake

…of course, when Wrath of the Lich King came out, I soon upgraded to a dragon. The Red Drake in specific. I wanted him pretty much immediately after doing that quest where you fly around Wyrmrest Temple and fireball stuff from dragonback, and for weeks I did Wyrmrest Accord dailies and wore the tabard. I finally hit exalted and nabbed him on my birthday. It was an awesome present for myself.

His name is Spirakistrasz but Tawyn calls him “Sparks” for short. He doesn’t mind. He is capable of turning into a blood elf form *SNEEZES LOUDLY* uh, did I say something?

WhitePolarBearMount

I got this guy around the same time, after a few days of absentmindedly doing Brunnhildar dailies. At the time, he was bugged, and was tiny compared to all other bear mounts. It was absolutely hilarious. I proudly rode my BabyBear all over the place until they buffed him back up to normal size in the next patch. Now he doesn’t get out much, but I still like him.

I never really “named” him but I kinda want to call him Iorek Byrnison BECAUSE HE TOTALLY LOOKS LIKE HIM! Don’t you think? Or how I envision him anyway.

(While we’re on the subject, it feels thoroughly awesome to ride around on Iorek Byrnison with a hunter pet for a dæmon and a Haunted Memento for a Death.)

BronzeDrake

It took me longer to get this than it did for most people, mostly because of my own inability to find a group for the timed run. Once I did nab him, he quickly became my flying mount of choice: he’s such a lovely color. I never came up with a good name for him, though, which sort of makes me feel bad.

He has lately been semi-retired in favor of another mount which I shall speak of shortly, partially because it was starting to feel like everyone in the world was using the Bronze Drake and partially because I was just feeling like something different.

CenarionWarHippogryph

…and this is my current flyer of choice, the Cenarion War Hippogryph. I’ve wanted it for a while now… yes, this is a mount that has been around since Burning Crusade… but despite being exalted with Cenarion Expedition since forever thanks to all the heroics I ran, I never could justify dropping the 1600g on him. But money is a lot less painful to make now than it was then, so I was able to talk myself into doing it a few weeks back. These guys aren’t seen that often, since many of the people who had it originally have moved onto new mounts and many other people didn’t have their current 80 for Burning Crusade and thus don’t have the rep– so he is pretty rare– but the best part is that he’s gorgeous =D

I still need a name for him. It’s gotta be something celestial sounding, I know that.

*movie announcer voice* And now, the Mechanostrider Army:

BlackBattlestrider

Black Battlestrider

SwiftGreenMechanostrider

Swift Green Mechanostrider

GnomereganMechanostrider

And my latest pride and joy, the Gnomeregan Mechanostrider. I have this weird thing for orange-and-purple. I think it goes back to my Neopets days when I was a huge Kreludor fan during the Altador Cup. (Actually I still am. Don’t tell anyone.)

My current mount macro cycles through my three Mechanostriders at random, and uses my Hippogryph when I can fly. I <3 my mounts!

Well, I was going to delve into Lunapike’s mounts here, but now that I look at it she has just as many mounts as Tawyn does and it would make this already long article rather obscenely long, so you’ll just have to wait until the next post. So our Field Trip is on a brief hiatus.

Until then, don’t touch the Magic School Bus*. He’s a bit… unpredictable.

* [Magic School Bus] = Summons and dismisses a rideable Magic School Bus and a lizard companion pet. This is a very fast mount that is capable of traveling into space and inside a targeted player’s digestive system.

Of Guns and Robotics – Why I Like All The Things Lots Of You Don't

One thing I’ve noticed lately is that I usually get confused and curious comments or Twitter messages when I mention that guns are by far my favorite type of ranged weapon, or that I am obsessed with Mechanostriders, or that I like gnomes and goblins. And because curiosity is typically a good thing, I am here to reward that curiosity with answers! *nods*

Okay, first, let’s go back to the basics. I believe I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll mention it again because it’s relevant: I’ve always been more of a sci-fi person than a fantasy person. When I was a kid, I found aliens and spaceships and androids to be much more interesting than more abstract concepts like elves and dwarves. I shoved various fantasy films and cartoons aside in favor of Star Trek or Star Wars, which never bored me, despite the fact that I’d seen the various movies enough times that I could quote entire scenes verbatim.

As I grew older, I finally started to sort of grasp and appreciate fantasy much more than I had in the past, but that longstanding love for sci-fi has really stuck with me.

As such, I really REALLY like anything involving robots, steampunk, rube goldberg devices, mechas, crazy machines, airships, flashing lights, and any sort of otherwise otherworldly and machiney contraptions.

One of the awesome things about WoW and the Warcraft world is that Blizzard isn’t afraid to occasionally toss all those awesome things into their games. Sure, I was always the girl who preferred StarCraft to WarCraft back when they were strictly RTS games (go figure), but even the WarCraft games had glaive throwers and flying machines and all sorts of fun stuff. So I’m naturally drawn to all that stuff (and by extension, to gnomes and goblins).

Anyways, this fangirlishness of mine has manifest itself today in the form of showering my characters with all sorts of fun contraptions:

MechanoTawyn1

I’m not sure if it’s quite possible for me to express the awesomeness of having a mechanical mount and a mechanical minipet. I have actually started collecting Mechanostriders in various colors and while I love all minipets, the robotic ones (such as Clockwork Rocket Bot) are my favorites. The particular set you see here; the Gnomeregan Mechanostrider and the Mechanopeep, cost 140 Champion’s Seals all told. That’s a lot of dailies. And you know what? It was totally worth it.

I love the way Mechanostriders appear to have so much personality for being a machine (I am a sucker for that sort of thing), but recently I discovered that they have tail-lights, and my Fangirly Squee reached new heights:

MechanoTawyn2

Tail-lights. On my mount. Tell me that’s not awesome.

Now let’s move along to guns. Truthfully, there are sort of a myriad of reasons why my various hunters tend to gravitate towards guns instead of bows/crossbows, the major ones among them being a.) roleplaying (Tawyn has close ties with the Dwarven District of Stormwind, for example), and b.) Me being shallow (Male blood elf + gun = drool)

Largely, though, it all goes back to phasers and light-pistols and tricorders and things that go PEWPEWPEW very loudly and with lots of flashy lights. It reminds me of Trek and Star Wars and those warm, cozy, and oh-so-fun childhood memories of watching the good guys triumph with their little laser guns in hand. (Well, and lightsabers, but that’s what glowy stat-sticks are for.) I want my made-up hero to be like that too. So gimme guns, baby.

Now I know what you might be thinking. You might be thinking, “Pike, are you seriously going to pass up a ranged weapon upgrade just because it isn’t a gun?”

The correct answer is: no, of course not. I only saw Arrowsong drop once, ever. But I rolled on it so fast your head woulda spun. I lost, but you know. Back in Burning Crusade I replaced the sexiest ranged weapon of all time, Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle, with The Choco-Bow as soon as I had the badges. I am, afterall, a hunter. I’ll take any good ranged weapon.

…but that doesn’t mean having a gun gives me a little thrill and makes me happy in a dorky way.

I used Nesingwary 4000 for a very very long time. I love that weapon. It looks absolutely gorgeous. I think it’ll stay in my bank for time and all eternity (alongside Wolfslayer). The other day, the new gun from Trial of the Champion dropped. I waffled on taking it for a bit because the stats alone weren’t super hot, but in the end, it’s enough of a white damage increase that I’m pretty sure it is an overall upgrade. It’s not quite as pretty as Nesingwary, but I like it; it’s a very handsome weapon in its own right.

TawynsNewGun

…and it’s a gun. *squee*

I’m loving Ulduar so far. Guys, it’s full of robots and vehicles that chuck bombs at people. HOW IS THIS NOT AWESOME? (Hint: It is, in fact, extremely awesome.)

Okay, I’m done fangirling. Just figured I’d explain some possibly odd little obsessions of mine. Carry on now…