Noble anyone?

This year's Noble Garden came and went rather quickly, or it felt that way. The first couple of days, eggs were hard to come to by. Holidays always seem to bring the worst out in people, and in the game of World of Warcraft, this is no different.

Of all of the achievements for the title, I think putting bunny ears on various level 18 (gg Blizz because we can't cheat now) females was probably the most challenging. The annoying cool down on the Spring Flowers meant that even if you found the female race you were seeking, you may miss your opportunity as someone else dashed over and put bunny ears on your target.

By the end of the holiday, things had calmed down quite allot. I managed to secure this title on my lowly paladin, Holygoatgirl the Noble. It has quite a distinct ring to it, eh? (LOL) What about you, readers? Did you successfully accomplish what you were after or was this just a lull of a holiday for you?

Through the Looking Glass

In WotLK, people choose to spend their time doing different things on off-nights (non raid nights). For us, we put together all types of runs. Typically we have one or two ICC 10 mans up, as well as an alt/main of ToC or Ulduar. Then, about every two or three weeks, we have an old world run. "Old World" runs are basically any raids prior to Wrath of the Lich King. Last month, several folks finished up their "Classic Raider" achievement.

ROFL'stomping through these instances – facing the bosses that I still remember wiping and spending time – learning the mechanics, with the greatest of ease. It was fun to see Ragnaros again – on a character that hadn't stepped in there before, or Black Wing Liar. I think the best part of the last Old World run was actually doing AQ 40. I remember when this place was released. (The server lag was HORRIBLE.) Seeing armor pieces drop that used to be a status symbol in Vanilla WoW, the raid team gets a little of the epic feel the boss used to present, even while the boss's appearance reminds most as being Yogg's predecessor just from his appearance. And let's not forget BUG MOUNTS!

The real key here is community. While not everyone comes, or people come on new toons, it's a blast. The whole point is not only to get your achievements, but to sit back and have a good time. Execution can still be a requirement but it's just a matter of letting folks who didn't play in "Vanilla" WoW see content that they missed. Burning Crusade players are often referred to as "BC Babies" which really makes me wonder what Wrath players are going to be called. On the agenda this month: Outlands Raider Achievement!

Rolling Restarts - The Heartbeat of Love

Love is in the Air Event is happening all over Azeroth. Not only do we have the new boss in Shadow Fang Keep, we've got all kinds of dailies to get tokens. Blizz re-vamped most of these quests, more than likely after much complaining form last year's event. I really like the changes. The way to acquire bracelets now is much easier than last year. I think it really brings the ability to get the achievement and titles completed, as long as you are willing to put forth the effort and time.

My only complaint on the changes was that the charm pieces only stacked in 10, and the bracelets themselves didn't stack. For someone always in need of bag space, this is a huge hassle. (Yes, I'm the proverbial pack rat in game.) Some recent hot fixes corrected this issue though. We suffered through a ton of lag last night. Even the NPCs were stuttering, as Lady Deathwhisper seemed to forget her speech. Today brought rolling restarts across Azeroth- and while I hope they fixed the lag, they also made a few changes. The charms now stack to 40. Another chief complaint by many healers/tanks alike was that rarely do these roles get killing blows. Now, any player who has a Lovely Charm Collector's Kit in their bags now has a chance to receive a Lovely Charm when in a group or raid and a group member gets a killing blow as long as they are within a certain range of the kill.

Personally, I'm still working towards the title. I have to get my Perma Peddle pet yet and 4 Love Fools and I'll be pretty much set.

Achievements Anyone?

This guild does not focus on 10 mans. It is usually an off night thing. The 10 mans are posted on a volunteer type basis. People sign up in the appropriate forum thread and the group takes off from there. As a result, our 10 man rankings and achievements are just, well pathetic. Lord Soth, the guild leader, decided we would make some effort to change that.

In our Off Night Fiascos thread, he posted an "achievement whore run". It peaked allot of interest. Our 10 mans have been filling up on the weekends since ICC released. His agenda this past Monday was to start small- OS3D, Malygos 6 Minute Kill, and we actually ended up completing Nax as well. We gathered a fair amount of achievements during the process, missing the Undying due to the bear tank being color blind (ok he's not really but he missed the giant swirl under his feet on KT).

All in all, we spent 4 hours running through old content. Personally, I gathered a few new achievements, and others gathered even more. It was fast. No one was complaining about a wipe here in old content as we all were a bit rusty. It makes me look forward to next week and to see what Soth has in store for his "achievement whores".

Pilgrim's Bounty - Nov 8 - Nov 14

Keeping in the spirit of adding even more holidays, Pilgrim’s Bounty is the next upcoming, newly added holiday in our World of Warcraft. This holiday comes complete with a title and cool pet, provided you can complete the requirements during the week it’s available in game. Most of the achievements/quests are pretty straight forward. The quest available are listed here.

The meta achievement and title requires these quests to be completed. At first glance, it doesn't seem too hard. You need to keep in mind that you have to complete the daily quests available for this holiday to complete one of the requirements for the meta.

Pilgrim's Progress is the achievement for completing the dailies. This quest leads one to believe some new recipes will be entered into game. Below are the requirements to "complete" Pilgrim's Progress.

As you can see, you are basically sent on a set of quests to help make the dinner. Each quest sends you to a different capital city, and from reading the quest descriptions, it sounds like you can make these dishes if you have cooking high enough and the ingredients. Never fear, I'm sure enough capitalist folks will be putting these items on the Auction House. If you find yourself unable to cook these dishes, you might ask a guild member. Keep in mind each recipe sends you to a different area in Azeroth.

Here are the individual quests.

Starting with Can't Get Enough Turkey- you have to travel to Elwynn Forest. The turkeys are apparently running around there - plus the additional ingredients that you'll need to purchase from the holiday vendors. Mind you, this holiday falls in between the Canadian holiday and the American holiday.

The next quest on the list is Easy as Pie. This quest sends you to outside of Stormwind so you should pick up what you need from the

area at the same time. It turns in at Darnassus but the pumpkins need to be purchased from the Pilgrim's Bounty vendor outside of Stormwind.

The next quest is We're Out of Cranberry Chutney Again.

This quest sends you to Ironforge to acquire the Cranberries from yet another Pilgrim's Bounty vendor. Again, the quest sounds like there should be a recipe available.

This leads us up to Don't Forget the Stuffing!

This is probably the easiest quest to complete. It requires spice bread (level 1 recipe) and autumnal herbs. That leaves us with just one more daily quest to go.

The last quest that you need to complete for the Pilgrim's Progress is She Says Potato!

The potatoes should be picked up when you are turning in the quest in Darnassus. The Pilgrim's Bounty merchant there sells the items.

On the whole, the holiday quests don't seem to be overly complicated, even getting people to go into Sethekk Halls to kill King Ikiss (granted you have to be dressed up in holiday attire). What isn't known is where you end up purchasing those items from (maybe a vendor) or with what (think back to brewfest). You have to have the Pilgrim's Hat and either Pilgrim's Robe, Attire, or Dress. Alot of people will probably try to get a druid to come along for a chance at the Ravenlord mount. The recipes range from level 1 - 56, so a variety of cooking skill will be required. You may have memories of the putting out the enemies fires as you try to complete Pilgrim's Peril.

For anyone wanting the title, you better get your cooking leveled - as you will still have to cook up each one of these dishes. Keep in mind, at least this recipes count towards the cooking titles and achievements. Depending on if there are NPCs or not required for Turkey Lurkey.. we may all be hanging on in Dalaran looking for rogues to pick off. On the whole, for just a week long holiday, they have crammed tons of activities into it.

Day of the Dead - Revisited

Well Halloween is over in game and out, which brings the onslaught of this new holiday – even as short as it is. Some things to note now that’s it is here. Yes, it’s still only November 1^st and November 2^nd. Where is the elusive Catrina? She appears outside of any capital city Graveyard. To get the achievement “Dead Man’s Party”, you just have to /dance with her.

To get the cool pet, you have to complete a quest called the Grateful Dead. The recipe “Bread of the Dead” is purchased from Chapman, the NPC next to Catrina. You will need simple flour

and ice cold milk to make the bread. You’ll also need either Orange Marigold or a Bouquet of Orange Marigolds from Chapman. Note- the only difference here is that the Bouquet is a multi- use item and the Orange Marigold is a single use item. Important items to mention- you can only pick up the “Grateful Dead” quest at your character’s capital city’s graveyard. You can also only see the quest giver using the Orange Marigold or Bouquet of Orange Marigolds. The bread can only be cooked at a ghostly fire. The ghostly fire is located close to Catrina- it is blue.

Once you complete the quest, you receive gold and the Macabre Marionette pet. The pet itself is very awesome. My only complaint is that it isn’t permanent. You only have the pet during the Day of the Dead celebration. I believe Blizzard will get tons of complaints over that decision but who really knows if they change it or not.

Welcome To the World(of warcraft)

So...where to begin. I guess i should start by saying now not only will Onyx be doing the blog but she hired Oryxlea and I to help out. So here I go with my first postNow onto the stuff ya’ll want to hear about! As many of you are aware, we have taken our first steps into Ulduar but we have gotten the server first achievement for Flame Leviathan! That’s right ladies and gents. No Quarter Given is server first for Heroic: Orbital Bombardment. Congratz to all who were there and all who were sitting on the sidelines cheering us on. Also in news, the Argent Tournament is in game. If you haven’t checked it out yet I strongly recommend it. It is located in the northeast corner of Icecrown (just look for the part of your map that isn't filled in). Many daily quests that are new, exciting and best of all...actually make you earn your way! So I urge you, young knights, to grab your lance tight in your hand and thrust forward into the dark depths of the unknown! Yeah it gives Silver Covenant faction/reputation gains.

In other more speculative news...the next Xpac. What will it be? When will it come? How will it change the game? Who will be the big bosses? Why the hell am I writing like this? Check the public forum and add your thoughts.


I leave you with my words of wisdom "Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when you're kneecapped by a lone shark."