The Last Monday (before Wrath, that is)
Posted on November 10, 2008 - Filed Under Other stuff
- This last weekend was both good and very very stressful, and I’m glad to be home. Thanks to all of you that sent notes and encouragement. I think I’m going to hide away from everyone for a few days to recharge my batteries, but at least I can blog again!
- Aelflaed and Annorah are stocked with mana and health potions, bandages, extra netherweave to level first aid, and lots of tasty food. Still need to fill out their elixir stacks.
- After finding a random Bog Lurker last night ( a rare elemental dude in Zangarmarsh) Aely is finished with all currently available exploration achievements.
- My gold goals for Thursday are not quite in place (and likely won’t be fully so) - but I’m close enough that I’m comfortable.
- How much gold do you leave on your individual characters, as opposed to sending it to a banker?
- All four of my 70’s are finally exalted with the Shattered Sun - people are, however, still jerks willing to train demons onto the priest that just buffed them.
- Annylais will not be 70 by Thursday. And really, I’m OK with that. I’m going to want a break from Northrend, and there is lots of druidy stuff in Outland to do.
- I’ve not decided if I’m waiting in line at my Game Stop or not. Probably not, since I am not a night person, and I can just as easily hop over there the next morning and pick it up.
- After reading Aurik and Sephrenia’s posts, I am reminded of what leveling with healing classes is like. And of my rule - I warn people nicely once that they need to turn off the “heal me” addon/macro. I warn them sternly the second time. And then I just stop healing them. /evil
- I’ve not seen any big ending event to the Scourge invasion, and I’m really hoping *something* is coming.
- Darrowshire used to be bugged, anyone know if it still is? (there is RP (and possibly a story!) to be written)
- I may break my own decision (made this spring) not to roll a Deathknight. I’ve a character idea for a female Forsaken, and I’ve been contemplating having a legit horde alt, since it seems that 90% of my friends on Feathermoon have characters on both factions.
- The LHW/shaman tank healer thing seems to be pretty usable at 70, but spell scaling tests by level 80 peoples on the beta suggests that it won’t be nearly as useful then. Still, an interesting idea for leveling, and something I intend to try.
- And, for Fimlys… If you regularly ask your guildies, friends, RP buddies, and random people in channels if they’re OK with that becoming a blog post… you might be a (this) WoW Blogger. (I love all you guys!)
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Sometimes you’re the Pigeon - other times you’re the Statue.
Posted on November 4, 2008 - Filed Under Other stuff
The Short Version: There has been a death in my family, and I will be gone until Sunday.
The TLDR Version: … I dunno - I guess that’s probably all I need to say, other than that I’m tired and frustrated of shoveling muck as fast as I can to try to keep on top of things, only to have more thrown at me. NaBloPoMo is gone, so much for that idea. I’ll see if I can get back on top of things after this weekend.
They say that bad things are supposed to come in threes - I’m running out of fingers and toes.
Miscellaneous Monday
Posted on November 3, 2008 - Filed Under Other stuff, Paladin, Shaman
- I’m beginning to really, really hate the word “hotfix“.
- I need to spend some extra time this week on Annorah - I’ve seen some really interesting math for tank healing as a resto shaman using primarily Lesser Healing Wave and so much crit it’s sickening. I find this interesting, and need to poke it.
- The idea of having a second account is appealing. The idea of *paying* for it, however, is not. I would like to have a horde alt or two on Feathermoon though.
- Waking up on Monday to an inbox full of notes from my editor is vaguely reassuring. Also somewhat motivating.
- I’m considering a temporary respec back to Retribution for Aelflaed, just for the running of Baron Strat. The bastage will not give me Lightforge Pants. He seems to think I am a warrior, and want Valor. It is technically *possible* to solo the place as a holy paladin, but it usually involves more than one death, and I’m not usually able to rescue Ysida. My ret buddies can solo the place in 10 minutes.
- Exploration Achievements are a lot more fun if you have someone to talk to while doing them.
- I’m also beginning to really, really hate the word “forbearance”.
- I want to get a (inexpensive) laptop (eventually) for writing. Writing at my desk is alright, but since that’s my job now, and this room is downright cave-like, it gets kind of depressing.
- I am scatterbrained this morning. I blame Monday.
- This is a really awesome video, by Cranius, of the battle of Darrowshire. The music is original, and the story is fantastic. Enjoy!
Sunday Screenshot: Dire Maul
Posted on November 2, 2008 - Filed Under Sunday Screenshots
Why it’s good to have a Prot Paladin friend husband.
(Taken as we picked up Ogre Warbeads for the Dungeon 2 Armor Questline.
By myself I was lucky to kill 2 at a time. With Daug, we took on 10-15.)
The Longest Night: Excerpt
Posted on November 1, 2008 - Filed Under Paladin, Roleplay
Written by the lovely Ceil, an excerpt from the (still in progress) Riders writing project of the last night of the Zombiepocalypse - and (I promise) the last zombie stuff you’ll see around here. This was before Aely and Phileas had actually joined with the Riders, but both spent most of the night keeping the Pig and Whistle from being overrun. I’ll try to post a link to the whole thing once everyone finishes adding to it!
Her foot was throbbing, but Aelflaed couldn’t spare a moment to worry over it, the undead were pressing too hard. She’d lost sight of any of the other defenders at the door. From her vantage point at the top of the stairs she could see the tide of the Scourge boiling up the lane, some from the Trade District, others out of Cutthroat Alley. Booming in a steady rhythm was the sound of rifles, echoed by the battle-cries and cursing of many of the Wildfire Riders.
She leaned back against the rough plaster and wood wall, letting the pub help support her body, taking the pressure from her foot. There was a circle of fallen bodies around her, all lying still and most without a single mark, though any one with the sense to know could easily tell they’d been felled by holy magic, strong and pure.
To her left, a zombie came lunging over the small barricade of the dead. Her shield was heavy, but she lifted it anyway, slamming the ghoul back. It stumbled and Aelflaed raised her hammer. Instead of letting it fall, she pointed it at the zombie and a blinding flash of golden light exploded from her palm and raced along the haft, then head, of the weapon. It burst upon the ghoul and set it screaming loud enough to hurt her ears. Without moving, the paladin shook her head and murmured a prayer. The screaming stopped and the ghoul toppled atop the others.
However, in the silence left behind, a new scream erupted, a human scream, from inside the pub. Aelflaed recognized a woman’s voice and without thinking of the pain throbbing through her left foot, she lurched through the doorway, left momentarily open as a surge of the dead had swept the other defenders into the street.
The first thing to greet Aelflaed inside the Pig was another scream and the sight of a skeleton over six feet tall bearing down on Elly Langston while her father and brother rushed from the bar with old swords in their hands. The skeleton gave off a noticeable wave of heat, fierce and bringing with it the scent of burning corpses. When Reese and David Langston got close, they fell back a step in surprise at the heat. Aelflaed reacted far more quickly, half running and half stumbling around the corner and past the railing, shouting the first thing to come to her head.
“Hey! Hey, y’ wanker!” She hollered, throwing a hand towards the skeleton. Her words weren’t nearly as effective as the flash of holy light that hit the skeleton and caused it to turn towards the paladin. The flameshocker’s empty eye sockets stared at the paladin, cinders burning in the depths of it’s skull. Aelflaed gripped her hammer and shield in readiness.
Behind the skeleton, Elly Langston cowered and shuddered against the staircase, her green skirt torn and her face filled with fear. She moaned wordlessly with terror, until a surprisingly gentle hand gripped her arm firmly and pulled her to her feet. Neither Elly, Reese, David nor Aelflaed had seen Phileas enter the room, but there he was, a dagger on each hip and his hood thrown back to offer Elly a smile. The girl was too scared to do anything but rise with him.
“Dinna worry now, lass, I go’ yeh,” he said, stepping between Elly and the flameshocker’s back. His hands went to his daggers and his eyes went to Aelflaed. She was already grinning at him.
That was the last time the Langstons saw any Scourge inside the Pig n’ Whistle.
Something Really Special
Posted on October 31, 2008 - Filed Under Paladin, Roleplay
One of the things about being avidly into the character and storyline of my Warcraft characters is that I get rather attached to them. They get fleshed out, and they get descriptions and histories that make them more than just the pixels on the screen (in a way). One of the ways that they become unique is through actual physical descriptions - which has always been something that I and other people that interact with me have had to use our imaginations for (since all of the Warcraft models for Female Human are exactly the same).
That is, until today.
You see… one of my new guild mates happens to also be a fantastic artist. And he’s offered his artistic talents to the guild in the form of black and white character portraits in exchange for in-game gold (something most people would have to pay real life dollars for).
I got to look at some of his earlier work, and was totally blown away - so I sent him my gold and a character description for Aelflaed. What I got back was way beyond anything I could’ve expected, especially for someone that I’ve only just met, and who (to my knowledge) doesn’t read this blog.
Meet Aelflaed:
I could easily go on and on for paragraphs about how well this captures the character I’ve created, and how her personality shows up in that half-grin and cocked eyebrow, and how she’s pretty like the “girl next door” without being “hawt”… but I think it pretty well speaks for itself.
So thanks Lans (who is really Joe Rinaldi, and to whom I give ALL credit to this picture) - you’ve totally made my week.
RP Friday Five - Life and Death
Posted on October 31, 2008 - Filed Under Roleplay
Welcome to the October 31 edition of the Friday Five! Each Friday here at Too Many Annas you’ll find a list of five questions to spark your roleplaying/character creativity. Feel free to answer in the comments, use them as a blog post of your own, or just think about something from your character’s perspective - there aren’t really any rules!
We’ve had some sillier Friday Fives recently, so this week lets be a little more serious - it is, after all, All Hallow’s Eve!
(And yes, I know these are hard, so feel free to skip around or just answer one or two!)
- Did/Does your character have a good relationship with his or her family? (as a whole or individually)
- How does your character relate to his or her guild and friends?
- If your character knew he or she would die tomorrow, how would they spend today?
- Has your character ever lost someone close to them? How did they die? How did that affect your character?
- How do you, as a roleplayer, tackle the question of death in a video game where resurrection spells and spirit healers abound?
Red Sky at Morning
Posted on October 30, 2008 - Filed Under Guest Posts, Roleplay
This takes place last Friday, during the Riders (and others) full time guard of the Pig and Whistle tavern during the Zombiepocalypse. Be warned - zombie gore!
Aelflaed wasn’t entirely sure who’d come and woken her at 3:45am – her lack of sleep for the last four days had made waking up harder and harder. Pale lamplight bathed the upstairs corner of the Pig and Whistle as she strapped on her armor; at least tonight she’d remembered to sleep with her cloak and gambeson, so they were warm and comforting around the cold steel.
She peered at her left foot as she pulled on a thick pair of wool socks. At some point, she’d lost her little toenail, and the side of her foot was bruised and bloody clear up to her ankle. Wincing, she pulled on a heavy boot, hoping the plates would help protect it until she could get it healed properly.
With a cup of hot coffee and a soft cheese sandwich, she stepped out into the crisp, pre-dawn air, her breath barely catching on the fall chill. This was her favorite of the watches – there was something about the blackness before dawn that was just more pleasant than the blackness after midnight, especially if there were going to be Zombies.
Two street lamps washed the cobbles in front of the Pig with a soft yellow glow, and somewhere a couple of crickets set up a squeaky duet. Leaning against the doorframe, she settled in for a four hour watch.
*****
Nikova Raskol hadn’t really let herself think on this new plague much. Still mourning the loss of her sons and grandson, she stalwartly marched through Old Town with her basket of red rags, ignoring the chaos around her. If they could face death at the hands of other men, then she’d be damned if she couldn’t stand up for herself against a couple of mindless undead.
When the four lisping, shuffling creatures came around the corner at her, though, she was less than sure of herself.
*****
Lost in a scramble of unpleasant thoughts, a skitter of tiny legs across the back of her neck jolted Aelflaed back to reality. She swatted at her hair, knocking loose one of the oddly luminescent cockroaches that had taken root in every inhabitable part of the city. With a shudder and a bright flash of light, she obliterated it, and then spent a few minutes getting the bug guts and glowing taint off of her armor. Scrubbing at her neck didn’t make the crawly feeling go away though.
She heard more than saw the oncoming group of plagued dead, their half rotten feet making a sick, slurping, scraping sound on the rough cobblestones. With a deep breath and a quick prayer, she steadied herself for whatever was going to come around the corner.
The wait wasn’t long.
Two of the creatures wore some kind of patchwork armor – she could only assume they had once been guards. Slamming into one with her shield, she spun around to the left and caught the next in the face with her mace, telling herself that she’d retch later when its head crumpled like an overripe melon and splattered all over the pave stones. A quick shock with holy energy and the other armored zombie fell lifeless.
A flash of divine light and the remaining three of them stood stunned while she quickly stopped the disease as it attempted to crawl up her arm.
Two down, three to go – pull ye’self t’gether, woman.
The next one fell quickly, cleansed of whatever demonic taint had raised it. Not much fight in it, really, though the basket of red rags it carried was unusual.
Quickly dodging the fourth as it ran at her back, she stuck her leg out, tripping it – cursing loudly as the bony shin smashed into the side of her own damaged left foot. Once it hit the ground, she broke its neck with her heel and kicked the now severed head far from its body, ignoring the gush of greenish black blood now pooling on the street as she turned to face the one remaining living dead.
The feel of slimy cold fingers around her throat suggested she’d miscalculated the fight. Hot, fetid breath, ripe with the sickly sweet stench of death brushed past her ear as the creature ground its fingers into her flesh, catching on her hair. Its tongue ran across the back of her neck.
Dinna think, woman, act!
She dropped to the ground, the limp weight of human combined with heavy armor ripping the creatures arm clean out of its socket. Throwing herself to one side, one good push sent the thing sprawling, and a hammer to the back of its head knocked it unconscious, giving her precious seconds to summon the energy to burn it into lifelessness.
*****
The fact that Aelflaed was already sitting on the pavestones probably proved to be in her favor, as she reeled, head spinning with exhaustion and adrenaline.
You canna jus’ sit ‘ere. Ge’ the bodies ou’ o’ the fecking street.
Leaning heavily on her mace, she dragged herself onto her feet, wincing as she tested her left foot.
It’ll hold, an’ yeh can walk. Move, woman, a’fore ye fin’ ye’self more o’ a mess.
Two of the stinking, plagued remains were already burning, so she dragged the other three corpses (and one severed head) over to the pile, setting the lot aflame with another flash of holy energy. Looking up through the rising putrid smoke, she could see dawn’s streaks of orange and crimson flashing across the sky like bright ribbons.
‘S a day o’ death, an’ startin’ early. Red sky a’ mornin’, alway’ a warnin’.
She swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and vomited into the bushes on the side of the road.
Ye’ve gone soft, Aely, an’ ye got another three hours o’ watch, ye great ninny. Bes’ get back t’ the Post.
Bloody ‘ell, an’ I need another sammich.
Blisters and Bandaids - Dealing with Injury in Roleplay
Posted on October 28, 2008 - Filed Under Guides, Roleplay
Injury is one of the natural consequences of people fighting each other all the time. Two guys with armor and weaponry slashing away at each other - the likelihood is that ONE of them is going to end up wounded, possibly seriously.
Game mechanics make this easy to deal with - just cast a healing spell and “poof!” they’re all better. Magical cures and healing are widely available in Azeroth.
But sometimes, for the better development of a story, it works out that a character doesn’t need to get “poof” all better right away. Chronic injury and illness are ways of tempering a character and making them more real - and in a world where all maladies and malaises are cured by a simple “Abolish Disease” spell, it can make “realistic” a little harder to realize.
Characters that never get hurt or wounded - well, why are we fighting then? Obviously, if you just want to take the PVE approach, this is a game with resurrection mechanics. Nobody dies, nobody gets seriously hurt, and everything is happy happy let’s try the boss again. But if you are trying to develop your characters as people within this world, and they’re essentially tiny invincible Gods - that gets kinda boring.
Unfortunately, giving your character the Uncurable Illness of Doom can be tedious, as can the Uncurable Wound of Tragedy - especially if it’s forced on people around him or her without their having any way to deal with it. So how do you fix that, and allow your character to have realistic injuries and responses without being invasive?
- First and foremost - TALK to the people you RP with. Work on a story OOC with friends. Keeping the communication lines open means you will automatically have a way to work out snags and keep things fun for everyone involved. (This isn’t always my strongpoint, but I’m getting better.)
- Figure out just how much healing can do. For me, I’ve always believed that while healing can fix broken bones and open wounds, some things just take a little time (like bruises and sore muscles). This is one of those things to work out before hand.
- Be creative about injuries and healing strategies. Aelflaed has a broken foot right now - and it only took a few simple healing spells from another paladin to heal the broken bones. The problem was, she broke the foot while fighting - and continued to fight on it for three days, so her foot was swollen to the point that she couldn’t get her boot off. That involved more people, allowed for some creativity and laughter, and made for a realistic injury without it being able to be “poofed” away.
- Remember that sometimes just “healing” doesn’t make everything better. Real life illnesses can linger even after they’re technically “cured”, and injuries of cursed/demonic/spell origin may react differently to healing. Maybe you need a mage to help undo some magic that stuck after a battle, or your character is technically “whole” but retains some elements of the injury.
- Keep in mind the consequences of injury - major illnesses, injuries, surgeries, and traumatic events often change people. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes just a shift in perspective. How will what you’re planning affect your character in the long run? Do they get a really cool scar out of it?
- Don’t let injuries and scars define a character. Just like they don’t define real people, they’re just elements of a person’s history and personality. Keep it real - one dimensional characters are hard to play for long because they eventually become boring.
We play in the World of *War*craft - people are going to get hurt. Full time healers have their hands full, medic tents follow war charges, and there’s always going to be consequences. Can you ignore that, and play within the mechanics, making all healing just a spell cast away? Of course! But playing around with your characters to see how they’d react to something like this can be very challenging, but also add an extra layer of depth to a character.
13 Monday Brains
Posted on October 27, 2008 - Filed Under Other stuff, Roleplay
- Above you’ll see 10 reasons not to bring your zombie into the Pig and Whistle tavern. Several more reasons came through during the day. (click to embiggen)
- Aelflaed has found a cute rogue, and she’s not really sure how. She figures he snuck up on her (har har har). You might hear from him in story postings in the future (yes, he’s in the picture above).
- I missed the world event to open Burning Crusade because I was planning a wedding. I’m liking that I can participate in this one!
- *sings* Goldshire Town is burning down - Good-bye, Good-bye; Burning down to the ground - Good-bye ‘Liza-Jane. (There really is something beautiful about the entirety of Goldshire turning to Zombies and then getting set on fire by the Headless Horseman. Mac, if you have those screenshots, I’d love to see them)
- OMG ARPEES. ’nuff said. (expect story postings later this week)
- I voted this weekend. You should vote too (if you are of the United States Citizen sort). Nab those bitching rights before they’re gone for another 4 years!
- Angoleth is not drunk, for the first time since Outland opened. I expect this to change quickly when she gets back from the middle of nowhere and sees what the Zombies have done to Auberdine. Likely, however, she’ll cheer them on in Darnassus.
- Did I mention the RP? Seriously. I know - this thing is HUGELY game disrupting. I’m told by the rumor mill (aka the Feathermoon Forums) that it’s going to last only 10 days. I can deal with 10 days of disruption, given that I’ve had more RP conversation, questing, random pickup groups, and fun in the last week than I’ve had in the last year - EASILY.
- For this reason, the “serious business” posts may be a little sparse. I know, you all love reading technical details, but I’m loath to give up on the glut of creative gameplay to go test out mechanics. Bad Anna-blogger, I know.
- Remember that new phone I mentioned? And how I’d called my SP to make sure I could use it and they said if it was on my upgrade plan, it’d work? Yeah well, “We’re sorry, but to use that phone you must add our web and email plan for an extra $30 a month”. I only pay $35 for my phone plan, and I can’t return the phone (exchanges only). Anyone want a paperweight?
- Aelflaed may be earning the nickname “Lucky” (as proposed by Bricu/Officer Gleason). She’s been fighting zombies constantly since Thursday, and has only been turned once (on the first day, when I ran headlong into about 14 of them to see what would happen and encountered a level 70 feral druid zombie).
- I can’t figure out how when I’m tracking something, if I’m inside, I see only inside things - but if I’m outside, I see both outside AND inside things. Apparently all of Warcraft utilizes one way mirrors.
- Arthas’ horsie isn’t dead anymore. Or rather, he’s no longer resting peacefully in his grave in Tirisfal. Anyone else hear the name of his horse and think of The Black Knight in Monty Python? (”You can’t kill me, I’m INVINCIBLE!”)
