WoW Wednesday- I'm Still Talking About Warcraft

So I went to Warcraft for the second time on Saturday, just like I said I would. It was still amazing. We saw it regular this time, no fancy 3D IMAX. It was weird, some of the images that looked cheesy in the IMAX (the gryphons flying), looked okay in the regular viewing. Watching the movie didn't change my opinion of it at all, and this time the people in the theater seemed to appreciate the humor in the movie more than the ones in the first viewing did (although, if you ask critics, there was no humor whatsoever in the movie). What I wanted to talk about today is the promotion that Blizzard and Regal Entertainment are running together, and see if any of you had the same experience that my husband and I did.

So one of the things that had some people really excited for this movie were the promotions that Blizzard has going with various theater companies (you can check those out here, and sorry Canada- you aren't included for some reason), and the fact that if you log in within the two months of its release, you get some cute transmog items from the movie (two items from each faction, plus an achievement). The deal with Regal states that anyone who buys a ticket will get the a code for a digital download of the game, plus if you pay with your Regal Crown Club card, you get a chance to win two tickets to BlizzCon. Great, right? Except, we bought four tickets and got one code. The guy at the box office said he was only allowed to hand out one code, but the way Blizzard words it, it sounds like every ticket is supposed to get a code. Now if you check Regal's website, they word it a bit differently, and its vague enough that it fits with the one code only policy. We have a lot of WoW accounts anyway, but we were going to give the downloads to our kids, so it was a bit of a bummer to have to pick which child was going to receive it. Have any of you run into this problem with the promotion? I was just curious if our theater was just trying to regulate their supply (because the codes are only handed out "while supplies last", and since they're the only Regal in town, I imagine they need the gimmick to take sales away from the other theaters we have here), or if that is in fact the promotion, and Blizzard was misleading.

And if you still haven't seen the movie yet, you really should. Ignore all the critics horrible reviews and just go see it. Its not a wannabe Lord of the Rings, its not a disaster of epic proportions. Its visually stunning, and if you have any sort of WoW knowledge, things will click for you and you will understand the movie. And more than likely, you will want to play once you're done watching it, even if you haven't played in years (and I think that's exactly what Blizzard wanted lol). 

Poppin' Off- Warcraft

So I know what you're thinking, this is about a WoW related thing, shouldn't this be a WoW Wednesday post? Yes, it probably should, but I don't want to wait until Wednesday to talk about this awesome movie, and movies do technically fall under the Poppin' Off umbrella, so here we go!!

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This movie has been ten or so years in the making, and let me just say, it was well worth the wait. I loved it. I'm pretty sure I can do this spoiler free, but just in case, if you haven't seen the movie and don't want any inkling of anything that happens, please come back to read this after you've seen the movie. 

My husband and I saw it Thursday night in IMAX 3D, and the visuals were stunning. There were lots of familiar cities and landmarks in it (Dalaran, Stormwind, Ironforge, Goldshire, Karazahn, The Dark Portal....there are some I'm forgetting I know), and it was so cool to see them on a big screen. It was like being able to take what you see in the game and just become one step closer to fully being in it, if that makes sense. 

The movie is based off of Blizzard's game Warcraft, not World of Warcraft, so this has caused some problems for people that do play WoW. They're basically saying that the movie doesn't stay true to the lore, but I guess that it does stay true to a lot of the original game's lore, not the current lore we all know now. Also, when any book or game gets turned into a movie, usually studios will streamline some content to either make the film flow more fluently, or to explain or simplify things for people that might not have read the book/played the game, and are just coming to see the movie. Does that mean that everyone likes it? No, but as long as you understand it, you can accept it, move on, and appreciate what the movie has to offer. And this movie offers a lot, an engaging story line, top notch graphics (although there was a few times I wondered if they just threw a toy gryphon across the screen lol), and pretty good acting. The characters were well cast, although I wanted to punch the Queen of Stormwind in the face. Shes played by the girl that plays Tulip in Preacher, and just after seeing her in that panel at WonderCon just made not like her as a person, so it ruined the character for me a little bit. However, King Llane is played by the guy that plays Preacher, and he just does a great job. Hopefully with them working together on so many things, his charming personality will rub off on her. Overall though, all of the characters were really well acted- it was nice to see. 

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My favorite character was Lothar- he was everything you'd expect an Alliance solider to be. He had some dry humor and wasn't hard on the eyes, so that was a plus. I have to give it up to Khadgar too, he definitely showed that mages are more than just vending machines! Also, there are some very strong female characters for those of you that complain that WoW never includes them- Draka, wife of Durotan and mother of Thrall, is a fighter until the very end, and of course there is Garona, the half breed who basically has an Alliance heart but a Hordie face who is fierce in every way she can be. There are two little CGI's that are just adorable too- a Murloc has a cameo and baby Thrall. 

Critics have panned this movie- they all hate it. I think they hate it because they've never played a Warcraft game and don't understand what the movie is supposed to be. I think fans of the game will love it. And the movie ends open ended enough that there can easily be a sequel (or five.....). It does end on a very cheesy note (ever wonder what a baby Thrall growling at you would sound like? you'll find out), but I don't really know how else they would have ended it. There was so much story that you see during it (and really, that you play through game-wise), that there isn't a good place to just stop. But like I said, I loved the movie, and we're actually going to see it again on Saturday, and take our kids this time. If you love Azeroth and everything surrounding it, and you want to see more of these movies made- let the movie studios know! Go out and see Warcraft this weekend!

WoW Wednesday- Warcraft Movie Toys

I was at Toys R Us yesterday trying to find some cute wrapping paper for my daughter's birthday presents, and instead I found these super cool Warcraft toys!

I didn't buy any because March is our poor month (my son's birthday was last Sunday, this Sunday is mine and my daughter's), but I was so excited to see them there that I was deep in my picture taking before I realized that there was this old lady staring at me (I'm usually pretty self conscious about stuff like that). Oh well, blog lyfe right? 

The toys are pretty neat looking- they really tried to get detailed with them, even on the little guys (even though that wasn't super successful). Prices are $9.99 for the set of two little ones (Durotan vs Alliance solider, Lothar vs Horde warrior, Alliance solider vs Horde warrior and Lothar vs Garona), $24.99 for the bigger individuals (Blackhand, Durotan, Medivh and Lothar), $24.99 for the weapons and the Lothar vs Blackhand deluxe set (they come with a gryphon and frostwolf).

Any fellow WoW players excited to see Warcraft merchandise becoming a little more mainstream? Do you have high hopes for the movie? Let me know in the comments!

Random WoW News

Just a few things to touch on briefly today. They're kinda old news now, but I haven't had a chance to write about them yet because I've been deep in the land of PTA moms and fundraisers the past few weeks lol.

On January 14th, a couple of articles started popping up on my Yahoo front page about World of Warcraft becoming free to play for Veterans of the game (here's an article on cnet that explains it pretty well). The gist of it was that it was similar to the Starter edition of the game; the one where you can play for free up until a certain level, but you can't join a guild or trade items, stuff like that. The Veteran edition had caps on gold and chatting, but the leveling caps and a few other things weren't clear. Well, Blizzard very quickly cleared that up. On January 16th, this article came out and explained that the Veteran edition is real, except its taking lapsed accounts, and essentially reverting them to Starter editions. The difference is, if the Veteran has a toon in a guild, and is trying to get his below twenty toon into that guild, he can. So it wasn't quite the crisis situation everyone was making it out to be, and it really doesn't change anything gameplay-wise. If you want to come back to WoW, try it out. And if you want to go past level twenty, time to pay up :)

And this is fun for anyone that's been playing WoW for the entire ten years its been out. Blizzard is sending out statues to players that have been subscribed to the game for the full ten years that WoW has been WoW. That means no breaks in your subscriptions at all. Some people that have been playing since the game came out but took a couple of breaks were complaining that they didn't get statues, but that's life. The statue is a reward for supporting World of Warcraft for a whole freaking decade! I am not one of those people, but its still pretty neat. Read about it here.

And in my last bit of WoW news for today, did you guys hear about the player that has one hundred level 100 toons? His name is Watola and that is just crazy! Leveling, even with refer-a-friend (which is what he used to complete this), gets on my nerves after a while. So I can't even imagine trying to do it for that many toons. Here's the link to the article and here is the link to his Battle.net forum post, which is pretty detailed and is a helpful read for anyone trying to level 80 toons and above right now.

In my own personal WoW news....I haven't been doing too much, mostly just garrison stuff on my level 100 Horde mage. It looks like I've missed some quests somewhere, because I don't have the plans for my tailoring building. I've looked in the area that was supposed to have that quest line to obtain the blueprints, and I've completed all the quests. So maybe its a glitch, I'm not sure. And I've noticed that I'm dying a lot while trying to quest, so I'm thinking I missed an area somewhere, and my gear isn't good enough for my toon anymore. I need to jump back on my Alliance toon, to get her to 100, but thats the one I play with my husband, so I'm trying not to get ahead of him.

Is WoW Hating on Ladies?

A special  note about this post: I was going to post this on January 7th, 2015. I didn't though, because I felt like I was ranty and bitchy, and I really didn't want to come off that way. I really appreciated the view that Lindsay Ann gave about her experience with Warlords of Draenor. I was so polite in my comments on her post that I thought maybe I should just copy them here, but you guys deserve something better than that. So here is my post. And yes, its still a little ranty and bitchy. But I'm not a girl gamer hater- I am a girl gamer! I just think that people nit pick so many things nowadays, and I don't think that Warlords deserves to be one of them.

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World of Warcraft is a lot of things to me. Sometimes I hate it. Sometimes I love it. For a while, it was a place where I could go and always know that a friend would be there, so I would be there almost all day long. WoW is also a pit of internet trolls. Trade chat can be an entertaining scroll, or an offensive diatribe. If you want to know anything about Chuck Norris, anal [insert class talent here], what your mom just did, or if somebody said Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker, you'll find it there. One thing that WoW has never been to me is sexist. Sure, there are the immature boys that will announce in trade that they just told their girlfriend to get in the kitchen and make them a sandwich. But in reality, if he's sitting there typing that to trade, his girlfriend and that sandwich probably aren't around. So I was really interested in this blog post that was shared to the Female Geek Bloggers group the other day. Its found on the HerStoryArc blog, and it basically states that with the Warlords of Draenor expansion, Blizzard missed an opportunity to make female gamers feel more welcomed by not including any lead females into the storyline. If you check out the post, you will see my rather lengthy responses, but I still felt compelled to write this, because I don't think Blizzard is in the wrong, and I certainly don't need a female Warlord to feel welcomed into a game that I have been playing since 2006.

Lady Sylvanas Windrunner

In the past versions of the game, female characters have been present and had some roles in the expansions. The two most prominent are Jaina Proudmoore (Alliance) and Lady Sylvanas Windrunner (Horde), and from these two, I think that Sylvanas has had the better storyline (especially in Wrath of the Lich King). But even if they weren't the main focus of anything, they've always been around in the game (and they still are, if you go into any of the older content). The complaint from HerStoryArc was that the Warlords of Draenor expansion lacks female leads, and for that, Blizzard let their female demographic down. While its true that the main focus of this expansion are male, I don't feel that they've let their female demographic down at all. I play WoW because its fun, not because of the lady leads. And in this expansion's storyline, the characters were all male. Even I, who lacks in the greater depths of knowing WoW lore, knows that. The author of the post feels that by incorporating more female friendly leads and quests into the game, thats going to change the dynamics of how gamer boys feel about gamer girls. That sounds nice, but I don't think so. Players who are set on completing the objectives of a quest will do it. It doesn't matter if the quest is for a male or female NPC. What needs to change is the behaviors of the players. Which brings me to the other issue that was brought up: language in the game.

Lady Jaina Proudmoore

The post suggested that Blizzard place stricter guidelines for in-game language, harsher punishment for those that break the rules- again, all so that female gamers (which later in the sentence turns into all players) can feel safe while playing. I take issue with this because the post made it sound like Blizzard has nothing in place for these types of behaviors when in actuality, they have several. First, you can turn on a mature language filter in your settings. It won't catch everything, but if you don't like cuss words and things, it will do this @#$%#%^# number to them. If you think that someone is saying inappropriate things, i.e. rape jokes or racist comments, you can click on their name and report them for abuse. There will be a few things you have to answer to report them, but its really that simple. And bonus, once you report them, they also get blocked, so you don't have to see their idiotic comments anymore. There is also the option to just flat out block them, if you don't want to bother with reporting them, And yes, you can still open a ticket to talk to a GM if things get out of hand. Just be prepared to have specific times, dates and places if you want to go that route. Speaking with a GM is the best way to get someone temporarily banned/have their account suspended. I know all of this because I have had instances where players have been really unkind, but I've also been fortunate enough that those instances have been few and far inbetween. 

My last issue with the post is with its tone as a whole, and this is probably where I am going to get the most backlash. There are girls in the game that use being female to their advantage. They will use the horniess of these poor dorky guys to get gold and gear and sometimes real life items like keyboards and cash. I hate girls like that. They make the rest of us that are there to just play the game look really bad. They're one of the reasons guys don't take female gamers seriously. But in that same vein, I feel that girls who constantly complain that games aren't girl-friendly are just as bad as those girls who are banking off of their sex, and that's where that blog post fell for me. Hearing that the gaming isn't doing enough for girls calls to mind that episode of The Guild where the Knights of Good want to buy the guild hall, and the guys want the metal gray one with all the spikes, and the girls want the candy colored, hot pink hall. The Guild wasn't complaining about lack of female anything (I mean, Felicia Day practically made WoW every geek girl's game at one point), but it highlights the difference in the way most guys and girls play. Always saying that girls need something for them makes me think that they want the pink frills, they want something decidedly girly (which is funny, because in the post, the author states that's exactly what she's not asking for). WoW doesn't perpetuate hate towards females. It doesn't portray them as helpless princesses (Sylvanas was murdered, then came back, got revenge and managed to snag a position of power. Um, that's pretty awesome.). It would be different if they were having quests where you only kill women, or there was somewhere in the game that shows graphic violence towards them, but there isn't. So why does it matter if there are a few more male leaders than female? It doesn't. Or it shouldn't.

Like with anything else in life, WoW is an experience that you create for yourself. You control your toon, you control your actions in the game. If some troll has something to say, you can be the bigger person and ignore it, or you can feed them and engage in a word war. Just know, that report button works both ways. I try to be positive while playing, and just yell at the screen when people annoy me :) That way, I'm not adding any negativity to the game. We all pay $15 a month to play, why not make the best of it?

What are your thoughts? Do you think having more lady leads in WoW would change male opinions of female gamers? Do you think the game needs more lady leads in general? Would trolls stop you from playing a game you love, but would stronger consequences against them bring you back? Let me know in the comments!

Helpful links:
*The Guild Season Four (its the season I was discussing above)
*Wowhead (basically an encyclopedia of WoW, you can snoop around and see who/what's in the game)
*WoW: New Models, New Theme and New Potential (the article on HerStoryArc that inspired this post)

My Thoughts On Warlords of Draenor So Far

Warlords of Draenor has been out for a few weeks now, and I haven't said too much about it. When the expansion was first announced, I wasn't too eager to see it really. The only thing that sounded interesting to me were the garrisons. As the expansion neared, Blizzard started releasing these mini movies that gave some background into the upcoming expansion. Those were actually pretty cool, and they got me interested in seeing what the expansion had to offer. I have to say though, that excitement was short lived once patch 6.0.2 went live. You can read about all the changes here, but basically Blizzard wanted to take WoW back to its roots. So we all got hit with the nerf bat and everything sucked. Especially when the dungeons in Panda Land hadn't been fixed yet. That was miserable. And the race remodels. I really didn't like them. My humans looked like taller dwarves, and my undeads just looked....weird. But like with anything in WoW, you complain about it for a while, and then you get over it and get used to it.

So the expansion finally released, and I waited a few days to try and log in. I didn't care about being any kind of server first (besides, most of those went to people that a-beta tested and knew the general gist of how things worked already or b-work for wowhead), and I knew with the amount of people trying to log in, it would be a nightmare. I waited four days after launch to log in, and it still took me hours to finally get onto my server. It was worth it though. I started out with a Horde toon of mine, and shes actually my highest toon right now (94). The quests were pretty easy to do, although I found myself taking a lot of damage from mobs at times, and I'm not used to that lol. But I guess thats part of Blizzard's "taking it back" thing. I remember when I first started playing, mobs were hard to kill. Once you get out of the starting area (and thats not an immediate thing), you go onto Frostfire Ridge (Blade's Edge Mountains). When I started the quest line on my Alliance character, I was expecting to go to the same place. So it was really nice to see that after getting out of that starting area (because you do start the same way, no matter your faction), you do go to a different area to start building your garrisons. The Alliance start in Shadowmoon Valley. I haven't gotten too far into the quest lines with my Ally toon to see how different they are, but at least you have the change of scenery.

I really like the garrisons and all the quests you can have your followers do for it. Yes, followers! You earn them from quests, and they help you complete tasks. The achievement whore in me just loves it because there are so  many achievements related to the garrison and your followers. You can also kill beasts out and about and they give you garrison supplies, plus you can just find them while questing. Also while you're questing, bonus objectives can pop up on your map, and if you complete them, you get gold and xp, which is good. The addition of the reagent bank is super awesome, but I've already filled mine up on my 94, so thats a bummer. That reagent bank saves you a ton of bag space though! It really comes in handy, well worth the 100 gold to get it.

Some things I don't like about the new expansion is that the characters light up when you hover over them. Thats just distracting to me, and it reminds me of EverQuest. Actually, most of this expansion reminds me of EverQuest, which is pretty crappy. Its like Blizzard couldn't think of anything new on their own, so they went to rip off another game instead. I also don't like how squishy I've become. I get hit so hard by mobs, its really difficult to quest alone. I'm not horrible at my class either- the mobs just hit harder. And like I mentioned above, I don't like how any of my toons look remodeled. I like how they looked before.

Overall though, I am enjoying this expansion a lot more than I thought I would. I feel like there is a lot to do in this one so you can't get bored with it super easily (like with Pandaria, even though I didn't even finish most of what was out there).I still haven't tried to do any of the new dungeons though, so that should be interesting. And leveling of professions is different a little now too. There are some items I can use from Draenor that have a really high level with no problem, but items from the old world, that have lower levels, require a certain level in a profession to use them. Its a little wacky how thats done, but I think it has something to do with the garrisons and work orders.

Have you tried Warlords of Draenor? What do you think of it so far? Let me know in the comments!


Donate $5 to Play Live or Extra Life and win an in-game pet of your choosing! Details here!

Gift Guide- World of Warcraft and Hearthstone (plus a little loot)

Happy Thanksgiving eve to my American readers! And Happy Just-Another-Day to my non-American readers! Today's gift guide is all about WoW and Hearthstone. I haven't done a WoW Wednesday in forever, so its about time right? Keep reading until the end, because there's a little giveaway for those of you who are feeling the Thanksgiving vibes today :)

WoW Gift Guide by krystellemt 

Alliance T shirt / Robes / World of Warcraft Journals / J!NX Alliance Hoodie / J!NX : World of Warcraft Murloc Zip-Up Hoodie / J!NX World of Warcraft Horde Track Jacket / J!NX : World of Warcraft Pandaren Express Premium Tee / J!NX : World of Warcraft Horde Wrapping Paper / J!NX : World of Warcraft Alliance Wrapping Paper / WORLD OF WARCRAFT MONOPOLY COLLECTORS EDITION / FUNKO POP! VINYL MURLOC / CUTE BUT DEADLY SYLVANAS KEYCHAIN

These items were found at Think Geek, Jinx, and the Blizzard Store.

Hearthstone by krystellemt 

J!NX : Hearthstone Vintage Logo Premium Tee / New Golden Heroes edition Hearthstone coffee mug by castastone / HEARTHSTONE THROW PILLOW / HEARTHSTONE ICE CUBE TRAY / HEARTHSTONE LIGHT-UP KEYCHAIN

Sadly, there isn't much for the Heartstone fan just yet. Everything here came from the Blizzard store, except the tee shirt (Jinx) and the mug (etsy,com).

So here's the fun part for you, if you're in the giving mood. I am giving away an in-game pet of your choice to two lucky readers! Yay! This is an international giveaway that opens right now and stays that way until midnight California time on December 29, 2014! There is no tweeting, no account following, none of that. All you have to do is donate to Play Live or Extra Life. The donation has to be a minimum of $5. You can donate more than that, but it will not increase your chances of winning. You can donate to both charities, and that will increase your chances of winning. The winners will be chosen on or around December 29, 2014. Winners will be contacted by email and have 48 hours to respond to that email. If no response is received, a new winner will be chosen. Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Geeky Confessions

Its just a really good time to confess all your stuff right now in the blogosphere. I shared with you the other day my Confessions of a Blogger, and today I am sharing my Geeky Confessions. Now, this confessional link up came first, but I hesitated to join up because I couldn't figure out how to make my pictures fancy like the other girls (lame! I know.). But here I am, finally getting over that, because everyone's lists have been so fun, and I want to have some fun too. Check out the Gamerwife for the post that started it all, as well as the link up with all the other cool posts.

Many World of Warcraft players hate Blood Elves. They said it was an attempt to make the Horde pretty. And maybe its true. But they are my favorite race to play in the game. I think their starting areas are pretty and yes, I really love they way they look too.

So its no secret that I was late to the Firefly party, only watching the series a few months before SDCC this year. It had set in my Netflix queue forever, and then one day my husband and I finally decided to sit down and watch it. And we loved it! I was talking to my dad about it, and how we'd gotten tickets to see Alan Tudyk at Nerd HQ and then somehow us watching it on Netflix came up and my dad was like "Yeah, I have it on DVD. Serenity too. Bought them the day they came out." What?! My dad had been a Browncoat for years lol. I shouldn't be surprised though, my love of science fiction comes from him.

I am a Trekkie. I grew up watching TNG because my dad watched it. Then we watched DS9. And along came Voyager, with the first ever female captain! I was so excited because I had always wanted to see what a female captain would be like; ever since I dressed up in a Captain's uniform one Halloween and two boys, also dressed as Starfleet Captains, said to me, "Your costume doesn't make sense. They'll never have a female captain!" So Voyager was a chance for those boys, and what I imagined to be thousands just like them, to eat it. And then the show started. And I loved everyone on it. Except Captain Janeway. Its not that she was poorly acted, its just that she was written so poorly. Whiny. An example of the stereotypes that males spout as to why females can't be captains. I felt like those Halloween boys were sitting somwhere saying "See! Starfleet would never have chosen her! She doesn't deserve to be there." And for that, Captain Janeway will never be my captain. 

I can remember all the celebrity guys I had crushes on when I was little, the roles that they were playing on teevee at that time.....and they were all pretty much nerds. I wonder if that helped shaped my present day preferences? Fred Savage who played Kevin Arnold in the Wonder Years. Neil Patrick Harris who played Doogie Howser. Wil Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Jonathan Brandis, who played Lucas Wolenczak on seaQuest DSV. The only one that didn't really fit the "smart" or "nerdy" role was Jordan Knight from New Kids on the Block (who was my first official crush ever). Even though admitting that you liked NKOTB past 1989 was a pretty geeky act itself. Probably still is :)

I really love Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. But I didn't always. The first time I watched the movie, I was so put off by Michael Cera's acting that I didn't want to finish it. So I didn't. And I didn't watch it again until about a year later when it was on teevee while I was wrapping Christmas presents. I don't know if it was the holiday feels or what, but this time I was hooked. And now its one of my favorite movies. I still hate Michael Cera in it though. And I do want to read the graphic novels. Maybe he was supposed to act that way, because of the novels?  

So that wraps up my Geeky Confessions. I'm sure they could have been geekier, but that's the best I can do right now :) Let me know if you take part in Mariko's link up, I'd love to see what you've written! 

Warlords of Draenor Stuff and Some More Child Neglect

Its Wednesday! Halfway through our week and guess what? Tomorrow is the cinematic reveal for Warlords of Draenor! Who's excited? I wanted to haul myself to Los Angeles to see it in person, but I'm sure the line will be out of this world long (everyone who is there, regardless of getting into the theater or not, will receive a beta key for WOD), so I guess I will be watching online instead.

You can log on to www.WorldofWarcraft.com to watch it or if you're feeling adventureous, go to the Theatre at Ace Hotel, 929 South Broadway in LA (doors open at 8:30am). For all the info (and to see a million comments from people who are butthurt about the screening's location) you can click here.

Also in WOD news, this article popped up on my Yahoo front page the other day, and I thought I'd share it with you. Its just some things to get done before the expansion, as they will be disappearing. Items include: green warlock fire (you can still get the fire, the title and feat of strength is what's vanishing) and the phoenix mounts from Pandaria challenge modes. 

Another World of Warcraft article came into my Yahoo front page just after the WOD one did, and this one is about child neglect (here is a link to what the DA released on the case....its nasty). I have written about WoW and child abuse/neglect before (you can read it here, if you feel so inclined), and my stance on the subject hasn't changed. What gets me about this one is that the parents are unemployed (so how are they paying for it? Welfare probably- your tax dollars at work if you live in CA), they locked the children in the mobile home for three years so nobody could see the squalor and deplorable conditions they were being subjected to and that the focus of the story was still that the parents were playing WoW while all this abuse and neglect was happening. I would bet almost anything that they would still be shitty parents living off the government even if they weren't glued to their computers. Its sad that people still blame video games for the actions of people, when they should really be blaming the people who are performing said actions. 

A Quick WoW Wednesday

Happy Wednesday everyone! This WoW Wednesday will be quick, as there's not much going on.

We're in the home stretch of the Midsummer Fire Festival. I haven't even done the quests this year on any of my toons (aside from honoring and desecrating some flames). I just don't have love for this holiday, and I've been really focused messing around with my 90 on Timeless Isle. The Midsummer Fire Festival runs until this weekend.  Don't forget to watch the fireworks on the Fourth of July! Also, the Darkmoon Faire will be back on Sunday- yay!

And for some exciting news, I have paired with Neri at Mama Needs Mama for a fantastic giveaway! You have the opportunity to win the badass Warforged Mount for World of Warcraft and a $15 iTunes gift card. Visit her site to enter! I wish I could enter this giveaway, I love this mount! And the hitching post that comes with it to transform your party's mounts is pretty awesome as well.

PS  Just a little note to remind you of the League of Legends giveaway that I'm currently having. Remember, you have to donate through my donor page to be eligible, or all of your entries will be disqualified.

St. Jude's Play Live (Updated!)

Hello everyone! I am happy to share this awesome fundraiser that I have signed up to participate in, and I hope you'll sign up for it too.

As you know, I watch Danielle's videos on YouTube quite frequently. She was one of my favorite contestants on season one of King of the Nerds, and it was just major bonus points that she's also a fellow World of Warcraft player. So I was super excited to see this video, explaining her involvement in the upcoming St Jude fundraiser Play Live.
With all the buzz surrounding John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, childhood cancer is having a moment. Which is good, because awareness is never a bad thing. But cancer isn't just having a moment with me, its been a constant in my life. I've had family members that have fought long, hard battles with cancer that they ultimately lost. In my late teens/early twenties, I had precancerous cells removed from some pretty important parts. And since then, I've had a bevy of tumors removed from various other parts. Luckily those have all been benign, but at some point I figure my luck will run out.

I have signed up under Danielle's team (Team TradeChat) to fund raise for this event. Any donations I earn will go towards Danielle's ultimate goal of raising $100,000 for the hospital. I have set my goal at $100, and I hope you'll be there to help me reach it. If I can get five people to join the team by June 12th (the day before the fundraiser officially begins), I will hold a giveaway here on the blog. I have some Attack on Titan, Titanfall, League of Legends things to give away....and that's just for starters. If I can reach that $100 goal I've set for my team by June 20th, I will add in some more awesome prizes. I guess its like Kickstarter...or achievement unlocking. Help me reach my goals, and I'll reward you with awesome goodies :)

This is the first time I'll be live streaming anything, so I'm really nervous about it. I will be playing World of Warcraft and Hearthstone for the streams. I'm not the best player at either game, but I figure I need to get past my gaming insecurities so I can help out this great cause.

I really hope you'll join me on this adventure: http://playlive.stjude.org/krystellemt is my donor page info. Play Live runs from June 13th 2014- September 1st, 2014.

Everyone seems to take on causes whether they mean to or not, and cancer has always been one for me. This St Jude's fundraiser is a great way to support geeky guys and girls in their gaming endeavors while supporting a great cause like St Jude's. And even if cancer isn't your personal crusade, think of all the Augustuses (Augusti?) and Hazels out there that could benefit from St Jude's research and facilities.

WoW Wednesday

I have started playing WoW again! Yay! I started playing right at the tail end of Children's Week, and managed to do the Darkmoon Faire (totally missed Noblegarden though, which was a bummer). I have been playing my level 90 shadow priest on the Alliance, running around Panda land and doing the copious amounts of dailies that are out there now that I can fly. I've always been big on dailies (remember all those dailies you could get in Shattrath? Anyone? Bueller?), so this is super exciting for me. I just wish it was on my mage, but they're all hovering around around level 86-88 and are severely under geared. 

Last week was also the time to buy BlizzCon tickets. I was super pissed because I didn't see anything announcing it, so  I completely missed the May 7th opportunity. They usually send emails announcing it, plus they advertise it on the opening Battlenet screens, but again, I saw nothing. It wasn't until I saw people's screenshots on Instagram later that night that I learned about it, and the second opportunity on May 10th. My husband and I tried on May 10th, but of course, we didn't get tickets. The system they used sucked, and we got kicked out of the waiting room a few times. Tickets were showing as available, then we'd try to purchase them and either we'd get kicked off of the screen, or the screen would say that the tickets were no longer available. It was very frustrating and I feel that Blizzard didn't handle the ticket sales well at all. They usually don't, but this was probably one of the worst years. We've been trying to get tickets since 2006, so its been very frustrating. It only took four years for us to get SDCC badges lol, and its supposed to be super difficult to get SDCC badges.

Did any of you get lucky enough to score BlizzCon tickets? Any thoughts on this year's ticketing system?

WoW Wednesday

WoW Wednesday has been notably absent from the blog lately. I haven't played WoW in at least a month, which is a large part of it. The other part is, I'm not sure there is much interest in it from you, the reader. I mean, if you don't play, I imagine it doesn't appeal to you. So I am in the process of rethinking it, deciding whether or not I want to continue with the column and if I do, where to go from here.

I did want to share the link to this article with you though. Its from the A.V. Club and it talks about abandoned cities in the game. If you've been playing the game long, the article will make a lot of sense. I've been around long enough to see a lot of these cities rise and fall. I have an appreciation for abandoned things in real life, buildings mostly. There's just something about them that I find fascinating. But it never occurred to me that things in a video game could become abandoned too.

Before they merged a bunch of servers together, I played on a few dead servers. Well, dead on the Alliance side, which is what I was playing at the time. It was beneficial during holidays- it made getting the holiday quests for achievements done so much faster. But there weren't many players to help you out when the Horde came to play "Destroy the Alliance", and the long trade chat and even guild chat silences could sometimes get boring. The cross realm things they did changed some of that, but you can still find major cities that are pretty much abandoned. Ironforge, the Exodar, Dalaran, Shattrath, and Silvermoon City are the ones that come to my mind immediately. It makes questing nice and easy if you're looking to power level, but again, the silences and absence of other players can get boring. With every expansion, more and more cities and areas get left to be abandoned in favor of the new content. I guess that's true of life too. The new and exciting is often chosen over the old and known. But WoW developers don't do much to help the old cities either. The new content doesn't require the old much anymore past mid-level 50's it seems. You only spend a marginal time in the Outlands before you can go to Northrend, where you can get the higher item levels needed to continue with the game. And from there its a straight shot to Cataclysm and Pandaria content.

With Warlords of Draenor on the horizon, there will be more empty cities. The empty cities aren't completely horrible though. If you role play or like to take screenshots of the scenery, the emptiness can be an advantage. You can also get to the auction house or trainers without a million people blocking your way or causing lag. And sometimes, when you don't want to see the Chuck Norris jokes, conspiracy theories and "make me a sandwich, bitch" comments, having a silent trade chat isn't such a bad thing. The article is right, there is beauty in WoW's abandoned cities.

WoW Wednesday...Its Actually More About Hearthstone...

I think I need to make a new section just for Hearthstone, I have been playing it more than WoW lately. If you're interested in Blizzard's World of Warcraft themed card game, it is now out of beta and very live! You can download it for free at playhearthstone.com. Also, if you are a WoW player trying out Hearthstone, you might be interested in the mount that they're giving away if you get three wins in Play or Arena mode. The mount also gives you an achievement called Hearthstoned.

I took a picture of my mount as soon as I won it yesterday. It took forever to get it once I logged into WoW though. It was supposed to be there as soon as you logged in, but I guess their system was overloaded by everyone trying to get it. The mount is very impressive and I've heard rumors that there is a red version of this horse, although I have only seen people getting blue ones.

Now for some WoW news. The time has come to pre-purchase Warlords of Draenor. If you pre-order the standard ($49.99) or deluxe ($69.99) digital version of the expansion, you get a free level 90 boost. You will then also have the option of purchasing addition level 90 boosts for $60 a boost. There was a lot of trash talking in Trade last night about the level boosts, but I bet most of those guys pre-ordered as well! They were talking equal amounts of trash about the Hearthsteed too, but that's just Trade, full of hating trolls. Anyway, the digital deluxe also comes with some in-game goodies; like a Dread Raven Mount and Dread hatchling pet for WoW, Battle.net portraits for Starcraft II and a Warsong Pennant for Diablo III. The mount and pet sound most appealing to me. I haven't played Diablo in forever and I have never played Starcraft. Are any of you going to pre-purchase the game for the level 90 boosts or the in-game goodies?

WoW Wednesday

Here is a video from Trade Chat giving an overview of a lot of new things in WoW, Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone. Hopefully I will have something WoW related to say next week :)

PS The level 90 boosts for sale that she mentions are no longer appearing on live servers. It was first reported that someone saw the boost price on their account after the most recent maintenance. The claims have since been dispelled by Blizzard.

WoW Wednesday- So You Wanna Be On Catfish? And Other Things.

Happy Wednesday everyone! I am feeling a bit under the weather, which isn't horribly abnormal for me, except I am experiencing some flu-like symptoms which is gross.

Now that Lunar Festival is over, the Darkmoon Faire is in high gear! As always, its a great opportunity to earn achievements, do dailies for some xp and gold, and a chance to earn Darkmoon Faire tickets that you can use to purchase pets, mounts, and gear. Wowhead has a nice little guide here, telling you all about it. I'm saving up for the Darkmoon Dancing Bear because I think it'd be cool to have a bear mount that dances.

Darkmoon Island.

Super fun news if you watch Catfish or just want to be on teevee. They want WoW players for upcoming shows! I think the idea is great. I know I met someone who became a pretty important part of my life through WoW. But that teevee show is focused on love relationships, so I don't know how they're going to do friendships. Plus, even looking at the application, its like they want to find some romantic or secret between you, and I personally wouldn't put myself in that spot (though I would like to meet my WoW friend one of these days). I will definitely watch whatever episode they make from this though, I think it will be interesting to see some WoW players out from behind their screens :) Visit Wowhead for all the details and a cool giveaway for some Iron Skyweavers and Alterac Brew Pups.

What else is new? Oh, you can now purchase non digital items through the Blizzard store again. Yay! I've been wanting to buy an authenticator forever (because I constantly break my phones, and always having to remove authenticators from my account is a pain), but the option hasn't been their since they've put their store in beta. So go check out the store for all your digital and non digital Blizzard needs- its all there now.

Buy it here.

WoW Wednesday

Happy Wednesday everyone! Have you been busy getting all you Lunar Festival achievements? I know I haven't lol. I have been too busy trying to utilize the last few days left on my RaF. The Lunar Festival is very pretty though, and there isn't much to do other than honor the Elders. A pain if you can't teleport or fly, but otherwise fun (and a nice way to fill in your maps). Here's a little guide from Wowhead to help you out :) Its going on now through February 3rd, so don't miss out!

Source.

The models for the Female Humans in Warlords of Draenor have been released recently. Nothing too different about them I think, just a little more definition in the body area. You can view some of the other race remodels here. 

Also, if you were mourning the fact that you weren't chosen for Hearthstone's closed betas, mourn no more. Hearthstone is now in open beta! Yes! So come hang out at the table and show us what you've got (not that I'm so great lol. I usually lose my games....) Here's a fun review from The Daily Crate (Loot Crate's hub of knowledge) about Hearthstone.

How cute are the new WoW sweatshirts from Jinx!? I mean seriously. And since I have an Alliance sweatshirt, but don't really play Alli anymore, I think this is the perfect time to get me a Horde sweatshirt! The hood detail is so awesome,  I just love it.

WoW Wednesday- In-Game Etiquette for Newbies (and maybe some not so noobs)

Since my husband and I are taking advantage of the revamped Recruit- A-Friend perks and goodies, I have been spending a lot of my recent WoW time in dungeons. And with that, I have been seeing a lot of behaviors that you didn't used to see too much in the game. Some of it might be because there are a lot of new players, and the game is set up to be so face roll easy  now, that most of them aren't taking the time to learn about their class. Also, guilds don't seem to be as helpful as they once were. They're basically just cranking out crap players now that the realization has set in that  most people only want a guild for their perks, so new players don't have the  people resources that a Vanilla or BC guild could offer (although, a level 25 guild can give you all the perks you need for leveling without using RAF, so there's that...) Keeping all that in mind, I thought I would take this opportunity to write a little etiquette post for all you new WoW players that just might not know that you're pissing people off in groups (and for those of you veteran players that just need to stop being so  rude).

Back in the old days, you had to spam trade chat to find members for a group you wanted to run. It could take hours before you finally had every class you needed. So when Blizzard added the LFG (looking for group) function to the game, I think a lot of people breathed a little sigh of relief. Finally, no more hour long searches! Except, with the LFG came all the ninjas and baddies. Who cares if you ninja loot in a LFG dungeon? The likelihood of you playing with those people again is slim. And sucking? Same thing. LFG has now been edited to allow a party to kick someone for whatever reason they may have, but all it does it give that person a timer, and then they're free to get back in the queue and do it again and again to some other groups. Its frustrating having to deal with these types of people. So first things first- don't be a ninja! What's a ninja you ask? A ninja is a person who needs on gear that they don't really need. For example, a mage needing on a pair of plate gloves. Mages can't wear plate! So what's the point of rolling on it? Vendoring it for gold or to disenchant it for mats. Blizzard has tried to prevent this in higher levels, once you hit Outlands' dungeons, you can no longer need on things you can't use. But until then (like from level 15 when you can start using LFG until about level 57), you can enter an instance and need on whatever drops, regardless of its use to you. Also, if you need on things in a group, it now becomes soulbound to you, which didn't happen before. Back in the day, people would need on things that were bind on equip (BOE), and then sell them for crazy amounts on the Auction House. Now they just need on them and vendor them. And while we're on the subject of rolls, you should only need on items that pertain to the spec you're in unless you ask. Like if a Pally is in a group as a tank, but something that a healer or other caster can use drops and the tank needs it for his heal spec. If he rolls against the healer or DPS and wins, but its a real upgrade to the other person, is that fair? I say no. Because as a caster, I can't roll on your tank stuff, so why can you roll on my caster gear? If it looks like nobody in your group needs the item though, its best to put a line out in group like "mind if I need for OS?" and usually everyone will say sure. You look like a considerate player, and you get your gear. Win-win. I would also say that, as a caster (Mage/Warlock), if something drops that has Spirit on it, but it would be huge upgrade for you, inspect your healer before you role. Intellect and Stamina are shared stats between all casters, but Spirit is mainly for healers (helps with their mana regeneration, which if you want to get technical, can help you too). If you roll on it without asking, and win, prepare for others in your group to yell "But that's a heal (insert item here)! It has Spirit!". Alternately, nobody will yell at a healer when they roll on something that has Critical Strike (which they don't need) and no Spirit , so get ready for that too.

Also, its a good idea to know what your class needs as far as gear and stats. Because if you're rolling for things with stats and armor qualities you can't use you're going to look like a ninja, and you're also going to look like an idiot. For example, I have run into a quite a few players wearing a mishmash of gear lately. The other day, there was a hunter in one of my groups who was wearing mostly cloth (hunters should be wearing leather or mail) with Intellect and Spirit. Okay. Like I stated above, those are caster stats, and mostly for healers. Hunters need Agility. Needless to say, his DPS (damage per second) was low, and was the laughing stock of the group. People will inspect you. It pays to know the class you're playing. Read the information tab when you're creating your toons, or even look in your specialization book once you've started. In the general tab (where you're guild perks and things are), it will show you what type of armor and what type of weapons you can use.

When you're in a group, each person has a designated role. There is a tank, healer and three DPS. Tanks can get really angry if you're a DPS trying to pull things. Let the tank pull. It will make your life so much easier. And also, accept the fact that tanks tend to come with inflated egos. You will also need to stay close to the healer. Make sure you are in their line of sight and in their heal range, otherwise you will die. Any time a group fails, the healer gets blamed for it, accept that too. Mages are considered a face roll class, as in, you just roll your face over the keyboard to play one. Hunters, or huntards, are considered the dumb ones. Rogues and Paladins are always considered the OP (overpowered) classes. Every class has some stereotype, and sometimes, someone might say something to you. I say, as long it doesn't get too rude or disrespectful, just let it go. It is just a game after all. But if they keep hounding you, or it just gets out of control, that's what the report function is for (and then kick, because who wants to finish a group with a douchebag?). But that is for extreme cases only.  I always feel a little sorry for people that have to hide behind a computer screen to bully. It makes you wonder whats going on in their life that's making them that way.

So to review:
1. Don't be a ninja.
2. If needing for your off-spec, ask before you roll.
3. Know your class.
4. Be nice.

Happy Mail- International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club Version 2

I have written about the International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club before (you can read it here) and how great I think it is. If you follow me on Instagram though, you may have recently seen me bitch about the swaps that go on through the site. Basically, I've had horrible luck with their swaps- always sending stuff out and rarely receiving anything in return. It was frustrating, especially when all the other Iggles were posting pictures of all the great stuff they were getting. I felt a little hurt and left out. And I almost let those experiences ruin the site for me. Almost. But I've decided that I will probably will just forgo the swap aspect of the site from here on out in favor of all the positives it has to offer. (Also, I'd like to point out that Kara sent me a super sweet surprise Christmas package as a way of making up for my bad luck with the swaps. She didn't have to do that, and that's just the type of greatness that can occur through the site)

I love signing up for Rounds- I've met some really great ladies through them. Their blog, +5 Charisma, has a variety of topics that suit every type of geek interest, and the forums are equally as varied as well as active. The IGGPPC has recently moved to a new site- just in time for Round 10 of pen pal sign ups- and its amazing! Along with a redesign, they've added something I think is totally cool- achievements! They're kinda like the achievements in WoW (and I'm a huge achievement whore), but a little more difficult to find. I think the achievements add a little something extra (those Chief Iggles were channeling their inner Elle Woods) to the Iggle experience, and it might awaken the competitive giant in some of us ladies. Sign ups for Round 10 (with a cute Monsters theme) begin tomorrow, but if you just can't wait- you can donate $5 to the site for VIP registration that allows you access to the sign ups now! I hope you'll join me for Round 10 and see you around the IGGPPC site! And make sure to tell Kimberlee congratulations on her Ninja status with the Iggles. You may remember her as a contributor to the BlizzCon 2013 recap post and she was also my very first WoW player profile.

 A

PS Don't forget to enter my Datevitation giveaway! Or visit the Datevitation website and use code MISSTELLS for $10 off your order and free shipping.

WoW Wednesday- The Feast of Winter Veil

Not too much going on in the World of Warcraft lately, but I am most excited because The Feast of Winter Veil has started. Running from December 16- January 2, all of Azeroth will be decorated in Christmas finery,  with lots of achievements to earn and quests to complete. You'll get to save Metzen the Reindeer, slay the Abominable Greench, and wear Gaudy Winter Sweaters. And don't forget to visits Greatfather Winter in Ironforge or Orgrimmar on Christmas Day, if you've been good you'll get lots of presents. I think if you're not in the holiday spirit by now (and you really should be, there's only eight more days until Christmas), seeing WoW done up will help you get there. Its always been my most favorite holiday in-game (right next to Valentine's Day). Check out WoW Wiki for more info on the holiday.

'Twas the feast of Great-Winter

And all through the land

All the races were running

With snowballs in hand.

The cooks were all frantic

And for those "in the know"

Swoops and owls were crashing

Like new-fallen snow.

Cookies and eggnog

Were consumed by all

As the snowballs flew freely

And drunks smashed into walls.

May your feast of Great-Winter

Be one merry and bright

And from all here at Blizzard

We wish you a fun night!

Photo from WoW Wiki user Coobra.