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- 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- What? Two in One Day?

Usually I find it difficult to post once a week, but today you're getting two posts. Yay for twofers!
There are plenty of things going on in the game/relating to it this month, so I thought I'd highlight some of them for you.

It is soooooo inexpensive to buy the game right now. Thanks to early Black Friday deals, Blizzard is currently selling the digital download of World of Warcraft (that includes all the expansions up to Cataclysm) for $4.99. And its selling the digital download of Mists of Pandaria for $9.99. Those are major savings! And perfect for those of us taking advantage of all the new Recruit-A-Friend features (more on that in a sec). Sale ends December 2nd at 11:59 PST.

Also in the Battle.Net shop right now is an adorable bundle of the Alterac Brew Pup (a pet) and the Enchanted Fey Dragon (a mount) for $30. Now it might seem silly to pay real life money for in-game gear, but this bundle goes to a good cause. Five dollars from every bundle sold (through December 31, 2013) is donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, who help terminally ill children fulfill one great big life dream. So if that doesn't do it for you, also know that the Fey Dragon changes color whenever and adjusts to your riding level, and you can use the Alterac Brew Pup in pet battles. There is also a gifting option on this bundle, so you can  buy this as a gift for your favorite World of Warcraft player. Tis the season after all :)

Its Pilgrim's Bounty time! November 25- December 2, you can cook up all the traditional Thanksgiving yummies as dailies, shoot rogues with your turkey shooter for achievements, and dress like a pilgrim and nobody will laugh at you (well, maybe). There are plenty of achievements to earn for this holiday, which will earn you the "the Pilgrim" title when completed and go towards the What A  Long, Strange Trip mega achievement. Check out Blizzard's overview of the holiday here.

 

 

Its also WoW's Ninth Anniversary right now. From November 18-December 2 (those Blizzard guys seem to love December 2nd...) Blizzard is celebrating their WoW birthday, so log in to your toons  to get the ninth anniversary achievement. Its a Feat of Strength achievement, and it doesn't cross over to all your toons like most achieves do. So if you want it, you have to log in to each specific toon to get it. A pain if you have several toons (like me), but worth it if you're an achievement whore (like me). Also, once you log in, you'll receive a Celebration package in the mail. Its nothing special, no pets or anything cool like in the past, just a buff. The buff increases experience and reputation gains from kills by 9% for 1 hour. It is reusable though, as it has a ten second cooldown. Its only good during the anniversary, so once December 2nd comes, it'll disappear from your bags.

 

 

And last, but certainly not least, the new Recruit-A-Friend (didn't it used to be called refer a friend?). Introduced in the beginning of the month, Recruit-A-Friend promised us leveling gains all the way to level 85 and eight different mounts/pets to choose from as out RAF reward. Sweet, right? The deal is, you send an email to you friend through the RAF button in-game (at least, that's how I've been doing it). Your friend responds to the email Blizzard sends them by following the instructions. If your friend pays for one month of game time, you receive one month of game time for free. If they pay for two months of game time, you get to choose one of those cool mounts or pets as your reward. There isn't a limit to how many friends you can recruit, just remember that to reap all the benefits, you need to be leveling with the person you recruit. Here are the in-game benefits as listed on Blizzard's site:

 



To help you and your recruit take on the challenges of Azeroth together, players who participate in the Recruit A Friend program will enjoy the following in-game benefits for up to 90 days:

• Recruit and veteran characters can summon one another to each other's locations.
• While adventuring with your linked friend or family member, you will each gain triple experience while partied up to level 85, as long as your characters are within 4 levels of each other.
• For every two levels the recruit's characters earn, one grantable level is gained. Recruit characters may then grant these levels to the veteran player's character as long as the character is lower in level than the level-granting character.

Pretty awesome stuff. So if you do recruit your friends or family, just remember that they have to accept your invitation within seven days of your sending it, or it is no longer valid and you'll have to send them another one. And right now (as mentioned at the beginning of this post), they can get the full game for $15, that's a steal! There's no better time to join the citizens of Azeroth than right now!

 

WoW Wednesday- Tis the Season(s)

Its no secret that the holidays in World of Warcraft are my favorite thing about the game. The summer months are sad as far as the game are concerned because the only holiday is the Midsummer Festival and that sucks. But Brewfest starts on Friday and I am so excited. Not only is Brewfest a super cool holiday (racing rams, Wolpertingers, and lots of beer), but it kicks off all the other awesome holidays. Halloween is my favorite WoW holiday, and is usually the time of year when you'll see me playing Horde (Halloween in Brill/Undercity- doesn't make much sense to do it anywhere else). Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Noblegarden round out my top holiday picks.

Holidays in the game give the chance to earn cute pets, new gear, and rare mounts. Also, if you're an achievement whore like I am, holidays have tons of achieves to earn. And, if you do them all, you can earn the big achievement What A Long, Strange Trip Its Been (which I have). The bonus to that one is the violet proto-drake and super fast flying. Its time consuming, but you don't have to do it all in a year. It took me a few years to get it, but its worth it.

What are your favorite WoW holidays? Do you enjoy them or think they're a waste of time? Let me know in the comments :)