shadows on the horizon

When Patch 5.4 drops, will Taran Zhu be able to resist a nigh overwhelming desire to say I TOLD YOU SO!!!! to some of the other factions in Pandaria?

On the one hand, I feel like I’ve already been spoiled more than I wanted to be about what’s coming in Patch 5.4. Even without reading posts that warn HERE THERE BE SPOILERS, the header images on various WoW Insider posts, newsbutton images at Wowhead, and post titles that I’ve seen in other blogs’ newsfeeds have spoiled some of the major environment changes.

On the other hand, knowing at least a little bit about what’s coming, as betrayed and sorrowful as it makes me feel, gives me time to run around screencapping the location that is going to be dramatically changed. I collected screenshots of the southern beaches of Krasarang Wilds in their pristine state shortly before Patch 5.1 dropped. I wish, now, that I’d paid just a little more attention to the news from the Patch 5.3 PTR, because I don’t have any screenshots of what the area that is now the Big Blossom Excavation site used to look like.

On a somewhat related note, as I rode past a couple of the yaungol fire-camps that now dot Kun-Lai Summit, I thought about the blatant hypocrisy of the Horde, as represented by General Nazgrim. Nazgrim pretends to help the pandaren, agreeing that the yaungol, who have been disposessed and want new and better lands to provide for their people, should be pushed back — when Hellscream and his Kor’kron want to do exactly the same thing to the very same lands. Why is it wrong for the yaungol to take Kun-Lai Summit from the pandaren, but not wrong for the orcs to take all of Pandaria from the pandaren? Playing through the storylines of the Horde invasion of Pandaria has made me feel rather uncomfortable about my own country’s history of colonization and Manifest Destiny….

Away From Reality

One of my current favorite WoW webcomics is Away From Reality. It’s funny, the characters are likeable, and the art is totally unique from any other WoW webcomic I’ve ever seen. Instead of drawing, screencapping, or using WMV, Erik Jensen uses the program Poser to model and render his characters. Although this makes the art less immediately recognizable as being derived from WoW, I think the more broad-spectrum fantasy game look also makes the comic more accessible to non-WoW players.

On the “About” page, Jensen comments,

I would love to see someone with actual artistic talent someday render some of my characters or comics, but for myself, this is all I can do.

This invitation has been bouncing around in the back of my brain for awhile now, and out it came onto paper when I was searching for inspiration for something to draw yesterday.

Here we have the main cast of Away From Reality (well, sort-of):

night elf druid Alaxia
human prot warrior Gord
human warlock Morgatha
gnome mage Thizzible*
dwarf holy priest Hurgon

*Night elf hunter Targe is formally the fifth member of the “main cast”, but it’s seemed to me like Thizzible has made more appearances than Targe since the crew reached Pandaria.

The outfits in the picture are (somewhat loosely) based on the in-game clothing items that I thought best matched the clothing the characters wear in the comic — though these are not, obviously, complete Transmogrification kits because most of them are lacking gloves.

faffing ‘folio

Since Katewatha reached level 90, she’s been busily working on her rep with the Tillers, the Shado-Pan, the August Celestials, the Order of the Cloud Serpents, and the Lorewalkers. These have all been going pretty quickly because I did eventually purchase the commendations for the “fun” factions as well as the serious ones.

Kate found an Onyx Egg while doing her very first set of Cloud Serpents dailies — something that Kamalia never managed to do — and that got her to Revered on that very first day.
She spent yesterday afternoon flying around reading lorescrolls, following this guide for mainland Pandaria and then this guide for the Isle of Thunder. I didn’t go visit the Seat of Knowledge until I’d collected all of the stories, and when I dinged Exalted, I still had five scrolls left to find.

Ketura, meanwhile, has been questing through the Jade Forest. She’s done a lot of rambling about in the southern part of the zone, following road signs to explore Alliance questing areas such as the Den of Sorrow and the Dreamer’s Pavillion. The Den of Sorrow uses the same cave design as Huo’s shrine on the Wandering Isle — I’m glad to see that such a lovely, unique location isn’t completely hidden away in that phased content. I wondered, though, how Lorewalker Cho acquired a poster of the Karazhan “Oz” backdrop to hang on the walls of his courtyard.

I was glad that I didn’t have to go all the way to the destruction of the statue to obtain the complete Fox Grove/Jade Witch set for Ketura.

After I initially collected this set with Kamalia (who didn’t keep it), I looked forward to collecting it for Ketura (to save) for a couple of reasons. First, I thought it would be perfect with this gun — the Bronze Blaster is a quest reward from End Time, but its design looks very Pandaren to me. Second, I thought it would mix-and-match well with the Gilneas City Guard set.

And it does — the two sets coordinate so very well that I’m having a terrible time deciding which of the following three combinations is my favorite!

While Kate was out searching for lorescrolls, I noticed how pretty the floor in the main chamber of the Crane Temple is:

and that’s probably why, when I was running LFR yesterday night, I noticed how pretty the floor in the courtyard where the Council of Elders meets is, too:

I haven’t run a meter since Ultraxion, so I don’t really know how effective my healing in LFR is. Perhaps I should start doing it again, though, because I’ve been feeling like I’ve gotten really sloppy.

I realize that I’m really quite late to the party with this observation, but with all the excitement about a new froggie model in Patch 5.2, I’m a bit surprised that none of my other Shaman friends (Effy, Matty, Saz) seem to have posted about how Hex now uses the new froggie instead of the old one.

Or did you, and I just wasn’t paying attention well enough and missed it?

Dynamic Duo

I finally convinced BTH to take our Monks out to finish Townlong Steppes, start Dread Wastes, and ding 90. I got distracted by which quest reward to choose at just the wrong moment, however, and totally photobombed my own “Dynamic Duo” achievement toast screenshot. Instead, here’s a portrait of Katewatha that I drew a couple of weeks ago.

Kate is fascinated with all things Pandaren, and while she uses the four “Tufts” Tauren hairstyle in-game, I imagine that ever since she came to Pandaria, she’s actually worn the Pandaren “Twin Loops” hairstyle.
This outfit is based on the leather version of the first round of quest rewards from the Wandering Isle.

Stormbreaker of the Silver Covenant (or the Blue Flight)

Stormbreaker of the Silver Covenant (or the Blue Flight)


Skyshatter Shoulderpads (T6), Stormbreaker Chestguard, Tol’Vir Hereditary Girdle, Infection Resistant Legguards, Replica Gauntlets of Elements, Carapace Breaker, Spellbreaker’s Buckler, Common Gray Shirt
When mini-Kam dinged 90, it occurred to me that this crafted T14(N)-lookalike chestpiece would go very nicely with the T6-recolor kilt she already owned. The rest of the outfit fell together very quickly once I decided to make it another take on the “Silver Covenant Shaman” concept.
I debated for awhile between the Thunder Bluff Doublet and the grey shirt. From the front, I wasn’t sure which I liked better. When I looked at the outfit from the back, however, the grey shirt was the clear winner because it made the chestpiece so similar to the kilt.

Lightning Orbs

Cyclone Shoulderpads (T4), Icy Scale Chestguard, Renegade Belt, Heroes’ Earthshatter Kilt (T7-10s), Spiritwalker’s Handwraps (T13), Guiding Star, Orb of Arcing Lightning
I love the little wings animation on this off-hand item — Look, Ma, I caught the Golden Snitch!
I couldn’t resist pairing it with Thorim’s baby rattle.

Spiritrending Talons


Pauldrons of the Furious Elements, Ro’shak’s Molten Chain, Stormleather Sash, Molten Earth Kilt, Grips of Nature’s Wrath, Amun-Thoth, Sul’s Spiritrending Talons, Enamelled Disc of Mojo
Wait, what is this thing that dropped for me in T15 LFR? A fist weapon with intellect on it? Nowai!
But my Sha-touched weapon is still better for my Resto set, so this novel weapon went to upgrade my Elemental set.
I pulled out the Stormleather Sash to coordinate with the orange sphere, and I’ve been planning to use that belt and that kilt together in a set for ages. The shield coordinates with the teal design on the sphere, and the chestpiece bridges the teal in the main- and off-hand items. Keeping the rest of the colors dark allows the orange and teal to “pop” without becoming overwhelming.

Tradition of Cooking

Headband of the Coiled Serpent/Imposing Bandana, Righteous shoulders pants & gloves, Scouting tunic & boots, Red Belt of Gentle Persuasion; Chef’s Hat, Apron, Frying Pan, Rolling Pin, Spider Splatter Mace, Cookie’s Tenderizer
This outfit was created to be worn with the cooking accessories. Of course, it needed to look good without them, too. Other leather-wearing classes should use the Burning Blade Devotee’s Cinch for the belt. I chose the alternate headpiece for PvE activites to coordinate with the belt. I was surprised and delighted to see how awesome the set looked with the Blue Shado-Pan Riding Tiger when it came up from Kate’s random mount macro.

Torch Tosser


Elementalist Skullcap, Mantle of Invocation, Journeyman’s Vest, Captain Sanders’ Sash/Apothecary’s Waistband, Phoenix Pants, Phoenix Gloves, Sorcerer Slippers, Torch of Austen, Grayson’s Torch/Mistyreed Torch, Black Swashbuckler’s Shirt
I first had the idea for this outfit while I was working on the “runway” outfit I designed for round 4 of Transmogrification Survivor, also using the Journeyman’s Vest. The end result has very little in common with that other set — only the chestpiece itself and the general color scheme.
The tailored Phoenix items match the tunic worn by Alliance flightmasters and Maxima Blastenheimer. This is my second attempt at making a reasonable Transmogrification kit using the Phoenix items; for my first attempt, check the Warlock page.
Kaohana probably won’t ever wear this kit with the proposed hat; by the time she levels up enough to wear it, I will likely be wanting to put her in some other outfit entirely.

Zaela, Zaela, Zaela…

I’m not sure just what you’re doing here. I mean, yeah, you’re using the Demon Chain to subdue this monster proto-drake, but why? I sure hope we’re not going to end up killing you and this drake as an encounter in the Siege of Orgrimmar raid. That would be a horrible, senseless, tragic waste of your tremendous potential. If we do have to fight you, I’d much rather see the encounter end with us convincing you to change your mind (sort of like the Keepers in Ulduar), so that you then help us take down Garrosh and come out of this civil war as the new racial leader of the Orcs.

Do the Alliance SI:7 spying quests for the Battlefield:Barrens quest chain shed any light on what Warlord Zaela is up to? I’m not going to be playing through the 5.3 content as Alliance anytime soon, so I don’t mind being spoiled a little bit.

changes for mini-Kam

As I’ve noted before, I leveled mini-Kam from 85 to 86 on cooking and fishing dailies. Then, using AH purchases to boost her ilevel as needed, I leveled her from 86 onward in LFD. Since the XP nerf went through, I’ve been chaining dungeons with her, running three to five in a sitting. Late last night, Kamaliya became my second 90 without ever having set foot in un-instanced, open-world Pandaria.

Yes, now I have two level 90 Tauren main-spec Resto Shaman.

I originally created mini-Kam to be my social contact with my guild on Lightninghoof before I transferred all my other Tauren characters to Bloodhoof in late Cataclysm. I did Tier 14 LFR with those guildies with Kamalia via the wonders of CRZ-grouping, however, and mini-Kam felt less needed. In late January, the guild lost both of its main tanks simultaneously, and it didn’t manage to recover. Furthermore, all the people whose company I liked so much when I first joined the guild have either moved to other guilds or stopped playing entirely by now.

Not too long ago, I decided that mini-Kam should also be the Shaman I’d use to experiment with the Enhancement specialization. I’ve very much enjoyed to not having to be always looking over my shoulder for Reavers, though, and the dailies areas on Bloodhoof are still busy enough with Horde and Alliance alike that I /cower at the thought of trying to do Pandaria dailies on a PvP server.

So, sometime soon, mini-Kam will be joining the Underpowered Death Knight on Thunderhorn. I’m contemplating bringing the rest of my Tauren class doubles over there, too.