moonkin, moonkitty

My Druid is Balance because I wanted to be a Moonkin.
The mini-Moonkin is one of my favorite battle pets.

When I first saw the Llothien Prowlers in Azsuna, I thought, what is that? Some sort of moonkin-cat? — and I thought they were awfully cute! I was delighted to be able to get an owlkitten of my very own in Suramar.

Although I play mostly Balance, I’ve dabbled with Resto a fair amount and with Feral a little bit. So I was planning to pick up the Artifacts for those specs — as much for the lore as anything else.

Today, I saw on Wowhead that the Hidden appearance of the Fangs of Ashamane is an owlcat! So, um, yeah, I’m definitely going to be getting the Feral Artifact now… but I might not actually do any playing as Feral until my Druid reaches Artifact Knowledge 4 and can get the secret appearance for it😛

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a Bear and a Resto Shaman walk into a Dungeon…

Last night, we picked up where we’d left off in Azsuna. My favorite part of Azsuna, so far, has been the Nar’thalas Academy. The whole place was just delightful, with all kinds of fun quests and details. When we got to the point in the questline where we’d have to go into the Eye of Azshara dungeon to obtain the Pillar of Creation, we just hopped right through the portal — just the two of us.

We didn’t look at the dungeon journal at all, just tried to figure out the boss mechanics on our own. It was challenging, but really quite fun, and the only boss that actually wiped us was Serpentrix. We had to try that one three times before we got the mechanics completely worked out. That dungeon sure has a lot of different ground effect mechanics! During the final boss fight, I commented that this was acutally easier with only two people than it would have been with five, because I didn’t have to worry so much about ranging or the ground effects quite so much. BTH said, “Wait, waht? This is a 5 man dungeon? I thought it was a 3-man scenario!” Which is entirely logical, really, considering that the big end-of-zone events in the past two expansions have been scenarios. Then he said that when we have to go to dungeons to get the Pillars at the ends of all the other zones, we can use LFD and get ourselves some DPS so it doesn’t take so long😛

It was pretty awesome, though, to duo the place at-level. Guardian Druid + Resto Shaman FTW! This was the kind of play that I’d missed while BTH was away from the game.

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eight done; eight to go

The semester being over, I took some time off last week to play.

On Monday, I finished Nagrand with my Alliance Mage.

Yrel has definitely grown on me as I’ve gone through the Alliance storyline. I thought she was a bit bubbleheaded at first, but when she pranked Thaelin back in Nagrand, I was glad to see that her growing seriousness and responsibility hadn’t completely extinguished the playful part of her personality.
That leaves Kaylynda with only one major To Do item: Silver Proving Grounds, followed by a trip to UBRS. My confidence that I’ll actually get that done, however, might be judged from the fact that I’ve reactivated Millhouse Manastorm in Kamalia’s Garrison…

During the middle of the week, I did a bunch of things with a bunch of characters, with the primary objective (which I accomplished) of getting the rest of my active alts (the ones with whom I would like to do Artifact weapon questlines in Legion) who are in Draenor at least to level 96.

Friday was Kerisa’s big day!

I had stocked up enough Relics of Rukhmar from follower missions that Kerisa could get to Exalted with the Arakkoa Outcasts as soon as she finished their questline. I had forgotten that I actually had to get the zone achievement for Spires of Arak to get Talon Guard Kurekk, though, so then I had to go finish establishing Axefall and check out Admiral Taylor’s Garrison and clean up Pinchwhistle Point before I could do this:

I still want a minor glyph — or book or codex or whatever the cosmetic minor glyphs are getting coverted into in Legion — that will make Moonkin form look like a High Arakkoa.

Back at Hallow’s End, I picked up a Seer’s Invitation and sent it to Kerisa. When she used it in her level 2 Garrison, however, nothing happened. I was pleased to see that when she upgraded her Garrison to level 3, the invited arakkoa seer finally showed up:

Kerisa’s not quite sure how she feels about the ghostly guests he brought with him, though.

Kerisa kept a Lumber Mill up just long enough to capture a Botani to study —

— then replaced it with a Trading Post to help her reputation grinding in Tanaan to pick up the third Saberon follower and fourth Arakkoa follower. She’s kind of fascinated by the races that are similar to Druid shapeshifts: bird-people, cat-people, tree-people.

Now that my Balance Druid has reached level 100, I have capped eight characters out of the sixteen I plan to carry forward into Legion. Seven of the remaining eight are already in Draenor. Lagging far behind is my Feral Druid, who is currently in Outland. I’m also considering reviewing the DEHTA storyline in Borean Tundra with her — and then she’ll get the Legion pre-purchase boost up to 100.

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reasons I’m looking forward to Legion from BlizzCon Friday

Highmountain! You know that I love my Tauren, right? I’m keen to learn some new Tauren lore and the new buildings and so forth look amazing.

High resolution moonkin form! (but no thanks, high resolution seal form, I’ll keep on using Glyph of the Orca)

Flexible leveling! Being able to go through the leveling zones in any order I please will make leveling multiple alts more engaging and entertaining.

Flexible level 110 activities!… though with the way things have been going this semester, I’m concerned that I’ll miss out on some of the activities with the shortest availability windows, especially if Legion doesn’t launch until mid-September — a month after my Fall Semester begins. I sure hope it comes out in late spring or early summer!

Artifact weapons! For the most part, the appearances of the Artifact weapons won’t be affecting my choices of class/spec combinations of alts to to level. Some of them are keen and others I’ll be Mogging over pretty quickly. The rapiers for the Combat Outlaw Rogue look pretty sweet, though — I’d decided to retire my Rogue, but now I’m being tempted to reactivate her. I’m intrigued that the Elemental Shaman weapon is going to be a fist weapon… if I’d known that this was coming, I’d have tried to get Wu-Lai, Bladed Fan of the Consorts for Kamalia back in the Throne of Thunder day.

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I believe I can FLY!

There was something different about the world this morning.

At first, Kerisa couldn’t quite put her finger on just what it was. The sky was the same overcast grey as every other day, with snowflakes floating lazily down into the drifts against which the Garrison staff waged constant war. But the breeze felt fresher somehow, and as she looked up at the sky again, a rylak matriarch and her brood swooped over the Garrison, screaming at each other.

A group of large creatures flying…

There were many small flying creatures on Draenor, birds and insects and such, but it seemed that only the strongest individuals of the larger winged creatures could actually fly. In Nagrand, the great windrocs hovered only a few feet above the grass instead of soaring above the trees. The Frostwolf Orcs celebrated those who could successfully tame and ride a flight-capable rylak. Likewise, the Laughing Skull Orcs occasionally managed to tame and ride flight-capable ravagers. Kerisa had heard that in Shadowmoon Valley, the Draenei had tamed fey dragons, which were unusual in that almost all of them could fly.

As the forces from Azeroth had settled in, their wyverns and gryphons had only been able to make short flights from outpost to outpost. Even that was exhausting for the beasts. People who kept stables of personal flying mounts had been sorely distressed by the inability of those creatures to make more than pathetic fluttering hops.

Ever since she had come to Draenor, Kerisa had been quite unable to shift into Stormcrow form. Every time she’d tried it, she’d found herself inexorably shifting into Stag form instead. She’d eventually concluded that there was some enchantment on the land that prevented most large creatures from flying — an ancient warding of the Gorian/Highmaul ogre empire, perhaps, or maybe a working of the High Arakkoa, jealously guarding the skies for themselves.

The sky… the sky did not feel so heavy today. Though she knew not how it could have been done, could the enchantment have been lifted? Or just… worn off? As soon as she had the thought, she began experimentally shifting into Stormcrow form — and instead of feeling her intentions thrust aside, her limbs involuntarily slimming toward delicate hooves and her horns stretching into a great crown of antlers, she felt her fur transforming into long, elegant feathers and her muzzle reshaping into a sharp, curved beak.

Crowing triumphantly, Kerisa spread her wings and flew.

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while we’re on the subject of Clipped Wings…

I would love to have a cosmetic minor Glyph of the High Arakkoa that transforms my Druid’s Moonkin form into a graceful High Arakkoa like Dawnseeker Rukaryx. Glyph of the Flapping Owl should NOT be exclusive with Glyph of the High Arakkoa, unlike its current exclusivity with Glyph of Stars.

Ironically, the loss of flight makes a Druid more like the cursed, crippled Arakkoa we’ve known since Outland than like the soaring High Arakkoa of Draenor. As nifty as it is, Flap is a poor substitute for Flight Form… sigh

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the Emerald Hibernation

It had only been in the past few years that Tauren Druids had begun to feel Ysera — no, not Ysera, for the Great Dragons had spent their Aspect powers defeating Deathwing — the Emerald Dream itself calling them to walk its green shadows. Having no millennia-long tradition of Dreaming in specially-constructed Barrow Dens, as the Kaldorei Druids did, Tauren Druids who heard the call of the Dream tended to simply shift into bear form and find a snug den before entering the long slumber.

Standing at the mouth of the small cave in the mountains high above Mulgore’s golden plains, watching the gently-snoring gray bear curled into its furthest corner, Kamalia had never felt so lonely.

Kamalia and her closest-age cousin, Ronada, had been inseparable companions since childhood. They had traveled and explored the whole world — and the other world of Outland — together, growing in power and skill side-by-side. Karazhan, Zul’Aman, Serpentshrine Cavern, Naxxramas, Ulduar, the Trial of the Crusaders, the Bastion of Twilight, Blackwing Descent, the Throne of the Four Winds, the Firelands… all of these dangers to Azerzoth, they had faced together, with Ronada tanking and Kamalia healing.

That year in Northrend when the guild needed a moonkin more than another healer, so Kamalia’s sister Kerisa had raided Icecrown Citadel with Ronada instead, began the cousins’ slow drift apart. During the Cataclysm, Kamalia became so weary of the demands of constant raiding that she quit shortly after the defeat of Ultraxion and the reclamation of Wyrmrest Temple and the Dragonblight. Ronada, however, continued on to help bring down Deathwing. When Pandaria had been discovered, Kamalia and Ronada traveled together again to explore the new continent… at least until Ronada began raiding the Mogu and Mantid strongholds, and Kamalia declined to participate.

Though she no longer spent most of her time with Ronada, Kamalia hadn’t been alone. Her sisters, some Tauren friends, and her Sin’dorei friends had all eventually come to Pandaria, and they saw each other frequently. She’d also made many new friends among the Pandaren, especially in Halfhill and the surrounding farming communities.

After the Siege of Orgrimmar had dragged on for six months, Ronada, too, had wearied of raiding. The Emerald Dream was calling her. Kamalia had not felt sad or lonely when she had come to see Ronada safely off into the Dream half a year ago, but now…

When the Warchief’s Heralds had brought the news of the bizarre change in color of the Dark Portal and the invasion of a new, strangely-equipped sort of Orc, Kamalia had not gone immediately to the battlefront. She had come here, hoping to be able to rouse Ronada from the Dream, so that they could once more fight together. Kamalia had not begged or pleaded for Ronada to come back, merely told her cousin of her own excitement and anticipation. For a few moments, she had thought that Ronada might be waking. But then the bear settled back down into what seemed to be an even deeper sleep.

Sighing, Kamalia turned from the cave and began attuning her Astral Recall. Whatever strange new world now lay on the other side of the altered Dark Portal, she would be exploring it on her own.

~*~*~

In the spring, BTH decided to take a break from WoW. His guild had defeated Garrosh on normal mode a few times and was banging its head against the heroic modes — and after it had attritted enough people that even forming a 10s group became difficult, BTH decided he needed some time off from raiding, too. Plus, Elder Scrolls Online was coming out, and he’d really enjoyed Skyrim. He’s spent the past six months or so playing ESO and a variety of non-MMO games. Since D&D 5e came out a few weeks ago, he’s really been getting back into D&D.
Now, with Warlords just around the corner, BTH is not sure he even wants to come back to WoW. His guild hasn’t changed their raiding times, and the raiding times that worked well when we were in Atlantic Canada don’t work well now that we’re in the Mountain West. The guild has also decided to server transfer, and he doesn’t really want to server transfer his character. So he’d have to look for a new guild if he wanted to raid — and if he’s going to play WoW, he wants to do real (not-LFR) raiding. He’s not much interested in all the stuff that I still enjoy doing in Azeroth.
Which leaves me looking at playing through a new expansion entirely on my own for the first time… another indicator that Warlords has a fairly high probability of being my last expansion of playing WoW.

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