making plans for Pandaria Remix

Now that we’ve got some dates for Pandaria Remix — start May 16 and end August 19 — I can think about refining plans for what I want to do with it.

The May 16 start date for Pandaria Remix is offset from the Patch 10.2.7 release on May 7, giving me a week and two days to do the War Within bridge questline before jumping into Timerunning. The full duration of the Timerunning event runs right up until about a week before my Fall semester will begin — and suggests that the War Within pre-launch event might drop right when I’m in the middle of the high-crunch time of preparing for and getting through the first week of classes. Oh, joy.

All of my lecture courses need some level of iteration this summer. All of my courses are losing a couple of lecture days due to a change in the academic calendar, so I have to figure out which lessons to cut and how to adjust the rest of the course content to compensate. I switched textbooks for my sophomore-level majors class two years ago and I haven’t quite gotten my unit review sheets fully caught up to the differences in content organization of the new book compared to the old book. My GE physical sciences survey class is moving from a 75 minutes 2 days per week format to a 50 minutes 3 days per week format, so it’s going to need a lot of work.

Thus, I think it will be best to go into Pandaria Remix with a very limited set of goals:
1) Level ONE character, probably a Kul Tiran, to at least 50
2) Do the Landfall Campaign (becomes available at level 20)
3) Max out the faction reputation associated with the Landfall Campaign for the Landfall meta achievement to get the Sin’dorei Magister’s Regalia.
4) IF I’ve made adequate progress on my preparation for Fall semester and there’s enough time remaining in the event, level a Vulpera to 50

I’d like to someday acquire Heritage Armor for my Kul Tiran and my Vulpera. Blizzard has confirmed that leveling an Allied Race toon to 50+ in Pandaria Remix will allow the character to pick up their Heritage Armor as soon as they get ported into the regular game at the end of the event. Back in the day, I only did Landfall from the Horde perspective, which makes running a Kul Tiran to see the Alliance perspective on that sequence of events more appealing. I’m also somewhat more interested in the Kul Tiran Heritage armor than the Vulpera, particularly because I want to see if I can make some good mashups with the Plunderlord set.

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Plunderstorm P.S. — Polly Roger

I told my son that I was done playing Plunderstorm, but we were only one [Prize] Level away from getting the fancy pirate bird, and I thought he could get it all by himself if he kept playing Plunderstorm.
He kept playing, and he got it.
If he keeps playing Plunderstorm and manages to get us to Renown 40 by the end of the event, great! If he doesn’t, that’s just fine, too.

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DONE with Plunderstorm! **phew!**

On Tuesday night, I got to Renown 36. On Wednesday night, I just wanted to be DONE with Plunderstorm, so I pushed through to Renown 38.

Blizzard, please don’t put something as desirable as a high-res, modern version of the long red pirate coat worn by Baron Longshore that I’ve wanted forever behind a PvP game mode ever ever again.

Or if you do, PLEASE at least make a separate bracket for all the players who have reached the end of the cosmetic rewards track and then keep coming back because they really only care about the PvP.
Some sort of grace period with no PvP allowed at the very beginning of each match would have been nice, too, whether it was a timer or a certain level that a participant has to reach before they can initiate or be targeted by PvP. Perhaps level 7? Because for some of the quests, even with a “good” landing, I would often reach level 6 from killing creatures and picking up Plunder on the ground before I was even able to complete the quest.

~*~*~

CAVEAT: I am not particularly interested in Polly Roger for myself, but my kids think it’s fun to look at, and I’m sure they’d enjoy playing with it if my account had it. My oldest did contribute meaningfully to my Renown progression, so if he regularly earns computer time and spends at least some of that computer time playing Plunderstorm, I think he’ll manage to get from Renown 38 to Renown 39 all by himself. Still, once a close date for Plunderstorm has been announced, I’ll probably check in with Da’kash in the main Valdrakken inn to see if my son has actually succeeded in obtaining Polly Roger, and run a few more matches to make sure that we get it if he hasn’t.

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I’m… done (with Dragonflight)? And Plunderstorm is plugging the gap?

While walking to campus this morning, I had a surprising thought. Until Patch 10.2.7 comes out — which, from its name on the roadmap, sounds like it will be a bridge patch to War Within* — I am pretty much done with Dragonflight.

Last week, when I finally did the Patch 10.1 Blue Dragonflight storyline, I got all caught up on all of the major story content of Dragonflight thus far.

This week, after doing the Azerothian Archives Big Dig and world quests, I was able to purchase the last of the Mog items I wanted from that activity.

Major Mog collection goals? DONE.** Major story completion? DONE.

This is a kind of a strange feeling.

For the last several years — the years encompassed by Legion, Battle for Azeroth, and Shadowlands in WoW — I’ve had a long lag period in which I was working on content from each expansion well after the next expansion had come out. Being at the current expansion’s level cap definitely helped with getting through that lingering endgame content from the previous expansion. However, playing last expansion endgame catch-up also held me back from getting into the current expansion’s endgame content. Now, those years were also pretty crazy years outside of Azeroth between babies, drama at work, and COVID, so I was okay with being waaay behind the curve in Azeroth. With real life settling down, though, when Dragonflight launched, I made myself a soft goal of getting all the significant Dragonflight story content done before the next expansion came out. Until Patch 10.2.7, I’ve done it!

So, um, now what am I gonna do in Azeroth? I could level alts…? Play Classic Era Classic?

Or, you know, I could go do the brand new shiny thing that was just released, which will only be available for a limited time — conveniently, almost but not quite the amount of time until Patch 10.2.7*** if Blizzard sticks to the 8 weeks between updates schedule that they’ve said they want to continue for the rest of Dragonflight — and grind up all the Mog stuff I want from it.

Looked at that way, it seems very much like the Plunderstorm was deliberately designed and timed to address the longstanding end-of-expansion doldrums problem. And with the way the patch cadence and difficulty of getting things even for a relatively casual player like myself has been in this expansion, even I am finding myself with plenty of time and attention for the Plunderstorm+. Well played, Blizzard, well played.

~*~*~
* Kinda-sorta like the last patch of an FFXIV expansion?
** Kerisa is still trying to get the Crystalline Tender’s Chestpiece from the Emerald Dream weeklies, but that takes, like, an hour to do each reset day
*** Or maybe just Season 4, with Patch 10.2.7 another eight weeks after that?
+ Well, at least until Noblegarden, when I’ve got a handful of alts who will want to collect eggs for XP, and there will be a new holiday boss to farm for a pretty pastel recolor of the Leywoven Flying Carpet…

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Patch 10.2.6, The Plunderstorm! first thoughts — at work, before actually playing it

I don’t like PvP.
I do. not. like. it., Sam-I-am!
Three expansions later, I still haven’t got the 1000 Honorable Kills tint for the Hidden appearances of my Legion Artifact weapons. I did do a few matches of the WoW’s Birthday version of Alterac Valley last year and that got me up to about 250 Honorable Kills, so a few more years of that should get me there… 😛
BUT!
That pirate ensemble in the official Blizzard post about the Plunderstorm sure is sweeeeet. So even if I end up spending most of my time in Plunderstorm matches dead and spectating, I’ll endure enough of them to get far enough along the Renown track to get it.

Speaking of which, I like very much that getting rewards from the Plunderstorm won’t rely on being lucky enough and good at surviving enough to get to the right treasure chests to loot them, but is instead tied to progression along a Renown track. What was it they said in the Blizzcast interview? Four or five matches should get even a player who doesn’t survive very well a full Renown level? Getting Plunderstorm rewards is predictable and plannable… unlike farming for the 36-slot bag from the Hearthstone anniversary event… or for Experiment 12-B from Ultraxion….

I also really like a lot that Plunderstorm activity is independent of main account activity, other than rewards obtained in the Plunderstorm transferring over to the main account. And since your character for the Plunderstorm is only for the Plunderstorm, I think I won’t be either a Tauren or an Eversong Elf. Maybe I’ll be a Troll! or a Vulpera! or a Pandaren!

A few months back, BTH introduced our oldest to Starcraft II co-op mode and custom maps. Since then, he’s been spending quite a lot of his screen time playing SCII instead of WoW; his favorite characters are Kerrigan, Artanis, Zeratul, and Alarak. If I show my son how to get into the Plunderstorm, will he think it is fun enough that he will want to play it instead of SCII and do all the work, as it were, of climbing up that Renown track for me?

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Sunday on the Promenade 209

Yesterday was my 14th blogiversary. Fourteen years of puttering along here in my little corner, playing dress-up and watching other bloggers come and go. Out of game, I’ve been keeping a weekly or fortnightly journal for thirty years, so perhaps that habit of writing about what I’m doing for my own self has contributed to the longevity of my WoW blogging?

I’ve got a few weeks left of doing Azerothian Archives quests to finish up acquiring the stuff I want from them. I could be done with the Emerald Dream next week if the RNG rolls up the last couple of items I want (but it probably won’t). I spent quite a lot of Tender this month, so I’m a little worried that next month the High Scholar’s Arcana set might show up at the Trading Post and I won’t have enough Tender for it and the wardrobe building block pieces that I’ve been picking up whenever a new color is available. If I don’t have enough, though, I can just put the High Scholar’s Arcana on Freeze for a month or two. If the mystery Patch 10.2.6 does show up with the extended maintenance this coming Tuesday, I guess I’ll be busier for a while!

Frozen Sky


Sky-Captain’s Formal Attire with Simple Glasses, Moonlit Mantle of Unrelenting Justice, Moonlit Treads of Unrelenting Justice, and Widow’s Fury
The white, blue, and silver color scheme of the Sky-Captain’s Formal Attire suits the Underpowered Death Knight perfectly!

Winterborn Embersage



Wanderer’s Snowy Scarf, Benevolent Embersage’s Wisdom (LFR), Benevolent Embersage’s Featherdrape (LFR), Winterborn Chestguard, Formal White Shirt, Benevolent Embersage’s Talons (LFR), Winterborn Belt, Benevolent Embersage’s Leggings (LFR), Battlefield Messenger’s Slippers, Winterborn Spear
While I keep trying for the Emerald Dream weeklies to give me the Crystalline Tender’s chestpiece to upgrade into the Amirdrassil Tier chestpiece, the Winterborn chestpiece from Ardenweald fills in nicely.

Spellflower II




Crown of Boundless Courage, Nightvale Mantle/Summer Soother’s Shoulders, Circlet of the Mother Tree/Summer Soother’s Wrap, Spellfire Robe, Summer Soother’s Sash, Nightvale Footwraps, Rapture/Summer Soother’s Wand + Beautiful Wildflowers
This pretty robe is a Burning Crusade Tailored recolor of the Priest T2 robe. I’ve been wanting to revisit an outfit I made with this robe many years ago for my Human Mage (see Human Mage #41) with my Eversong Elves, and the light green and pink Emerald Dream items seemed like they’d coordinate beautifully.

~*~*~
This series of posts began because I set myself a goal to document new Transmogrification outfits in a more timely fashion. As soon as I create a new outfit, I write it up in a draft post. As the weekend approaches, I start working on taking fashion screenshots, processing them, and updating “Things my [Class] Wears” posts. On Sunday — though not every Sunday — I publish the collection of my recent efforts. Then I begin the next “Sunday on the Promenade” draft post.

Occasionally, I have ideas for themed Transmogrification collections that take several months to completely assemble. Thus, some of these outfits might get re-posted at a later date as part of such a themed Transmogrification collection.

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A is for Azeroth

“A is for Azeroth: the ABCs of Warcraft” came out in mid-November.

It’s a cute little book. Some of the letter example choices are not what I might have picked, but none of them are awful. All of the base races are represented; of the allied races, Vulpera get in for “V” and Zandalari Trolls get in for “Z”. The August Celestials take care of the tricksy letters of “X” and “Y”. Races that already had their Heritage Armor by the time the book project was begun appear in their Heritage Armor. The “E” page illustrates quel’dorei elves in Eversong Woods with a picnicking group of elves with skin tones ranging from pink to brown. The text, thankfully, doesn’t attempt to rhyme, which makes reading it repetitively not overly tiresome.

My 2 1/2 year-old loves it.

He asks me to read it to him almost every day. If I’ve told him “not right now” for whatever reason, he’ll pick up the book and sit looking through it, “reading” it to himself.

He has it 60-70% memorized. I gave him a set of letter magnets for the fridge for Christmas, and it’s been utterly charming to watch him standing at the fridge putting the letters in order while reciting the “A is for Azeroth” description for each letter.

~*~*~

I’ve called him “Little Gnome” as a nickname since he was six months old, hence the Gnome mask in the picture.

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why I’m still behind on the [latest patch] story quests

Me, during the day: Hmm, the final wing of the new raid will be out in LFR next reset. I’d better work on catching up on the story quests from this patch tonight.

Me, after getting the kids to bed: I’m exhausted. How about I just noodle around doing dailies and picking herbs for a bit, and then go to bed?

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a peek into the Emerald Dream and a goal for the rest of Dragonflight

Alas, despite having put a polite reminder of the existence of the Grove Warden and recommendation that it be present in the 10.2 Emerald Dream zone into the Suggestion Box, when I took Kaelinda there last night, no magnificent magical moose were to be seen. :`(

I played through the second chapter of the Emerald Dream Campaign, explored the place to unlock regular flying in the Dragon Isles, collected all the 10.2 Dragonriding Glyphs, and grew a bouquet of Emerald Blooms. I was quite surprised — a bit startled, even — to see Lady Moonberry there. Perhaps she feels like she needs to be there to make sure that Ysera does come back to Ardenweald when her purpose for having returned to Azeroth and the Dream is fulfilled? Or is she there for some secret purpose of the Winter Queen — something going on behind the scenes with the Winter Queen and Elune and/or Eonar that we will eventually find out about in The Last Titan?

On the one hand, during the last couple of patches, it’s felt good to be doing the new things while they were new (and lots of other people were doing them, too). I’m excited to continue the Emerald Dream story and collect the Emerald Dream gear. I’m also excited for the conclusion of the Reforging Keeper Tyr story — and its reward of white scales for Dragonriding Drakes! — and for the story about Wrathion and Vyranoth teaming up to reach out to the Netherwing and Stormwing dragonflights.

On the other hand, I’m still behind on stories from earlier in the expansion. After having originally done all the leveling zone stories with Kamalia and having leveled Kaelinda primarily through World and Profession Quests, I found that I wanted to replay just the MSQ (to borrow FFXIV parlance) of the leveling Campaign storylines with Kaelinda. Kaelinda has finished the leveling Campaign storylines in Thaldrazsus and Ohn’ahran Plains, but she still needs to complete the leveling Campaign storylines in Waking Shores and Azure Span. After she’s done that, she’ll be ready to do the 10.1 Blue Dragonflight storyline at the Veiled Ossuary.

Although going back to the Shadowlands to do Korthia and Zereth Mortis at level 70 certainly made doing those zones much easier — and therefore more enjoyable — than they would have been at level 60, it was also a drag and a delay on my ability to get into the Dragonflight story progression. I had a long tail in Legion before I could properly get into Battle for Azeroth as I finished up leveling and doing Order Hall storylines for all the Classes. Although I don’t recall having a significant tailing of trying to finish up Battle for Azeroth content before I got into Shadowlands, I could have simply forgotten it because that time interval was also filled with IRL stresses.

So I’d like to try to take a step back from vigorously pursuing the Dream for a week or two (or few) to finish getting caught up on the 10.0 and 10.1 stories.

When the War Within arrives, I don’t want to have lingering unfinished business in the Dragon Isles holding me back.

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Sliding under the wire in the Eastern Kingdoms Cup

After the Kalimdor Cup, I was excited for the Eastern Kingdoms Cup.
But when the Eastern Kingdoms Cup arrived, I almost didn’t do it at all.
Long story short, the first week, my kids were sick. The second week, I was playing catch-up for all the work I didn’t get done while my kids were sick. I was still logging into WoW almost every night, but I was running Dawn of the Infinites: Murozond’s Rise with my level 70 characters hoping to get the Visage of the Infinite for my Highland Drake, and I wanted to do the Eastern Kingdoms Cup with my Warrior for the XP.
Finally, last night, just as the Eastern Kingdoms Cup was about to end, I took my Warrior through it. I did each race twice: once on normal, then again on one of the other difficulties. The Eastern Kingdoms Cup races were fun to fly; they really seemed to emphasize twisting and turning around obstacles, littering the landscape with fire elementals sending up columns of fireballs if there weren’t enough naturally existing obstacles in the zone. I didn’t fuss about trying to get Gold even on the normal versions. I got the whole Mog set last time, and the Dragonriding Drake customizations currently available aren’t for my preferred Drakes, so I’ll just hold onto the badges until the next Continental Cup.

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