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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The Existential Despair of the Shadowlands

Kamalia returned the Gorloc-mauled talisman to Farrier Roscha, who spoke mournfully of her betrothed galloping freely under Onh’ahra’s gaze.
Kamalia realized that the dead Centaur woman’s soul would have gone to the Maw. She wondered if that soul was still intact… and if it was, if it was still sane. Then she remembered that a new Arbiter had been elevated before the mortals of Azeroth left the Shadowlands, and that it had been a few years since they’d come home from the Shadowlands before the Tyrhold Beacon lit and summoned adventurers to the Dragon Isles. She wondered which realm of the Shadowlands Farrier Roscha’s beloved had actually gone to.
She found she had nothing to say about the afterlife that would give comfort to Farrier Roscha’s grief, so she said nothing.
~*~*~
The soul of the Kaluak ancestor appeared above the offering basket at Kauriq Gleamlet and counseled her descendants, the bickering brothers.
Kamalia let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
What if this soul had been assigned to Bastion, and had forgotten who she had been in life?
Or to Revendreth, and was locked away in a cage?
Or to Ardenweald, and was asleep in a wildseed or heedless in the form of a critter or beast?
Or to Maldraxxus, and had been obliterated in the ruthless arena in the first moments of her afterlife?
From what Kamalia had learned of the afterlives, it was a wonder that any souls were capable of responding to calls from their still-living kin at all.
~*~*~
The soul of the Uktulut Chieftain’s ottuk companion rose into the air.
Kamalia thought she could almost see the Kyrian Bearer carrying it away.
She wondered if there was a realm of the afterlife especially for beloved animal companions of humanoids.
She wondered if there were any places in the Shadowlands where those who had been family or friends in their mortal lives could actually reunite, or if meeting loved ones again in the afterlife was merely a fable that mortals from every world invented to help themselves cope with the loss of death.
~*~*~
If it wasn’t for the presence of tangible items originating from the realms of the Shadowlands in her own wardrobe and those of her close friends, Kamalia could almost make herself imagine that her experiences in the Shadowlands had been a series of vivid, lucid, horrible dreams.
~*~*~
~*~*~
I’ve been thinking about writing this up ever since I first quested through the Broken Isles with Kamalia a year ago.
I’m grateful and pleased that the writers are writing the Dragon Isles inhabitants’ beliefs about the afterlife as ignorant of what we learned of WoW cosmology afterlives in Shadowlands.
In a way, this story is my expression of “why I think Shadowlands was the worst WoW expansion ever and I want to excise it out of the story like an exon being removed from the mRNA transcript of a gene before it gets translated into a protein”. Yes, worse than Warlords of Draenor (which I also sometimes want to excise), or Battle for Azeroth (which I liked rather more than I expected, as long as I didn’t think too much about the War Campaign storyline), or Cataclysm (because evidently I don’t miss the pre-Shattering world enough to play WoW Classic Era).

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Another Green Dragonflight Disappointment: Where are the Grove Wardens?

I am still salty that the Dreambound armor from Patch 10.1.7 is not a green, silver, and violet recolor of that armor style, but rather the same red, gold, and white as the Suffused armor.

Looking at the previews for the Patch 10.2 Emerald Dream zone, I keep thinking, but where are the Grove Wardens?
The flavor text for this Legion-preview mount, introduced all the way back in Warlords of Draenor‘s Hellfire Citadel raid, reads: “These magical companions are the wardens of peaceful, primordial groves within the Emerald Dream.”

Yet here we are going into the Emerald Dream, and they don’t seem to be there.
Sloppy, forgetful devs.
Don’t try to handwave this by saying “oh, they are just in another part of the Emerald Dream that we aren’t visiting right now.”
We’ve been waiting to see them in their native habitat ever since Warlords. If there can be musken like we first saw in Pandaria and hairless versions of the hairy rhinos and mammoths we first saw in Northrend in the Ohn’ahran Plains, there can and should be Grove Wardens here, in this part of the Emerald Dream.

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Seeing Red

Over the weekend, I took Kaelyla out to Argus and did the Seeing Red questline. Lore-wise, it touched on some intriguing ideas, but was surprisingly short and rather too shallow.

Now my Draenei Mage can have properly red ringlets!

Eredar Sorcerer


Vileweave Amice, Forward Observer’s Camouflage Cloak, Vileweave Robes, Cord of Cacophonous Cawing (LFR), Fractured Soulgem Staff
Warlocks as a playable Class for Draenei and the Man’ari Eredar customizations seem like two changes for the Draenei race that were made to go together. I’ve seen at least one red Draenei Warlock bouncing around Valdrakken.

Here are some other staffs I liked with this outfit:

Ancient Soulpriest’s Staff

Inferna Rod, Edict of Argus (M)

Ebonchill (hidden, tint 3), Darktide Summoner Staff, Scar-Shell’s Scintillating Staff

To be completely honest, the Ancient Soulpriest’s Staff was what I really wanted out of doing “Seeing Red” 😛

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Secrets of Azeroth wrap-up

The Secrets of Azeroth event was fun! I did just the main quest event centered at the Roasted Ram Inn; I ignored the Community Satchels part of the event. I found that I could do it on my own, using just the information provided in the game, on almost all of the days; there were only one or two days where I resorted to using the Wowhead walk-through to figure out where to find something or what I was supposed to do when I got there.
I do wonder, though, about the wisdom of having taken out of its hiding place an artifact which Keeper Tyr went to such great, great lengths to lock away. A sealed box, with text in the languages of Order, Fel, and Void… Seems like both a Pandora’s Box and a Rosetta Stone (if the texts all say the same thing, which they may not). Chat dialogue about the mystery box with Preservationist Kathos after turning in the finale quest heavily hints that there could be future Secrets of Azeroth events which would advance this plot thread… which may also be hinting at plot direction for an upcoming expansion.

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Lots to SQUEE!!! about in Patch 10.2

With datamining now rolling off the Patch 10.2 PTR —
Green and pink hair for Blood Elves! Yay! Now I’ll be able to make a proper Green Dragon Princess Mog!
New options for Moonkin form! I’m a fan of new appearance options, and I like the concepts. I’m not sure if any of them will be good fits for my Druid’s personality, though. I might try them out, then end up sticking with plain old ordinary Tauren Boomkin form. I hope there will also be a greater range of colorations for that form, without the extra decorations, and not Race-specific as the current color variations of Moonkin form are.
Fluffy cat-raptors! Again, I like the concepts, but I also am very fond of ordinary Cat Form and am the sort of player who still runs their Hunter with her very first starting-zone Tame, because that was the only companion she’s ever really wanted.
Leafy Druidy armor and weapons for everyone! I think the artists did well enough at making the Emerald Dream stuff distinct from the Ardenweald/Night Fae stuff — though with that said, I will definitely be using the butterfly wand and pinecone off-hand with the Night Fae moth backpacks!
Funny Amirdrassil Mage Tier set! In the Normal mode coloration, it looks very much like an iteration of the Mage Order Hall set from Legion, only even more Final Fantasy-esque. That HUUUGE hat is definitely worth getting, and so is the belt that looks kinda sorta like the Waist of Time (which I will never get because of the Battle Pet prerequisites that I just don’t wanna bother with).
The Netherwing and Thorignir haven’t been forgotten! But will Wrathion and Vyranoth be as amusing a pair to watch as Stellagosa and Arcanist Valtrois?
A Faerie Dragon Dragonriding mount and more colors for the Grotto Netherwing! I like the Enchanted Fey Dragon a lot and was hoping that it would eventually become a Dragonriding option.
Regular flying in the Dragon Isles! With very manageable requirements! As in, I’ve got all but the Patch 10.2 parts of it accomplished already B)

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Dreamsurge disappointment, and other Patch 10.1.7 thoughts

1) I am extremely disappointed that the Dreambound gear from the Dreamsurges is visually the same as the Suffused gear from the Fyrakk assaults. This seems like such a missed opportunity to make a Green Dragonflight coloration of that armor set. Although the higher level version of the catch-up gear from the Dreamsurges would be upgrades for me, I am interested in acquiring gear more for its looks than its stats. So I guess the upside is that after having done the “hey go do the new thing!” Valdrakken weekly to find out what Dreamsurges are all about this week, I don’t need to bother with farming them.
2) I did the main Campaign progression questline with Shandris. I’m glad she trusts me, as a member of the Horde, more now than when I began helping her out with Tyrande in Ardenweald. Wondering why we didn’t get to rescue Gerithus before returning to Valdrakken, though. Quite surprised to see Vyranoth’s decision come so swiftly, considering what she said to Alexstrasza about “Your lies have become sweeter. Honey to hear. Poison to taste.” in the cinematic Nozdormu sent us to see in the previous patch. How will this play out in 10.2?
3) Progression on the Reforging Tyr questline is gated behind doing both the main Campaign questline and progressing the Bronze Dragonflight storyline. I haven’t done the Bronze Dragonflight storyline from the previous patch (leading into the Dawn of the Infinite dungeon) yet, however, because I have self-gated it behind replaying the Thaldraszus leveling storyline with Kaelinda first… Update: Contrary to the early reports, completing the “No Limits” Bronze/Infinte Dragonflight storyline is not required to progress on the Reforging Tyr questline. I took Kaelinda up to the Seat of the Aspects and she had both “No Limits” from Chromie and “A Dislocated Disc” from Nozdormu available. I picked up the latter without also picking up the former and flew over to Tyrhold; Eternus was there and I could turn in “A Disclocated Disc” and get the next quest in the chain.
4) I haven’t done the new Dracthyr storyline progression quests yet, but I will, eventually. I do like Emberthal.
5) But right now my first playtime priority is the Secrets of Azeroth event, because I’m having fun doing it. I did skim the Wowhead writeups of the event stages for the first couple of days, but I quickly realized that there was enough information provided in-game for me to figure it out all on my own (well, except when I can’t remember which zone a given sub-zone is in, and have to go look that up).

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Eversong Elf Mages: Who’s Who

I have one Blood Elf Mage toon and one Void Elf Mage toon, by which I mean a unique avatar data file on Blizzard’s servers. Thanks to the Barbershop, I have, over time, created several Eversong Elf Mage characters, by which I mean a combination of visage, personality, and RP story. These characters are distinct individuals in RP space — not manifestations of dissociative identity disorder (such as exhibited by Shallan in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive series) — and I could (and maybe someday will) draw a picture of them all doing something together.

~*~*~

Character Name
[pictures: usual appearance first, then common variations; home-faction visages first, followed by opposite-faction visages]
skin tone, face, default hair style, hair color, eye color, earrings
Brief character description.

Since Void Elves received natural hair color and skin tone customization options, I’ve also imagined how each character could be represented using either type of Eversong Elf. Blood Elf customization values are labeled as “H” (Horde); Void Elf customization values are labeled as “A” (Alliance).

~*~*~

Kaelinda

H:3,8,8,4/3/5,5/10,9
A:9,16,7,10,5,4
First Blood Elf Mage.

Kaelyla

A:3,8,8,6/5,5,4
H:2,8,20,12,10,14
First Void Elf Mage. BFFs with Kaelinda since their adolescence.

Kaelydia

H:5,2,15,2/1,1,11
A:11,10,4,9,3,5
First alternate character to appear, when the golden eyes for Blood Elves were initially introduced as a face customization option. Older sister of Kaelinda’s boyfriend. Married to a Draenei.

Khrysanthemina

A:19,9,3/6,7/8,7,5
H:13,1,17/11,13/16,11,3
This Void Elf alternate character appeared as soon as natural skin tones became available to Void Elves because some purple outfits just want to have purple hair to go with them; many, many years ago I read a webcomic that featured a character with brown skin and purple hair. Younger sister of Kaelyla’s husband.

Kaelyla-AU

H:11,8,20,6,5,14
A:17,16,8,11,5,4
This is what Kaelyla looked like before she got transformed into a Void Elf; it could also represent an alternate timeway in which she never got involved with Magister Umbric’s group.

Kateleina

H:12,7,19,15,4,10
A:18,15,10,11,7,3
A staunch Sunreaver who was a natural fit for the Necrolords when she Maw-Walked in the Shadowlands.

Kaelyra

A:7,11,1,12,3,1
H:1,3,13,7,9,1
A Quel’dorei who never left the Alliance. Champion of the Kyrian during her time Maw-Walking in the Shadowlands.

Kelonara

A:21,2,4,15,9,2
H:15,9,4,1,12,2
This character appeared when the Dark Ranger customization was introduced; she typically models Venthyr or San’layn-themed Mogs.

Kaelinda’s Mother

H:9,8,7,10,7,5
A:15,16,9,14,3,1
Like Jacob Marley, she is canonically “dead as a doornail”, having perished during Arthas’s rampage toward the Sunwell. Thus, she can only appear in outfits and locations that are plausibly flashbacks (or an alternate timeway); at the [original] time of this post, she [had] only been seen twice (Blood Elf Mage #127, 151).

Kiarabella

H:10,4,18,10,7,13
A:16,12,9,14,3,5
Another blonde Eversong Elf Mage, albeit without story-related restrictions on how she can appear, she shares hair and eye colors with Kaelinda’s mother, but has a different face and the ruddiest skin tone just because I wanted to use it.

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out of the long shadow of the Shadowlands at last

As the story of Dragonflight advanced — and I had fallen behind because I hadn’t yet completed all the stories unlocked by the four launch faction Renown tracks — I increasingly wanted to just be done with Shadowlands — to not have my unfinished business in that expansion still nagging at me.

So, I’ve spent the past several weeks pushing hard to get through the things I hadn’t done in the Shadowlands yet. I did the 9.0 Kyrian Campaign a second time with Kaelyla to get the silver and blue version of the vesper staff. I finished the 9.0 Necrolords Campaign with Kaelinda — looking back on Shadowlands, I really should have just done all four 9.0 Campaigns with her to begin with. With that done, I was at last ready to finish the Korthia Campaign. I liked the Covenant chapters of the Korthia Campaign. It seemed like each Covenant got a meaningful advancement to their story, particularly the Kyrian.

Of course, while I was doing each of the Covenant-storyline-advancing chapters of the Korthia Campagin as a member of the relevant Covenant, having finished that Covenant’s 9.0 Campaign, so I could get the Covenant-specific extra bits of story, I also needed the appropriate Eversong Elf Mage persona, and an appropriate outfit for each chapter:

Bwonsamdi’s Watcher





Crown of the Seducer (LFR), Mantle of the Skyterror (LFR), Osteowings of the Necrolords, Divine Fury Raiment (LFR), Master Builder’s Shirt, Prime Conjurer’s Gloves, Prime Conjurer’s Cinch, Prime Conjurer’s Slippers, Staff of Earned Tranquility
I never thought I’d use the shoulders and robe from the Battle of Dazar’alor set — which I picked up while trying for the Crown of the Seducer — but whaddayaknow, they work really well with the Renown coloration of the Necrolords pieces.
The Crown of Autumnal Flora would coordinate nicely with the staff, but Mistcaller hadn’t coughed it up yet.

Although Bwonsamdi appears in the Ardenweald storyline, his aesthetics are rather more Maldraxxus. The use of Necrolords pieces in this ensemble made it fitting attire for Kateleina while finishing up the 9.0 Necrolords Campaign and doing the 9.1 Necrolords chapter as a Necrolord.
I liked how this chapter tied up some loose ends related to Kel’Thuzad and gave Thrall and Draka a chance to get to know each other.

Red is for Revendreth



Crown of Eternal Memorial, Soulbreaker’s Ebony Mantle, Burnished Crypt Keeper’s Mantle, Lovely Red Dress, Redeemed Inquisitor’s Handwraps, Vibrant Wildercloth Slacks, Sinful Inquisitor’s Slippers, Crypt Watcher’s Spire
After Kateleina finished the 9.1 Necrolords chapter, Kaelinda could do the 9.1 Venthyr chapter as Venthyr.
I liked how this chapter finally completed the crown of the medallions (a very obvious loose thread from the 9.0 Venthyr Campaign), gave Vashj and Kael’thas a chance to compare afterlives, and opened up a story thread for a future expansion (where have the Dreadlords taken Denathrius and will we see him as a boss again?).

Twilight Courtier



Night Courtier’s Regalia with Fae Revel Masque, Night Courtier’s Pack, Vestments of the Twilight Grove, and Meadow Guardian’s Staff
After Kaelinda finished the 9.1 Venthyr chapter, white-haired Khrysanthemina took up the baton to do the 9.1 Night Fae chapter as Night Fae.
I definitely appreciated how this chapter brought in some excursions to and interactions with the other Covenants, something which was lacking in their 9.0 story. I also liked how it gave a small measure of closure for Tyrande and the Kaldorei (a story which was further followed up in the Zereth Mortis and 10.0 Campaigns) and revealed new information about the relationship between the Winter Queen and Elune. Are the Winter Queen and Elune each others’ only sisters because they are from the diametrically-opposed forces of Death and Life, or do they also have sisters from each of the other cosmic forces? Is Eonar their sister from Order, Xal’atath their sister from the Void, and do they have sisters from the Light and from Fel/Chaos that we have yet to meet?

Selfless Seeker





Vestments of the Selfless with Crown of the Righteous, Selfless Sigil of the Archon, and Selfless Watcher’s Spire
After Khrysanthemina finished the 9.1 Night Fae chapter, Kaelyra took the opportunity to do the 9.1 Kyrian chapter as Kyrian.
I liked how this chapter finally brought the Kyrian who had been stranded in Maldraxxus home, gave souls assigned to Bastion the choice to keep or cleanse their memories, and clarified the nature of the Soulbinding relationship. I was intrigued that Apolon has a platonic, sibling Soulbind relationship with Artemede — and a romantic relationship with Kynthia.

When Kaelinda left the Shadowlands to move on to the Dragon Isles, she was halfway through Revered with Death’s Advance, with enough Stygia banked to get the Death’s Advance colorations for two out of the five Covenant 9.1 sets. I pushed that reputation to Exalted. I was dreading grinding the Stygia to get the Death’s Advance colorations for the rest of the Covenant 9.1 sets — until I discovered that, duh, farming Stygia from Maw star mobs was a piece of cake at level 70, with ilevel 402 gear.

With the goal of getting at least one piece of the Sepulcher of the First Ones Mage Tier set, I’d done the first four chapters of the Zereth Mortis Campaign so as to unlock the Creation Catalyst. After I finished the Korthia Campaign, I decided that I really ought to get the Shadowlands fixed up with a new Arbiter and Sylvanas sentenced to the Maw to retrieve all the souls who had improperly been sent there, so I finished up the Zereth Mortis Campaign (and all of its follow-up quests), too. I’m glad that I took the time to experience those stories for myself. I did the Zereth Mortis weekly & dailies until I had enough Sandworn Relics to get the purple Choral chestpiece from Rafiq and then upgrade it to the LFR version of the Sepulcher of the First Ones Mage Tier chestpiece using the Creation Catalyst. Along the way, I also managed to finish up Unlocking the Secrets. So when I was almost done with Zereth Mortis anyway, I finally got flying for the zone. Ah, well, that’ll make getting around there for Mog photoshoots easier to do 😀

I’d had Kaelyla hearthed at Root-Home trying to convince Mistcaller to just give me the Crown of Autumnal Flora already; yesterday, I got it!

I always hearthed or teleported out of the dungeon immediately after defeating Mistcaller — I didn’t continue on to Tred’ova — so I don’t have a count of how many tries it took me. At least a couple of months of doing it just once a day on Heroic (sometimes twice, with both Kaelyla and Kaelinda), I think.

Today, I finished the Stygia grind and got the last Death’s Advance Covenant 9.1 set. I also got the Anima-Siphoning Sword (its lavender color will be so perfect for Arcane Mage outfits!) after about two weeks of camping The Engulfer.

And now, at last, I am DONE with Shadowlands.

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A tinfoil hat idea: Denathrius + Azshara 4EVA?

The Korthia Campaign has multiple references to the Dreadlords being Up To Something and having some greater plan or objective that they are working toward. Sargeras being imprisoned with Illidan as his jailer doesn’t seem to have slowed them down at all! They successfully stole Remornia/Denathrius right out of the Dawnkeep. Although part of the Dreadlords’ schemes had them assisting the Jailer, that doesn’t mean that was all of their plan. Being demons, Mal’Ganis and Kintessa are hardly gone for good following their defeat in Sepulcher of the First Ones, and Remornia/Denathrius has not been recovered.

Meanwhile, in case you didn’t remember, Queen Azshara is out there intending to claim some form of power even greater than that of N’Zoth — or so she gloated when she scooted off when the Champions of Azeroth released her from Ny’alotha.

Currently, the Naga are making trouble in the Forbidden Reach and you can find a rather sinister lore book hinting at the return of Queen Azshara.

Now to put on my Tinfoil Hat:

What if… one component of the Dreadlords’ master plan involves getting Denathrius out of the slammer and married* to Queen Azshara so that together they can be the Ultimate Power Couple and reshape existence to their whims?

~*~*~

* Azshara will be no one’s consort, but with Sargeras on ice, perhaps she might deign to accept Denathrius as her consort?

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