Light and Shade -- Part 3

This is the third part of a piece of fan fiction I began in the summer and since resubbing to Warcraft I've found my muse again!  You can read the first two parts here and here. 


"Are we all set then my love?" Deme asked Raik as she approached him at the tram entrance.

"Of course! Did you ever doubt me?" he smirked as he said it and Deme smiled back, reminded that this was the man who could get any project off the ground.

They turned to walk through the swirling entrance and down the ramp to the tram. The cold metal clunk under their feet rang off the tunnel walls as they left the cobbles and slate of Stormwind behind. The tram always astounded Deme, a feat of gnomish engineering. From the outside it looked like a giant swirling cog with a mouth gaping, big enough to take a whole battalion of Alliance forces in one gulp and on the inside it was full of giant rivets, bronze and iron and the driver-free tram system that linked Stormwind with it's closest neighbouring city, the great dwarven capital of Ironforge. They descended into the station and the sounds of Stormwind faded, the chatter of the residents lost into the metal tunnel.

On the importance of experience.

This post concerns a principle that I have long stood by and believe to be central to my enjoyment of Azeroth. That principle, or rule, if you like, is that in the current guild I'm in we do not accept anyone who is under 18 years of age. However it has recently been brought to my attention that we have someone considerably younger than that in the guild, and I took the decision that I could no longer remain an officer if that was the case. Before there is a cry of people exclaiming that I'm over-reacting, let me explain a little about the reasoning behind this decision.

Saturday Coffee Reading

There's been some damn good blogs around this week so here's a few pointers to keep you entertained over the weekend.

Disco Priest over on Disciplinary Action explains why the Baby Boomers are to blame for your professional frustrations and why that makes Warcraft such a good outlet.

Pewter over on 'mental Shaman explains why homophobic slurs will never be acceptable, even if intended in jest. Thankfully there has been a sincere apology from Blizzard on this now, but it's still worth noting this little hot potato.

Cynwise in his Field Notes talks about the influences that are apparent on Samwise Didier's designs for Mists of Pandaria. If, like me, your initial thoughts about this up coming ex-pac were 'Kung-Fu Pandas, WTF?' then I urge you to read this post. I have renewed hope for a land covered in ronin and feudal lords fighting with each other.

Someone clearly looking forward to the release of MoP is me ole' mucker Grokknar. For excited and positive thoughts on MoP with much less of the cynicism and side-long glances I've been giving it, head over to Real Men Wear Dresses. Look, he's a paladin, in cloth, with flashy light spells. Of course he thinks real men wear dresses.



Have you read something this week you want to recommend? Please let me know! I'm always looking for more blogs to pour over.

Over my 'dead' body - Or How Blizzard got my interest in Mists of Pandaria

Until lunch time yesterday I was pretty much "meh" about the whole Mists of Pandaria expansion. Pandas are fun but it was a bit of a stretch for me to see them in Azeroth.

**SPOILERS FOLLOW* TURN BACK NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT ANY!**

Then I read about Theramore. I play mainly Alliance, of my 17 characters, 3 are horde. My over-riding feeling of Deme's past has been that she fought and fell against Arthas when he rampaged through Lordaeron. The details have always been hazy, she certainly isn't old enough to have been at Stratholme in the early days of the zombie plague. It's more likely that she was a militia woman or town guard at a small village, a place smaller than Andorhal so it's not even on the map any more. Anyway, with that in mind it's pretty feasible that she has a sentimental attachment to Theramore, one of the last out-posts of Lordaeron's escaped refugees. So this feels rather more personal to her than anything the horde have done before. Lordaeron was her nation and it fell. She moved on. In 'undeath' as a Death Knight she heard of Gilneas's fall to the Forsaken and the butchering of alliance home-steaders at Southshore. She continued to fight but didn't let these losses dampen her spirit or break her faith in the Alliance.

Theramore, is a different story altogether. A potential threat to Theramore  gets her back up. To be told that even with one of the most powerful mages in Azeroth in their way, the horde will be riding into this city and flattening it, well it stings a bit. Yeah, it stings like a 1000 bee stings in your crotch.

It's not often that I am lost for words, in fact I don't recall the last time it happened. But the abject fury and rage I feel today, and thus so does my main character, Deme, has kind of shocked me. It's not even that great of a questing area!

I can forget about the pandas and the pokemon. I can get over what will be the umpteenth talent reset for Deme. I can even ignore the fact that as yet, there isn't even a 'little-bad' announced for the expansion, but I can not forgive the horde for obliterating Theramore.

I've heard that in the lead up to MoP it will probably 'just happen'. No in-game action, no chance to defend the city. I realise we will lose. I realise the outcome is already planned. Please though, I ask you oh Great God of Pixels, allow us the opportunity to defend Theramore. Allow us to see the battle, to take part and to be be beaten back. Wow Insider asked sometime ago, what would happen if we lost for once? Allow us (even if it is just the alliance faction) to see and to feel what that would be like.

Allow us to see a Jaina furious and embittered and taking action. Since one lowly Death Knight can be left broken and battered by the loss of Theramore, what would it do to the woman who created it? Who built the city and who remains a key linch-pin in Kalimdor's Alliance presence?

Suddenly I am all-a-flutter with excitement to know what will happen! How will we retaliate? Where will we strike? What will Variann do? Hell! What will Anduin do when Aunt Jaina portals into Stormwind with battered and broken citizens of Theramore? What will Baine think? The money says Garrosh begins the war, what prompts him to lead an attack on Jaina's city? Is he that keen to distant himself from Thrall's reign?

Whilst I am sad and yes, a little pissed off, the effect this news has had on me  and on other Alliance players, definitely shows that Blizzard know what they are up to. Bravo, Blizzard, Bravo.

In which the F2P Project dies, at the hands of a Blue.

Well we tried folks. You were creative and ingenious and I did my best not to fish in XP rich waters and grind out even a lowly 1g, but thanks to a recent hotfix, Deminii will never be able to be the all empowered level 10 F2P rogue with 9000 achievement points.  Whilst I wasn't paying attention, Cynwise tipped us all off to the fact that F2P accounts are no longer able to turn off their XP. Boo I say Blizz! Big Boo!

F2P Project - In which I hit my head on a wall

On Friday I was able to do some testing of these F2P limits.

Grouping with someone higher works if they initiate the group, however I can't get them to summon me to Dalaran because the F2P accounts don't have Wrath.

I can use a 2 character mount, the lovely Candlewaxx flew me down to STV to do some fishing. I can swim from Yojamba Isle to Booty Bay without getting any XP and only dying once I get to Booty Bay due to the vengeful fish. However, fishing training costs 1g for the next training level, or 90s if I get it in SW.

I currently have around 50s. And I need all I can get to get me to 10g for god's sake.

I did the fishing daily in SW and got myself the weatherbeaten journal and then the 'Fish don't leave footprints' achievement. SO another 10 points for that but still no closer to the 10g and 50% into level 10. I'm starting to doubt that I can do this.

The Free To Play Project - Deminii

Last night I had my first bash at earning Deminii the 10g needed to turn her XP off. I managed to go from 22s to 40s in an hour of fishing and mob slaying. This revealed a few problems though.

• Killing mobs in Teldrassil still grants me XP and the nightsabers in Shadowglen are not skinnable. 
• Fishing will only level to 75 in Darnassus/Rutheran 
• The Fishing daily grants me a huge chunk of XP
• There isn't a lot to skin in Teldrassil

Twitter and my Google Wave buddies came up with a few creative suggestions on how to get the gold -

1. Ditch LW for herbalism or mining and go gathering
2. Group up with a warlock and get them to summon you somewhere higher level to fish
3. Swim to STV and fish
4. Fish up rare fish in Outlands that vendor for 6g. 

Number 1 has a couple of problems,  I can't use the AH so anything I gather is only worth vendor value. To go mining I would need to go to Elwynn Forest for the best lowbie place and that means getting XP through exploration. BUT I should ditch LW and go for herbing anyway at this point because Teldrassil does have more flowers to pick. 

Number 2 - Warlocks only learn the summoning spell at level 42 and I can only group with people up to level 20. 

Number 3 - This is possible! Although I would imagine rather mind-numbing, but not quite so mind numbing as only ever fishing up crap in Darnassus. 

Number 4 - Also possible with a body-guard to kill all the mobs in the area that I will no doubt aggro the shit out of. 

So a couple of options. THEN ... the mighty Warcraft Experimenter Cynwise let me in on a little secret and mentioned that I shouldn't take all of the FTP rules as written in stone but test them out. Next time I can get on to  play Deminii I will poke one of my very good friends and we'll test a few of the limits. I'll keep you posted!  Thanks to all who made suggestions :) 

On the route to the big achievement target we rose from 10 points to 30 last night with a nice couple of 'WHOOOSHES' from 25 and 50 fish. I noted I panicked slightly thinking that the achievements would give me XP, which of course they didn't. Needless to say, I still love the 'WHOOSH'.