Alt Appreciation Week - Death Knight

Riding Her Black Drake from Obsidian Sanctum

Laeleiweyn has come up with a great idea - Alt Appreciation Weeks - running for 11 weeks (or maybe longer apparently!) and as the name implies, celebrating a different class each week. This week is Death Knight week and better late than never I suppose but I have no idea how I missed this during the week! Being so late to the party, I can't really celebrate by playing my DK much but I can tell you a little of her story :)

Aww, She Blinked

I started the DK early in the summer before Cataclysm arrived. I got her to 75 around about November 2010 and there she sat for a few months. She was leveled to be my Scribe as glyphs were a hot market in those days and at 75, she could max out to 450 in Wrath. Then all my guild drama happened and I found myself pretty much lost & alone in game which is when I really turned to gold making and as part of that, my lovely gorgeous Draenai DK became not only my Scribe but my Jewelcrafter too.

During Cataclysm, I spent more time on her than on my main Paladin. I hated the changes to Holy Power & just could not get my head around the new rotation for Pallys. I also lost a lot of my confidence when I tried my first heroic dungeon on my Paladin - Heroic Grim Batol - never was a dungeon so aptly named - 45 minutes of the others bitching at me before I finally left the group and to this day, I still haven't completed that achievement!

So I turned to my DK - dual wield Frost spec at the time, I felt like I was doing ok mostly and I loved the whole Path of Frost thing too. Between milling herbs for inks to make glyphs and prospecting ores for gems, she did most of the dungeons in Cataclysm. I almost mogged her too and if you've been reading here or over at AH Addict, you'll know I don't really mog much!

Tidy Tidy!

I took her to Molton Core to farm for Blood of The Mountains - determined to make her the Dark Iron set - until I found out there were replica pieces available from Shattrath vendors! So I sold the Blood of the Mountains for a nice profit and now she's just wearing quest drops again.

So Mists of Pandaria arrived and out came my Paladin again - always my first love, even if I can't play her very well anymore. Oh man did I struggle to get through to 90! I died so many times I felt like she was wearing cloth armor or something. So when it came time to choose my 2nd alt to level, the gold maker in me made me chose the DK - Jewelcrafting & meta gems from drops meant she had to be out in the world but I let my friend talk me into leveling in Blood spec!

Just to try it out, I took her to the Trogg farming place in Deepholm - oh my! that was so much fun! It turns out she's a very neat DK - she likes nice tidy arrangements of dead bodies but sometimes she attracts a little too much attention! She survived though which is something I was never able to do on my Paladin!

She's In There Somewhere!

What a totally different experience that was! She was virtually unkillable in tank spec - slow for sure but I saved so much time not resurrecting every 5 minutes it didn't make that much difference! I  love questing on her now but I still haven't braved any dungeons! I have no idea how to really tank on a DK and I'll be honest - I don't want the nasty people found in randoms to spoil my enjoyment of the class.

I'm planning on dual spec back to Frost though - I want to do stuff on her, just not tank dungeons! She's also my richest alt as JC is still churning in the gold! I should probably treat her to a nice shiny new weapon or something, I think she's earned it!

She's also named after a character in a book - I wonder how many of you recognise it? I thought the ghostly pale skin & the fact that DK's are kind of bad guys was very appropriate so she became one of my 3 alts named after fictional characters. You know me as Nev but that comes from Nevyn - another book character and my priest is yet another but I'll leave her story for her week :)

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It's a Holiday Weekend To-Do List!

So last time I made a to-do list was at the end of July and if I'm honest, I haven't actually done any of the things on that list! I'm really quite cross at myself for that but somehow I log in, do my gold making stuff then get distracted by Twitter, Facebook, Candy Crush (shhh! I know ok?) and Magic the Gathering so I never actually kill anything in game!

But having spent a chunk of last weekend installing the new TSM2 (a complicated Auction House addon!) and using it to craft & sell lots this week, I have been spending more time in game & some of my old guildies are back too. So I've promised myself a WoW heavy holiday weekend!

I have 2 new TCG pets to play with too - The Gusting Grimoire & the Eye of the Legion as well as a Vicious Grell to level up. I'm also thinking of swapping my herbalist to be my second Leatherworker ahead of the patch changes & I need Engineering at max level too so my 2nd Tailor may have to start swinging a hammer instead! I really want that new Engineering mount - the Sky Golem!

I was going to level up my abandoned Warlock for the Engineering but to be honest, I've just never connected with her! For some reason, I hate the way she looks and even with a lil bit of transmogging, I still can't seem to make myself play her! Once I've levelled Engineering on my Hunter, I think I'll delete her once & for all and start a new Warlock - if I don't get sidetracked first of course!

So that's my weekend kind of sorted - level 3 pets to 25 on my Hunter so she gets the xp too, drop Tailoring & Herbalism on my Rogue & Hunter & level Engineering & Leatherworking! Still not really proper playing I know but my Paladin will be busy skinning for materials for my new Leatherworker & my Warrior will have to leave the city to go mining if certain stuffs aren't available on the Auction House so maybe I'll actually get around to killing some stuff this time!

I'll let you know how it goes and to be honest, I really need to uninstall Candy Crush! It's a stupid game but I'm the kind of person that doesn't let a stupid game beat her so yeah, it's caught me in its' net! Level 100 could be the final straw though - after 2 days of playing that one level, I could happily throw my ipad through my monitor & I really don't want to do that now do I? lol

have a great weekend everyone xxx

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Just Somebody That I Used To Know?

Sad Dragon

Yesterday I read a very sad post by Mushan about an old guildie of his. It struck a deep chord with me as I too have lost touch with people from old guilds that I used to spend all day with & I have no idea what ever happened to them. I have no reason to believe anything terrible has happened but I'll never know & that's the crappy part of online friendships!

But even deeper than that, it took me back to one of my main worries last year when I had my cancer. I have some wonderful & very close friends online but none of my family have a clue who they are. What if something bad happened during my operation? How would my friends find out where I had disappeared too? It was a big worry at the time but of course, with hindsight, it was just a worry. I did actually leave a name & phone number with the nurse but I don't think she really understood how important it was to me. I know she was being reassuring by telling me she wouldn't need it but that didn't help! lol

Around the same time, something happened on one of my stock photography sites - a contributor (photographer) died, leaving a large portfolio of work on the site which was still earning money. His family also had no idea of his online activities and it was only chance & a good management team at the stock site that worked out the legalities for them.

Mushan's post got me thinking again - I have multiple online personalities, split between my gaming, my photography, my crafts, my writing & my general friends - am I being big-headed to think they would want to know what happened if I just disappeared? I don't think so. I know how I feel when someone I consider friend or even just a regular online acquaintance stops appearing on my twitter feed or drops me on Facebook. I wonder if they are ok, then I start to wonder if it was something I did or said to upset them. Yes, eventually I stop worrying so much but it still niggles sometimes!

I'm facing another operation in the next few months so it's probably a timely reminder for me to get my stuff in order, just in case. I'm pretty sure I'll be fine but there's always that tiny little bit of doubt & this time, I'm going to do something about it! I'm not sure quite what though! I'm definitely going to put my login & passwords for my social sites in a safe place and probably put a few special contact names in there too. That's just for my online stuff, obviously I have to sort the rest of my pile of crap out too - my desk looks like an explosion in a paper factory most of the time and I wouldn't want my Mum to have to sort through it.

I know this seems kind of maudlin, but actually I'm not. I feel this is a positive thing to do. It's one less worry & once it's done, I don't have to do it again any time soon! It's just getting my affairs in order but in a very modern sense. My parents have had an 'if something happens' folder since I was a child & I guess now I'm beginning to grasp why. They obviously had us kids to worry about but almost all their friends were in the same circle & would have heard any news very quickly. It's so different these days with friends all over the world, some very special to me indeed, but they may never hear any news of the worst was to happen.

I can't be the only one who's thought like this though!  Have you? What did you decide to do?

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Yet Another To Do List!

It's been a while since I did a to-do list post & actually, it shows in my in-game progress! I'm not sure I've achieved anything worthwhile since I stopped doing these list posts except for the pet battle achievements maybe. There's something about making it public that kind of obligates me to get some of it done at least and of course, gives me something to write about here & over at AH Addict!

I even gave myself a public to do list over there today - I've been slacking off that much lately. It's not that I don't enjoy the game once I'm logged in, it's more that I get so occupied doing other stuff that I don't make the effort to log in very often. Which is kind of silly really as I'm paying my subscription after all & let's face it, Facebook & Mahjong solitaire aren't exactly stimulating now, are they?

So, this week I'm determined to get something at least started if not completed!

• Warrior/Blacksmith - get her out of the city & go do some stuff - preferably get the Lightning Steel Ingot thingy & start learning some of the Plate PvP crafted items - this one crosses with my gold based list so will be able to cross off 2 things if I get this done!
• Warlock/Engineer - she's also been abandoned in Ironforge for months! She's mid 50's level (I think!) so I should try to get her to Outland at least
• Rogue & Hunter are both level 86 (via pet battles & cooking) so I'll probably use both of them to pet battle some more & add some XP to their bars
• Take my Paladin main over to the Barrens & at least have a look at all that stuff before it disappears!

There's loads of stuff I could add but I'm trying to make it a manageable list not a pipe dream! There's loads of achieves I don't have yet, mounts & reputations to work towards, dungeons, scenarios & raids I've never even seen & that's just from earlier expansions! I think I've just about given up trying to do everything that's available in Mists - I shouldn't complain but there's just too much stuff to do now! It makes my head spin & I know I'm not the only one who just doesn't quite know which bits to do first!

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That Sinking Feeling

The thing about being a survivor of depression - is that I've become hyper-aware of myself, my moods & bits of my body. Being female, I can write off some of my mood swings to hormones but when the silliest little thing can spoil a whole day and hormones can't be blamed, then I start trying to analyse the last few weeks. Have I been like this a lot? Is this the start of a downward trend? Was that little bump there before?

Yes, I've had a pretty shitty & stressful week but actually I think I've coped quite well with that - it's all purely practical & physical stuff - cars breakdown, companies send the wrong parts etc. No, this is different - this is moods & emotions going awry - getting upset over stupid, inconsequential things like conversations that just stop, messages that never get a response, withdrawing from previously enjoyed activities because I just don't want to join in right now.

It's strange though because yesterday was a fab day - I got so much done & it felt great. This morning I wake up & even though the sun is shining, it's a dark, bleak day. Just waiting, always just waiting until it's time to go back to bed. I've done all the usual stuff to distract myself but my brain seems set on moping around today - I guess it's just one of those days & I just gotta get through it but I hate these days.

It's days like these that I beat myself up the most - I know I'm being silly, I know people don't mean anything by not responding to that last comment - something came up or the convo is finished in their eyes or they just didn't see the message until way later. I know my few friends would love a phone call for a chat but it's been so long, I don't know how to even begin a general chit chat type call. I know all this in my head but my brain is set in its' rut today & I can't seem to get it to jump the tracks!

Learning how to live alone is tough. There's no-one around for a quick hug or a simple good night or good morning. I alone am responsible for my happiness & today, I suck at it. I haven't had a decent hug in 2 months & it looks like another 2 months before I can feel those arms around me again. Long distance sucks too. I sure as hell didn't chose an easy path this time round did I?

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What A Week!

It all started last Sunday evening with the heat finally getting to me & stopping me from sleeping very much. Throw in some emotional self-bullying and I woke up Monday morning like a bear with a sore head! I had a dentist appointment lunchtime so luckily I didn't have to go to work until later but with the mood I was in, I emailed my boss and asked if I could just make up the time on Friday.

I have a nice boss & she said that was fine so I moped around a bit longer then headed into town to do some stuff before heading for the dentists. I have a prescription that needs filling so off I went to the chemist (pharmacy for my US readers) but there was a 20 minute wait & I didn't have time. Finally got to the dentist, only to find that I had got my weeks muddled & my appointment is next week!

Off I trundled to another chemist nearby & dug around in my handbag but I couldn't find my prescription! I'd only gone & left it in the car! Dragged myself back to the car park, got my prescription & back to the chemist I went. Oh deep joy! Another 10 minute wait only to be told that they were waiting for a delivery so I'd have to come back later.

I almost lost my temper at that point - not with anyone in particular, just lack of sleep & a very hot day driving me crazy so I headed off home & decided to have a nap. Three hours later, I finally woke up with a splitting headache which kind of finished off the day nicely for me!

You can imagine how well Tuesday went after that but to make matters worse, my drivers side front window decided to jam wide open on the way home. The electric motor was making horrible grindy noises so I left it alone & got my ex to come & have a look at it. I thought maybe some brute strength would at least get it closed so it could be secured overnight but even that failed this time. Plastic bag & tape was my only protection from car thieves that night.

Luckily, I work next door to a garage/repair shop so I dropped in there Wednesday morning. They promised to get the glass back into position & secured at least but would call me with a quote before they spent too much time on it. Somehow I got through Wednesday at work & headed back to the garage to find out the news - £180 for parts & labour but the Parts company could deliver the next day. Window taped firmly closed, I headed home, relieved that at least it would be fixed tomorrow.

Bearing in mind that the UK is having a heatwave at the moment, driving with the window closed isn't much fun! But I felt better knowing it would be fixed on Thursday so I dropped the car off before work & headed in. Thursday wasn't a bad day at work - the boss was off & the whole atmosphere was more relaxed for some reason. I think the heat is getting to everyone & sapping any energy we have for being stressed!

Back to the garage Thursday evening, only to find that the Parts company hadn't delivered the new wondow motor until late in the afternoon so now it would be Friday before they could fix it! Arrrghhh! Another hot drive home & the idiots were out in full force. One flat bed truck flew past me and as I was swearing at him for being a maniac, a stone flew off the back of the truck & hit my windscreen. I was lucky it didn't smash but the chip is about the size of a 10p (just smaller than a quarter) and is right in my line of vision. That means I can't just get it repaired, I have to have a new windscreen.

So today (Friday) I dropped the car at the garage again and after having a little chat with the front desk guy, told them to just have a quick look to see if they could work out why it's been running so rough lately. He'd mentioned it yesterday evening when I picked the car up. Anyway, my phone rang lunchtime & I thought they wanted me to pop over to pay & pick up my car. Nope! Still no luck - the Parts company had delivered the wrong motor!

So now I have to get through the weekend with a taped shut window, a big chip in the windscreen & it's still running rough too! The good news on that though is that it will only cost me yet another £180 to get the engine fixed. I have no idea how much a new windscreen will be & I can't find my insurance policy booklet to see if I'm covered.

I think all this is my car's revenge as I was looking at car adverts over the weekend, just thinking about getting a new one when my house finally sells. If I have to spend almost £500 to keep it on the road now, I may as well keep it - the rest of the car is in very good condition & I do like driving it so as long as nothing else craps out on me, I should be ok for another year or so at least!

Keep your fingers crossed please! I can't afford any more stuff breaking! lol

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Magic The Gathering - Yet Another Addiction!

Every girl needs a Dragon friend!

It's no surprise that my WoW time has been suffering lately - first I dipped into Neverwinter, then I discovered Pet Battles in WoW & now that I finally have an iPad, I've been tempted to try Magic the Gathering, thanks to the influence of my friend Cold! The poor guy has been working super heavy overtime for the last few weeks & fielding so many noob MtG questions from me, he's finally decided to start a blog called Magic The Gathering Helper! I can't wait to read more posts about it as I'm quickly getting rather frustrated with losing so often and I'm sure his posts will show me where I'm going wrong! I've only managed to open 1 new deck & about 6 new cards so far and it's driving me crazy!

It's been a busy week on Twitter too - my favorite Clown, WowProfitz has added a WoW blog directory to his site. Called the 2013 Bloggers Ultimate Directory, he's adding any genre of WoW blogs to it so if you fancy reading something different, pop over and see what takes your fancy! If you have your own WoW blog that's not included yet, you can tweet him @wowprofitz but all the info you need is in his post Introducing The Bloggers Ultimate Directory. I'm sure he would be very pleased to hear from you about your own blog or any others that you care to recommend :)

Also happening this week was the 2nd Cold's Gold Blogging carnival hosted by Selltacular - the topic this month was a random idea of mine that I sent through to him which is kinda cool. If you'd like to know what the gold bloggers think about 'What makes a good gold maker?' you can find all the carnival post entries on his blog Copper to Gold.

And last but not least, the return of Stede to the gold making blogosphere! Stede was one of the very first few commenters on my own Auction House Addict blog over 2 years ago. His old blog was always one of my favorites to read at that time & although he has never really been away from gold making, being an active member of The Consortium and a cohost on Call To Auction podcast, he's also started a new blog this week! He's called it Late Night With Stede and already has a mini podcast episode up too! I'm really looking forward to what else he may have planned for this new blog.

So lots of new things to see & read this week and all from people on my Twitter feed - I told you Twitter was busy! There has been loads of other stuff going on, blog posts I retweet from other friends and I apologise to those who I wasn't able to include here but my blog roll has lots of new posts in it too so go check them out if you have time!

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