All Change At Casa Nev

In my last post, I mentioned that I'd been out to work for a few days & maybe the agency would have me on their radar now. It's a mixed blessing but on their radar I ended up - I have a job! It's only an input clerk & only for 8-12 weeks but it sorts out a lot of problems for me & gets me out of this apartment. It does mean that most of my side projects that I was going to knuckle down & focus on will have to go on the back burner again though! It also makes a few other things more difficult but I'm sure we'll get through those. They do say 'love conquers all' after all :)

So as my last grasp of unemployed freedom, I'm going to spend the next few days in WoW - no more messing with side projects & faffing - it's time to play a bit & maybe even get my Priest on her way to 90! Shock, horror, gasp!

So I need a to-do list for the next 5 days - here's what I got so far!

• Start leveling Priest (including new keybinds, glyphs, talents & sorting out her bank/bags for space!)
• Get a pet to level 25 - I have some around 13-15-ish so far
• Do the Thunder Isle dailies at least once if only to see what the fuss is about!
• Work the Auction House like a madwoman!
• Do Tillers dailies on my Warrior & DK - both at 12 plots now.

If I don't see y'all here before then, have a great Easter :)

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Arrgghh! Real Life Interrupts Again!

So it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post & real life has gone crazy on me. I did manage to get my Paladin halfway through Revered with the Shado-Pan & into Honored with the August Celestials but only because of the farm work orders!

I also managed to get both my Warrior & DK's farms opened up to 12 plots so now I can plant the special crops - I went for Songbell Seeds on both as my warrior is my Blacksmith but I'm pretty sure I won't be playing her much. My DK is my scribe & jewelcrafter - not 100% sure I need Spirits of Harmony on her but until I get time to check, I'll keep planting them!

And that's about all I have managed to do in game for the last 2 weeks - oh, I did do 1 evening of pet battles  but it was kind of uneventful. I started a fresh team & managed to beat the Stranglethorn trainer guy but that's as far as I got.

After almost 4 years of illness, unemployment & more illness, I went back to work this week. It was a bit of a shock to my system as you can probably imagine & trying to keep up with twitter & my in-game friends is taking way more time out of my evening than I expected. I think we've also sold the house too (well, we've accepted an offer, hopefully it will proceed to a sale) so there's been lots of lawyer talk going on!

I know I'm probably very ungrateful given the current economic climate but I'm actually quite relieved that my 'job' was only for 1 week. I'm on the job agency radar now though with current references & experience so hopefully there will be more temporary positions coming up. It's also reminded me why I quit my last real job all those years ago! I have a lot of bits & pieces going on all over the place but if I want to be self-employed, I have to find some self-discipline & focus from somewhere!

I'll still be writing here & over at AH Addict too although maybe not as often as I would like - playing WoW to get stuff to write about has been my escape for far too long! Time to knuckle down & work smart!

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This Week So Far - Patch 5.2 & Stuff

In my last post I said I'd be concentrating on my Warrior this week which I did & I actually got my Shado-Pan & August Celestials reputation grinds started too. Then Patch 5.2 hit on Wednesday & I seem to have lost 2 days!

So I finally made level 90 on my Warrior & basically swore that she was never seeing the light of day again. But I need Spirits of Harmony for blacksmith crafting so I have actually done some Tillers dailies on her. I'm hoping to get to a full farm in the next few days so she can grow her own Motes of Harmony. With the new Work Orders on the farm, I'll probably grind some reputations that way for her too as I really didn't enjoy playing her at all!

I also dug out my recently dinged DK to get the Tillers dailies done for the farm too. I'm not planning on abandoning her though but I do need to find some nerves of steel from somewhere & attempt to tank a dungeon or two! Once I've done a few, I'll decide whether to flip her back to Frost spec or stay as Blood.

And then there's my poor Retribution Paladin - oh my gosh, she still feels a bit squishy & when I finally got over to the new Thunder Isle dailies, I was back to ghost running regularly. I did enjoy running around as a Saurok & the jump is fun too but it did get me in trouble once or twice! So between the Shado-Pan, August Celestials, 2 lots of Tillers dailies & the new Thunder Isle dailies, I've not been doing much else in game!

I didn't even get all the dailies finished as I was sidetracked by the pet battle XP discussion on Twitter. I jumped over to my Rogue & managed to get almost to level 86 on her just by pet battling in Stormwind before I had to give up & actually sleep! By the time I logged in the next morning, a hotfix had been applied so I guess she's off back to her farm until I get bored enough to level her to 90!

My To-Do list for this week is very short again - do more dailies! I figure that if I can get all the factions upto Exalted on my Paladin, it will be easier to get any reputations for crafting recipes on my other alts but also, I'll be able to stop worrying about doing the dailies & focus better on any other stuff I want to do later.

I may have to do some more Pet Battles though - I quite enjoyed them again the other night & there are more & more discussions going on about how to level them quickly & efficiently. The lure of all those achievement points may prove great enough to distract me from Dailies but we'll have to see how that goes!

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Planning Ahead - The Never Ending Story!

So I left my Warrior at 89.62% last night because it was getting silly late but I'm planning on pushing to 90 today if it kills me! My Paladin already has the Klaxxi reputation so at this point in time, my Warrior is earning double reputation & is halfway to Revered already. I got all excited when she made it to Honored because she is my Blacksmith & I wanted the BS recipes. One thing I hadn't checked though - buying the recipes requires Kyparite Ore, not Spirits of Harmony as I thought.

Having sold a bunch of Kyparite Ore just a day or two beforehand, I'm sure you can imagine what colour the air turned around here! But what's the use of having loads of gold if you don't use it? So off I went to the Auction House on my banker - not only to buy some Kyparite Ore but also to see which of the recipes to buy. Foiled again! Only a few pieces of Kyparite Ore on the Auction House & not enough to even buy one recipe! I guess I'm just going to have to pick up what I can over the next day or two. As for the recipes, again there were very few items on the AH so I'm going to use The Undermine Journal today to see what's what.

Once this girlie hits 90, I have some decisions to make though. I still have a Priest, Hunter & Rogue sitting at 85 & waiting patiently to be leveled up but I'm also acutely aware that I'm slacking on my reputation grinds. I started both the Shado-Pan & August Celestials this week but I haven't done them every day. I haven't been back to Krasarang Wilds for the Shieldwall Offensive dailies either.I also want to get some pet battling done & scenarios on the DK for some gear for her. I'm pretty sure I won't be playing the Warrior in any serious way any time soon so I'm not too worried about gearing her up at all.

My Paladin is just 1 point away from being eligible for LFR but I haven't been trying that hard to gear her up. I'm not that sure I want to as I still don't feel happy with her DPS. But if I don't gear her up & focus on rotations, gems, etc, how will she ever get better? I guess I just have to 'stick with the knitting' as an old tutor of mine used to say - stop jumping around all my alts & just concentrate on getting 1 good one.

The side benefit of focusing on just the Paladin & getting the reps done is the accumulation of Valor Points. Yes, I know the Patch 5.2 is supposed to hit this week so I've left it far too late yet again but she's still wearing greens in some slots! Another benefit will be that once I get these 3 done, I think that will be my 45 Reputations achievement too. A project for the backburner is to go back to the Cataclysm zones & get all those reputations done - I think I only have one of those at Exalted so finishing those will give me 50 Exalted Reps (and maybe some mounts too!).

So my in-game to-do list for this coming week is very short - Get the Warrior to 90 & do all the dailies on my Paladin. The rest of it is just going to have to wait!

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Update 28th Feb : Achievements, Dailies & Leveling

So it's been over 2 weeks since I last wrote here but I've got a fair bit done in that time. I've been focusing on my Squidoo account, trying to increase my presence there & get some real cash flowing! If you've not come across Squidoo before, it's basically a platform for writers to make a lens (a page, if you like) about anything they want to within reason and make a bit of cash at the same time. I'm writing about photography & travel mainly so pop over if you want to take a peek at yet another of my random online activities!

Anyway, so what have I been upto in WoW? well, I did eventually get my DK to level 90 & promptly abandoned her at Halfhill. I keep meaning to log her & do the Tillers dailies to get my farm going but I've only done that a few days in the last 10 so I guess that will take a while yet!

I also remembered that there is a Scorpion mount from Exalted reputation with the Klaxxi so I logged my Paladin again to complete those. I'd just about had enough of the Klaxxi dailies to be honest & having been questing through Dread Wastes on my DK too, I just felt like the whole world was dark, grey & filled with menacing insectoids! But I struggled on (wo)manfully & was rewarded with a gorgeous Scorpion mount which I promptly mounted, took a screenshot & then haven't logged Paladin again since! She's probably still sitting on that half dead tree trunk in Klaxxi Vess!

Since then, I've been trudging through Kun-Lai & Townlong Steppes on my Warrior. She's my Blacksmith & I really want to get her to 90 before patch 5.2 hits, if only for the Living Steel Belt Buckle pattern from the Klaxxi. I hit 89 last night so today I move her to the Dread Wastes & start getting all dark & depressed again!

I really struggled with the Paladin leveling through first, I loved the DK, leveling in Blood spec for the first time ever & now, the Warrior. Why I've taken my 3 plate wearers through first I have no idea! I hated my Warrior most of the way through to about 75 - how she ever got to 85 is still a mystery & getting to 90 is just my stubborn streak showing through. Her DPS is better than the Paladin's was though but it feels slower somehow & I am chewing through Bandages like they are going out of fashion! I still have 3 level 85's to move along - a Priest (shadow/holy), a Rogue (arrgghh!) & a Hunter but I think I might take a break from top level stuff & either move my 50 something warlock along or even, maybe, perhaps start a monk!

I did actually take the DK into the Chemical Brothers holiday dungeon & I was brave enough to tank too! I figured I couldn't do much wrong with everyone just blowing shit up so easily and I think I did ok although I'm not jumping up & down to get my first proper dungeon done just yet!

So that's been the last couple of weeks in WoW. I don't really have a to-do list for now - I'm just focusing on that damned Warrior!

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An Unwitting Random Act of Kindness

This morning, I created a level 1 character in Northshire on a friends server to help her set up a guild. As is my habit, after signing the guild charter, I took a run to Stormwind to check out the Auction House (yes, I know, I am an AH Addict after all!) just to see if there were any pets going cheap that I haven't already got. My friend was willing to sub me some gold if I found one I wanted but as I wasn't sure, I didn't take the gold up front.

As usual, I just followed the road, it's the safest way for a level 1 with zero xp and as I got to Goldshire and was dodging the duellers there, I noticed that someone had put out a Blingtron 4000. Without even really thinking about it, I clicked & got my present, always hoping for a pet or some nice bling but no real luck today. I forgot I was on a level 1 though so once I got to Stormwind, I just vendored the 2 bits of trash that I got from the package and didn't think any more of it.

Off I went to the Auction House, did my usual scans including my snatch list, just to see if it would be worth some time to play a lowbie flipping alt here. Now in my defence, this was fairly early in my day & I was still on my first bucket of coffee, so when I saw a nice little deal, I clicked 'buy', still forgetting that I had no cash - or so I thought!

It was only then that I realised the vendor trash from the Blingtron gift has netted me over 20 gold! So I'd like to say a big Thank You to that random player who popped out the Blingtron in Goldshire this morning! Then the thought struck me! Wouldn't that be a great way to help out some lowbies or newbies in future? Just pop out a Blingtron in a busy starter area & pop a message in general chat to let them know what it's for (that's for the newbies of course). It wouldn't cost you anything & you could help multiple players without any hassle of finding a deserving recipient for your generosity!

Forget trying to find a true newbie to give some bags or gold to, just pop out your Blingtron 4000 & let them all have a present. :)

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This Week's To-Do List ( 9th Feb)

Well I did finally get my Elders visited & now I only need Children's Week to get my Violet Proto-drake for the 'Long Strange Trip' achievement too but other than that, I've not had much success in doing any of the stuff on my last to-do list from 2 weeks ago! I've been having intermittant disconnection problems with my router & it really put me off trying to quest in WoW.

But after almost 2 days of no internet at all, I think we got the router sorted out & fingers crossed, the disconnection problem seems to be better too! I did manage to get my DK within spitting distance of level 90, she's about 50% of the way through level 89 & honored with the Klaxxi already. So my plan for today & tomorrow is to get her to 90 at least, even if I do nothing else in game!

The internet problems have messed with my other online stuff too so now I have a backlog of to-do things outside of game. I don't know if it's just me but I feel like my girls are nagging at me to get them moving! It's kind of distracting whilst trying to get my photography website redesigned or writing additional content for my newsletter over at AH Addict. Both are taking chunks of time & I just want to get back to my nagging girlies!

It doesn't help that I'm addicted to Twitter & Facebook too. I hate waiting for answers/replies to comments I make so I try not to make others wait for responses from me. What that means in reality though is that no matter what I am doing, I'm always interrupting myself to check Twitter or FB which of course, slows me down further!

I think I need an intervention!

Anyway, given that I keep making work for myself, my in game to-do list this week is very short!

• Get DK to level 90
• Get Warrior to level 88
• Do some dailies with Paladin, probably Shieldwall ones as I've started those but I should start on Shado-Pan or August Celestials too

That's it! I know it's Love Is In The Air week too but I have that achievement. I'll have to check to see if I have the Lovebird mount though and if not, I'll add getting that to my to-do list as well.

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