I played four Warsong Gulch battlegrounds this weekend. I went 2 - 2.  I like this battleground, although I am not much of a flag carrier.  I tend to avoid it if I can.  I would rather protect or kill flag carriers.  What I like about battlegrounds over the 5-man PUG is that no one player, usually the tank or the healer can screw over the group as a whole and just leave.  That does not mean that battlegrounds are without drama.

You have people that like to go AFK, or cook up something tasty, or maybe work on a neglected profession.  What bugs me?  It is when players bitch and moan about everything, or everyone sucks, WoW sucks, or whatever.

I had a real winner in the one the losses this weekend.  They were the "leader" of our band of merry toons.  When he didn't get the proper responses or sympathy from the group as a whole, he switched his rant to raid warnings, so that it flashed up on the screen.  Ugh.. really?!?

A healer druid and four hunters had banded together and were mostly unstoppable.  Our leader strongly felt that we needed to kill the healer.  Easier said than done.  Did we lose?  Yep.  We couldn't get much of an offense together and put a stop to the beat down we were receiving.  Was it still fun for me, despite the beating?  Yep, but it could have been better without the rantings of a madman.

It has been a fun week full of events.  The World of Warcraft Ninth Anniversary which gave a nice 9% bonus to both experience and reputation.  It ran into the first couple of days of the Darkmoon Faire for added fun.  I have been having awful luck trying to get a Crow battle pet of quality at the Faire, and the only time that I did find one, I killed it.  Sigh...  I am also getting closer to being able to buy the Darkmoon pets with the tickets.  I should be able to get them by the first of the year.

The last event of note was the Pilgrim's Bounty, or How to Easily Level Cooking to 350+.  I was unable to get the Plump Turkey pet, but I did level lots of cooking.  I couldn't let the opportunity pass me by.

I am very excited to hear that in the next patch, we should be able to mail heirloom gear across realms.  I have some gear lying around somewhere gathering dust.  I would be awesome to be able to put them to good use.  They would truly be bound on account items and not bound on realm items.

How it all started.

A long, long time ago I got into MMORPGs.  My game of choice was City of Heroes.  I loved that game.  It had many wonderful things going for it.  The character costume design was outstanding.  I created countless heroes and villains that didn't go anywhere beyond the costume design.

I also enjoyed the ability to side kick or exemplar so that you could team up with other heroes regardless of your level.  I wish Blizzard would embrace this idea.  You could team up and play the end game content.  They have decided that they are going to hand out high level toons instead.

My friends talked me into getting into WoW.  At the time I was getting a little burnt out of CoH, and so I agreed to give it a try.  It was vanilla and Burning Crusade was about to be released.  I created a tauren hunter named Matador.  The graphics in Warcraft weren't as nice as CoH and the character creation was unimaginative and boring.

I stuck with it and chatted with my friends as I walked all over the Barrens which seemed like forever.  Barrens was a huge zone and you didn't get a mount until level 40.  Barrens chat was pretty wild at times.  Anyone who played horde during those months knows exactly what I am talking about.  Matador was my toon through Burning Crusade.  I had others, but he was my main.

Wrath of the Lich King was coming out.  I decided to make a change.  I created a gnome mage named Turwinkle.  He was my main throughout the expansion.  Wrath is my favorite expansion by far.

Then came Cataclysm with the addition of the Worgen and Goblin.  Another expansion and another restart for me.  I knew I wanted to play a Goblin.  I went back to the Horde and started Scur the goblin mage.  I almost made Scur a shaman because the goblin totems looked so cool.  It seems like a silly reason to make a shaman but there you have it.

Pandaria came out and my computer could not run it properly.  It was having a tough time in Wrath and Cataclysm especially laging in cities.  Wrath Dalaran was almost unplayable and I avoided the city as much as possible.  I finally got a new computer and have re-joined and restarted again.

This time around I have created a team of toons.  Instead of one main toon, I have created a team of them with all professions, races and most classes represented.  I have joined the pet battling craze, and I am happy with my decision to go this route.

Warlords of Draenor

What of it?  Many people are upset, once again, that Blizzard got it all wrong.  In Pandaria, people complained that the new race were Pandas.  What's not to like?  They're fluffy and bouncy.  They didn't like pet battles because it was too much like Pokemon.  Got to catch them all.  I was one of those nay sayers.  I love pet battles and the hunt for more pets.  It is a great addition to the game.

In Warlords, it is a male dominated expansion with some time travel thrown in.  Time travel is a tricky thing, but I trust the brain trust at Blizzard to not make a mess of it.  Male dominated?  Meh, I think it would be awesome if one of the orc clans was led by a bad ass female warrior.

Flying.  People again are upset.  This isn't something new.  A new expansion means the loss of the flying ability for a short time.  I am sure that it will be a gold sink as well.  I don't mind... much.  I love flying as it is convenient and the view of Azeroth from up there is stunning many times.

Garrisons sounds very exciting to me.  I don't understand what it is going to mean in game, but I am looking forward to this most of all.

So Blizzard has a Make - a - Wish charity sale.  It is a pet and mount combo for thirty bucks.

Who am I kidding?  I would have bought the combo if they had said they were going to take the money and start their own Warcraft microbrew.  The pet and the mount were very nicely done.  Is the pet all powerful?  Maybe.  Is it cool looking?  Oh yeah.  The mount is very nice as well.  I am not big on buying mounts, but I do like the pets.  Always have.. always will.

I have been a pet battling fool these last couple of weeks as I slowly level my team of toons.  I have quite a few pets (around 230) from years of playing Warcraft and being a collector before it was mainstream.  As I have moved into higher zones, I have decided to select thirty pets to continue leveling.  I want three of each of the ten pet types.  Most of the pets are rare and / or have a soft spot in my heart.  I can always level others later.

Aquatic	Chuck	Pengu	Strand Crawler
Beast	Darkmoon Cub	Alterac Brew Pup	Hyjal Bear Cub
Critter	Darkmoon Hatchling	Little Fawn	Stinker
Dragonkin	Celestial Dragon	Proto Dragon	Soul of the Ancient
Elemental	Blooming Ancient	Cinder Kitten	Phoenix Hatchling
Flying	Guardian Cub	Hycinth Macaw	Spore Bat
Humanoid	Harpy	Moonkin	Pandaran
Magic	Enchanted Lamp	Mana Wyrmling	Willy
Mechanical	Clockwork Gnome	Lil XT	Warbot
Undead	Fossilized Hatchling	Lil KT	Voodoo Doll

My pet team ranges in level from six to eleven.  My toon team is around level thirty to thirty five.

They are all leveling up together like one big happy family.

It is hard to believe that it has been about a month since I started this little project.  Darkmoon Faire is back in town and the Day of the Dead is here as well.

I have found that getting the Day of the Dead pet has really been a royal pain in the butt.  I should have taken about 5 minutes to do it, but after about a half an hour of frustration and wondering what the heck I was doing wrong on such a simple task; I was still petless and a little pissed off.  I went to my go to web sites for info (Wowhead and Youtube) and found out that I was doing it correctly.

It must have been bugged because no matter what I did I could not get the ghosts to appear and give me the quest.  They would appear and mock me in my frustration.  I ended up logging out of one toon, logging in with another in a different city and it finally worked.  I was both relieved that I got the pet and frustrated on how hard it was when it should have been easy peasy lemon squeezy.

The pet is very cool and dances all the time, even during pet battles.  It does the male Forsaken thrash metal dance.  It would have been nice if it had a more appropriate dance.  Oh well...

Overall, I came away with a new pet, achievement and a recipe.  Now I need to run my toons through the Faire for more goodies and skill points.

It is official.  The monk did not make the cut, and has been replaced with an orc warlock named Asuk.  I just do not like the monk.  I tried different specs, and still... nothing.  At around level 20, Xawa the monk was sent off to the great server in the sky.

I can't pinpoint what is was about the monk that sucked the big one.  The monk sounded like he would be a great addition to the team, but like Tebow, it just did not work out.  I am sure it is not you, it is me.

I spent the week questing, farming and pet battling with my ten toons.  I enjoy the game and the the limited time that I get to spend playing.  But there are moments that leave me scratching my head in wonder.

The first incident happened in the Northern Barrens.  I was fighting harpies for a quest and battling the harpy pets in search of a rare.  I was in my zone and just doing my thing while listening to some 80s music.  An elite spawned while I was there, and so I was in a good mood playing the game that I enjoy the most.

Along comes a toon who wanted to duel me.  I politely declined saying that I don't enjoy it.  I despise playing in arenas or dueling.  I do not have the eye - hand coordination or the skill needed to even make it interesting.  His toon was a couple of levels higher than mine and he had plenty of heirlooms to pad any lack of skill he might have.

He started to harass me with dueling requests and emotes.  He was bouncing and spinning around me like he was an 8 year old that had been playing with his daddy's expresso machine.  He definitely didn't like taking no for an answer.  He got frustrated and began killing the harpies and the pets in the area.  With a heavy sigh, I hearthed and logged out.  What a buzz kill...

A couple of days later while questing in Silverpine Forest - I was standing on an ore node and killing some evil worgen in that area.  A high level toon swoops in on his flying mount and literally took it right out from under me and then flew off.  It left me standing in empty space.  I was floating in the area with my mouth open in shock.

What is wrong with people?

Below is my list of heroines making their way through the world of Azeroth.

Seli Blood Elf Paladin

Parz Troll Priest

Xawa Pandaran Monk

Ezli Goblin Death Knight

Bevi Forsaken Mage

Maha Tauren Druid

Zeel Troll Hunter

Huju Pandaran Shaman

Yabi Forsaken Rogue

Vint Orc Warrior

This group of toons includes all the races.  Each production profession is represented and the rest is gathering to feed the production.  I dislike farming in general, but if I have lots of gatherers that just pick up whatever they come across while quests and pet battling then I should have more than enough materials to feed production.  At least, that is the plan.

I have not completed the Death Knight starter quests before.  I have mixed feelings about this as I feel that the Death Knight is a ‘bad guy’.  The starter quests embrace this and the things you need to do for Arthas and his cronies kinda sucks.

The Pandaran race and the Monk class are new.  The only classes that I have maxed out before are hunters and shamans.  So there is plenty that will be different and new.

The Darkmoon Faire came to town shortly after I created my team of toons.  I knew that I could get a 16 slot bag at the Faire just be going to the Faire.  I also knew that there are lots of pets, mounts and achievements to be had at the Faire as well.

I decided to level fishing and cooking to 75 so that I can start earning the tickets needed to get the pets and the mounts.  I searched online for a good spot to do this and found that Stonebull Lake was the best spot because it had the added bonus of an uber rare catch of a 15 lb Mud Snapper that would get an achievement.  If you ever want to get the Salty title, you needed this dreaded achievement.

The gods smiled down on me, and I caught the one fish that I was looking for.  /happy dance.  Later on, while doing the actual fishing quest for the Faire with all the toons I was able to catch, not one, but two Sea Pony pets.

Happy… Happy… Happy...

After a year long break from Warcraft, I am back.  I have a newer computer that can handle the game and the world looks better than I remember it.  My new computer has more power… grunt… grunt… grunt.

I decided to start over from scratch with a new server and new toons.  WarcraftPets.com has a guild on Mandoran (US) server on the horde side.  I am a big fan of mages and hunters, but I wanted something different.  I decided on a paladin which left me with Tauren or Blood Elf as a racial choice.

The Tauren look like they are walking through molasses, and Blood elf males look just awful.  I created one years ago.  He jumped once.  After I picked my jaw up from the floor, I deleted him.  So the paladin is a female Blood Elf.  I am a G.I.R.L. (Guy in real life) and play male toons almost exclusively.

I am an altaholic at heart, and ended up creating a Forsaken Mage and a Troll hunter.  The male versions of these races are hunched over.  The look isn’t very pleasant either, but no where near as bad as the Blood Elf.

I decided then to just stick with the all female toon team.

I am handicapped.  The handicap results in limited use of my left hand as well as double vision.  Yeah, yeah.. woe is me.  Anyway, raiding is not an option, as well as some complicated 5 mans that require a lot of mobility.

I enjoy Warcraft and all the activities it has to offer.  I have been a collector at heart.  The new Pandaran Warcraft feeds the collector’s need to get lots and lots of pets and mounts.

I am excited as I begin a new journey into this digital world.  I will have ten toons, all female with all the professions.  One each of the main professions, and the rest gatherers to feed the mats to them.  I will level pets as I quest and gather mats.

I want to take this slow and easy.