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.