Friday 30 November 2012

IntPiPoMo 2012: Never forgotten heroes

May your fire burn in our hearts
And let the legend survive
(Rhapsody - Never Forgotten Heroes)

The goal of IntPiPoMo is to post 50 screenshots in 30 days. Learn more about it as introduced on Revive & Rejuvenate, with a list of the participants.






50/50 
And it's still November! Victory!

IntPiPoMo 2012: Mantid

The goal of IntPiPoMo is to post 50 screenshots in 30 days. Learn more about it as introduced on Revive & Rejuvenate, with a list of the participants.






45/50

Thursday 29 November 2012

IntPiPoMo 2012: Operation: Shieldwall

The goal of IntPiPoMo is to post 50 screenshots in 30 days. Learn more about it as introduced on Revive & Rejuvenate, with a list of the participants.

It was time for patch 5.1 to hit, indeed, and I'm personally enjoying it a lot. The new series of quests, both daily and regular, reminded me a lot of Warcraft III. Establish a base, get mortar teams, visit the dwarven camp! Many of the quest names are references to Queen and Guns N' Roses songs - why this is, I have no idea!





40/50

Wednesday 28 November 2012

Valerian's poem

Red hair, freckles, books
Vainglory he is known for
Not portals or cake.

Tuesday 27 November 2012

I'm going to get WHAT?!

Nerfed!!!

Patch 5.1, titled Landfall, hasn't yet hit Europe, but it will do so in just a few hours, which means that a couple of changes apply to classes I play actively; in this case shaman and particularly death knight. Why particularly death knight, although my main is a shaman, I'll tell you now.

Death strike is getting its bonus healing removed in PvP with 5.1. As this only applies to player verses player combat, blood death knights will still heal themselves as they used to in PvE, and retain the basic healing from death strike in all situations, as well as the blood shield absorption, while the bonus healing is lost in PvP. Below is the description of death strike at level 90, and the bolding indicates which part (according to my understanding) no longer applies to it in PvP.
Focuses dark power into a strike that deals 280% weapon damage plus 748 to an enemy and heals you for 20% of the damage you have sustained during the preceding 5 sec (minimum of at least 7% of your maximum health). This attack cannot be parried.
I generally PvE way more than PvP, although there have been seasons that I've been quite active in PvP - but the truth is that it's still fairly rare activity for me. During Mists of Pandaria I've completed a total of two battlegrounds. Not impressive. I did, however, have plans for it and particularly in the case of Vlad. I was going to distinguish myself in the PvP area, as a blood death knight, because, well... If you compare my skill when it comes to, say, raiding and when it comes to PvP, there's a big difference, so I need it to be easymode! EZmode, I tell you. Also because PvP is a nervewracking experience for me, it makes me nerdrage.

I mentioned shaman, too. There's more bad news for me when it comes to my PvP future. Totems will now be considered spells, which means they cannot be cast while silenced. This may not sound like much to a non-shaman, but a ton of shaman abilities come from totems. With totems we're able to, for example, remove fear and absorb/reflect a harmful spell. Although the talent and ability changes in the pre-Pandaria patch made totems less important in a way, they're still a great part of shaman gameplay.

While I am nearly traumatised by PvP as elemental shaman, I haven't completely abandoned the thought of it, as I have great and fun memories of it, too, not only losing my nerves and taking it out on the wrong people. Like that one time in Arathi basin, when I annoyed a priest healer by throwing him down the cliff at Lumber Mill. He came back with revenge in his mind, trying to mind control me off the cliff, but I prevented that three times, first by interrupting, then with a totem, and once more by interrupting - as back then wind shear had a 5 second cooldown. Until I get over the upcoming nerfs, it seems that my only hope of the holy trinity for PvP will be my somewhat holy paladin.

I think this was about all I wanted to rant about this evening, thank you and sorry! Now a long, deep breath and...

IntPiPoMo 2012: The Shattering

The goal of IntPiPoMo is to post 50 screenshots in 30 days. Learn more about it as introduced on Revive & Rejuvenate, with a list of the participants.

I don't think I had taken a Cataclysm portal since the night Mists came out. Even though Cataclysm got really, really tacky towards the end; even though I experienced a rather severe Cataclysm burnout (which resulted in me leveling two characters from 1-85 within a few weeks - talk about hyper mode); even though Dragon Soul had some of the worst raid mechanics ever seen, the aftermath is no different. It's just as strange that what used to be the present, is now in the past, and there is certain positively melancholic nostalgia to that.

There was a time when it felt like Cataclysm would never end. Did I wish it had ended? Yes. Certainly. But I always think of the past more benevolently than I do of the present. Time gilds memories, or how do you say it. Every cloud has a silver lining. Eh, maybe that has nothing to do with anything here. Well, here are some of the wonders that the Shattering got us to explore.

Mount Hyjal would have to be one of my favorite zones ever. You get to see some significant progression there, and I find the storyline quite touching each time I play through it.



Hans Zimmer - This Land




 




I was in Deepholm in my dream last night. It was a safe place with positive energy and cool, humid air, like in a limestone cave.




I thought Twilight Highlands was a very majestic and appropriate ending to Cataclysm questing.




Tentacles - a major element of Cataclysm.

36/50

Saturday 24 November 2012

IntPiPoMo 2012: Mount Neverest

What makes Mount Neverest in Kun-Lai Summit special to me is that it doesn't snow like that anywhere else in Azeroth. I also love the sound of wind there.

The goal of IntPiPoMo is to post 50 screenshots in 30 days. Learn more about it as introduced on Revive & Rejuvenate, with a list of the participants.







19/50

Feeling musical: Lament of the Nerfed Shadow Priest

'Feeling musical' - to rewrite gaming lyrics to a song - is the monthly challenge for November featured on Tastes Like Battle Chicken. Be sure to check it out!

For this I borrowed the melody of Killing Me Softly. My intention was to rewrite lyrics to the whole song, but as it's November, IntPiPoMo and Thanksgiving happened. Something called studies are happening as well, and with a lot of logic required, I need to put some extra focus in, as logic isn't one of my strongest qualities. In addition to this, I'm raiding at least three nights a week with Menagerie. We're all still in need of upgrades for certain equipment slots, so running raid finder weekly is necessary. All this takes a ton of time, which is why my contribution to this lovely challenge is mournfully tiny. But here it is, as follows, Lament of the Nerfed Shadow Priest.

Shadow Word: Pain now meets your skin
Ticking away wasted years
Killing you slowly with this dot
Killing you slowly with this dot
Spending my whole life
In this world
Killing you slowly with this dot

For Pasoyo with love.

Friday 23 November 2012

A thought on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving isn't celebrated in the country I live in, but I think it's one of those rare holidays that have a topic that makes sense - a topic that isn't tied to a religion, or something else that may limit one's views of things. I know Thanksgiving from American TV series and movies, because - let's face it - they always seem to celebrate either Thanksgiving or Christmas in those.

My view on Thanksgiving is that although it's a cool holiday, it should be a part of everyday life instead of a yearly event. We should give thanks and appreciation every single day. It has become particularly relevant for me during the past year, as my beloved dog was diagnosed with Cushing's disease. She has medication for it, but at one point her dose was too big, which resulted in her throwing up virtually everything. Thankfully, the correct amount of medicine for her was discovered and she's now doing fine with her illness. I've decided to be particularly thankful for every day I get to spend with her and my other loved ones: my parents, my siblings, my friends and other living things that are dear to me. I am extremely thankful that my mother survived breast cancer, that my father is able to keep his intestinal disease in control - thank you Finnish healthcare! I'm thankful that my siblings have built themselves good lives around good people and are doing okay. I'm thankful that I was born in a country, where I obtained all the keys to a good life the second it began. I'm thankful that I've got more chances to continue my studies than I've deserved, and that I found a school that I love going to.

Blog Azeroth Thanksgiving Event 2012
Logo created with WoW Item Creator!

As for my interactive life, I'd like to thank everyone who has given the Adventures support during its first half a year of life. The WoW blogging community I've got into is most wonderful, and I look forward to getting to know you all a bit better. Thanks to everyone that stops by to read or to leave a comment.

It's been well over a year since Lanfranco, Kinsey and I formed our guild Menagerie, and it's grown hugely since that day. First of all I'd like to give an immense thanks to Lan and Kidney for sticking with me on this crazy ride. The two of you are amazing. Our entire core raiding group gets appreciation and thanks from me, as you are a source of positive energy for me and it's a true pleasure to bond with you through raiding. A big thanks to everyone, an old member or a newbie, who sticks around and enjoys the shenanigans that we come up with. And thank you for putting up with me as I am!

It's impossible for people to judge the importance of certain things in one's life from the outside. Surely people cay say that WoW is just a game, but for me it's been a source of great energy during some really dark times in my life. On WoW I've met some of the coolest people I know - I'm close friends with some of them today. Thank you Blizzard for creating this game.

If we go further back in time, it wasn't very bright back then either. That was when a band called Scorpions pretty much saved my life. Their music was something I could hold on to when I couldn't really find much positive in my life. They have no doubt shaped my life greatly by maintaining it during that dark time. I met a very good friend through their music - a friend that I recently lost, the same year that Scorpions are throwing their final tour. Thank you Scorpions for all the good things you've given me.

Thursday 22 November 2012

IntPiPoMo 2012: Northern lights

In real life I live in Northrend. I love northern lights, and because I live in southern Northrend, I don't get to see them that often, which is why I like to watch them a lot in the interactive Northrend. In Azeroth I'm a shaman. Up north (a norther north than this north) there is a small native people, who have (had, at least) strong shamanistic influences in their culture, which is why, to me, northern lights and shamanism go hand in hand.

The goal of IntPiPoMo is to post 50 screenshots in 30 days. Learn more about it as introduced on Revive & Rejuvenate, with a list of the participants.







13/50

Wednesday 21 November 2012

IntPiPoMo 2012: Vrykul

I update the blog pretty often, but I have to say that this month it'll get more than enough updates! I've decided to take part in the IntPiPoMo 2012 screenshot "challenge". The idea is to complete it during November, but as we're already over halfway through the month, I'll have about two weeks to post 50 screenshots of various subjects. My goal is to post 5-10 of those at a time.

In addition to that, I'd love to complete the November challenge on Tastes Like Battle Chicken. It's called 'Feeling musical' and you can read more about it here. I'll be quite short of time this month, but I'll try my best to find time and inspiration for that one, too. Now, however, I'll get started with the IntPiPoMo with some vrykul shots. And yes, I know prince Keleseth isn't a vrykul!

Learn more about the IntPiPoMo as introduced on Revive & Rejuvenate, with a list of the participants.



Nice tattoos!




For me personally, this view is legendary.

7/50