Monday 25 June 2018

How I spent Legion

Since I haven't updated this blog at all during Legion, I thought I'd make a round up post about what has happened to me in this expansion - WoW wise.

I returned to the game from a long break when the Legion pre-patch came out. I enjoyed playing after a good while. Legion hit, and I leveled up to 110 together with my partner, which was unusual, as I have previously always quested alone, as that's the way I prefer it. I get to read all the quests and take my time to think about what's actually going on and even stop to RP with myself if I so desire. Does anyone else do that, by the way? Luckily my partner was okay with me taking my time to read the quests properly, but still I found myself a little distracted and often not sure about why we were doing what we were doing.

Raiding was never a part of my plans for Legion. I considered myself a retired raider. Well, I ended up raiding anyway. We left the guild we had been in since mid-Warlords and after some bouncing around, we found a really nice guild whose progression speed was great and there was actually no one in the team that annoyed me. I very much enjoyed my time raiding in the guild, but unfortunately it was short lived, as the raid leader quit the game shortly after we joined.

He had, however, found another guild of similar values and progression for the whole raid team to join. I joined, but the raid team was too big for my taste. In addition, they raided three times a week four hours at a time, which was not something I was willing to commit to. My maximum was twice a week three hours at a time. My partner and I did, however, form a mythic+ group with some old guildmates and ran mythic dungeons for a good while, which was fun, too.

Eventually I took a break, which ended up lasting over a year.

That break ended about a month ago, when I resubscribed to the game for half a year and purchased Battle for Azeroth soon after.

I had a lot to do, so I got started with the Broken Shore. Once I was finished with the Broken Shore storyline, I headed to Argus. Every now and then I got around to finishing up some old stuff as well as leveling my professions etc.

I created a new demon hunter, Renwyn, as it had been over a year since I had done the demon hunter starting quests and I had no memory of them. I didn't feel particularly inspired about my first demon hunter, either. I geared up Renwyn pretty fast, and soon after I made another new alt, a nightborne mage called Andaryn. I've leveled her super fast. She sits at level 101 as we speak, higher up when this post sees the light of day. I've also made the decision to finish my Loremaster achievements while leveling some new alts. It makes the leveling experience a lot more interesting, as I can pick a few fitting zones for each alt to quest through.

I have no idea what my plans are for Battle for Azeroth, but I will take it as it comes and just try to enjoy myself.

Friday 22 June 2018

Meet my level 2 feral druid

Something strange had happened to an alt unplayed for over a year during my break from the game. Everything was normal when I created the character and stretched the xp up to level 2, but since then, she's become a level 2 character of the feral spec and no abilities what so ever - other than racials and auto attack. I'm naturally unable to change the specialisation, as the feature doesn't become available until level 10. Normally, these days, you start as a balance druid with the Wrath ability.


For now, I've just settled with the strangeness that has taken place and skipped opening a ticket about it. I've no plans to level this character for now, anyway, and it's something a bit unusual, like a souvenir of sorts.

Has anything of this manner happened to you?

Wednesday 20 June 2018

Loving You Sunday Morning

I haven't got the slightest clue why this was unpublished. It wasn't even the final version, but I was sure I had already published this on the blog... Luckily I found the finished version on my backup drive. Oh yeah, I found my blog again, after three years. Three years seems to be the thing for me and this blog.

Heavy plate armour slamming against the paving made a mighty clang - one that was sure to wake up anyone who still slept in the purple, floating city of Dalaran. Raleigh had stepped into a couple of mage-made portals before, but since then his knowledge of the nether travels had indubitably rusted. Despite the rocky start, he got up, and after wiping his armour for any hints of dust, he made his way to A Hero's Welcome.

The tavern was still sleepy at the early hour. Nevertheless, its warm atmosphere had always been dear to Raleigh Croft - something that continued to face him with open arms - with a hero's welcome. Another warm welcome awaited him behind the shiny, freshly wiped counter. A young waitress turned to look at the still somewhat groggy paladin.
”Good morning, sir!” The waitress yelled joyfully. Her voice was of very high pitch, nearly child-like.
”A very fine morning to you as well, my fair lady,” the man said with a soft tone in his voice and a warm smile on his face, reaching all the way up to the corners of his eyes.
”How may I serve you today?” She chuckled with curved lips.
Raleigh had always been rather fond of her. It wasn't merely the extraordinarily voluptuous coffee that kept bringing him to the tavern over and over.
”I would take great pleasure in a cup or two of your special coffee. That, of course, should you have time for such trivial matters so early in the morning.”
The fair-haired, long-eared waitress began to conjure the drink with haste. Her graceful figure danced to the spell as her long fingers brushed through the air in peculiar motions. It almost appeared as if she was indulging the paladin in some sort of special treatment, but alas, it was probably just Raleigh's wishful thinking.

She slowly handed over a cup of coffee to him, following the mug with her gaze and thus ensuring the white ceramic mug would get keep its white colouring. As a sign of thankfulness, Raleigh leaned forward to bow at the waitress; yet the gesture came out rather clumsy as he spilled a sip-worth of coffee to the tavern floor. The half-elven waitress giggled at him, then made a minuscule roundish motion with her hand, one that wasn't visible to Raleigh as her hands were hidden beneath the counter.

As Raleigh climbed up the stairs leading to the balcony, he stopped at a mirror for a short moment. Within the golden lining stood a man with green eyes and red hair that didn't quite reach his shoulders. His nose and cheekbones were covered by freckles that could be spotted all over his face, but in greatly smaller amounts. The wrinkles around his eyes spoke of worries, which the emerald twinkle however seemed to not care about. His lips curved on a minor smile as he turned away from the mirror and continued to walk up the stairs.

. . .

A pair of glasses rested lazily on the bridge of his nose. Rough hands held a book, allowing the emerald eyes to devour it word by word. The book's red-ish cover was mildly stained – it had indubitably been soaked in drops of coffee more than once in its lifetime. But Sunday morning doesn't care about a stained book. It doesn't care about the dirt on your boots, nor is it bothered by ghosts of the past. Sunday morning knows no fear of loneliness or death. It laughs at the face of evil like an impertinent child. If a soul has no Sunday morning, it becomes an orphan.

Flipping the page, Raleigh allowed his hand to slide ever so slightly too far, nudging the coffee cup a tad too violently.
”Son of a...”
His cursing was interrupted by surprise, as the coffee didn't spill out of the cup. He playfully flipped the cup around. The coffee stuck to the bottom of the mug, refusing to leave it under any circumstances he could provide. Those mages really knew how to twist the laws of nature. Raleigh chuckled to himself as he resumed to read his book.

. . .

”Would you like more coffee, sir?” A chirpy voice appeared next to him, its host holding a warm can above his coffee mug.
Raleigh raised his gaze from the inky words, already smiling at the request.
”Certainly.”