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

Speculation on next expansion and WoW

This post is about my personal speculation regarding the next expansion of World of Warcraft and the game itself. It is, by no means, confirmed by anyone. Some spoilers of current and upcoming events of Mists of Pandaria are also included. My speculations do not reflect my preferences.

Not too long ago, Rob Pardo posted on his Twitter that the expansion after Mists of Pandaria will be awesome. He's been working on Project Titan and according to himself, has now prioritised in the development of the next World of Warcraft expansion. He was last really involved with WoW in Wrath of the Lich King.

Since we now know there will be another expansion after Mists of Pandaria, it's hard not to think about what it could be, although I want to focus on MoP and enjoy it to its fullest. There are two things that lead me to one particular direction when it comes to speculating the subject of the new expansion. First of all, the war between the Alliance and the Horde has went on for years and years. Certainly there are political conflicts all over the world, but Azeroth must be advancing towards a "modern era" as well. I have no idea whether people are generally bored with the 'Alliance vs. Horde' concept, but I feel that there could be a change in that. Since the war between the two factions will culminate in the end of MoP, they could find a peaceful solution of some sort after realising what kind of extreme actions they're forced to take on. Second hint comes from prince Anduin Wrynn. At the Temple of the White Tiger in Kun-Lai Summit, he assures Xuen the White Tiger that the old disagreements will be forgotten - not exactly with those words, but you get the message.

At this point, which is obviously very early, I think that in the expansion to come the Alliance and the Horde will unite, and there will be a whole new faction. What this new faction could be, I have no clue. What it would mean for PvP, I have no clue about either, but for now I go with this idea. Blizzard appears to have some new (old) ideas for PvP, including large battlegrounds like Alterac Valley and Isle of Conquest. The huge maps and all the possible activities on those battlegrounds don't really shine with their full potential in their current 'speed victory' form.

In case the post-MoP expansion is planned by Blizzard as the last expansion to World of Warcraft, it could have something to do with the Burning Crusade, Sargeras and that kind of stuff. They've already told us of Illidan's return - of which we will probably learn more with the warlock questline coming up in 5.1. All in all, it would be extremely difficult to come up with a successful, unplanned ending to a game with as much history and lore as WoW has. So, will it be the last expansion of WoW? It may very well be. The possibility is high. But for as long as WoW continues to have a subscriber base of 10 million, Blizzard will likely not stop making expansions. Heck, even 1/10 of that would still be a million, which is crazy! That's like 1/6 of the citizens of Finland playing World of Warcraft. As for now, the number is nearly two times the citizens of Finland.

We have to face a few facts though. Because the game is simply so old, it's beginning to have some difficulties keeping up with newer MMORPGs such as Guild Wars 2 when it comes to mechanics. Due to the engine itself getting old, some have mentioned 'WoW2'. Could that ever happen? I personally think it depends mostly on how much Blizzard wants to do it, pretty much like with Mists of Pandaria. A ton of people thought it was a really lame idea, but they went for it, and it came out, to my mind, very good. A subscription-based game itself is quite old-fashioned in today's online gaming, so if World of Warcraft manages to have 10 million subscribers in its current state, I feel that a free, or even just a cheaper version of it would have more players. Would Blizzard ever decrease the amount of financial commitment involved in WoW, while not decreasing the quality of the game one way or another?

Dubiety is not a pleasant state, but at this point we have no other option but to wait and see what happens. I have faith in Blizzard, and even though money appears to be particularly important to them, I trust that they will treat their customers fairly and with the respect they deserve after so many years of supporting the company. With these thoughts I wish you all an excellent week!

Seeking the secrets of Ulduar

Raleigh and I got to spend some quality time with Lanfranco as he finally found time to venture into Ulduar with me. Ulduar has been my favorite raid since the very first time I visited the place, and it's still as amazing as ever.

One of the major reasons why I looked forward to Pandaria so much was because I knew it would be possible to do Ulduar with less people. Now, based on the information that I gathered with Lanfranco, it looks like a great part of the raid would be soloable - surprisingly even Flame Leviathan - and I've got just the thing for that: a blood death knight. Both Raleigh and Vladan are in need of transmogrification gear from Ulduar, so it looks like I'll be having a lot of that in my calendar... which really doesn't bother me at all. Generally I find soloing various things one of the most pleasant things to do in the game; I'm much more of a solo player, just like I am a bit anti-social in real life. I just like the fact that I can enjoy that amazing content at my own pace. Going there is always voluntary, so it doesn't stir negative feelings like that.

Lan let me have the Archivum Data Disc, which is a drop from the Assembly of Iron in hard mode, to unlock Algalon, who we weren't yet able to try. I didn't get to complete the questline in Wrath of the Lich King, but it seems pretty cool and interesting.

There have been rumours that Pandaria doesn't show on the miniature versions of Azeroth in Ulduar, but there looks to be some chunk of something that appears much like a continent on those maps.

It must be Pandaria down there.

20 Days of WoW blogging #3

Writing depression continues... So a challengin' we go.

Check out Spellbound to learn more about the challenge!

Day 3 – Your first day playing WoW

I can't tell what exactly was my first day playing WoW, but I do recall some of the first experiences I had on the game. My first character ever was a night elf warrior called Riyadh, named randomly after the capital, on Moonglade - the same server that still houses my main, the majority of my characters and my guild. I spawned on Teldrassil, naturally, and a friend (today also co-guild leader of mine) came to me there. She's to blame for my presence in the game. She got me to play it. It's all her fault. We began our trek along the path, where I almost instantly became the victim of a tragic event. Some aggressive mob came and one-shot me. Even the patrolling guards had no chance to help me out. I was very fascinated by the night elf jumps. I think the chance of doing a somersault in the air was lower back then than it is now, or is that just me?

Some time later we adventured into Dun Morogh and settled on a cliff of some sort. My friend was also relatively new to the game. She asked me to jump off the cliff so she could resurrect me, and I did just that. I remember that I didn't die from my first jump due to landing somewhere on the way, but I jumped down again and did manage to die. She came to resurrect me. I also attacked a wolf, which was apparently too high level for me. For a loomless little noob elf a wolf just a couple of levels higher can be most deadly, particularly back in the day.

When I was level 5 (I felt so high level!), my druidic friend took me to Booty Bay and to Ratchet from there. I loved the place! It looked so cool and Arabic. I stayed there after she went offline I had a look at my surroundings. Brewmaster Drohn was a scary high level NPC with a red nameplate! I was foolish enough to attack the level 14 (or something like that that they were back then) giraffes and lions just outside Ratchet, and obviously got killed by them - more than once.

Another very early memory is from my pre-level 10 adventures to Duskwood. I think it must've been near Raven Hill Cemetary that I kept getting ganked by much higher level undead mobs and couldn't get very far from the graveyard. Finally I managed to run away from them. I was doubtful about my will to hit level 10, because I liked the ability to resurrect at spirit healers without penalty, heh. Now that I think of it, it doesn't even make any sense to like that better, but I guess I was very scared of getting lost; being the cursed ghost who couldn't find their corpse.

Sometimes when I run across the path from Northshire Valley to Goldshire, I get a very dejavu-ish feeling, from back when I created my first rogue. In her early 20s, I went through at least two levels solely by killing crabs in Darkshore.

20 Days of WoW blogging #2

I'm sorry for having posted challenge replies only for some days now. I'm having a (momentary, I know) depression regarding writing and I'm very much not inspired to write almost anything at all. It'll pass.

Check out Spellbound to learn more about the challenge!

Day 2 – Why you decided to start a blog

I started my Adventures in the spring of 2012, earlier this year. I really wanted to write a blog again, but didn't want to do so about my real life: I've had those blogs before, and they got really dull after a while, simply because not much interesting stuff happens to me. The subjects I have something to say about aren't ones I want to blog about - at least not at this point of my life. I began to think about a subject that would make a relatively light-hearted blog; something I know how to write about, something I'm interested in, something I actively participate in... It was either music or World of Warcraft, and I ended up with WoW.

I had come across a couple of inspiring WoW blogs a while back, and my previous blogs have always had a lot to do with music, so a gaming one would make a nice difference. I also felt like I wanted to take time for myself to ponder matters related to the game, on a deeper level than what I get to while playing it.

20 Days of WoW blogging #1

As I've finally finished Saz's 15 Days of Screenshots challenge, it's time for me to begin a new one. I've settled with a '20 Days of...' challenge introduced by Saga on Spellbound. This time it'll be more about text, which should be fun!

Check out Spellbound to learn more about the challenge!

Let us begin.

Day 1 – Introduce yourself

This first step almost put me off of the challenge in the first place, because generally I like to stay a bit anonymous when it comes to WoW. To a certain extent, at least. That's because anyone could easily type a name of my character's on google, click the search button and find their way into my blog, where they could read exactly who and what I am in real life. I'm not keen on the thought of that at all. Talk about a nice server community! I also consider certain real life acquaintances a threat to my privacy.

Indeed, due to those things, I like to be the variable of the blog, the x of the equation, but not secretive. I'm most open to new contacts and friendships, but I don't want to lay the information out in the open. You shouldn't hesitate to approach me, whatever it is you have in mind!

While keeping my exact identity secret, I can still tell a few things about myself. First of all, I live up north. It's not always cold here, but it does look an awful lot like Northrend in winter time. It's pretty close now and I'm definitely looking forward to it - winter may just be my favorite season. A long, cold winter is a typical stereotype about my country, Finland, but it always seems to pass so quickly. The snowless time lasts much longer. I'm a great animal lover and I have a dog, who is extremely dear to me, and a catfish that is nearly as old as I am - I've lived for about two decades. My dog is a 10-year old German shepherd/Bernese mountain dog mix.

My other great interests are music and gaming. Both have played major parts in my life for many, many years. The first game I played back in the 90s was Loderunner: The Legend Returns. A lot of other games have joined the list since, including Quake II, Age of Empires I & II, The Sims I, II & III (I the most), Minecraft, Amnesia and obviously World of Warcraft, which is my current main game. I have no idea about future additions, but one may just as well be Guild Wars II, since a friend of mine has been asking for GW2 company since last year. However, he still hasn't managed to get the game himself, so I don't know when this will become relevant. It'll also be interesting to hear what Project Titan is about.

When it comes to music, I've pretty much went from random things to dark-themed metal, to heavy metal, to hard rock, to heavy metal again and finally to power metal. My first ever favorite artist was Eros Ramazzotti, who I was a fan of at the age of 7. I still remember all the lyrics of the album Stilelibero, although I've never studied Italian. I'd very much like to, though, because of my current long-term favorite band, Rhapsody of Fire that has its roots in Italy. I was a huge fan of HIM for years, and my most loved band is still Scorpions. I play the drums and also have some knowledge of playing the guitar. I sing for my own amusement.

My attitude towards life is quite positive, I suppose. I try to be as appreciative of things as possible. I try to be thankful for each day I get to spend with my loved ones, and for having food, drink, clean water, a house, a warm bed, a good healthcare, a computer and an internet connection, a healthy body... Everything. I'm not religious. I believe in nature and its power, and that we're all a part of it and should act in a respectful way towards it. I'm a member and supporter of the Finnish Green League. As a personality I'm very stubborn and proud, and often quite silent, anti-social and passive, but it all really depends on the company! Equality is an important value for me.

Through Your Interface: 15 Days of Screenshots #15

See Saz's blog for more information regarding the challenge!

15. A fairytale image
World of Warcraft is often described as cartoony and looking a bit, well, fairytale-ish. Take a screenshot that makes you think of a fairytale - use Disney inspiration if you must! Feel free to edit this screenshot a bit to enhance the fairytale feel, or just get super creative with that in game camera!

I wasn't sure which way I'd post the last two that I did, but I ended up having this one as the fairytale image. I think it represents the evil side of fairytales quite well. I was instantly reminded of the view in the screenshot as I first saw the Chancel area in Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

And speaking of Amnesia, I'm definitely looking forward to A Machine for Pigs, heh. I guess it'll be a Mists of Pandaria kind of an experience - I hope it'll be as epic of a surprise from first hearing about it to actually playing it. I couldn't help thinking of Razorfen Kraul, if only a little bit.

I've actually reached the finish line with the 15 Days of Screenshots challenge. I've had a ton of fun with it, and I want to thank Saz for coming up with the idea. I've set my eyes on what will likely be the next challenge I participate in. Stay tuned!