In spite of WoW's reputation
Aug. 27th, 2014 11:39 pmI am gradually replacing the TF blogs I was following on Tumblr with Warcraft blogs, and my dash is a much happier place. Also prettier.
Tea is here!
Jul. 31st, 2014 01:57 pmI have now tried two of the six Beyond the Mists teas that I ordered.
Townlong Steppes disappointed not for failure to be delicious, but because I was hoping for the Yaungol firecamp and got the Underbough instead. It smells like SPIIIIICE but it tastes very green, and the smokey, "dark" taste I associate with gunpowder tea just isn't there. I may get some of Adagio's plain gunpowder to brew up and see if it's just their tea. I may reformulate this one for a little more "in yo FACE".
Tillers, on the other hand, is a black, dry, gloriously rich tea with an edge of bitterness (possibly because I steeped it too long) that thinks it's coffee. It will thump you on the back of the skull and yell "GET UP" in your ear. Tillers have got WORK to do; no lazy citypaws allowed. Tillers got all the kick-in-the-face that Townlong didn't (and then I let my boss taste it and he STOLE MY TEA). The other four blends are going to have to work to top this as my favorite.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
darthneko got the blends I didn't; you can read her reviews here on Dreamwidth or here on Tumblr.
Townlong Steppes disappointed not for failure to be delicious, but because I was hoping for the Yaungol firecamp and got the Underbough instead. It smells like SPIIIIICE but it tastes very green, and the smokey, "dark" taste I associate with gunpowder tea just isn't there. I may get some of Adagio's plain gunpowder to brew up and see if it's just their tea. I may reformulate this one for a little more "in yo FACE".
Tillers, on the other hand, is a black, dry, gloriously rich tea with an edge of bitterness (possibly because I steeped it too long) that thinks it's coffee. It will thump you on the back of the skull and yell "GET UP" in your ear. Tillers have got WORK to do; no lazy citypaws allowed. Tillers got all the kick-in-the-face that Townlong didn't (and then I let my boss taste it and he STOLE MY TEA). The other four blends are going to have to work to top this as my favorite.
darthneko got the blends I didn't; you can read her reviews here on Dreamwidth or here on Tumblr.
If the universe defies me in one area...
Jul. 24th, 2014 09:44 pm...I find another to play in.
By which I mean, there is still a WOEFUL LACK of perfumes based on Pandaria, which makes me SAD.
But there is also Adagio teas, which will let me (and my partner in crime,darthneko) make PANDAREN TEA BLENDS, which mollifies me somewhat. Because tea.
Neko, obviously, is responsible for the beautiful labels and the descriptions. We are equally to blame for the blends, except Wandering Isle, which is all her fault, (I quote, "shen zin su is going to BURN with spices - explorers are crazy.") There may possibly be a spreadsheet with 14 blends already created, just waiting for art and descriptions.
So, if you are a fan of Adagio teas, watch this space, because I expect Beyond the Mists to grow quite a bit once Neko has a chance to finish making labels. When we're done, we intend to have eight locations and eight factions, and yes, as much as possible we will be shipping the factions with their locations ("as much as possible" because the Celestials are all over and the Golden Lotus got nuked out of the Vale).
Why, YES, we are the geekiest Pandaren-loving gamers in the world, why do you ask?
By which I mean, there is still a WOEFUL LACK of perfumes based on Pandaria, which makes me SAD.
But there is also Adagio teas, which will let me (and my partner in crime,
darthneko) make PANDAREN TEA BLENDS, which mollifies me somewhat. Because tea.Neko, obviously, is responsible for the beautiful labels and the descriptions. We are equally to blame for the blends, except Wandering Isle, which is all her fault, (I quote, "shen zin su is going to BURN with spices - explorers are crazy.") There may possibly be a spreadsheet with 14 blends already created, just waiting for art and descriptions.
So, if you are a fan of Adagio teas, watch this space, because I expect Beyond the Mists to grow quite a bit once Neko has a chance to finish making labels. When we're done, we intend to have eight locations and eight factions, and yes, as much as possible we will be shipping the factions with their locations ("as much as possible" because the Celestials are all over and the Golden Lotus got nuked out of the Vale).
Why, YES, we are the geekiest Pandaren-loving gamers in the world, why do you ask?
I did indeed play the WoD beta tonight
Jul. 16th, 2014 10:12 pmAnd screencapped all the screencaps. But lo, I am tired, and unfunny, and you will have to wait until another night for me to post.
However, let it be known that, after kitting Anying out in gear from PEARLFIN VILLAGE (literally the lowest level of Pandaren gear), I ran her through the opening quests with no difficulty at all. Her ilvl started at 363 and ended at 390 when I opened up my garrison in Shadowmoon. I barely even noticed the upgrade from the jinyu crossbow to the almost-as-good-as-my-Timeless-bow quest reward, because things were already dying THAT FAST. That's...ridiculous, honestly, and I'm advising a bump up to the difficulty level because otherwise even the newest of the n00bs will be bored.
However, let it be known that, after kitting Anying out in gear from PEARLFIN VILLAGE (literally the lowest level of Pandaren gear), I ran her through the opening quests with no difficulty at all. Her ilvl started at 363 and ended at 390 when I opened up my garrison in Shadowmoon. I barely even noticed the upgrade from the jinyu crossbow to the almost-as-good-as-my-Timeless-bow quest reward, because things were already dying THAT FAST. That's...ridiculous, honestly, and I'm advising a bump up to the difficulty level because otherwise even the newest of the n00bs will be bored.
As threatened
Jul. 16th, 2014 01:03 amI bring you screencaps of the Warlords of Draenor beta!
( Spoilers for stepping through the portal and the first couple of quests. And a ton of images. )
And that was my first night of Warlords of Draenor (because look, I have a guild, I have responsibilities; that means crops to harvest and put on auction, dailies to finish, that sort of thing. I can't spend all my time running around after strapping young orcs.) There will undoubtedly be more tomorrow, if the server doesn't fall down sobbing again.
You have been warned.
( Spoilers for stepping through the portal and the first couple of quests. And a ton of images. )
And that was my first night of Warlords of Draenor (because look, I have a guild, I have responsibilities; that means crops to harvest and put on auction, dailies to finish, that sort of thing. I can't spend all my time running around after strapping young orcs.) There will undoubtedly be more tomorrow, if the server doesn't fall down sobbing again.
You have been warned.
*wiggles around*
Jul. 15th, 2014 07:32 pmI AM INSTALLING THE WARLORDS OF DRAENOR BETA RIGHT NOW.
Expect so many screencaps once I'm actually able to play.
Expect so many screencaps once I'm actually able to play.
darthneko drew a thing
Jun. 20th, 2014 12:24 pmAnd her awesome Pandaren tailor isn't getting nearly enough love, so go give him some.
As you may know, I dragged darthneko into playing World of Warcraft with me when Mists of Pandaria came out. We have plot bunnies; we have headcanon. Oh GODS do we have headcanon.
This...is only part of our headcanon in the most irreverent sense.
( So first, the convo: )
( And now, the fic. )
If you have encountered the Students of Chi-Ji (or planted melons to suck up to the August Celestials) you know exactly what we're talking about, don't pretend you don't.
darthneko into playing World of Warcraft with me when Mists of Pandaria came out. We have plot bunnies; we have headcanon. Oh GODS do we have headcanon.This...is only part of our headcanon in the most irreverent sense.
( So first, the convo: )
( And now, the fic. )
If you have encountered the Students of Chi-Ji (or planted melons to suck up to the August Celestials) you know exactly what we're talking about, don't pretend you don't.
Ugh, I fail at druid
Feb. 23rd, 2014 12:57 pmSeriously, after playing hunters for years, and not touching my level 25 druid in...four months? five?...I was very nearly in tears of frustration trying to drag my druid through one of the holiday quests last night. (It did not help that my computer had been choking on WoW all day, forcing me to abandon Pandaria for lower resolution zones.) Just, argh, how the HELL do you druid? Will it get better in a few levels when I actually have AoE attacks? Because the Crown Dusters in Darkshire were owning my ass. I WANT TO GROW UP TO BE ONE OF THE LEVEL 90 DRUID BEARS WHO EFFORTLESSLY TAKE OUT ENTIRE HERDS OF GOATS IN FOUR WINDS*, AND I DON'T KNOW HOOOOWWWWW.
(Cat form: higher DPS but more damage. Bear form: lower damage but less DPS. Either way, I was killing one mob and then running frantically from the other three bastards shooting me in the back while Low Health flashed up on the screen. And I only seem to have Maul and one other really useful attack. It would have been nice to pick the mobs off from the edges, but the damn Darkshire guards kept sniping my kills out from under me.)
*As a freshly minted level 90, my hunter stood and watched in awe as a druid bear slaughtered goats by the herd, and then very sadly went back to carefully pulling one. goat. at. a. time. (And still getting the crap kicked out of her, and frequently reviving her pet.) Granted, in the months since my hunter has gotten geared to the point where she, too, can take out a herd of goats with little effort. However, the impression made by the druid bear has never faded, and I really really want one of those.
(Cat form: higher DPS but more damage. Bear form: lower damage but less DPS. Either way, I was killing one mob and then running frantically from the other three bastards shooting me in the back while Low Health flashed up on the screen. And I only seem to have Maul and one other really useful attack. It would have been nice to pick the mobs off from the edges, but the damn Darkshire guards kept sniping my kills out from under me.)
*As a freshly minted level 90, my hunter stood and watched in awe as a druid bear slaughtered goats by the herd, and then very sadly went back to carefully pulling one. goat. at. a. time. (And still getting the crap kicked out of her, and frequently reviving her pet.) Granted, in the months since my hunter has gotten geared to the point where she, too, can take out a herd of goats with little effort. However, the impression made by the druid bear has never faded, and I really really want one of those.
I have been squeeing about my latest WoW commission all over IM and email, but totally failed to squee here.
( Adorable cuddly pandas behind the cut. )
The artist who drew this (and who is working on my worgen warlock next) is still taking commissions, and does TFs and other things, too.
( Adorable cuddly pandas behind the cut. )
The artist who drew this (and who is working on my worgen warlock next) is still taking commissions, and does TFs and other things, too.
Naked Panda World Tour
Jun. 9th, 2013 10:41 am(Cut for large photos)
One of the waysdarthneko and I amuse ourselves in WoW is by taking our pandas to places where they are ridiculously over-leveled and letting them kill things in their underwear. I have dubbed this the Naked Panda World Tour, though by "world" I mean "everywhere but Northrend and the parts of Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms where things are high level enough to hit us".
( But that still leaves a lot of the world! Yesterday we toured southern Kalimdor. )
And THAT is how I spent my very productive Saturday.
One of the ways
darthneko and I amuse ourselves in WoW is by taking our pandas to places where they are ridiculously over-leveled and letting them kill things in their underwear. I have dubbed this the Naked Panda World Tour, though by "world" I mean "everywhere but Northrend and the parts of Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms where things are high level enough to hit us".( But that still leaves a lot of the world! Yesterday we toured southern Kalimdor. )
And THAT is how I spent my very productive Saturday.
darthneko is currently writing ficbits featuring her Transformer OCs. Playing World of Warcraft. And she is illustrating them with screencaps of "their" WoW avatars, as found in the Guild of Awesome.You should go read. And squee at her. Because AWESOME.
Edit: Now collected at AO3 for your convenience: Guild of Awesome. ♥ This means I can officially add "recs:fic" to my tags.
And getting revenge on the elites that slaughtered you by going back 35 levels later and killing them in your underwear.
( Don't believe me? PICS. IT HAPPENED. )
In conclusion: we make our own fun. ^_^
(The Dreamwidth icon comes from a fortuitous bit of timing which resulted in ( pandas cuddling on conjoined griffons: )Sadly, now I can't find the exact screenshot I used.)
Edit: The "showing off my elvish" tag comes from a /silly the panda girls have: "All these new cultures are so confusing! Today, someone complimented me on my 'padonkadunk.' What is that? Elvish?" As you can see, my girl does have very nice Elvish. ^_^
( Don't believe me? PICS. IT HAPPENED. )
In conclusion: we make our own fun. ^_^
(The Dreamwidth icon comes from a fortuitous bit of timing which resulted in ( pandas cuddling on conjoined griffons: )Sadly, now I can't find the exact screenshot I used.)
Edit: The "showing off my elvish" tag comes from a /silly the panda girls have: "All these new cultures are so confusing! Today, someone complimented me on my 'padonkadunk.' What is that? Elvish?" As you can see, my girl does have very nice Elvish. ^_^
An OBNOXIOUS personality, to be precise. :D
"He" is a male worgen warlock, named for Viper, the most ill-tempered member of the Lucky Thirteen. Unlike Waveform, my worgen druid, who hated the entire time she was in Gilneas, Víper is having fun. Víper is gleefully running from place to place blowing things up (he's a destruction warlock, which means All The Fire Spells, and sincedarthneko started Crossfire, a worgen mage, with me and we're still getting triple xp bonus for playing together, Víper is also seriously over-leveled).
Víper was not thrilled with his starting gear, which he said - and, yes, I am quoting the imaginary person - made him "look like a priest". He is even less thrilled with the lovely blue ensemble he is presently wearing (though he says on Crossfire it looks hot).
( Really, I think you can see why he feels inadequate next to Crossfire. )
He is slightly mollified by the fact that Crossfire has died multiple times, even though it kind of makes him feel like he should be following her around like a large, surly, fireball-throwing guard dog. This doesn't stop him from laughing at her when it happens, mind you. Also, she's LITTLE, he says, in this vaguely horrified "my whole cohort was pretty much the same size wtf" tone. Not as little as she was when they were human, but still. LITTLE. Which is odd for me as player, since when playing female worgen I've never had the impression they were small (female humans are small, female Pandaren are small, female worgen, not so much).
So, yes, this is what I am reduced to: full-on RPing my TF OCs in WoW. And I'm having a blast.
Edit: If any WoW players are wondering, the Guild of Awesome design uses the Gilnean flag instead of the worgen symbol because I, personally, think the worgen symbol is stupid and lopsided, and I'm the primary player of worgen in the guild. So whendarthneko was working on the design, I said, "please can has Gilnean flag?" and she said "can has!" and there it is, all nice and balanced looking at the bottom of the design.
"He" is a male worgen warlock, named for Viper, the most ill-tempered member of the Lucky Thirteen. Unlike Waveform, my worgen druid, who hated the entire time she was in Gilneas, Víper is having fun. Víper is gleefully running from place to place blowing things up (he's a destruction warlock, which means All The Fire Spells, and since
darthneko started Crossfire, a worgen mage, with me and we're still getting triple xp bonus for playing together, Víper is also seriously over-leveled).Víper was not thrilled with his starting gear, which he said - and, yes, I am quoting the imaginary person - made him "look like a priest". He is even less thrilled with the lovely blue ensemble he is presently wearing (though he says on Crossfire it looks hot).
( Really, I think you can see why he feels inadequate next to Crossfire. )
He is slightly mollified by the fact that Crossfire has died multiple times, even though it kind of makes him feel like he should be following her around like a large, surly, fireball-throwing guard dog. This doesn't stop him from laughing at her when it happens, mind you. Also, she's LITTLE, he says, in this vaguely horrified "my whole cohort was pretty much the same size wtf" tone. Not as little as she was when they were human, but still. LITTLE. Which is odd for me as player, since when playing female worgen I've never had the impression they were small (female humans are small, female Pandaren are small, female worgen, not so much).
So, yes, this is what I am reduced to: full-on RPing my TF OCs in WoW. And I'm having a blast.
Edit: If any WoW players are wondering, the Guild of Awesome design uses the Gilnean flag instead of the worgen symbol because I, personally, think the worgen symbol is stupid and lopsided, and I'm the primary player of worgen in the guild. So when
darthneko was working on the design, I said, "please can has Gilnean flag?" and she said "can has!" and there it is, all nice and balanced looking at the bottom of the design.Guild of Awesome
May. 19th, 2013 12:31 amSo, today* darthneko cleared out all but 70 gold from our guild bank to buy the third guild storage tab (500 gold). Then she and I hauled our pandas out to Northrend.
By the time we were finished, we stuffed enough gold back in the bank to buy the fourth tab (1000 gold), with 200 gold left over. Also, we are only five levels away from getting to go to Pandaria. We are hoping to find slightly more panda-friendly armor there, as gear designed for six foot tall, ninety-eight pound elves just looks silly on pandas.
Edit: ( Some screencaps behind the cut. )
*yesterday, technically, but I haven't slept yet
darthneko cleared out all but 70 gold from our guild bank to buy the third guild storage tab (500 gold). Then she and I hauled our pandas out to Northrend.By the time we were finished, we stuffed enough gold back in the bank to buy the fourth tab (1000 gold), with 200 gold left over. Also, we are only five levels away from getting to go to Pandaria. We are hoping to find slightly more panda-friendly armor there, as gear designed for six foot tall, ninety-eight pound elves just looks silly on pandas.
Edit: ( Some screencaps behind the cut. )
*yesterday, technically, but I haven't slept yet
Adventures in Geekery
May. 13th, 2013 04:46 pmSo possibly darthneko is designing t-shirts for our World of Warcraft guild.
Considering it's a guild with four active players (about...3/4 of the members aredarthneko's and my alts), the fact that the guild hit level 7 a week ago and is most of the way to level 8 is either impressive, or says something about the state of our social lives. I choose to find it impressive.
Someday, I will remember to make myself a WoW icon. Edit: And so I made not one but THREE WoW icons.
darthneko is designing t-shirts for our World of Warcraft guild. Considering it's a guild with four active players (about...3/4 of the members are
darthneko's and my alts), the fact that the guild hit level 7 a week ago and is most of the way to level 8 is either impressive, or says something about the state of our social lives. I choose to find it impressive.Since darthneko did it
May. 2nd, 2013 01:23 amI suppose I need to show off the other half of the World of Warcraft guild we built around our TF fannishness. The ♥ all pandas all the time ♥ half of the guild can be seen here.
( Here there be pandas. And worgen. And a draenei. )
I still need a WoW icon.
( Here there be pandas. And worgen. And a draenei. )
I still need a WoW icon.
I mean, I've played for a while, but always intermittently (by which I mean, gaps of months, a few sessions of play, and then gaps of months). Creating a guild with only...six?...other players, and only three of us playing really actively, has gotten me playing on a near-daily basis. This is predictable, as I'm always more active when I feel like my contribution actually matters, and then when the group grows, I recognize that I'm no longer needed and drift off. (The exception to this is MonstersGame, where I'm the highest ranked werewolf on the server, and therefore feel a responsibility to STAY the highest ranked werewolf on the server, mostly because the rest of the top 5 players are all vampires.)
Also, WoW takes less brain than the RP, which was my previous primary form of entertainment.
Also, WoW takes less brain than the RP, which was my previous primary form of entertainment.
This is how I keep track of my alts
Mar. 29th, 2013 09:33 amThanks to darthneko showing me a shiny auto-updating sig generator.
( Likely only of interest to me. )
I may need a World of Warcraft icon. >_>
darthneko showing me a shiny auto-updating sig generator.( Likely only of interest to me. )
I may need a World of Warcraft icon. >_>
