… oh.  Right.  Then I read the requirements.

It’s a pretty interesting idea.  There are definitely some parts of the rules that I might have a hard time with.  Let’s break it down quickly:

“Throw dice to randomize faction, race, and class; hit Randomize for looks.”

Right there, I already have a problem.  Race and class are not an issue for me… although… I’m not interested in dwarves or gnomes whatsoever and if I were to wind up with a rogue, I could pretty much call it a fail now.  Okay, maybe that part is hard.  But having to randomize my characters look is where I will draw the line.  Should I choose the undertake this, that part is right out the window.

1) No items equipped above “White” quality.

This will be difficult from a survivability standpoint as well as a fashion standpoint.  For one, the lack of stamina (regardless of class) will be murder.  I’m trying to imagine doing anything above level 10 without even a little boost like that.  Also, while many vendor items are stylish, BoP items offer so many other choices!

2) No heirlooms.

No problem there.

3) No talent points whatsoever (but trained abilities are allowed).

This part is very interesting.  So I wouldn’t be a feral druid or a combat rogue or a frost mage, I would just be the class.  That’s a neat idea.

4) No professions, primary or secondary, other than First Aid.

But I love cooking. 

5) No food or water above regular “White” quality vendor food.

I have a funny idea about this one but it makes sense.  A lack of buff food shouldn’t cause anyone pause.

6) No groups whatsoever, no guilds whatsoever.

Oh that’s just mean.  I love doing instances!  Although… I can’t imagine having to explain why a level 20… or 50… or 70… was wearing all whites and wasn’t talented.  Okay, yeah, that makes sense.

7) No enchants, scrolls, potions/elixirs, or glyphs.

I’m cheap, so I don’t usually glyph until 85 (except on healers), so no problem there.

8) No outside financial or equipment assistance.

But but but my baaaaaagspaaaaaace!!!!

9) No do-overs… death means delete and reroll.

… ouch.

So I decided to put my fate in the hands of Random.org and here were my results:

And thus, Aizera was born, on and close-my-eyes-and-randomly-click-a-hopefully-nonpvp-server Winterhoof-US.

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… yes, I picked the cutefase.  Don’t judge me.

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Off I went on my merry way, questing and killing boars and raptors.  The quests on Darkspear Isle are pretty awesome.

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I tidied up some unfinished Darkspear business and headed over to Sen’jin Village.

I felt safe in that I was a warlock and thus, had a pet.

Two scorpids had a very different idea.

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… damn it.

I only made it to level 5.  Oh well!  I have learned my lesson… kill, not dodge.  Dodging mobs will not work in this experiment.

Until Aizera #2′s adventure begins, farewell!

(… TYI will pick back up again, in addition to some shaman and paladin gear soon!  For those that still check back here, let me know if want straight fashion posts or if TYI/Ironman/etc. are something you want to keep seeing as well or if I should move it to another blog.  Thanks!)

JUST KIDDING.

It’s not actually a commercial, but more of a personal endorsement.

Because WoWInsider has been doing the 12 Days of Winter Veil, they have had items donated from a  TCG loot site, WootLoots.com.  As they are clearly endorsed by WoWInsider (and WoWTCGLoot was out of an item I wanted), I decided to give them a shot.

I only wanted two little things at the moment, more Path of Cenarius and my first batch of Path of Illidan.  I ordered, got my email within minutes, and went to redeem my codes.

Uh oh.

“Redemption Code Not Found” on my Path of Cenarius.

I immediately went into panic mode, since I use the husband’s credit card for everything was ready to hear all about getting scammed.

But my Path of Illidan redeemed just fine.

I checked their support section, which mostly covers what to do if your item won’t work in-game, but since I couldn’t even redeem the code, I filled out their contact form.

Within five minutes, I had two emails containing Path of Cenarius codes in my inbox.  Hmmmmm.  Those emails were followed by:

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Wow.  This was truly excellent customer service.  Extremely fast response time, admission of error, a resolution, and something extra for the inconvenience.

As a first-time customer, I am extremely satisfied and couldn’t wait to post about my enjoyable interaction with them.

So hats off to you, WootLoots.  I can’t wait to convince the husband that I need more silly digital items so I can order more!

Through Your Interface (TYI) is the brainchild of Saz.  It’s a bit old (apparently started in May?!) but I’ve been meaning to do it for awhile.  A post a day for 15 days detailing special moments, places, and other minutiae about your characters.

Until WotLK came out, I always had my vacation spot picked: Zangarmarsh!  This may come as a surprise to people that know me, since Zangarmarsh is clearly full of water, humidity, and enormous bugs.  But I think I could get past that.  The soft blue tones, the huge mushrooms, and beautiful flora (not to mention the adorable sporebats!!) really drew me in.

But then… Wrath of the Lich King dropped.

In real life, I live in the desert.  Extremely hot summers (110F on the regular), ‘mild’ winters (but anything below 70F needs a coat…), and dry dry DRY.  We see snow once every five years or so… IF we’re lucky… and it doesn’t stick, so no snow balls, snow men, sledding, etc.

I think my lack of weather and seasons drew me to…

Grizzly Hills

Grizzly Hills is hands down the most beautiful zone in WoW.  While Howling Fjord comes close, Grizzly Hills just has something more.

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Choosing between the two Horde towns was easy.  Conquest Hold dominates the landscape a little much for my taste, so Camp Oneqwah won me over.

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Honestly, though, I would rather stay at Amberpine Lodge… but I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t take too kindly to my Horde sympathies.

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There’s a lovely bridge just outside Camp Oneqwah overlooking the frog-kissing lake.

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The fallen log bridge full of clovers is gorgeous.

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And I can even have a little snow.

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Raiding with Ashes (Hyjal-US) in Cataclysm has come to a close.  From the days of being a 25 man hardmode guild (on Cenarius-US as Impulse) to transferring to be a small, friendly 10 man guild on Hyjal just before Cataclysm dropped, to quitting raiding for six months only to return and stomp current content and face the new patch head-on, we have reached the end of our cycle.

I wish everyone the best… those of you leaving for SW:TOR and those of you staying.  I’ll still be here collecting pretties.  I know some of you will be back for Mists of Poke… errr, Pandaria, so I look forward to our adventures then!

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“For the dawning of the age of mortals has begun.”

As someone who takes an obscene amount of screenshots, it took me a long time to pick out some of my favorite picks.  I know it asks for one but… I couldn’t pick just one!  Because my computer is a bit… meh… I run with a lot of settings turned down, so my screenshots are not what they could be.

Icecrown

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Don’t mind the clashing belt.

Walking with a Watcher

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Auryon (now Abriella) walking with a Time Watcher.

Tirisfal

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Prior to the Northrend tower being built.

Zangarmarsh

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Shades of blue.

Vengeance Landing

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Howling Fjord the day of WotLK’s release.  The new Forsaken architecture took my breath away.

Through Your Interface (TYI) is the brainchild of Saz.  It’s a bit old (apparently started in May?!) but I’ve been meaning to do it for awhile.  A post a day for 15 days detailing special moments, places, and other minutiae about your characters.

This is probably going to be the hardest day for me!  Not because I don’t have any favorites of these things but because my favorite songs don’t have lyrics.

So I figured I would grab a song by my favorite artist, BT, that I’ve really been digging and use lyrics from that, since they somewhat apply to Tanwen.

Real Tanwen: “Suddenly” by BT

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You and your emotion
I’m on your side, I say a prayer
And you and your devotion
You’re locked away alone in there

While I don’t RP Tanwen (since she lives on a PvE server), she’s sort of put together in my head.  I imagine her to be a bit cold… taken in a strictly in-game context, she has been through a lot, including dispatching elemental lords (twice!), slaying dragons, bringing about the fall of the Lich King, and even killing her own former prince.  With the purification of the Sunwell and the Sin’dorei’s subsequent waning need to feed on fel magic, she is able to devote herself to the Light completely.

And while my raidmates are added into Tanwen’s story in my head, I imagine she is still somewhat distant and introspective when not supporting a group of adventurers out killing the next Big Bad.

While I have many characters that I do many things on, I only “collect” things (mounts, pets, and achievements) on Real Tanwen.  That being said, I couldn’t pick just one title to display.

Real Tanwen: Time, Effort, and Luck

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The first title that I am most proud of is “the Seeker.”  This title is important to me because it’s from questing… and I am notorious for not wanting to quest.  I had less than 2000 quests completed when Cataclysm dropped.  Tanwen was leveled almost exclusively through instances, so I didn’t have much low level work to help me on this achievement, either.

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The second title is “Starcaller.”  I love this title because stars are sort of “my thing” IRL.  I always thought it was the best title but being that we were a 25 man guild at the time and I didn’t have the time to run in a 10 man group as well, I thought I would be stuck with Astral Walker.

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Last but not least is “the Immortal.”  This is important because mages and hunters were very prone to dying.  Very, very prone.  Thaddius was the culprit in most instances.

Choosing a “greatest accomplishment” is a bit difficult for me.  I am “proud” of a lot of the things I have done in the game, from boss kills to rep grinds to item collection.  In the end, it all comes down to the time investment.  I can really only think of “accomplishments” that Real Tanwen has completed, because I’ve played her the longest of my current characters.

Real Tanwen: Killing Bosses

First off, the fact that Tanwen exists at all is an accomplishment I think!  I never thought I could heal and rolled a priest as a joke… whoops.

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First up… Lady Vashj.  Back in my Vestri Matris days, Vashj had us ripping our hair our several nights a week for a long time.  Something would always happen… usually related to kiting.  When we finally downed her, I think it solidified that yes, I could do this healing thing, and yes, our guild was capable.

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Glory to the Raider. 

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Algalon is another accomplishment.  He hit hard, fast, and there was a lot going on in his room.  The fact that my computer could handle the gorgeous room was enough for me, but to down him too?  Oh yes.

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Killing The Lich King marked the end of the first expansion I experienced as a raider from start to finish.  Killing every single boss available in the expansion when it was relevant content was a great accomplishment.

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Oh look, 10 man heroic LK.

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A personal accomplishment, aside from Tanwen, was successfully leading raids for another old guild, Idle Hands.  It was my first time in a “real” leadership role in the game and I led many Karazhan runs.  Don’t see Tanwen in the picture?  Try Senarra (now Sinarra), the female troll mage in the middle there.  That was me, pre-priesting.

Through Your Interface (TYI) is the brainchild of Saz.  It’s a bit old (apparently started in May?!) but I’ve been meaning to do it for awhile.  A post a day for 15 days detailing special moments, places, and other minutiae about your characters.

Representing You is a fun one because it asks for either a screenshot or a real-life picture.  Which one will I choose?!

Real Tanwen: Darkness & Light

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There exists a place in the game where I can have what I always wanted… Tanwen in Absolution with a Cursed Vision of Sargeras.  To be fair, this exists during a quest in Felwood and goes away when you turn it in.  So I feel this screenshot represents Tanwen the most… her Absolution is the healy kind but there’s a certain, uh… aura… about her with that blindfold on.

Real LIFE Tanwen: Horde4Life

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Yeah, I went there.

Yes, yes, I know I have a ton of Alliance characters I post about here, too.  But my heart belongs to the Horde.

The tattoo in general represents quite a bit, though, regardless of the faction symbol.  It represents thousands of hours (on Real Tanwen, for example, over 4200) spent working on “virtual” goals in a “virtual” world with “virtual” people.  But while the game is just a game, the people are real.  People I talked to on a regular basis, people I have met, people whose houses I have been to and will visit again.  The beauty of WoW is that the idea of slaying dragons draws you in but the people keep you there.

<3 you Ashes.

Through Your Interface (TYI) is the brainchild of Saz.  It’s a bit old (apparently started in May?!) but I’ve been meaning to do it for awhile.  A post a day for 15 days detailing special moments, places, and other minutiae about your characters.

I can’t promise that every character will be in every TYI.  My hunters, for example, don’t really “live” anywhere and call a lot of places home.  But here’s a few!

Real Tanwen: Eversong Woods

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Based on Tanwen’s mount and pet collections alone, I imagine she lives somewhere with a lot of room.  The small building just northwest of North Sanctum in Eversong Woods is probably just the place!  Lots of grass for all the… well, actually, she mostly have carnivorous mounts.  Um.  Lots of… dragonhawks?  Yes.  Anyway, lots of space, which is the key feature here.  In addition, I imagine Tanwen likes to have some peace and quiet after a long campaign of killing bosses, so this looks like just the place where she can nap on the fainting couch, sit on the porch and sew, and enjoy the eternal spring.

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Bizarro Tanwen: Ironforge

Bizarro Tanwen’s apartment in The Park used to be right about here:

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Fortunately, she moved to Ironforge prior to the razing of the human capitol, so her apartment across from the museum was safe and sound.  It’s a funny little house and she had a great view of the elemental invasion from that porch!

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Velanthria: Gilneas (sort of)

Vela lives in… Greymane Manor!

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Just kidding, but that’s definitely the sort of house I would imagine her having, with the beautiful stained glass and the plush runners on the stairs and all.

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But she likely just calls a cozy little cottage of doom home.  Hunky worgen man optional.

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