Today’s title is inspired by the name of a band that sings a song about people losing themselves to the voices in their heads.
Seems all of the cool kids are posting what they are wearing in WoW and FF. I’m incredibly late to the game, guessing I’m just not as cool. /shrug
Pictures of pretties and sillies…..Nothing of substance, just an updated look for Aestalas. I find that there are a couple of looks for some of my toons that just stick and I use for what seems like forever. I have similar favorites for my nearly-naked gnome rogue and my tauren shaman (who, coincidently, is also nearly-naked). I really like the duster look afforded by the first tier of Shadowlands leather gear. As a motorcyclist, I would wear this.
I feel like an ADHD squirrel running between a trove of acorns and treasure chest of sparkling baubles. I’m still very interested in Azeroth, but I’ve spent a bit of time logged out (since the #ActiBlizzWalkout Mass Logout). In the interim, I’ve been spending time in Eorzia experiencing FF XIV and getting use to the differences. I’ve been keeping up with what’s happening in WoW’s story, even though I was not experiencing it in-game. This means I’ve been getting a little antsy to spend some time there. My attention keeps flip-flopping like a politician between WoW and FF XIV.
I decided to screw around in the Shadowlands again for a little bit and finished leveling my Vulpera Monk. He was at level 58.8-ish so it was no big deal to ding him over with all of his rested XP. I’ve been having fun with him getting back into Mistweaver healing. A big part of his leveling was spamming dungeons as a healer through threads of fate. I made sure to fill the bars on the covenants and save them to turn in after 9.1 landed on us. Once I hit 60, I still had a little ways to fill the Ardenweald bar, so just ran a couple rares, bonus objectives, and world quests.
By the time I was told to speak to Bolvar, I was already renown 15. He geared up quickly by grabbing iLevel 200 crafted gear, 163 iLevel greens, a 230 unique-equipped crafted item, and random BoE purples that weren’t too expensive. He’s at iLevel 196. There are plans to run the Sanctum LFR on him, because I’ve wanted to raid heal on him for a while now. That will be at a later point when I can set aside a chunk of time for it. I opted to skip the Torghast and Korthia intro quests. I did my Korthia fill-the-bar quest, killed the world bosses and did some callings. He’s sitting at renown 30 and hasn’t started on his Covenant campaign (partly because I’m hoping 9.1.5 will have a covenant campaign skip since I’ve done all 4 campaigns 2 to 3 times already on other alts, but also because I don’t give a shit about soul binds and conduits on an alt that I’m just having a little fun with at the moment).
Also, because I’m a glutton for punishment, I decided I needed to add to my Final Fantasy list of things to do. I unlocked every job. EVERY! JOB! That’s 4 tanks, 3 healers, 4 melee dps, 3 ranged dps, 4 caster dps, 3 gatherers, and 8 crafters and did a couple quests as each. I’m not saying I’m proficient with all of those jobs. Hell, I’m still a mediocre Paladin main. I do plan on having a dps job that I’m decent with. Leaning towards either Machinist or Summoner. Eventually I’ll mess with healing too. The gathering and crafting jobs are an absolute treat in the game. The story line for Alchemist (levels 1 to 50) was divine. I’m only now starting the HW Alchemy quests and they are keeping my interests piqued. Fishing is also a hoot-and-a-holler. The Lalafels that run the fishing guild (levels 1 to 50) in Limsa are very much a mom-and-pop business couple in southeast Florida. The transition to Ishgarde for the the HW quests has a huge Nat Pagle feel to it.
Job levels:
I am also enjoying how the glamour/dyes function works in game. I have a “gentlewoman” plate I use for Alchemy (don’t ask why I thought alchemy needs prim and proper clothing, just accept that is what I did). I have a Fishing plate for fishing. A hippy set (composed of a couple peaceloving items) for mining and botany. My other professions are left to whatever the items look like when I equip them.
I also have a plate for visiting raves. My partner and I have been watching twitch streams of dance parties and it’s a bit of fun to get a peak into random houses. The decorating ideas, the costuming, and music that we enjoy. It’s, quite simply, great amusement.
I’m trying to reconcile my feelings on WoW at the moment and I’m hard pressed to want to log in. I feel a little disconnected from all aspects of the game and the community.
Some of the disconnect centers around my anxiety and social awkwardness, some of it from the unnecessarily complex intermingling of systems within systems on top of other systems, some of it from the toxicity and “meh”-ness from fellow players, and now there’s the lawsuit mucking things up.
At this point, I log in every once in a while on my 2 faction mains and do their table and check in on my jewel crafter to see if the Cataclysm rare is up where I parked her (the out of the way one in Vashj’ir which few people ever look for because of how out of the way it is). I’m not farming my Chore-ghast. I’m not motivated to try the M+ climb. I might log in sometime this week on the mains and get the 3 renown and next chapter of Korthia done. Then again, I might not. The apathy with WoW is strong at the moment.
How I am currently spending my gaming time…..My honey and I consumed every quest we could find on our mains last night. We had a blast. I’m going to need to spend a ton of time in Korthia getting used to its layout. We still need to figure out how to get to the southern most part of the map too. The tie-in to the old Maw area was well done. We wound up killing so many rares and doing so many Maw dailies. Being able to mount in the Maw and not having the Eye ticking on you made this zone a great deal of fun. The new rares are so cool. The stage coach was just pure fun.
However, you want to know what the absolute best part of 9.1 is? The piece that simply puts it light-years ahead? Well I will tell you. Talk to the NPC right outside of the Barbershop in [SW/Org] and get you a proper set of glasses.
Just dinged 60 on a Venthyr Paladin. This brings me up to 11 toons at cap. As soon as the number 11 flittered through my head, I immediately though of Stranger Things. It’s rather fitting, as it is a strange thing that I’ve got 11 level-capped toons before an X.1 patch has been released. I’m enjoying the flexibility in leveling this expansion. I enjoy knowing that I can level a toon to cap and within a week or two of capping, I’ll have a new mog available. There are so many things to collect in this expansion and I’m having the time of my life doing it. I’m getting closer to realizing my BlizzCon 2019 predictions.
Current Covenant Roster…..
My honey and I have been doing the super casual thing lately. We’re unable to commit to any set raid schedule, so we just do random whatevers to amuse ourselves. She’s delved into the world of FF XIV. It’s a lot of fun seeing her adventures and comparing them to the world of WoW. Also, I really hope Blizzard gets their head out of their asses about player housing. We occasionally run LFR on like-armored toons so we can share xmogs with each other or run Torghast for fun. We legitimately like Torghast.
On the LFR front, I’ve completed the Leather and Mail xmog sets. Now I only run those toons with her so I can increase her chances of getting the missing few pieces she needs, or if I have time and want the 1K+ Anima. Though, with the anima changes due to across-the-board sanctum upgrades, I might start running full LFRs on my mains again since it will be possible to get nearly 2K anima. The plate set is only missing the boots (which can drop in 2 wings, so I have kind of a “bonus roll” for those). The cloth set is still missing 4 pieces.
I’ve knocked out the remaining heritage armor sets recently. It’s astounding how quickly you can level your toons since the leveling revamp. Regardless of which expansion(s) I take my toons through to level, I make it a point to do the Legion opening quests (skipping the scenario portion) so that I can get the Dalaran hearthstone unlocked and access to the class hall. Then I do the WoD opening to establish a garrison so that I have another hearthstone option. Ports are amazingly useful. Also, I always do the cooking and fishing daily quests in the classic faction cities, Northrend Dalaran, and the garrison because they are a great source of about half a level in total. I think most of my allied race toons have close to a dozen levels earned this way because I didn’t feel like playing them some days, but still did the cooking/fishing dailies so that I could say I did something on them.
Soooooo many alts…..
During the course of running the HFC(N) on cloth toons for specific xmog items, I wound up getting the Archimonde transmog set (the Demon Prince’s Ascendant Crown, Mantle of the Eredar Lord, and the Demonbuckle Sash of Argus). So, of course I decided to have someone sport the Archie set. Raz, my flamboyant gnome rogue, would normally be the one to wear mostly naked xmogs. However, this is a cloth set, so I thought either Klingar (a mage who was created to be an homage to Klinger from M.A.S.H) or Trixxi (a goblin warlock). I added in the Grungy Containment Pack because more fel-green is cool here. So I have to ask, which one looks better in their Archie cosplay?
Scantily clad toons abide here…..
I have a strange love/hate relationship with the Heritage armor. To clarify, I love the ga-nome heritage armor. I hate that I cannot mog it on every engineer. It would look awesome on a dwarf engineer warrior. Perhaps somewhere down the road, it will be opened up to anyone who’s exalted with Gnomeregon.
For the core races, I’d only done the ga-nome heritage armor. For the allied races, I’d only done the Highmountain Tauren and Kul Tiran. I’ve been itching to get some more of sets, because they have some amazing designs. I decided I’d make it a point to get them all.
Within the past week, I’ve unlocked a few sets: Zandalari Troll, Tauren, Dwarf, Blood Elf, and Goblin.
This has caused a bit of a shake-up for one of my characters. Ever since Cataclysm, my Tauren Shaman has always been using the Headdress of the First Shaman as his helm transmog. ALWAYS! That changed this week with the changes to the barbershop and the addition of the Tauren heritage armor. He’s now using the Ancestral Chieftain’s Headdress and Ancestral Chieftain’s Totem (the head and back pieces of the heritage armor). I also added some body paint to match his transmog and added the feathers on his head at the barbershop. I’m pretty pleased with his set.
Wherein I blab a bit about leveling/rep-grinding and show off a sexy mog …..Please just let me indulge in the mash up of Star Wars’ Emperor with South Park’s Big Gay Al in the title of this post. It makes me about as happy as the new xmog item we have now. Blizzard has released another subscription reward. The Sprite Darter’s Wings transmog is glorious. It’s a set of fairy wings and… um… well… other pieces of gear too, I guess.
Seriously, the rest of set is adorable. However, the wings and the mask are the real MVPs of this new set. When I saw them, I knew that the wings were all my flamboyantly naked rogue cared about. I think the only thing that would make this xmog any better is if WoW added a pride flag pennant that I could put on his back.
It’s really just the simple things that make me giggle. Equally amusing to me is the amount of hate that this set is garnering on-line. People are legit pissed off at Blizz for this set. Some are even pissed off at the set itself. I’m just sitting in SW in front of the fountain in the trade district /dance-ing with folks in my fabulous new set of wings.
For the haters, I understand there is nothing that can be done to make them feel better, so I leave this last bit dedicated to the haters (yes, I’ve posted this song before, but it never seems to be not-relevant)…
Post-publishing Edit: Raz glitched out after mogging the wings. He was on a flying mount, but didn’t appear mounted. He looked like he was doing the “chariots of fire” run through the sky. I call this his Icarus impersonation.
Bodhi Rana 