Diablo III Party!

I'm sure you're all aware that Diablo III has now kicked up to 50% bonus XP in the lead up to the next expansion due at the end of this month.

Myself and my good buddies Neri and Disconcur have fired up the Diablo Update and are preparing for a Diablo-filled weekend. We're rolling brand new characters and shall see where the weekend takes us!

I couldn't decide between Witch Doctor and Wizard. They're the two classes I had played the most and enjoyed the most. On a whim (and because she's hot) I decided on a Demon Hunter!

Depending on how many friends we can get to join us, this could even turn into a levelling competition. My record is level 21, so hopefully I can at least pass that!

Are you going to take advantage of the XP buff?

Achievements Galore!

- Save up 50k Timeless Coins to purchase Yu'lon's Bite (or score an upgrade in LFR) Done! Scored a new neck piece too from the Celestials! 

- Gear my druid up in a full resto set

- Get Enchanting (currently 105/600) and tailoring (currently 186/600) to max by farming all the mats I need on Punchdance.  

- Finally finish What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been this forthcoming year. Fool for Love completed! Though now that means School of Hard Knocks for Children's Week is up next :'( 

Notice me, Senpai! NOTICE ME! 

And as always, I've added more to the list..
- Get my Runetotem Mage to 60 (ready for my free boost to 90!)
- Get my Runetotem Monk to 90
- Become a Guardian of the Cenarius - I easily earned exalted with Cenarion Expecition, now I just need to work on Cenarion Cirlcle! 

Pretty new mount coming my way! 

The questlines were quite fun too! I finally got to meet King Mrgl Mrgl, the animal rights activist Night Elf Druid in a Murloc Costume. He was nice enough to even lend his spare costume for me to quest in! The animations were awesome. 

Such a fitting outfit for my guild! 

After a quick browse through my achievements in progress, I found a couple that were almost done and decided to knock those off too! 

Apparently I really did hate Pandaria when it dropped. There were two heroic dungeons that I hadn't completed on any character! I breezed through those and finished the Pandaria Dungeon Hero

I had only completed 7 of the 9 Pandaria Heroic Dungeons! 

I saw how easy it was to grind the Cenarion rep, and discovered that the Lorewalkers was also very simple at level 90. This one didn't take very long at all with the Tom Tom waypoints. 

Tada! 

Hello to yet another cool mount! 

Loving the mindless follow of Tom Tom, I decided to work on finishing Glorious! too. I had only killed 9 of the 56 rares needed for the achievement, but I was staying positive. I was able to kill over half of them easily as they were there and awaiting their imminent death. A few others I had to camp waiting for them to respawn. The biggest issue I had was the Panda rares! Their spinning kick was quite lethal, and most of the time I couldn't get my pet to most out of the way fast enough. As I was soloing, it meant I needed to use my Voidwalker Tank pet, instead of my Observer DPS pet for survivability. It also meant I lost my only interrupt so the Pandas' self heals were super annoying. I managed to magically somehow kill 3 of the 5 Pandas on the list on my own.  

Ahone the Wanderer was exceptionally painful. I take pleasure in seeing her corpse.

The next morning, the lovely Nish came on her Warlock Teanee and helped me destroy the last of the two pandas!

Another Panda corpse to add to the pile. 

Tada! Again! 

One achievement that's been on my list for a long time is Glory of the Hero. These last two have been on here for years and hopefully soon they will be completed!

It's allllways Oculus.

Are there any new goals that you are working on? Any old achievement that's been on your to-do list for months and you just can't seem to tick it off?

. 

An awesome WoW-filled week!

My week of unemployment has suited me well! I have found a new job and start hopefully next week, I have received my study enrolment forms and things are really looking up. I can now relax and enjoy my "unemployment" as a mere two week holiday in between jobs, and make the most of my free time by playing Warcraft with my friends and enjoying the great weather in our pool!

After missing the chance to join our last run of ICC, the lovely Caterpillar over at <Is Out of Mana>  organised a second run. And you know I would never say no to a run through my favourite place in all of Azeroth! And boy am I glad that I did! I've never seen this baby drop, let alone be lucky enough to win it!

Punchdance is very proud to wear such a special ribbon!

Of course, I took my standard bunch of screenshots with Arthas. This one sitting on his lap is my favourite because it is the most creepy

Punchy and Uncle Arthas, happy days.

I still had a level 80 Druid (a second Casadella the Resto-kin) in <Is Out of Mana> from long ago, so I decided to dust her off. I had forgotten how nice it was to be in a social guild! She made it to level 84 before the Alt Bug bit me hard. 

Meet Casadella the II

After always hearing about Neri's love for the Pandaren race, I realised I didn't have a single Panda in my entourage!  I also don't have a Mage so I decided it was finally time to level one. Honestly, I haven't loved the Mage class for levelling. I'm sure it will get much better once I hit the level cap, but for now I am pushing through as Frost. It definitely feels weird not focusing on dot uptime and multi-dotting!

I was very happy to discover that a Pandaren Mage is the last class that <Is Out of Mana> needs to earn the Stay Classy - Classy Pandaren achievement. Neri and I had been levelling together, having a blast and now that we have finally caught up to Disconcur's Warlock, we can now smash through some dungeons as a trio. Boyfriend was interested in reactivating his account for about a half a second, and then went back to "Final No-Pants" Fantasy. Sigh. Can't win 'em all! It's been great to level as a cloth wearer too; so many amazing low level greens for transmog!

Mmmmm transmogged Heirlooms!

Whilst in a dungeon, I was lead by a fantastic Monk Tank and with a combination of that awe (as well as a burning desire for instant queue pops) I also rolled a Monk. I made sure to check the Classy Achievements and the guild was still in need of a Dwarf Monk, for which I was happy to choose. It was my first time in the Dwarf starting area which I highly enjoyed. And besides the trolls that can cross your path within Dungeon Finder, I am loving Monk tanking. Who wouldn't enjoy hurling a keg of beer at an enemy?

It's a tough life being level 21.

Today also marked the start of the Love is in the Air World Event. One of the many I need to finally finish What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been. Can't wait to get my Love Fool title this week!

Awwwww! Warlock true love! Boyfriend and Casa

I normally don't like to be all over the place, and more enjoy focusing in on one character and truly having a main. I seem to have thrown that all out the window this week.

How do you prefer to play? Do you have an Alt Addiction? Or do you stay true to your one and only?

I choose you, Pika- I mean Zhevra!

I was quite happy to log in to this today.

Yay!

But then for the hard part, deciding which reward to choose for participating in the Recruit a Friend program. I knew I definitely wanted a mount and not a pet. But other than that, the next half an hour was spent on Wowhead comparing the mounts and staring at my screen.

I love this change to the Recruit a Friend program. 

I eventually decided to go ahead with the Zhevra. So cool! I am now 59/100 for the Mountain o' Mounts achievement too!

I'll never complain about queue times again!

My priest Casarah on Blackrock finally hit 90 today. She was my PVP God in Cata and had barely been touched, so I figured it was her turn to join the big kids. My other level 90s had been working hard to collect Timeless Isle Cloth Gear for her, so I was happy to finally be able to put them to use!

DING!

Decked out in almost a full set, I was brave and flew over to the Timeless Isle. And then proceeded to get camped by a rogue. I had forgotten how different it was to play on a PVP server! I know getting smushed by the rival faction is all a part of the game, but boy does it frustrate me now after being spoilt on safe old Saurfang.

Thanks, Captain Obvious.

After getting cranky, I flicked over to Runetotem and logged on to level 80 Casadella. Trying to be a multitasking genius, I planned to do the following. Level and farm herbs and level Alchemy at the same time, both from zero. Fight Pet Battles in each herb farming zone. All whilst being queued for level-appropriate dungeons that I still needed achievements for. Pretty good idea, right? Plenty of fun whilst waiting for the queue to pop! The queue will pop in no time with me having so much other stuff going on, right?

Right?!?

RIGHT?!?!

Two hours and 40 minutes later I had only acquired a single DPS. 

Now in fairness, I am queuing on a low population server. And not only am I queuing for a level 80 Wrath dungeon (which you still get XP for, but when you can queue for Cata instances at the same level for far better gear?...) I am queueing for the most widely hated Wrath instance. You know the one. The one where you would see the load screen and you wouldn't even wait for it to finish loading to leave group. You would just ALT+F4 on WoW and walk away.

Remember me? My name is Oculus and I am a jerk!

It was a smart idea in theory, my multi-tasking plan. I just didn't think everything through first.

How do you beat the boredom of waiting in queues?

Neri better be having a pink baby!

I bought some beautiful pastel colours (and a vibrant pink!) from Lion Brand last year.

They were half price and from the Martha Stewart Cotton Hemp range. I needed 12 balls to make the baby blanket I wanted to attempt, so the half price was a deciding factor! Below is the blanket, but in greens. Cute, yeah?

Find the pattern here

When the yarn arrived, I didn't love them texture like I normally did when buying from Lion Brand. It wasn't as soft (duh, read what you're purchasing; it's cotton?) so I never attempted the project. 

I saw some cool photos on The Crochet Crowd's Facebook page and decided I needed to learn how to do a never ending Granny Square blanket. I've decided for her that Mrs Neri is having a baby girl, and decided to use that inspiration for the blanket.

This isn't so hard at all! 

I'd made a couple of mistakes, but found it easy to unpick the stitching to remove the bad stitch, and then continue on. As always, I made a visit to my favourite YouTube channel Very Pink Knits and even though Staci is a master knitter, she has a video series "Crochet for Knitters" which are fantastic. If you're completely new to knitting or crochet (or a veteran looking to learn some different techniques), Very Pink is an awesome resource to get you going. 

It's starting to look like a blanket now! 

It's a bit crooked, but once I've finished, I'll block the blanket and it will end up neat and straight. No need to stress about those awkward corners just yet! 

Are you currently working on a crafty project?

When life gives you lemons, pull out your copy of Photoshop or GIMP :)

What a whirlwind of a fortnight.

I got rejected for a job in a new career path I had been interviewing and sitting exams for since LAST OCTOBER.

I got depressed and resigned from my current job any way.

I bought a $3,000 bed that I now can't really afford to pay off.

I decided I'll go back and study. (I've had a full time job since I was 17. This shall be interesting)

And then I decided to get crafty.

On my way to the aforementioned job rejection, I popped in quickly to my Mum's farm to visit my cat, Rolly. (the job interview was slightly out of town, very close to the farm)

I took a few photos, as I do when I visit my Fatman, and one friend made a great comment on a seemingly normal photo.

*yawn*

Bitten by a combination of the inspiration bug and the rejection bug, I Googled random stock photos, double-clicked on GIMP and began to send "Air Rolly" on some adventures.

Much Space.

Very Fence.

Much Travel.

Very Bellagio.

So Dunk. 

Much WoW. Very Moonkin. 

Superior Fly. F**k U Cate Air.

Many romantic. 

Ok... So I got kinda carried away, but it also helped cheer me up and keep positive about my new path in life I had just thrown myself into.

Where do you think Air Rolly should adventure to next?

Embarrassing photo alert!

What do most of the travel agents in our company do when attending a huge "Getting Wild in the West" costume party that people fly in all over the state to partake in? They dress as cowgirls! Or indians! There were even some gorgeous girls dressed as giant cactus plants (That totally make me think of Cactuar!).

Enjoy my 1000 Needle Attack!

There was a bull costume, there were some sexy sheriffs, horse costumes; but not our team. Oh no. We like to think outside of the box. We like to put a little more thought into these costume parties, like to push the boundaries. 

All 6 of us in our office, including our male Team Leader, decided we would be Prison Time Lindsay Lohan. A girl gone wild... and we live in the Midwest.

Lilo 4 lyfe!

I think my favourite part of the costume (and yes, I am that boring) was the comfort factor. I could wear comfy flip flops, I could actually enjoy the dinner and not stress that a meal was going to burst any skin-tight dress, didn't have to worry about checking my makeup wasn't smeared (because it already deliberately was!)

What a hot mess

Jumping Jellybeans, it's already January!

I haven't had much game time at all due to an interstate Christmas holiday and being bedridden with the latest virus going around. I have, however managed to make some progress on my Warcraft goals.

- Save up 50k Timeless Coins to purchase Yu'lon's Bite (or score an upgrade in LFR) Currently at 20,210. 23,052 Still haven't spent much effort on this one
- Explore Pandaria - A nice easy one... that's now done!
- Zen Master Archaeologist - One profession I just haven't ever levelled...  until now 600/600
- Finally finish What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been this forthcoming year. Fool For Love is next up, so I have until February to prepare myself.
Newly added...
- Get Enchanting (currently 105/600) and tailoring (currently 186/600) to max by farming all the mats I need. No AH shortcuts
- Gear my druid up in a full resto set
- Experience Brawlers and see if I want to stick with it I finally decided to give Brawler's Guild a try, and it's quite fun! I have defeated the first four bosses, meaning I am now a fresh Brawlers: Rank 2

I do love the sound of the crowd chanting my name ;)

Thanks, Huolon!

I hadn't been purposely camping Huolon for the mount. But I would try to catch him when I could. One morning before work, I snuck in a quick 15 minutes of wow. Imagine how happy I was when this happened?!

And then how I felt when this happened...

So I put my hatred of dailies aside and began my quest to be exalted with the Order of the Cloud Serpent. And found they were actually quite enjoyable.

Thanks to the Celebration Package, and the Grand Commendation, I hit Exalted in a mere 7 days.

Now don't get me wrong, I am stoked I can ride around on my giant electrified dragon, but I remember the times when grinding a reputation took weeks that seemed to never end.

Rawr! 

It felt great to have another goal to work towards, and I feel a little empty now that its completed already. So I took the advice of my trusty friend, Disconcur and am starting a new goal list.

- Upgrade Cloudscorcher Greatstaff through running Siege of Orgrimmar LFR each week

- Save up 50k Timeless Coins to purchase Yu'lon's Bite (or score an upgrade in LFR)

- Finally finish What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been this forthcoming year. Fool for Love is next up, so I have until February to prepare myself. 

- Explore Pandaria - A nice easy one

- Max Level Archeology - One profession I just haven't ever levelled

And more to come soon! 

What's this? TRAITOR!!

I have done the unthinkable...