I decided to move my blog to Wordpress. I really like their set up and interface much more than Blogger. I'm sorry the inconvenience this has caused, but it's a big part of being a fresh step for me as I try to focus more on writing.
The new blog is at
spinningcranekick.wordpress.com
I hope to see you all there!
Monday, November 5, 2012
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Woes and Hoes
LFR and Stupidity
Feng.
I hate you.
I remember a long time ago I was flabbergasted by the easiness of LFR and wondered if Blizz really thought players were that stupid. Then I did Feng and realized they may have been right. Can people just simply not run out of the raids when DBM yells at them?!?!?!?!?!? Can they not spread out? Can they not realize that big explosions are bad?!?!?! WHY!?
Every LFR I've done has involved a wipe on Feng. Good groups have only wiped once. Bad groups never get past it. Other crippling factors include low dps and low heals. And if I see one more DPS Bear I might stab them.
Grinding. Grinding. Grinding.
I'm worn out. And not because the game sucks or has no content. It has too much content. Everyday I log on and feel pressured to do dailies. The dailies are varied enough, but it's a hour long chore session no matter how I look at it. Some of the dailies are fun though. The Rolling one...OMG. I did it over and over again, giggling because it was some of the best fun I'd had in a while. I also enjoyed the Onyx Serpent one where you jump from drake to drake. It reminds me of Northrend, but it's still fun to be grappling around.
Raiding
I'm in a very close knit guild, who has seen rough times and thinning ranks. A few of us want to start raiding but we're having problems getting some people to commit. They either keep changing their main, won't run dungeons unless we are running them (and they do horrible dps), or say they'll be on but not show on. It's frustrating and is making one point clearly obvious- we are going to have to start recruiting.
I don't know how I feel about this, if it's at all possible. We don't even have a set raid going on, how can we build our ranks with nothing.
My problem is more on trust. I have a hard time trusting new people in game, especially those who are not friends of friends. I've been burned too many times for being open, and I'll be damned if that happens again. We haven't had to recruit in a real long time, so it'll be interesting to see if how this all pans out.
That guy
Have you ever had someone in your group/guild/raid who is just a bad player?
And you can't just exlude him because he's also a close friend of someone vitally important in the guild. So you're basically stuck with him.
I've never really considered myself an elitist, but I definitely have my moments. I did a long time ago when I was raiding with a group of friends. We had a healer who was not exactly very good. Part of it was he just didn't care as much as the rest of it. I'm not sure what part was exactly skill. His numbers were far below mine and our priest, but he still did enough that it wasn't entirely hopeless. That and the priest was a great healer too. I think my only real problem with him was that he always asked who to beacon. Hell if I know, I'm a druid.
This new guy is a whole set of different problems. He is the definition of tunnel vision, but even when that's okay, he still doesn't pull off the numbers he needs to be. What's even more disturbing is that instead of trying to fix the problem, he immediately blames the class and decides to level another alt. He has about 6 alts or so.
I'm trying to convince my raid leader/his friend that it might be best to have him DPS...as a mage...in a corner. But he thinks that as a healer, he'd be less of a problem. As a healer being told that I think I almost faceplanted on my keyboard.
It's also bad enough that during a LFR run, said bad player was called out in the raid and then effectively and loudly kicked. In LFR...
At least it's not all in my head.
When we do finally start raiding, I'll get to see how it all plays out. I'm pretty much in charge of healers, but I've been in this position before, and I almost lost my mind. I'm not good with people not doing their part.
Ultimately, there is a plus side. The player this time is actually dedicated (last guy wasn't so much, which was part of the reason why he sucked), and willing to help. And I can appreciate that.
But is there a line to draw in the sand?
Carrying people is no fun for the people involved.
Farming Master
I farmed up and fished up and finally got my Master of the Ways title. Basically you must master every branch of cooking to gain the title. This is done by leveling the branch from 550-600 and it's a separate skill level outside of cooking. There's one for each main stat, so there's five of them. The amount of meat, veggies and fish needed for each one was quite a bit, and even converting extra meat and veggies to Ironpaw tokens to get what you need is an inefficient method. So I farmed and fished and got this badass title that I think fits a monk perfectly.
I'm actually impressed with the fluidity of the Tillers and the extensiveness of the Cooking this time around. It's a bit of a grind, but now I'm faced with getting 50 Ironpaw tokens to buy my Cooking Bell, which supposedly has MORE dailies, as I teach another the ways of the kitchen. Kinda cool. Just gotta get them damn tokens. :(
Reputation Update
So I am exalted with the Cloud Serpents, Tillers, and Golden Lotus. I did realize that I had worn myself out a lot by doing so many dailies, so I only do three, which may seem like a lot, but it mostly feels like just 2 long ones. The Anglers and the August Celestials are not that long so together they equal one Golden Lotus imo. Man that daily chain was a drag. So glad to be done with that. Shado-pan are okay. They're a but long just because there's a decent amount of traveling. I don't particularly enjoy them, but the ultimate reward will be worth it.
Hopefully, when we start raiding, I'll be feeling happier.
Feng.
I hate you.
I remember a long time ago I was flabbergasted by the easiness of LFR and wondered if Blizz really thought players were that stupid. Then I did Feng and realized they may have been right. Can people just simply not run out of the raids when DBM yells at them?!?!?!?!?!? Can they not spread out? Can they not realize that big explosions are bad?!?!?! WHY!?
Every LFR I've done has involved a wipe on Feng. Good groups have only wiped once. Bad groups never get past it. Other crippling factors include low dps and low heals. And if I see one more DPS Bear I might stab them.
Grinding. Grinding. Grinding.
I'm worn out. And not because the game sucks or has no content. It has too much content. Everyday I log on and feel pressured to do dailies. The dailies are varied enough, but it's a hour long chore session no matter how I look at it. Some of the dailies are fun though. The Rolling one...OMG. I did it over and over again, giggling because it was some of the best fun I'd had in a while. I also enjoyed the Onyx Serpent one where you jump from drake to drake. It reminds me of Northrend, but it's still fun to be grappling around.
Raiding
I'm in a very close knit guild, who has seen rough times and thinning ranks. A few of us want to start raiding but we're having problems getting some people to commit. They either keep changing their main, won't run dungeons unless we are running them (and they do horrible dps), or say they'll be on but not show on. It's frustrating and is making one point clearly obvious- we are going to have to start recruiting.
I don't know how I feel about this, if it's at all possible. We don't even have a set raid going on, how can we build our ranks with nothing.
My problem is more on trust. I have a hard time trusting new people in game, especially those who are not friends of friends. I've been burned too many times for being open, and I'll be damned if that happens again. We haven't had to recruit in a real long time, so it'll be interesting to see if how this all pans out.
That guy
Have you ever had someone in your group/guild/raid who is just a bad player?
And you can't just exlude him because he's also a close friend of someone vitally important in the guild. So you're basically stuck with him.
I've never really considered myself an elitist, but I definitely have my moments. I did a long time ago when I was raiding with a group of friends. We had a healer who was not exactly very good. Part of it was he just didn't care as much as the rest of it. I'm not sure what part was exactly skill. His numbers were far below mine and our priest, but he still did enough that it wasn't entirely hopeless. That and the priest was a great healer too. I think my only real problem with him was that he always asked who to beacon. Hell if I know, I'm a druid.
This new guy is a whole set of different problems. He is the definition of tunnel vision, but even when that's okay, he still doesn't pull off the numbers he needs to be. What's even more disturbing is that instead of trying to fix the problem, he immediately blames the class and decides to level another alt. He has about 6 alts or so.
I'm trying to convince my raid leader/his friend that it might be best to have him DPS...as a mage...in a corner. But he thinks that as a healer, he'd be less of a problem. As a healer being told that I think I almost faceplanted on my keyboard.
It's also bad enough that during a LFR run, said bad player was called out in the raid and then effectively and loudly kicked. In LFR...
At least it's not all in my head.
When we do finally start raiding, I'll get to see how it all plays out. I'm pretty much in charge of healers, but I've been in this position before, and I almost lost my mind. I'm not good with people not doing their part.
Ultimately, there is a plus side. The player this time is actually dedicated (last guy wasn't so much, which was part of the reason why he sucked), and willing to help. And I can appreciate that.
But is there a line to draw in the sand?
Carrying people is no fun for the people involved.
Farming Master
I farmed up and fished up and finally got my Master of the Ways title. Basically you must master every branch of cooking to gain the title. This is done by leveling the branch from 550-600 and it's a separate skill level outside of cooking. There's one for each main stat, so there's five of them. The amount of meat, veggies and fish needed for each one was quite a bit, and even converting extra meat and veggies to Ironpaw tokens to get what you need is an inefficient method. So I farmed and fished and got this badass title that I think fits a monk perfectly.
I'm actually impressed with the fluidity of the Tillers and the extensiveness of the Cooking this time around. It's a bit of a grind, but now I'm faced with getting 50 Ironpaw tokens to buy my Cooking Bell, which supposedly has MORE dailies, as I teach another the ways of the kitchen. Kinda cool. Just gotta get them damn tokens. :(
Reputation Update
So I am exalted with the Cloud Serpents, Tillers, and Golden Lotus. I did realize that I had worn myself out a lot by doing so many dailies, so I only do three, which may seem like a lot, but it mostly feels like just 2 long ones. The Anglers and the August Celestials are not that long so together they equal one Golden Lotus imo. Man that daily chain was a drag. So glad to be done with that. Shado-pan are okay. They're a but long just because there's a decent amount of traveling. I don't particularly enjoy them, but the ultimate reward will be worth it.
Hopefully, when we start raiding, I'll be feeling happier.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The Endgame Lifestyle: Farmville Style
So I've been 90 for about three week now. The life of an endgame player besides heroics and raiding basically just includes dailies. I've been working on professions for my Monk and some pet battling since I'm a secret Pokemon-holic, but I find that in general, a good portion of my time goes towards dailies.
A few days ago, I finished The Order of the Cloud Serpent. In general, gaining Exalted was extremely easy. I only had to farm a few eggs as well, and that was all luck and casual glancing. I was rewarded with three gorgeous Cloud Serpents.
I did like the way this mount grind was handled. It was fun watching my Serpent grow up, finding food for it, picking up its poop and playing catch with it. Not a bad set up. The race was kind of weird because I wasn't quite sure what direction the course was. The balloons can be difficult to spot, and they vary in height differences. The cloud rings are another clue, but they're are so many and also in varying height that it can be difficult to figure out. I won 2nd place on my first try though, so must not be too hard.
One down. Six more to go.
I've been very vigilant in doing my Order of the Cloud Serpent, Golden Lotus, Tillers and Anglers dailies everyday. So when I finished Order, I thought that I could pursue Klaxxi. But then I reached revered with Golden Lotus...and Shado-Pan AND August Celestials opened up.
Dailies are basically consuming my WoW time and I'm starting to despise it. They aren't particularly hard to do and their varied enough from day to day, but each hub has between 4-8 dailies and it gets annoying at times. If I have limited amount of time online, like Wednesday when I'm at school most of the day, I feel pressure to log on and do dailies. It's not particularly enjoyable.
It still bothers me that both Rep and Valor Points are needed for the gear. I remember Blizz wanting people to be able to earn gear the way they wanted to. That's why we're getting Valor doing dailies. However, requiring rep forces people to do dailies, so I don't see how this ideal is achieved. But then again, this was back in Blizzcon 2011. Long time ago.
Farmer B*tch
I reached Tillers tonight, which I was particularly excited about. I can't believe I'm saying this, but my absolute favorite side thing to do is my farm. Well...Yoon's farm. He sucks at farming because he's a city boy (who knew pandas could be city boys), so I have to do everything. Thus, it's mine in my mind. I plant everything, fight off the wild vines, hoplings and birds. I pick the weeds off, pull up the runty plants, water and apply pesticide. Then I harvest them and do the entire thing over again.
On paper it just seems so monotonous and silly. But I love it. I get some sort of calm tending to my farm for a few minutes. I like seeing the crops I yield, what I can cook with them etc. It's silly. It's crazy. It's awesome.
So I after reaching Exalted, I went and purchased my fancy Riding Goat. I have mixed feelings about the mount. He seems... Small. Ish. I guess I expected him to be larger than a ram, which his model is made after, but he's still kinda neat. I don't regret not purchasing all three.
I also fully cleared out the junk on my farm, so I have 16 plots to grow yield crops on every day. Which is gonna help out alot, because the amount of crops I need to level and make Banquets for raiding is ridiculous.
A few days ago, I finished The Order of the Cloud Serpent. In general, gaining Exalted was extremely easy. I only had to farm a few eggs as well, and that was all luck and casual glancing. I was rewarded with three gorgeous Cloud Serpents.
 |
| From eggy. |
 |
| To hatchling. |
 |
| To Mount! Huzzah! |
 |
| I named her Sherbert. Reminds me of delicious sherbert. |
One down. Six more to go.
I've been very vigilant in doing my Order of the Cloud Serpent, Golden Lotus, Tillers and Anglers dailies everyday. So when I finished Order, I thought that I could pursue Klaxxi. But then I reached revered with Golden Lotus...and Shado-Pan AND August Celestials opened up.
Dailies are basically consuming my WoW time and I'm starting to despise it. They aren't particularly hard to do and their varied enough from day to day, but each hub has between 4-8 dailies and it gets annoying at times. If I have limited amount of time online, like Wednesday when I'm at school most of the day, I feel pressure to log on and do dailies. It's not particularly enjoyable.
It still bothers me that both Rep and Valor Points are needed for the gear. I remember Blizz wanting people to be able to earn gear the way they wanted to. That's why we're getting Valor doing dailies. However, requiring rep forces people to do dailies, so I don't see how this ideal is achieved. But then again, this was back in Blizzcon 2011. Long time ago.
Farmer B*tch
I reached Tillers tonight, which I was particularly excited about. I can't believe I'm saying this, but my absolute favorite side thing to do is my farm. Well...Yoon's farm. He sucks at farming because he's a city boy (who knew pandas could be city boys), so I have to do everything. Thus, it's mine in my mind. I plant everything, fight off the wild vines, hoplings and birds. I pick the weeds off, pull up the runty plants, water and apply pesticide. Then I harvest them and do the entire thing over again.
On paper it just seems so monotonous and silly. But I love it. I get some sort of calm tending to my farm for a few minutes. I like seeing the crops I yield, what I can cook with them etc. It's silly. It's crazy. It's awesome.
So I after reaching Exalted, I went and purchased my fancy Riding Goat. I have mixed feelings about the mount. He seems... Small. Ish. I guess I expected him to be larger than a ram, which his model is made after, but he's still kinda neat. I don't regret not purchasing all three.
I also fully cleared out the junk on my farm, so I have 16 plots to grow yield crops on every day. Which is gonna help out alot, because the amount of crops I need to level and make Banquets for raiding is ridiculous.
 |
| Being accepted into the Tillers. |
 | |
| 16 Plots to waste time on. |
 |
| Not as cool as my Terrible Turnip. It'll do. |
 |
| The Farmer Hayate Squad |
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Weaving the Mists: A Look at the Mistweaver Monk
I have been healing on my monk for about 2 weeks now. While leveling, I really only did the normals once each, and have only spent this week running heroics.
The difficulty has fluctuated for me immensely, depending on who's the tank (video reference for you, Aba), what the DPS is like/doing, and what dungeon is. Most of the time I enjoy it, but other times, I feel like I'm pulling my teeth out. I will say that when I do pull my group out of a tight bind, or do something pretty impressive, I feel that exhileration I used to get from healing on my druid. That's always a warm feeling. Unfortunately, I can't tell if it's when I just happen to do something right, or if I really am making a bad situation good.
Although...me being a monk might be a bad situation. :P
The difficulty has fluctuated for me immensely, depending on who's the tank (video reference for you, Aba), what the DPS is like/doing, and what dungeon is. Most of the time I enjoy it, but other times, I feel like I'm pulling my teeth out. I will say that when I do pull my group out of a tight bind, or do something pretty impressive, I feel that exhileration I used to get from healing on my druid. That's always a warm feeling. Unfortunately, I can't tell if it's when I just happen to do something right, or if I really am making a bad situation good.
Although...me being a monk might be a bad situation. :P
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Hotfix for the Lazy
I got into (and then was flat out ignored) a disagreement yesterday over Blizzard's recent hotfix for reputation gear.
Blizzard recently took away the requirement of reputation to purchase Justice Point gear, and ultimately lowered the Valor Point gear to Honored reputation, to make it more accessible.
A couple people in my guild immediately started crying unfair, complaining that Blizzard is once again catering to the *gasp* casuals, and boo hoo, that's just ridiculous. I immediately jumped to Blizz's defense on this, mostly because I felt the system was originally unfair.
1.) Anyone whose 90 knows that the sheer amount of reputation and factions is crazy. Upon reaching level 90 you are bombarded with dailies. Having to grind them out to access a couple of Justice Point pieces for each faction seems excessive. Doing quests for all areas doesn't necessarily bring you to the reputation you need. I think the only Honored reputation I have achieved by sheer questing was The Klaxxi, and even this was well after I hit 90.
2.) You still need to farm Justice Points. Blizzard is not handing out free rares. They still require a form of currency that requires a bit of farming. While factions in the past have offered rares and even epics, that required reputation, they did not require Justice Points, but gold. By combining the two in Mists of Pandaria, you are putting an entirely new bar that is difficult to pass. They are basically just replacing one requirement with another, but people fail to see that.
3.) Dailies and quests are the only way to gain reputation for these factions. There are no tabards and as far as I know, dungeons don't give rep the way they did in BC.
4.) Blizzard is a company. They are going to cater to the "casuals" because Blizzard wants money and "casuals" make up something like 80-90% of their player base. Sorry, and you can accuse Blizz of being rich greedy bastards, but the reality is that money makes the world go round, allows them to maintain the game and help them create new ones. It also pays for people to live. You know...
So the conversation was basically me saying the above and them getting to a point where they flat out ignored me. They start boo-hooing and comparing the situation to getting a college degree. QQ I went to college but it don't mean nothing, only the connections I make. I work hard but people who have better connections then me get better jobs. The part about connections is partially true, but being educated can still be extremely beneficial. Companies will still, in most cases, choose a college degree over a high school one. And what is this about working hard. People who make connections might work really hard in finding them and maintaining them. Some people bullshit their way through college and don't work hard at all. It's life people. It's unfair.
Despite the money and time I have put into my degree, its definitely not something I will regret, even if I'm still working my retail job for years to come. I've learned a lot and I want that for my children. I need to set an example.
I think the real question here is why did Blizzard even try this system out if they were going to hotfix it so quickly. I mean, sure this entire expansion has the feel of "Well...there wasn't enough endgame in Cata you say?!?!?! BWAHHAAHHAHAH HERE YA GO!" but setting a bar on earning gear seemed a bit odd. I understand having rep or justice points but both seemed excessive. It definitely didn't surprise me when Blizz changed it. It has nothing to do with giving gear to lazy players. Some players might run one dungeon but with good luck, get the drops they need. This solution to a problem is something, really noone should be freaking out over. It's not even epic gear.
Ultimately, one of the guys asked where he could do Shado-Pan dailies. I told him they didn't unlock until after he reached Revered with The Golden Lotus. He immediately cried "bullshit" and stormed off(line).
Blizzard recently took away the requirement of reputation to purchase Justice Point gear, and ultimately lowered the Valor Point gear to Honored reputation, to make it more accessible.
A couple people in my guild immediately started crying unfair, complaining that Blizzard is once again catering to the *gasp* casuals, and boo hoo, that's just ridiculous. I immediately jumped to Blizz's defense on this, mostly because I felt the system was originally unfair.
1.) Anyone whose 90 knows that the sheer amount of reputation and factions is crazy. Upon reaching level 90 you are bombarded with dailies. Having to grind them out to access a couple of Justice Point pieces for each faction seems excessive. Doing quests for all areas doesn't necessarily bring you to the reputation you need. I think the only Honored reputation I have achieved by sheer questing was The Klaxxi, and even this was well after I hit 90.
2.) You still need to farm Justice Points. Blizzard is not handing out free rares. They still require a form of currency that requires a bit of farming. While factions in the past have offered rares and even epics, that required reputation, they did not require Justice Points, but gold. By combining the two in Mists of Pandaria, you are putting an entirely new bar that is difficult to pass. They are basically just replacing one requirement with another, but people fail to see that.
3.) Dailies and quests are the only way to gain reputation for these factions. There are no tabards and as far as I know, dungeons don't give rep the way they did in BC.
4.) Blizzard is a company. They are going to cater to the "casuals" because Blizzard wants money and "casuals" make up something like 80-90% of their player base. Sorry, and you can accuse Blizz of being rich greedy bastards, but the reality is that money makes the world go round, allows them to maintain the game and help them create new ones. It also pays for people to live. You know...
So the conversation was basically me saying the above and them getting to a point where they flat out ignored me. They start boo-hooing and comparing the situation to getting a college degree. QQ I went to college but it don't mean nothing, only the connections I make. I work hard but people who have better connections then me get better jobs. The part about connections is partially true, but being educated can still be extremely beneficial. Companies will still, in most cases, choose a college degree over a high school one. And what is this about working hard. People who make connections might work really hard in finding them and maintaining them. Some people bullshit their way through college and don't work hard at all. It's life people. It's unfair.
Despite the money and time I have put into my degree, its definitely not something I will regret, even if I'm still working my retail job for years to come. I've learned a lot and I want that for my children. I need to set an example.
I think the real question here is why did Blizzard even try this system out if they were going to hotfix it so quickly. I mean, sure this entire expansion has the feel of "Well...there wasn't enough endgame in Cata you say?!?!?! BWAHHAAHHAHAH HERE YA GO!" but setting a bar on earning gear seemed a bit odd. I understand having rep or justice points but both seemed excessive. It definitely didn't surprise me when Blizz changed it. It has nothing to do with giving gear to lazy players. Some players might run one dungeon but with good luck, get the drops they need. This solution to a problem is something, really noone should be freaking out over. It's not even epic gear.
Ultimately, one of the guys asked where he could do Shado-Pan dailies. I told him they didn't unlock until after he reached Revered with The Golden Lotus. He immediately cried "bullshit" and stormed off(line).
Monday, October 1, 2012
Ding Dong Dailies
I ding.
And dailies appeared. Holy crap....man am I pissed.
I get it. Need lots of end game content to keep the Cataclysm naysayers down. But holy crap! I did 25 dailies from just three quest hubs. When am i going to have time to do all this.
Sure they give VP... but I need rep done for factions to actually GET the items. x_x seriously. I can't win! JP is the same. You need at least honored. Which doesn't seem to bad until you see how much rep you are getting.
You need to be at least Honored (? might be revered) with The Golden Lotus to access Shado-Pan and the August Celestials. I did the quests last night and I'm still neutral. And these dailies were the bulk of the 25 I had finished. When I saw 150 rep earned every time I turned something in, I think I died a little inside.
These just add to the fact that I also have two areas to complete, Townlong Steppes and the Dread Wastes, as well as heroics and scenarios I need to start runing. My brain hurts. My mind hurts.
Alts? What alts?
No time for alts.
Luckily, and by unfortunate circumstances, I am looking at a long weekend off, so I can attend to certain things.
1.) I need to raise professions. I'm still not sure which ones to do, but I think I might want to do atleast Jewelcrafting to help bring in some gold.
2.) Finish Townlong Steppes and Dread Wastes. Besides the achievements, and a sense of accomplishment, I also need the gear and rep.
3.) Work on my UI. Part of being comfortable as a healer is having a stellar UI set up. Make fun all you want about my use of addons, but when I'm comfortable, I'm on fire. Trying out WeakAuras instead of Power Auras and testing out Pet addons just for funsies.
4.) Gear. I need to gear. Run heroics and scenarios. Gear. -_-
5.) Get Monk Healing down. As I had expected, I'm struggling a little with mana and chi management. But I'm determined to get it. >.<
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Mists of Pandaria: First Impressions- Screenshot Edition
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| Pandas Pandas Pandas! |
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| You...uh...got something there...on your hands... |
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| I'll wear what he's wearing... |
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| The Hozen stole his eyes, bow and killed his pet. :( |
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| My family tree according to a Panda |
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| And my goblin's tree...everyone's on fire for some reason. |
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| Best. Glyph. Everrrrrr! |
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| Pretttayyy |
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| Baby Tauren are cute... |
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| until you look into their eyes..... |
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| Best. Land Mount. EVERRRRRRRRR! |
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| Taking my new mount to the |
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