MoP Beta: Screenshot Edition

So I finally got my MoP Beta invite, since I'm an annual pass holder. To be honest, I wasn't really planning to play too much, simply because after SWTOR beta, I found some of the magic of the new content wore off during beta play. Still, I decided I was curious enough to go check out few of the new things.
Creation and Pandas
First, I decided I wanted to try the Pandaren monk starting zone and see how I felt about the female Panda models. I'm not too impressed by them. They're curvacious and fluffy and the hairstyles scream Anime to me. I do like the new creation menu, and find it easier to go back to a style I liked instead of having to re-click through everything. I like that when you choose a class, all the classes wear different armor sets instead of just beginning robes, so you can kind of get a sense of the character's gear looks. After I finished creating and brought to the start screen, I was immediately turned off by the female panda's idle animation. She does this weird annoyed huff/slouch thing, that is fluid and well detailed (thus once again showing how much better the graphics are getting), but I didn't really like it as a whole. Makes her seem kinda uptight.
Anyways, I entered and was greeted to this.

 As you can see, after struggling just to click the stupid quest giver, I decided this wasn't going to work and logged off immediately.
Druid Dappling
I decided instead to go find the glyphs on my druid and maybe explore the first area. I took my dear Aenerys and we ran around Jade Forest and went to the first dungeon there to get the glyphs. I also tried out the talent tree, which, upon trying out for the first time (I haven't really been following MoP stuff online), decided I could eventually work with this. My first spec was fresh so I picked Restoration and had fun picking talents. I like the movement first tier and while I didn't really do anything with those talents, I think I'll try them out later. Teleportation Tree! Yes please! After spec'ing I thought maybe I would want to try out leveling in Jade Forest, so switched to my second spec. For some reason I am completely locked into Guardian spec (bear) and no matter how many times I pay for a respec cannot get out of Guardian spec. So that ended my leveling idea. Instead I loaded up some glyphs, including Tree Form !!!! :DDDDD and Orca. I then decided I had to see the Stag and started running to the first dungeon (Jade Serpent Temple?) where the glyph vendor is.
I have to admit, this place is beautiful. I love the scenery and really enjoyed just the trip to the places I went. I saw this strange looking creature.

What a weird creature right! He deserved a screenie I thought.
Moonglade has always been my favorite area, but this next place I ran to will probably replace it. I love the deep shades of blue and grey. Gorgeous. 

  I finally made it to Jade Serpent Temple (?) which was also gorgeous. I literally ran around in Tree form exploring the area. I felt so awesome! Tree FORM!

You can't really see it, but there was a single pink lily in the water (right hand bottem corner). I love the detailing of the red blossom trees with the low hanging branches of the willow like trees. So beautiful. (AND LOOK! I'm a TREE :D)

Druid Glyphs and Abilities

So I did eventually try out the new glyphs. 

This is Ursol's Vortex, a talent ability that slows mobs inside the vortex. I decided to go into the middle because it looks like I'm a tornado treeeee!

And here's Glyph of the Orca. While I probably won't use this in the long run, I thought it was fun to try. The Orca is much more nicer looking and smoother then the stupid seal form. I'm quite pleased with it.

I guess I didn't take any pictures of the glyph of the Stag, but it's basically a white stag, kinda like Marlone. I can't try the Glyph of Stars (caster boomkin form) because I can't get a Boomkin spec. The Glyph of the Chameleon isn't anything too special. I just change colors each time I go into cat or bear form. Might be cooler on a troll druid, because their colors are more eclectic.

Priest Leveling

I'm currently leveling a Night Elf priest on the new server we picked out. I've been dappling between all three specs at some point, and find that I enjoy aspects of each, but don't specifically lean towards one. I started with Discipline until level 32 simply because Shadow was not an efficient leveling build until I received Shadow Word: Death and the Glyph of Spirit Tap. Since then, I've been enjoying Shadow, and think I might stick with Shadow once I hit 85. I've always struggled with priest heals, sometimes because I feel overwhelmed by the toolbox. One of the problems might be that I haven't really leveled from start to finish, and since the LFD tool is now here as well, I can sufficiently grow with the talent specs.
I struggled a bit healing in the early levels, specifically while doing SFK. After a few teeth to nail fights, I respec'd Shadow and went DPS through SFK. I found I wasn't the problem while I watched another healer, in heirlooms, struggle. I also discovered the strangely inefficient leveling spec that is Shadow at lower levels. It doesn't make sense to me, but alas, once you hit 32, it's all in the past.
For healing, after the horrific experience that was SFK, I ended up switching to Holy when I hit 30 and got my dual-spec. Holy is a different story. While it doesn't have the DPS value that comes with an Evangelism/Atonement Disc build, I never ran out of mana and had the capacity to heal large amounts of damage when faced with it. I did not find this when I did Disc.
I do find Holy kind of boring.  Of course, it's cuz I'm  at lower levels. But it helps that I can queue as both DPS and Heals and I tend to get DPS most.  While tanks are still hot commodities, I guess most people think that being a healer will get them faster queues at lower levels.
The other problem I find is that I can never get the gear I want/need. Not only am I competing with a huge amount of Ele shamans and Balance druids, but since everyone can Need, I've lost robes to hunters and wands to paladins.While I understand the need for such a looting system at lower levels, sometimes it annoys the hell out of me. Speaking of which...
A while ago, when I was leveling a mage through LFD, I encountered a Shadow priest who flipped out on a healing Shaman for rolling and winning a cloth robe. I stood up for the Shaman, saying that caster leather is a bit rare to find at these levels, since most is designed for the more "efficient" leveling build, ie. Agility leather. The priest of course, started telling me I was dumb and that boohoo it's not fair that I can only wear cloth. Then we had someone else jump in and end all our discussions by reminding us that this is just a game. (btw. I hate these people. These people act high and mighty by saying oh noesss it's just a game. Yes it is just a game, but don't demean the way people spend their time.)

Anyways, aside from that...a side...
I've hit about 54, and respec'd Holy back to Discipline. I'm going to see if having Divine Aegis will help me out, but I have yet to try it out. I still enjoy Shadow, even though I have no AoE abilities, which my Paladin partner finds kinda frustrating (TOO BAD ANTHONY). 

Transmog Post: Fire Druid

Been a while since I showed off some transmog outfits. I was messing around with a few pieces. My first thought was creating a "fire druid" outfit to go along with my Fandral's Flamescythe (ie. Fire kitteh staff), although I also really like my Funeral Pyre staff.  I particularly stuck with the colors of red, yellow and brown, simply because those remind me of fire. Because of the limits of the gear available, my toon looks more like someone whose dappled within fire, then actually being on fire themselves.

Helm: Gladiator's Kodohide Helm-1000 Honor ; Vendor in Netherstorm
Shoulders:  Titan-Forged Spaulders of Triumph: Wintergrasp Vendor
Chest: Thunderheart Tunic: T6 token from Illidian in Black Temple
Belt: Thunderheart Belt : T6 token from assorted bosses in Sunwell Plateau
Hands: Loramus' Gloves: The Altar of the Storms quest in Blasted Lands 
Feet: Boots of the Frozen Seed: Crafted 264 boots from ICC. 
Staff: Funeral Pyre: Shared loot from bosses in Firelands.

Maybe I'm a secret slut, but I prefer gear for night elves that show a little skin. That's why I like the Thunderheart Tunic/Chestguard so much. The Gladiator's Kodohide Helm, a red version of the T5 helm, is a perfect look of charred antlers and red.  I also prefer the Titan-Forge Spaulders, which have insets that have flames, better than the Obsidian set (t12), which, while charred and fire looking, reminds me of a strange looking bug.

This set swaps Thunderheart Tunic for Robes of the Summer Flames, which I think is far more obvious in terms of fire, then the previous chest. I do hesitate whether I like it or not simply because it's a bit loud in terms of detailing, but then again, when has fire ever been silent?

Chest: Robes of the Summer Flame: Drops from Magister's Terrace, Kael'thas Sunstider, Normal Mode.

100 Mounts? :D

Today! I got 100 mounts. Scratch that. 101 mounts! :D So what were the 2 last mounts?
First off, it's the Darkmoon Faire. I missed a day and a few quest item turn ins, so I had to wait an extra month to get the last mount. I was pleasantly surprised by the Darkmoon Dancing Bear, which I put off getting since I already had a bear and wanted my first tailstrider mount. Instead of roaring when you stationary spacebar him, he dances! I love it!

I'm hanging on!

Then, I got my Spectral Gryphon for forcing him with a gun inviting my friend, Anthony, back to WoW with a scroll. I thought the little mail was cute from "my favorite Spirit Healer." (is there even such thing?)

After learning it, I got my achievement and a beautiful blue dragonhawk to ride around. :D Cheers!

Stages of Grieving: Garrosh Hellscream Edition.

I admit, after the news on Monday, I kind of went into a tailspin grief period. Yes, I'm talking about the news that Garrosh Hellscream will be the final MoP raid boss. I'm sure I skipped a few steps here and there, but in general I went from anger, to bargaining, to acceptance.
I haven't logged on since Sunday, which is partially related to midterms and college, but otherwise related to mourning. I've suddenly re-thought my jump back to the Horde, and wonder if sitting in a faction where I suddenly feel wholly unattached to is worth the 25 dollars. I'm angry because breaking into Orgrimmar is not a fair trade for Theramore (ALLIANCE BIAS???!?!?). I'm over Varian and don't understand why I can't take him down instead. But at the same time, I accept that this is what will happen, and while Garrosh Hellscream the Warchief was more entertaining then Garrosh Hellscream the Northrend Conqueror, I kinda miss the nobility and thoughtfulness he was given then (see leader short story and The Shattering).   
To be honest, noone really understands my somewhat strange obsession with Garrosh Hellscream. I initially loathed the guy, was upset that Thrall left me to go dance around in Nagrand with Aggra, and was suddenly not all that interested in the Horde. Then something happened. Perhaps it was the questline in Stonetalon Mountains. Or maybe he's inspirational speech while I flew with him to Twilight Highlands. Maybe it was just in my own mind, dreaming up dreams of an orc, lonely and depressed over his father, coming out of that and trying to live up to his father's legacy. It's probably the loading screen, which makes him somewhat an attractive figure. (Yeah, it's that.) 
I think it has something to do with being the underdog. He's the Horde leader noone wanted, that everyone hates. He's constantly depicted in strange ways by Blizzard and seems doomed to be that "really smart and intelligent strategist from Northrend" who keeps doing strange and dumbass shit. He's always proven wrong by Sylvanas and Baine. He was dumb enough to fall for Magatha's schemes and killed Cairne. And Thrall went all hormonal rage on him during the Molten Front questline prequel thing.
It's the idea that I see such potential for his character. The complex relationship that could've been with Cairne and Saurfang. The weird friendship between him and Thrall. The oddity of following in the footsteps of an absentee father, who lets face it, aside from legends and stories, he knows little about. It's about this leader who is all about his people, and yet knows very little about the customs they follow. But now, we may never see it.
Still it's too early to tell. My hopes is that Garrosh is given an epic and cool spiral into villian-y and not some lame storyline. I hope his final stand is epic and I hope he is complex and not single-minded. But then again, we are talking about Garrosh Hellscream. He's doomed to be that guy you're supposed to love that does everything wrong. He's the anti-Thrall- a character device for a hippie.

MoP NDA Lifted: Holy Information, Batman!

Garrosh
 First, the biggest news, to me, has been the anouncement that the final MoP boss (in the final MoP content patch) will be Garrosh Hellscream (noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo)
He will be part of the raid called The Siege of Orgrimmar, and the goal will be for Alliance and Horde players to take "the mantle of Warchief" from him.
I'm fine if he's not Warchief. It's sad but I'm really just not invested in any of the leaders in general. I used to like Thrall but then he went all Hippie Mary Sue on me.
However, I am invested in my beloved Garrosh Hellscream, and am incredibly sad that he'll be jumping off the crazy ledge of villian-y and into a raid. It's safe to say I won't be partaking in the raid, even if it involves some really cool scenes, fights or whatever. I'll watch it on youtube.
Um can I sack Stormwind?
In all honesty, I could see this coming. Garrosh has become such a hated figure in the community and in the Horde that his doom was just waiting for him. But to partake in the siege of Orgrimmar? That I am disgruntled by. Sure, Orgrimmar is a direct representation of Garrosh, all black metal and red. Fortified for war. A war machine, as said by Metzen in his interview with WoWinsider. But I think it's the coolest city around, and if there was anything Garrosh did right, it was fortify the capitol of the Horde. Unlike a certain King I know who after Deathwing ravaged the gates of his city, built himself a statue (I'm looking at you Varian). Apparently Varian is going to be coming to his own as well, finally becoming the leader he was supposed to be, ala Uther. I never liked Varian. He is like Garrosh in so many ways. I guess we're seeing two sides to a coin, two different paths. Varian and Garrosh both carry that sort of angry, brooding, hotheadedness. The difference is that Varian will be growing out of it (by some miracle. I'm thinking Jaina's lady parts) and Garrosh won't. It's just unfortunate that I'm more attached to the latter.
So, the Horde goes destroys Theramore and Alliance screams HORDE BIAS. But now they get to sack Orgimmar. Um...so can I go sack Stormwind. There's a statue I'd like to take down.
ASIDE: The Metzen interview is fairly interesting read. He mentions that when they decided to take out Garrosh people freaked out saying that they "loved that guy." Really? Where are these people? I would love to meet them since sometimes I feel like I'm the only one. End of ASIDE

Well, I know what I'm playing: Druid
It's safe to say that, unfortunately, the announcement of the new druid Glyphs have cemented my attachment to druids. Yeah, I am that shallow. Give me cool glyphs but force me to be a hybrid and give me no new spells and I'll still play.
My most excited glyph is Glyph of the Treant which has been confirmed to give back our PERMANENT TREE FORM (pause for squealing and running around). Add to that glyphs of Orca (new swim form,) Stars (caster form instead of Moonkin) and Stag (basically...I have officially become a mount) and I'm totally sold on MoP. Forget Pokemon or ...whatever else they're adding...monks, panda, ASIAN STEREOTYPES....TREE FORM YEAHHHH

Hunter
Cool new move for Hunters is Stampede, which is a move that the hunter calls all 5 of his pets out. It's going to be a super move. This, is going ....to be ...SO COOOOOOOLLLLL.....Glad I have a huntard. 


Other
-Uh...No more prime glyphs. The glyph system is weird enough as it is. Safe to say all my glyphs are going to be cosmetic if I can do it. DOO EET. YEAH TREE FORM...TREE FORM!
-Speaking of Pokemon rip-offs...HOW ABOUT SOME FARMVILLE!
-Female Pandaren model is curvy and anime-ish. No comments. I dropped out of the Panda wagon soon after Blizzcon-high wore off.

That's all I really read about for now. I was mostly interested in seeing the female Panda model. I was also unfortunately glued to reading every bit about the Siege of Orgrimmar and must now go into early-mourning.
...

TREE FORM!

Scrolls and Trials

Scroll of Resurrection
So, the Scroll of Resurrection has rolled out. No one I really know has appeared, but my boyfriend promised me he would accept an invite from me so I can get the mount, and he can join me PvPing. I've been making alts a lot on different servers trying to scout out a new one for me and my friend to play on, so I've accepted quite a few ninja invites into guilds on my low levels. It's strange seeing the News Feeds so full of activity, with people popping from level 10 to 80 in one sitting. But that's the miracle of Scroll of Resurrection.
I have to admit I'm pretty disgruntled by the Scroll. I commit myself to a year and only get a mount and Diablo 3 (which I'll probably get the LE anyways).MoP Beta I don't really care about. But if I had my account inactive, even without the other expansions, I can pay for one month and get all the Expansions (that's almost 90 dollars or more), a free realm/faction transfer (albeit with restrictions to the invitee's realm/faction) and a free level 80 (albeit the toon who does the transfer). You also get 7 free days of game time (which doesn't bother me but I thought I'd mention it). While I can understand why this is being used as a marketing ploy (although it screams desperate to me), it still rubs me the wrong way. I feel like my devotion to Blizzard isn't as much rewarded. Because let's face it-these extras/perks for renewing for a month, kinda seem like rewards for not playing.

Heroics
Anyways, one of my friends did come back but he plays Horde, and while I thought, well now is a great time to jump back on my shaman, it hasn't been that fun. We've been running Heroics, which are a struggle. For some reason, we get the lower end dps who can barely do more then 12k, or the tanks who get smashed in the face in three hits. I've mentioned before that I am baffled by how low the iLevel expectation is for the LFD system, and it just reinforces. Whenever I queue, I am always terrified I'll get either ZA or ZG, and that just simply can't be good news. Luckily it hasn't happened yet.
On my druid, heroics are always smooth sailing. Maybe it's the iLevel thing. I always queue when there's an Exotic Satchel to be earned, although besides pots and gems, the only thing I've gotten is a parrot pet. I really like running the Hour of Twilight Heroics. Certain fights I dislike (cough Tyrande/Mal'ganis cough) but in general, they are interesting enough, not too difficult but not too easy and quick. Thrall still annoys the hell out of me. I can't understand why they didn't give him a mount in the Hour of Twilight heroic, because Ghost Wolf is much slower. I think its funny when Benedictus chains him during the Shadow phase. For being the World Shaman, he still needs our help a lot.

PvP
PvP hasn't been fun at all. Interestingly enough, it seems like queues are longer than on Undermine, and I always get smaller BGs. I got WSG for the first time since I started my PvP rampage. PvP on my druid is funner than my Shaman. I definitely enjoy longer survivability, simply because I understand my toolbox much more. I've always felt that Resto druids have quite a smaller toolbox compared to other classes, but found that my toolbox as a druid in general helped me a lot in PvP. Love sneaking around, watching for incoming forces, and switching to Bear form when I'm serving as a distraction. I like the mobility of being a HoT healer, especially since I'm usually the target.
Gearing hasn't been too bad. I had a few pieces from Season 10, which is like, 10 iLevel lower then the current Season. Still it's better than nothing. I had my 2 set almost instantly, and will probably have my 4 set in no time.

Trial
Been thinking about starting a Trial account so I can create a raids with myself. Isn't that sad? I think so. Lol.