Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Recording a new song...

Patch 3.1.3

... well new for me, but not new for YouTube's Roninhobbit. I started working on lyrics for a new cover song, which shall not be named as of yet, and I started thinking that it's probably popular enough for someone else to have already done a parody on it. So, I Googled it, and that's how I found Ryan's version. I loved his lyrics so much that I asked him if it was ok for me to cover his cover! I was excited to get the ok, and I started recording this afternoon. Huge thanks to Ryan for allowing me to sing his song! All lyrics were written by him so give him all the praise and credit for that! I can't wait 'til it's finished! *is excited*

Since I'm new to the youtube vid scene, would this be considered a collaboration since I'm singing someone else's lyrics? Or would this be a cover of a cover? hehe.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Upgradez

Patch 3.1.3

Although the experiment with Parallels, Windows, and WoWModelViewer worked, it just barely worked to my liking. After all was said and done, all of those applications plus a duplicate install of WoW to run WMV with took up 37GB on my hard drive. =/ I have a 120GB HD in my computer atm, but I'm a web/print designer and that space gets taken up pretty fast with design apps and my works in progress.

So, in an attempt to clean up my HD, I backed it up and reformatted. I like starting over with a clean system every once in a while cuz it makes my computer feel brand new =). And although I have roughly 67GB available after all my basic apps have been reinstalled (and keeping my 25GB music library on an external drive,) installing Parallels, Windows and a duplicate install of WoW would leave me with 30GB of play room.That may be enough for some people, but I really don't want to constantly worry about how much space I have left if I'm gonna be editing video.

Long story short: I bought a 500GB HD yesterday and I can't wait till it comes in! I guess I see it like this: I'm paving the way for creativity to flow and not get choked up if I hit a roadblock. I really should have done this a looong time ago. I owe a huge thanks to Nukufox's cousin, Hupajupe, for the bright idea of simply upgrading my hard drive. XD

Friday, July 24, 2009

WoW Model Viewer

Patch 3.1.3

...or or Patch 2.4.3, rather. lol. So I got WoW Model Viewer working (version 0.5.09d with WoW v2.4.3.8606) and I couldn't be more pleased with its performance. The only downside is that I've got no access to WotLK content. I may even change Isolte's hairstyle in game BACK to what it used to be for the sake of keeping up appearances.. or not, and she can just look baller in her videos with two different hairstyles lol.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Reinstalling WoW

Patch 3.1.3

I was getting a little discouraged earlier today when I opened up WoW Model Viewer to find that it's buggy as hell. I figured I might get it to work if I just install an older version of WMV, and I was right with a slight catch. I have to downgrade WMV and World of Warcraft so that WMV works properly, per this article. I guess I needed to have two versions of WoW on my computer regardless of what OS I'm running, hah.

I'm installing TBC on the Windows partition atm and I'm only going to upgrade it to 2.4.3. So, I'll let you know how it works out if/when it's all done. Wish me luck!

Machinima. Do Want!

Patch 3.1.3

By the end of today, my goal is to at least have all the programs installed and ready to use for making a WoW machinima. I've never made one before, and I have little to no experience editing video, so I don't expect to create anything amazing even if I do get all the necessary tools up and running.

So, I installed Parallels 4.0 yesterday (yes, I have a Mac), installed Windows XP, and overnight I finished installing and patching World of Warcraft on the Windows "hard drive". And all this precious HD space used just to be able to use WoW Model Viewer... *sigh*. Still have yet to download the Model Viewer, and then the daunting task of getting to know the video editing programs... This should be fun. XD

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Shut Up and Grind on Youtube

Patch 3.1.3

Actually when I think about, it took two days of writing and recording to get to this point. I just started it Monday last week and finished it today. Anyway, hope you like it.. even if you're not a Rihanna fan. *crosses fingers*

"Shut Up and Grind" - A WoW Parody Song
(based on Rihanna's "Shut Up and Drive")

Monday, July 20, 2009

WoW Cover Song

Patch 3.1.3

So I just finished recording and mastering a WoW cover song I started writing and recording last week. XD I'm wondering if I should just share it as an MP3 or look for some talented Machinima creator to do a music video for it. I'd love to do the latter since I haven't had pretty much ANY experience in Machinima... yet. But I'm so excited about the song that I want to get it out there.. hmm, what to do, what to do?

Sunday, July 19, 2009

The Insane: Progress

Patch 3.1.3

Nuku and I spent most of yesterday and all night grinding Southsea Pirates in Tanaris to get our Steamwheedle Cartel reputation up. I'm 1967/6000 Friendly with Gadgetzan, so at least I'm at the point where I can use that flight point to get to Dire Maul easier, making the Shen'dralar rep grind a LOT easier.

Also, I'm now 599/21000 Revered with Ravenholdt, so I've got 1380 more [Heavy Junkboxes] to farm...lol. The grind to Revered was actually not that bad. I didn't exactly time how much rep I gained per hour, but I can definitely say that it took less than 6 hours of straight grinding Syndicate mobs in Alterac Mountains to get from Neutral to 11999/12000 Honored. I found that farming mobs in Strahnbrad, pathing north to Dandred's Fold in Alterac Mountains (making sure to stop at the four camps along the way) was a way better place to grind mobs than in Stromgarde Keep in Arathi Highlands. A couple of guides I've seen on getting "The Insane" Achievement have recommended Stromgarde, but I beg to differ.

Funny thing too about those guides, they never said anything about how you'll have to keep deleting the [Dusksteel Throwing Knives] that you get as a reward to the repeatable turn-in quest for the [Heavy Junkboxes]. The item is "Unique", so you cant turn in another 5 junkboxes until its gone from your inventory =). lol. It's not a big deal, it's just one more tiny step in the insane grind to make you go insane.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Holy Titanium, Batman!

Patch 3.1.3

I met some guy in Stormwind who seemed to be really interested in my stuff, like my pets, titles, mount, etc.. and he randomly gave me 50g just for showing him where I got the [Ghostly Skull]. During our conversation, I found out that he supposedly makes 2000g per day! I asked him how, and he simply said, "[Mining]". I was very happy to hear this since I'm a miner.

So, I had two stacks of [Titanium Ore] in my bank and [Titansteel Bar] x17. I went to the AH to see how much they were going for and I was shocked. I put up individual stacks of [Titanium Ore]x5 for a buyout of 49g EACH. And that was undercutting the cheapest auction. But the [Titansteel Bar]x1 were going for 95g apiece! Since I don't have a use for the bars, I put up all 17 of them. Three of them were sold within two minutes of me putting them up on the AH. I'm excited to see how much money will be in my mailbox when I log back in later =).

Also, with the rep grind for Ravenholdt underway, I've been getting tons of silk. [Silk Cloth] x20 is going for 1g, which is still better than vendoring it for only 30s.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Ravenholdt

Patch 3.1.3

Starting my grind to Revered after I click "Publish Post". (My sweet hubster, Nukufox, is gonna pickpocket the [Heavy Junkboxes] I'll need to get from Revered to Exalted.)

The Girls Have Never Felt Prettier

Patch 3.1.3

I ran around Azeroth yesterday to take screenshots for material to potentially use for this blog. I started workin' on a graphic banner for a new header and realized I didn't have any photos of my girls! The quickie "photoshoot" was fun, full of emotes, and I really think my banner turned out better than I even thought it would.. I mean.. I'm a Graphic Designer irl, and I'm never pleased with my sh*t, so this was a nice surprise =). Anyway, here they are, in order from left to right: Isolte, Emberlock, Embervenin, (and in the background:) Viera, and Yzolta.

Monday, July 13, 2009

3.2 PTR gettin' my hopes up...

Patch 3.1.3

... and shooting them down. So, one of the things I was insanely excited to hear about through word of mouth [.. or type in-game lol?] is that the [Headless Horseman's Mount] ([Headless Horseman's Reins]) is going to be instant cast next patch like druids' flight form. I started thinking that it was too good to be true, so I started poking around myself.

This is what I found: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=18031189732&pageNo=1&sid=1#6. Doesn't look like it's gonna happen. That's fine, cuz I totally agree that it would be overpowered for ANYone with that mount to just mount up and fly away in a flash. Any night elf (not just druids) with the mount (without any kind of dot on them, of course) would be able to just [Shadowmeld]>[Headless Horseman's Mount]>Fly away>Lol at Horde. Glad that it won't go live even though it'd be nice since I got lucky enough to get one myself. I still thoroughly appreciate the fact that it only takes up one slot on my action bar rather than two (one for ground mount, one for flying mount).

And on that note... *Heads over to the WoW suggestions forums to put in my vote for nerfing Druids' insta-flight form.*

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Talent Adjustments

Patch 3.1.3

Looking over my Enhancement spec today, I decided to move some talent points around. =p

Enhancement:


I don't use [Lightning Shield] as much as I probably should, so the one point I previously had in [Improved Shields] was pretty pointless, lol. I only put it there so I could go to the next tier. So, that's 1 point I could put somewhere else.

I tried out [Frozen Power] since it was a new 3.1 talent... I thoroughly enjoyed the ability to ice lock, but I never use [Frostbrand Weapon], so I was missing out on the extra damage bonus. If I PvP'ed more often, this talent would be a keeper. But in light of the fact that I'm going to be PvE'ing for a while to come, here's 2 more talent points that I can put somewhere else.

I really enjoyed having instant cast [Ghost Wolf], so I spec'ed back into [Improved Ghost Wolf]. With one point left to put wherever, it made sense to just complete 3/3 in [Mental Quickness].

Elemental:


With only 20 talents to spare I've always had them in the Elemental tree. The mana reduction (although teeny tiny) and spell damage bonus talents are actually very useful. =) The only changes I made to my old build were basically moving the two points I had in [Call of Flame] to [Convection], and taking one point out of [Reverberation] for the more insanely useful [Elemental Focus]. I'm excited to see how this works out. =)

Going Insane

Patch 3.1.3

I've decided that I am going spend most of my time grinding for the achievement, Insane in the Membrane. Since I haven't been raiding and running heroics (and don't really plan to 'til 3.2), I figure: what better way to spend my hours in WoW than grinding "pointless" rep. I believe this is the coolest title in the entire game. "Isolte the Insane" ... I can see it now.

This will probably take me months, but I'm a huge fan of in-game goals like this. I've already got to Honored with Bloodsail Buccaneers and I'm halfway through Hated with Booty Bay since I was testing the different methods of grinding goblin rep. So, why not go all the way?

Wish me luck and pray that my sanity won't be affected in the slightest by the insane grind to come!

Friday, July 10, 2009

My New Mount

Patch 3.1.3

Hah. I can't believe I didn't include this in the first post I made today lol. I've got a lot to talk about today apparently. I've done enough Champion dailies for the Argent Tournament to get my [Argent Hippogryph] today! I probably wont use it that much since I already have [The Horseman's Reins], but I love the hippogryph models so I had to get this one. I also have the [Cenarion War Hippogryph] and I'm hoping that they release a hippogryph mount with exalted Silver Covenant reputation, cause those Silver Covenant Hippogryphs look amazing!

WotLK and Patch Labels

Patch 3.1.3

So, I went back and edited all my previous posts to add the current game patch versions. I really like how Wowhead automatically adds the patch version in the title bar of comments so that you get a better idea of what was going on in the game at the time the user posted. So, I took the cue from them to do the same for my blog posts. At least now you'll have a good time reference for my posts without having to look it up by date in the official WoW Patch Notes. And I'll be doing this for all future posts from now on. =)

And about WotLK... I can't believe I didn't make a blog post about waiting in line for Wrath!!! So, Wrath of the Lich King, as you all know, released on Thursday, November 13, 2008. Our local electronics store was having an "Early Release" event at 10:30pm, 11/12/2008, so, Nuku and I got in line early. I can't remember how early, I think it was like 5pm or so, and I thought we were doomed to miss out on a collector's edition! The line was wrapped around the building when we got there. But as the hours went by, the line grew twice as long and we were pretty much in the middle. Since we had to be there for hours, we brought our doggie, Bandit, and I walked him a couple times up and down the line. You can imagine all the, "Oh look, that hunter brought her pet," comments I got. Lol. Welp, long story short, we met some cool people [not a one on the same server as anyone else roflmao, go figure,] we got in the doors half past midnight, and were out on our way home by about 1:15am with one Collector's Edition & one regular version. (I took Bandit with us in line as close to the store as I possible could so he wouldn't have to wait in the car too long. He was only in there for maybe 30 minutes tops. =D)

So yeah, there's my WotLK release story. Haha.

Roleplaying & Spirit Beast: Ghost Wolf

Patch 3.1.3

I was doing a little research on the Ancient Grimtotem Spirit Guide because I was one of those hunters who missed out on taming this amazing creature and wanted to see if it may be tamable again. Since Blizzard has introduced Spirit Beasts like Gondria and Loque’nahak in patch 3.1 for hunters to tame with the 51 point talent, [Beast Mastery], I thought maybe the Ghost wolf would be tamable again. But I was wrong. Maybe someday they'll add a new rare spawn in Northrend that looks like the Ghost Wolves.. who knows.

Anyway, in my research I came across so many threads, posts, and blogs about what a tragedy it was that Blizzard removed the ability to tame this beautiful animal [especially after a Blizzard "blue post" stated, "... it will still be possible in future for everyone who wishes to tame this NPC to do so. :)" -- Issuntril, on the European In-Game Customer Support forum] and I found the following response. I myself, residing on a PvP server, thought very little about the impact it would have on players other than the rare look of the beast, but after I read this blog post, I was deeply saddened that Blizzard had gone back on their word about being able to tame the Ghost Wolf.

Tomas "TomWolf" Forsman - January 16th, 2008 @ 1:51 am EST

When I first read about the hunter pet I was sure it was going to get janked. Then, to my own and others disbelief and utter happyness, I read that it was here to stay!

I play on Sporeggar, a pvp-rp server, and I have a very vivid character story wich is known to my entire guild and to other players as well. At level 45 my story started evolving around a new goal, to get the ghost wolf. I just recently payed overprice for the mystical nightfire diamond to prepare myself for when I get to lvl 66 and go hunting for the mystical pet.

Needless to say this pet is a big deal for me and my main character. I’ve involved a shaman player and a priest player in the storyline and we all have been roleplaying around it.

And now I read something that made me shout out bad words that I won’t repeat here…my stomache actually hurt. May sound stupid since this is only a game but it’s not…I enjoy roleplaying, I enjoy the creativity of making the story happen…and now? They lied to us. They just took away a great number of hours I’ve spent on this storyline and the goal that has been driven me. Basicly they made my main character feel joyless for me. I don’t even want to log in to that character right now.

I can only hope that blizzard reads the response on all the forums about this and realise that for once there isn’t a discussion on the topic…everyone is agreeing that this is a bad move and that they are acting like %@@*@#!s on this topic. I don’t mean no disrespect and I’m really trying hard not to use bad language right now because words I don’t want to use are exploding like fireworks in my head right now.

The thing is, I don’t powerlevel since that would go against my storyline. I level in a steady pace and didn’t want to get the wolf as soon as I could but rather get it after a long roleplayed struggle.

They say that it goes against the hunter lore but that’s not true if you think about it. In my story I use a priest and shaman to tame this beast spirit. Only with my hunters knowledge of beast nature, the shamans knowledge of nature spirit and the priests reach into the spirit world could we manage to tame this force.

So it’s not only because I want a cool pet, it destroyed my entire story.

It’s like reading the LoTR if Sauron died and the ring turned into a normal ring in the second book. Frodo would become kind of pointless…so does my character feel for me right now.


I never even once thought of how negatively hotfixes can affect a player's roleplaying experience until I read that post. I don't roleplay often but I'd like to RP more, and this post gave me a little insight on what to watch out for if/when I do RP. But still... Grats to those hunters who do have the Ghost Wolf pet because you've earned it! And to those hunters still wishing... Go camp Gondria. Lol.

And if you are a hunter and don't know about Petopia (www.wow-petopia.com), go there NAO!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Gettin' giddy about upcoming Patches!

Patch 3.1.3

I've been reading the test-realm patch notes and it looks like some fun stuff is coming up if they keep it all for the next patch release.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html

Looks like I'll be playing a lot more since Emblems of Heroism and Valor won't be available in dungeouns. I wonder if the badge loot for heroes and valors will change to Triumhp and Conquest? We'll see. Gear will be easier for me to get tho since I don't do 10 and 25 mans all too often =D.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

What's in a name?

Patch 3.1.3

My nickname, or the name I've given myself in every fandom dealing with some form of roleplaying in one way or another, is Ember Isolte. It has been my nickname since I was in the 7th grade, but you can imagine my completely unsurprised reaction to find the name "Ember" already in-use when I started playing WoW. It's one of those common but pretty unique sounding short words that get taken real fast like that. I admit I was slightly disappointed but I expected it so I wasn't too heartbroken.

So, I settled for "Emberisolte" and played a female night elf druid (on Uther US-PvE server) in a sort of tribute to my nature-loving, fire-child, wannabe-earth-religion side. I made a few more characters and took their names right out of my favorite book trilogy, New Moon by Midori Snyder, and even some of those names were taken. When I created my shaman I named her Isolte since I was lucky enough to find that name available at the time that Burning Crusade came out. I didn't even think to "reserve" it so long ago the way some people do even if they never ever play the toon. So, I still feel lucky about that one.

I got to thinkin' that it's been a long time since the game first released and I randomly searched for "Ember" on the Armory to see if one still existed on Daggerspine, and, lo and behold *scoffs sarcastically*, I found an Ember on my server; a male, level 16 paladin has my name. But, as I was about to close my browser and hop back in the game, I wanted to know more about this male pally so I clicked the name and the most wonderful error popped up:
"File not found.

This character profile either not does exist, or is temporarily unavailable while the character is transferring between realms or undergoing a name change. Please ensure that the character name was entered correctly. Characters that have been deleted are no longer available on the Armory."


Before I got my hopes up and scrambled to pay the $10 for a name change right then and there, I contacted GM in-game:
"I'd like to change the name of one of my characters (Emberjackal on Daggerspine Realm.) I've looked up the name I want (Ember) on wowarmory.com and there is a character already with that name on Daggerspine, BUT when I click the link to see its profile, it says that "the profile does not exist" or he is "undergoing a name change or pending realm transfer."

So, my question is, how do I know if that name will actually be available when I opt to purchase a name-change"


Their response in an email to me:
"We were able to make this name available for use by your request, please understand that this is a special circumstance and the GM department may not be able to intervene with such an issue in the future. We appreciate your understanding, and i'm glad that your request could be granted. Best of luck! "


I jumped for joy, busted out my credit card, and did the name-change dance! And now Emberjackal of Daggerspine is simply Ember... Flame Warden Ember. Heh heh.

"F" is for Fail...

Patch 3.1.3

...or Fun!! Or Fishing! I looted the [Bag of Fishing Treasures] from my fishing daily yesterday and got this:

[Unusual Compass]

I'm keeping it only cuz wowhead says its a 5% drop rate from the bag. I like unique novelty items too. Plus this one has a special 2 second cast that points your toon in a random direction after using it. I'll find some use for it eventually I'm sure. Some drinking game perhaps? =)