My man is big...

Patch 3.3.3

.../giggle.

Costume Design by RavenSylphe

Patch 3.3.3

One of my favorite things about Disani of RavenSylpe Productions is her fantastic ability to build amazing outfits from the gear that is available in the game-files! I absolutely adored the wardrobe she came up with for Isolte in the video for AttentionWhore and there have been few people already asking about what pieces Disani used for the three "attention-whoring" outfits.

Since people are so curious, or maybe want to build AW costumes of their own for RPing, here are the items Isolte is wearing in the video:

	Main	Gold	Red
Chest	[White Swashbuckler's Shirt]*	[Elegant Tunic]*	[Flameheart Vest]
Waist	[High Councilor's Sash]	[Embroidered Belt]	[Captain Sanders' Sash]*
Legs	[Black Mageweave Leggings]	[Elegant Leggings]	[Cindercloth Pants]
Feet	[Bandit Boots]	None	None

Enjoy!

EDIT 10:26pm: Just wanted to add that I actually have the red AW outfit in-game plus [Flameheart Bracers] for the cute-matching-the-top factor. ^_^

*These items are the only items I know of that have alternative items in-game that share the same EXACT model (color and all). There may be other items that use the same models and/or different colors as the other items I've listed above, but I personally am not aware of them nor have I done nor plan to do that much more research! ^_^

AttentionWhore on WoW.com

Patch 3.3.3

I feel so spoiled XD. I don't expect writer Michael Gray to post an article on WoW.com for all of my and Disani's machinima music vid collabs in the future, but I will say... It sure does boost my ego somethin' fierce whenever he does!! ^_^

Again, I can't express how much of an amazing job I feel Disani (Raven.Sylphe Productions) did on the video. Please, if you haven't already, go subscribe to her channel, show her some epic link-love! I am so lucky to have made a friend in such a sweet and crazy-talented woman!

Official Video: AttentionWhore

Patch 3.3.3

Complete with slexy wardrobe, trade chat spam, and [My Little Pony], I am oh so proud to present this [RavenSylphe Productions] machinima, AttentionWhore!




Disani, you are frikkin' aMAzing at what you do! I <3 you!

Bobby Kotick Hates You

Patch 3.3.3
This may not be news to you, but it was news to me because I'm a baddie when it comes to following actual news about Blizzard. So, in 2007, Activision and Blizzard got the wheels in motion for a corporate merge (which was news to me in itself), but the news that I'm really talking about is the slew of bad that Activision | Blizzard's CEO, Bobby Kotick, spewed at the Deutsche Bank Securities Technology Conference in San Francisco in September 2009, just last year.

I know it's probably really bad of me to quote another article that quotes this guy, so I won't, I'll just link it and hope you read it. ^_^ And here's another article for good measure.

TL;DR - My opinion is basically this: Bobby Kotick is a greedy businessman who is clearly unashamed of creating a horrible corporate environment for the developers who make the games he's getting rich off of, and wringing as much profit from gamers as humanly possible.

Thanks to badkarm4, a user on wowhead.com, for his informative comment on the [Celestial Steed] mount. What a way for me to find out about some filthy greedy man hiding behind my favorite game... It's so sad: A boycott of WoW would be the proper action, but... it's WoW. /sigh WoWcrack... I dunno, what do you think?

My Little Pony

Patch 3.3.3
Yes, I am also a proud owner of the new mount, [Celestial Steed]. My sweetheart waited almost 3 hours in the Blizzard store queue yesterday just to get me the pony I never thought I'd have. (When I first saw the model in a post on MMO-Champion, I figured it would be a new boss drop in Cataclysm or something. And I don't raid much. =/) But yay for new flair!

Interview with Lisa Poisso @ WoW.com

Patch 3.3.3

The interview with myself (singer) and Roninhobbit (lyricist of the ever-so-popular WoW parody, "Ninja Raiders") has been posted today on Wow.com! Check out Lisa Poisso's article here! ^_^

Edit: THANKS Romirevids for the heads up on Twitter.. or was it Facebook? Anyway, thanks for the tip! (http://youtube.com/romirevids)

My Thoughts on the Cataclysm Shaman Preview

Patch 3.3.3
Firstly, I must say that I am very excited to know that Blizzard really is thinking about shamans! Long blue post means lots of thoughtful stuff, right? XP Now that I've had the opportunity to sit and actually read it, (yes, I was just so excited to see some blue about shamans that I robotically reposted it to spread the news) here are my thoughts on the Cataclysmic plans for shamans... Pun fully intended. And just a tiny reminder: This opinion is coming from an enhancement/off resto shaman who hasn't healed anything since Kara, and hasn't experienced the Ele tree in her entire Azerothian life.

New Spells

Primal Strike (lvl 3) - I'm happy to hear about this one since it will introduce the melee way to play way earlier on in the game.

Healing Wave (lvl 4) - I am curious about the specifics of this one since its a new addition, not just a change (with the current Healing Wave changing into Greater Healing Wave). The two existing "Waves" are a no brainer depending on your situation, so I hope the new addition doesn't just confuse the hell outa me.

Unleash Weapon (lvl 81) - sounds like tons of fun for everyone! I know nobody uses it, but I still think its funny that Blizzard didn't mention anything about Rockbiter Weapon.. lol.

Healing Rain (lvl 83) - Sounds to me like it's gonna be the OP, OMG-nerf-our heals-NAO kinda spell even WITH the diminishing returns (OMG, it just hit me, especially with Spiritwalker's Grace, the next new spell, or Natures Swiftness). But, it really depends on how much the HoT ticks for, so I guess we'll know of its effectiveness when it goes live.

Spiritwalker's Grace (lvl 85) - It's macro time!

/cast Spiritwalker's Grace

/cast Astral Recall

And continue running the hell away! I can pretend I'm a pally... kinda sorta. Lol. I'm excited about this spell not only cuz I'm a chicken, but for the major improvement it will provide for Elemental and Resto shamans. Flame Wall anyone? I can't see this spell being very much of a benefit for enhancement, but maybe something will hit me later.. other than running away from PvP like a little girl. XP

Changes to Abilities and Mechanics

I'll just go down Vaneras' bulletted list with my commentary. (Please refer to the blizz post for what they actually said.

• Resto nerf regarding mana.. unless resto shamans always stacked Spirit and I'm just way out of the loop. But Blizzard's already been planning to get rid of MP5, SP, and AP on gear, so maybe this is a result of making up for that stat change? I dunno. Have resto shamans always relied on MP5 more than spirit? Because I'm an ignorant healer and I thought spirit was always the main mana-regen stat. Maybe I'm just too used to watching my husband heal sh*t on his druid.
• The addition of Cleanse Spirit (even if it is remove-curse only) as a baseline ability = nice. No more removing poisons = nerf. :(
• No more Cleansing Totem?! HUGE NERF FOR PvE!!! "We will balance PvE dispelling with this new model in mind." Good luck with that.
• So long Flametongue Totem. /wave I will miss your pretty little snake head icon on my action bar. Yay for percentages instead of flat numbers. And wow.. Maybe I should just respec elemental? Searing Totem at range?! WOOT! (as in the, "I Want One Of Those" kind of woot.) What a fun addition for Ele's if it goes live!
• Increasing CD on Lava Lash = nerf until I know more about Primal Strikes and all the other cool abilities Blizz wants to "free up Enhancement global cooldowns" for. The fact that the person who wrote this post used the word "rotation" in regards to Enhancement kinda makes me worried if he or she even knows what they're talking about. (Side note: Nethaera, if I'm remembering the name right, posted the same exact text about the Shaman class changes on the US WoW forums, so I'm not personally saying anything about Vaneras nor Nethaera.. just sayin'.. enhance don't rotate! We prioritize. Haha, but then again, I'm most likely just being way too anal about specific language use...*rolls eyes at herself* Moving on!

New Talents and Changes

Earthquake sounds pretty cool, and may make AoE leveling the way to go when the talent becomes available to a player. Spirit Link will be a literal lifesaver. ^_^ And the plans for a new Elemental talent to buff Hit Rating with Spirit will be nice for dual spec'd ele/resto shamans since Spirit will be the stat to look for on gear for both. I'm kinda sad about the planned change for Ancestral Knowledge (changing it from boosting intellect to straight mana), because that may be a huge nerf for enhancement since as it is now, Intellect can be talented to boost our AP. But maybe the switch of the talent Enhancing Totems to Focused Strikes will make up in dps for the AP loss? I haven't read up on the new Mastery System and how it wil work yet, but regarding the passive bonuses: the fact that they're considering removing of some of those passive-bonus-providing talents will be a relief IMO! I always have a hard time deciding how to spend my talents, so I'm looking forward to not only having more talents to spend on other cool/new stuff, but also being able to make the decision more easily without resorting to searching the internet for "the best build".

In general, I believe that Blizzard is taking a huge step in making the shaman class a helluvalot more fun to play, not that it isn't already!

Cataclysm Class Preview - Shaman

Patch 3.3.3
Ok, I'm soooper excited!

Posted by Vaneras (Source) - From the official wow-europe.com forums.

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, we’ll be making lots of changes and additions to class talents and abilities across the board. In this preview, you’ll get an early look at some of the changes in store for the shaman class, including a rundown of some of the new spells, abilities, and talents, and an overview of how the new Mastery system will work with the different talent specs.

New Shaman Spells

Primal Strike (available at level 3): Primal Strike is a new weapon-based attack that every shaman will learn very early in the game. Our goal with this ability is to make leveling as Enhancement rather than as Elemental more viable, since many key Enhancement talents become available at fairly high levels.

Healing Wave (level 4): While the shaman already has an ability called Healing Wave, we’re adding another spell to the class’s direct-healing arsenal and giving it a familiar name. The current Healing Wave will be renamed Greater Healing Wave, and the intent is for the “new” Healing Wave to be the shaman’s go-to heal. Lesser Healing Wave and Greater Healing Wave will be used on a more situational basis.

Unleash Weapon (level 81): Unleashes the power of your weapon enchants for additional effects (see below). A dual-wielding Enhancement shaman will activate the effects of both of their weapon enchants. Instant cast. 30-yard range. 15-second cooldown. Undispellable.

Here are a few examples of effects we’re considering for this ability:

• Windfury Weapon – Hurls a spectral version of your weapon at a target, dealing 50% weapon damage and increasing the shaman’s Haste for the next five swings.
• Flametongue Weapon – Deals instant Fire damage and buffs the shaman’s next Fire attack by 20%.
• Earthliving Weapon – Heals the target slightly and buffs the shaman’s next healing spell by 20%.

Healing Rain (level 83): An area-effect heal-over-time (HoT) spell that calls down rain in a selected area, healing all players within it. There is no limit to the number of players who can potentially be affected; however, there are diminishing returns when healing a large number of targets, much like the diminishing returns associated with AoE damage spells. This should give Restoration shaman another healing tool that improves their group-healing and heal-over-time capabilities. 2-second cast time. 30-yard range. 10-second duration. 10-second cooldown.

Spiritwalker’s Grace (level 85): When this self-targeted buff is active, your spells are no longer interrupted by movement and possibly even by your own attacks. This will give shaman of all three specs another way to heal or do damage when it’s necessary to move in both PvE and PvP. Instant cast. 10-second duration. 2-minute cooldown.

Changes to Abilities and Mechanics

In addition to adding new spells, we’re planning to make changes to some of the other abilities and mechanics you’re familiar with. This list and the summary of talent changes below it are by no means comprehensive, but they should give you a good sense of what we intend for each spec.

• Restoration shaman and other healing classes will need to pay attention to mana more than they’ve had to during Wrath of the Lich King. Spirit will be the Restoration shaman's primary mana-regeneration stat.
• We’re making changes to which classes and specs are able to dispel magic, diseases, curses, and poison, largely for PvP purposes. Shaman will have Cleanse Spirit as a baseline ability, but it will only remove curses. Restoration shaman will have a talent that will improve Cleanse Spirit so that it also removes magic. Shaman will no longer be able to remove poison.
• Cleansing Totem will be removed from the game, as we want dispels to be a decision for players, not something done mindlessly. To that end, all dispels will cost slightly more mana, and you will waste the spell if you cast it when there is nothing to remove. (Currently, the dispel is only cast when there is something to remove, which encourages spamming “just in case.”) We will balance PvE dispelling with this new model in mind.
• Totem of Wrath now will replace Flametongue Totem for all shaman, and dropping this totem will buff the group’s spell power by 4%. Elemental shaman will have a talent that lets all Fire totems provide +10% spell power, allowing them to drop Searing, Magma, or Fire Elemental Totems without losing their spell-damage buff. The 4% and 10% buffs will be exclusive with each other and with the warlock’s Demonic Pact, so you can’t benefit from all of them at once. We’re also considering letting Elemental drop Searing Totem at range.
• We want to free up Enhancement global cooldowns to make the spec more dynamic to play. We’re considering, for example, increasing the cooldown of Lava Lash so shaman have time to work other interesting abilities into their rotation.

New Talents and Talent Changes

• Elemental Reach will be simplified so shaman have a more consistent spell range.
• We plan to add Earthquake as a deep Elemental talent for targeted and persistent AoE.
• Spirit Link will likely be worked back into deep Restoration in some form. The idea is that you will be able to link targets together so they share damage. When we had previously tried to implement Spirit Link, it was hard to balance and a little confusing. However, we really liked the concept -- and so did players -- so we are trying to bring it back.
• Elemental will have a deep talent that allows Spirit (which will appear on the gear they share with Restoration shaman) to boost their Hit rating.
• Ancestral Knowledge will boost mana pool size, not Intellect.
• Enhancing Totems will be replaced with Focused Strikes, which will improve the damage of the new spell Primal Strike and Stormstrike.
• With the Mastery system, we’re also considering removing a number of talents that grant passive bonuses, such as Mental Quickness, Improved Windfury Totem, Mental Dexterity, Call of Thunder, Tidal Mastery, Purification, Nature’s Blessing, and others, to allow players more freedom to choose more interesting talents.

Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses 
Elemental
Spell damage
Spell Crit
Elemental Overload

Enhancement
Melee damage
Melee Haste
Nature Damage

Restoration
Healing
Meditation
Deep Healing

Elemental Overload: Your direct-damage spells have a chance to proc a less powerful “bonus" version of the spell. This will work much like the current Lightning Overload talent, but would also apply to Lava Burst.

Nature Damage: This will provide a passive bonus to the Nature damage dealt by the Enhancement shaman.

Deep Healing: Your direct heals will do more healing when the target’s health is lower. This will scale to damage (e.g. someone at 29% health would receive more healing than someone at 30%) rather than have arbitrary break points.

We hope you enjoyed this preview, and we’re looking forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback on these additions and changes. Please keep in mind that this information represents a work in progress and is subject to change as development on Cataclysm continues.

Happy Noblegarden!

Patch 3.3.3
Hey everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! I know some of you may have spent Easter Sunday getting all your achievements for Noblegarden completed if you didn't last year. But for those of you who haven't yet started, here is my guide for getting the most out of your Noblegarden week!

If you're planning to get "the Noble" title, here's what you'll want to do!

1. Speak to a "Commoner" NPC in various capital cities to pick up the quest Spring Gatherers (Horde) or Spring Collectors (Alliance).
2. Go to a starting area. I personally recommend Azure Watch (Draenei area to the east of the Exodar) for Alliance and Falconwing Square (Blood elf area just west of Silvermoon City) for Horde. The respawn rate of the Brightly Colored Eggs that you will be hunting for in these areas are the fastest IMO, while both areas are also small, allowing for less time running/more time looting!
3. Pick up the daily [The Great Egg Hunt] (Alliance)/(Horde) and [A Tisket, A Tasket, a Noblegarden Basket] (Alliance)/(Horde)
4. With the Tisket, Tasket quest you will receive an item that I highly recommend equipping and using the entire time you're running around searching for eggs: an [Egg Basket]. It's basically a nonstop sprint buff if you use it consistently. ^_^ I mapped the item temporarily to one of my mouse buttons for ease of use.
5. Start searching! Looting your first egg will give you [I Found One!]. The eggs spawn in some pretty well hidden areas beside posts, in bushes, atop lamps, in crates, and underneath wagons, so you'll have to keep your eyes peeled because they don't "loot sparkle". And they only spawn in the starting areas, so no need to wander off outside the area to look for more.. there just won't be any!
   
   
   
6. Find at least 115 x Brightly Colored Eggs. Your inventory will fill with these fast since they don't stack, but the [Noblegarden Chocolates] stack to 20. You loot one [Noblegarden Chocolate] per Brightly Colored Egg and the chocolates are the currency you use to buy items from the Noblegarden Vendor. Don't worry about buying anything just yet because there is a chance to loot almost* every item he/she sells from your many, many Brightly Colored Eggs!
   * The only two items you must buy are (if you are a mage interested in a new Polymorph spell) [Tome of Polymorph: Rabbit] and at least 1 x [Noblegarden Egg]. The Rabbit Polymorph Tome costs 100 x [Noblegarden Chocolates], in which case I'd recommend you find 215 x  Brightly Colored Eggs total.
   Here are the items that may possibly drop when you loot your Brightly Colored Eggs:

1. [White Tuxedo Shirt] - You must loot one of these for [Sunday's Finest], however this achievement is not a meta requirement for [Noble Gardener]. I can pretty much guarantee that you'll loot at least one of these from an egg.
2. [Black Tuxedo Pants] - You must loot one of these for [Sunday's Finest], however this achievement is not a meta requirement for [Noble Gardener]. Again, I can pretty much guarantee that you'll loot at least one of these from an egg.
3. [Spring Robes] 
4. [Spring Circlet] 
5. [Blossoming Branch]
6. [Spring Flowers] 
7. [Elegant Dress] - You must loot one of these from an egg if you'd like to achieve [Dressed for the Occasion]. This achievement, however, is not a meta requirement for [Noble Gardener], so if you want your "the Noble" title, don't worry if you don't loot this dress from your eggs. ^_^ The drop rate of this item is a lot lower than the Tuxedo Pants and Shirt. 
8. [Spring Rabbit's Foot]



7. Here's a macro I made to make your life easier! It's a one button click for opening and looting your eggs without even having to open your bags! Tip: To create a macro type "/m" and hit enter or go to the Game Menu (Esc) and click "Macros". Click New and name it "Egg", select an icon, press "Okay" and click in the text field and type in the following making sure to have each command on its own line:
   
   

   
   

   /use Brightly Colored Egg
   /loot Noblegarden Chocolate
   /loot Spring Rabbit's Foot
   /loot Blossoming Branch
   /loot Elegant Dress
   /loot White Tuxedo Shirt
   /loot Black Tuxedo Pants
   /loot Spring Flowers
   /loot Spring Robes
   /loot Spring Circlet

   And drag that Egg button onto your action bar somewhere and click away before your inventory gets too full!
   
8. Loot your eggs for the quest items. Note: when you turn in [A Tisket, A Tasket, A Noblegarden Basket], you turn in 10 Chocolates and your [Egg Basket], but you get another, exact same [Egg Basket] upon completion. Just re-equip the new one/remap your action bar if you need to.
9. Eat 100x[Noblegarden Chocolates] for [Chocolate Lover] & [Chocoholic]. The 25 chocolates you eat for the first achievement do count toward the 100 for the second. ^_^
10. Make sure you have all of these necessary items before traveling for the other achievements:
    

    [White Tuxedo Shirt], [Black Tuxedo Pants], [Spring Robes], [Spring Rabbit] (pet), [Spring Flowers], [Blossoming Branch] and at least 1 x [Noblegarden Egg] that must have been purchased from the Noblegarden vendor.

    If you were UN-lucky enough to NOT loot any one of these items from an egg, you'll have to find more Eggs to buy one from the vendor, or hope that you'll loot the item soon. ^_^
11. Equip your Tuxedo Shirt and Pants and /kiss someone wearing an Elegant Dress for [Blushing Bride].
12. Keep your eyes peeled while you're traveling for females of all races of at least lvl 18 for [Shake Your Bunny Maker]. It helps a lot to track this achievement to see who you've already bunny'd. :)
13. Take your new pet bunny to all of the other starting areas to watch it make sweet bunny luvin' to other players bunnies for [Spring Fling]. Pro Tip: Bring a friend who has a bunny already to save time. And don't forget to hide your [Brightly Colored Egg] in Silvermoon City or Stormwind for [Noble Garden] (Alliance)/(Horde).
14. Grab a [Blossoming Branch] and a buddy who also has a [Blossoming Branch], take the portal in Dalaran's Violet Citadel to Tanaris. Equip and use your [Spring Robes] to knock Tanaris off the [Desert Rose] list on your way to Un'Goro Crater, Golakka Hot Springs. Use your branches on each other and wait to lay an egg for [Hard Boiled]. ^_^ After that, head to Silithus, equip your [Spring Robes] again and use it for [Desert Rose] again.
15. Finish off [Desert Rose] by traveling to the other deserts.
16. Finish off [Shake Your Bunny Maker]. Good luck with this one, female trolls, orcs, and dwarves were the most difficult femmes for me to find! I hope you have better luck!
17. You should be all done now, complete with [Noble Gardener]. ^_^

If I missed something, or you have a special tip, please leave a comment! And remember, Noblegarden ends at 11:59 Server Time on April 10th!

Huntard Update

Patch 3.3.3

Shh, don't tell anyone, but I've been playing a horde rogue for a li'l while now. (I think some of you may already have known this if you're following me on Twitter or paying attention to me that closely. O_O) But anyway, she used to recently be a troll too 'cuz I created her during the Love is in the Air event specifically for the Fistfull of Love meta achieve, but my honey paid for a race change so I could play a pretty blood elf. I would have rerolled, but she was already lvl 43, had all [Frostweave Bags], high lvl Mining/Engineering, and a few achievements under her belt, but that's beside the point. Anyway...

So, my hubster and I were questing in Un'Goro Crater last night, he on his mage, me on my rogue, and we ran into King Mosh. Mind you, I already had an Ironhide Devilsaur tamed for my hunter and that was even after abandoning the first plain ol' albino-looking Devilsaur I had. But since the red T-rex model is my favorite of the four currently available, I just had to tame King Mosh!

Side note: I know that I could have just searched Un'Goro for an un-rare elite Tyrant Devilsaur, but the fact that this was King Mosh made the tame that much more satisfying.

So, I logged out and hopped on my hunter, took the portal from the Violet Citadel to Tanaris, flew from Gadgetzan to Un'Goro, and ran to meet Nuku still on his mage. I placed a Freezing Trap and began taming... I was so excited that I never looked up any tips on taming him! So, ya... he feared me. And my hunter is only lvl 78 in blues and greens, so she was a li'l squshy. After the 3rd and 4th try, Nuku joined me on his druid.

New Plan: Nuku aggro Mosh, I start taming the second he gets feared.

TL;DR: After about 10 tries taming King Mosh, I have a new Devilsaur pet for my hunter. ^_^

So... what should I name him? Suggestions from myself and Nuku: Moshpit, Moshroom, Tony. I'm open to any and all. =D Thanks!

For the record...

Patch 3.3.3

I did not delete my main. ^_^ I did, however, create and delete a lvl 1 toon on another server for the April Fool's video. I feel bad to have fooled some people. But I am proud of my video editing skills. XD I even moved my character list up a slot so it looks like Isolte wasn't in it anymore. XP Oh, and I only blurred out my alts because I do like to have some privacy. Hehe.

And thank you to those of you who knew that the video was a fake but you still played along. It was fun for a day. But to everyone who may be slightly offended that I played a joke on you, I am very sorry, I just couldn't resist. It's been years since my last April Fool's prank and I don't even remember it being successful in tricking anyone.. at all. Lol. Thanks for playing with me. ^_^ /hugs all around.

Ok, ok... April Fools!

Patch 3.3.3

ragequit

Patch 3.3.3



Please watch with annotations turned ON.