Formed in 2009, the Archive Team (not to be confused with the archive.org Archive-It Team) is a rogue archivist collective dedicated to saving copies of rapidly dying or deleted websites for the sake of history and digital heritage. The group is 100% composed of volunteers and interested parties, and has expanded into a large amount of related projects for saving online and digital history.
I was rather excited about the new quiver & ammo pouch set for Hunters on the Trading Post this month. It was the first thing I purchased — or maybe the second, after the evening gloves 😛
Then I went to put together a new outfit for my Hunter, and the Stylin’ Adventure Hat just wasn’t quite what I wanted. The hat I wanted was the Battered Jungle Hat.
I thought for sure I’d already acquired a Battered Jungle Hat at some point with all the various times I’ve done Marcia Chase’s Fishing dailies for one purpose or another. I looked in my Guild bank, and I looked in the banks of all the characters I thought were most likely to have it, and I just couldn’t find the darn thing.
So now I have six characters — Tauren Hunter, Warrior, Paladin, Priest, Monk, and Death Knight — hearthed to the Ledgerdemain Lounge in Wrath Dalaran, diligently doing Northrend Fishing dailies as my first priority activity in Azeroth each day.
Posted in Hunter, Professions, Trading Post, Transmogrification, Wrath of the Lich King | 2 Comments »
Moist lips touched Eldric’s dry ones, and he heard her voice, as if from far away.
“Beast! Oh, my sweet Beast! Wake up! Don’t be dead. Wake up! I love you. I will be your wife. Wake up! I need you!”
A weight lifted off his chest, and he heard her sobbing.
His breathing eased. His head cleared. He opened his eyes and slowly, achingly, sat up. He felt… lighter, somehow.
Corinne was turned away from him, her face in her hands. Her honey-colored hair fell in a disheveled tangle down her back.
“Corinne!” Eldric’s voice sounded strange in his ears. “I’m awake. I’m here. What do you need, my love?”
Corinne turned around. The joy on her face flashed instantly into horror, through revulsion, and settled on rage.
“Eldric!” she snarled. “How did you get here? Where is my Beast? What have you done with him? If you have killed him, I will kill you.”
She reached into the saddlebags flung on the grass beside her and yanked out a smaller version of the rifles that Eldric had, in recent years, been seeing the hunters in the woods surrounding the castle carrying more and more frequently. She held it out in front of her with both hands, leveling the barrel at his chest with a terrible expression on her face.
Bewildered, Eldric looked around. His gaze caught his hands. They were… small. Hairless. Clawless.
He was human again.
“Corinne!” He backed away from her, hurriedly pulling off his vest, his shirt, his undershirt. “I am your Beast. Look! Here are the scars I showed you, from the years I spent learning my way through that maze of thorns around the castle!”
They were still there, pale ridges criss-crossing his now much smaller, much less hairy torso and arms.
She dropped the strange small rifle, one hand going to her heart and the other to her mouth.
“He — was — you — all that time? You — were — him — all that time?” Her voice was hoarse with grief, rage, horror, astonishment.
“Yes.” Eldric looked down at his hands again, feeling suddenly ashamed. “The sorcerer cursed me, too. I couldn’t figure out how to tell you. I was afraid that you would throw away everything you’d come to know about who I am now and reject me. Must I win your heart again? Must I prove to your mind that I am no longer the spoiled prince you tried to escape?” Without conscious intention, his voice had turned pleading.
Emotions fought in Corinne’s face.
“Yes,” she said, after a long silence, “and when you have, I will marry you. Now put your shirt back on. We need to save our kingdom.”
~*~*~
This is a story that I’ve been iterating, off and on, since I was thirteen. I could never quite decide at which point in the timeline of the story the presentation of the story ought to begin, and there were large chunks of the middle of the plot and character development that I couldn’t quite work out. After the kids’ bedtime tonight, I was thinking about my almost-two-year-old’s current favorite story, Interrupting Chicken, and its version of fractured fairytales started me thinking about the fractured fairytales assignment in the interdisciplinary first year experience course that I team-teach with two colleagues during Fall semester, and that started this story unspooling in my mind again — with a few new tweaks. Perhaps inspired by Kaylriene’s post about his month of Twitter streaming — and perhaps because I am procrastinating putting together the last OChem unit exam of the year — I decided to just write it up here on WordPress and post it.
As it happens, the story is beginning where it originally began when I first started composing it at thirteen: at “The End”, with the rest of the story to be told in (probably non-chronologically-sequential) flashbacks.
No guarantees about if/when other installments of this story might appear!
Posted in fractured fairytale, original story, Real Life, Time Lapse | 4 Comments »
Waveborne Diplomat’s Regalia with Freeport Falchion and Tortollan Traveling Lantern
Somewhat surprisingly, the newest cash shop Mog set wasn’t an instant must-have for me. I was dubious of the puffed sleeves, thinking they’d make the chestpiece, for all of its other nifty details, difficult to mix-and-match with. After a bit of looking at the preview in the cash shop interface with different characters, I figured out that the puffy upper sleeves are actually a shoulder armor item — rather clever, I think.
Then Kayliddia stuck her hand up and said, “It’s going to be forever and a day before you get around to leveling me so I can get my Heritage Armor, so I need that now.”
Posted in Human (Kul Tiran), RP Clothes, Transmogrification |
My oldest has been doing well in kindergarten. He’s gotten good at figuring out a word by putting together the letter sounds, and he knows most of the “high frequency” words in the caterpillar that’s been growing on our living room wall. He can read words in simple stories.
He is by no means literate enough yet to read quest text*…
He discovered Transmogrification, but his lowbie toons didn’t have any money. I told him he needed to do quests to get money. I taught him the elementary skills of questing: talk to the person who is sparkling**, pick up things on the ground that are sparkling, loot your kills, the silver arrowhead on the minimap is you and the yellow arrow is pointing where you need to go and when you get to the right place the arrow turns into a yellow dot. I’ve given him occasional help with specific quests that have trickier requirements (such as the one to /wave at the ogre chef in Exile’s Reach).
I’ve been amazed by what he’s managed to figure out how to do on his own.
He can get all the way through Exile’s Reach, the Demon Hunter starting zone, the Dracthyr starting zone, the Warlords of Draenor Dark Portal to Garrison introductory scenario, the Legion Broken Shore introductory scenario, the Battle for Azeroth rescue of Talanji from Stormwind introductory scenario, and the Shadowlands escape from the Maw introductory scenario.
Without reading***.
I’ve shown him how to take the skips for the expansion introduction scenarios, but he likes to play through them. He plays through them over and over, deleting a character he already has# to roll up yet another new Zandalari Troll or Nightborne to do it again. He peppers me with questions about the characters and the storylines (I am so tired of answering questions about Sylvanas…) and I tell him, “kid, you know that better than I do by now.”
~*~*~
*Or, thankfully, city chat channels. I ought to teach him to leave city chat channels whenever he comes into a capital city for the first time with a new alt now, so that he’s already in the habit of automatically getting out of them by the time he’s literate enough to know what they’re saying….
**I don’t use Outline mode because I’m too lazy to turn it off and then back on again when I want to take Sunday Mog Show screenshots. I still have to contend with sparkles in my screenshots, but I think they’re less distracting.
***He doesn’t go out and do any regular zone questing, though, so perhaps it might be better to say that one doesn’t need reading to do an on-rails scenario questing experience.
#My account only has about 8 slots that aren’t filled with my own toons, so I had to teach him how to type “delete” soon after he started wanting to make his own characters instead of just playing with my Night Elf Druid and the Orc Hunter I’d created for him when I first began allowing him to play WoW.
Posted in Alts, Battle for Azeroth, Legion, Nightborne, Questing, Real Life, Shadowlands, Silly, Troll (Zandalari), Warlords of Draenor | 6 Comments »
Kamalia did the patch 10.0.7 questline with Baine and Scout Tomul in the Ohn’ahran Plains last night.
One of the key themes of the questline is confronting and overcoming the hatred and mistrust that the Tauren of modern Kalimdor have for Centaur because of the post-Sundering generational warfare between Centaur and Tauren on that continent*.
I’ve thought — briefly — before about how Thunder Bluff having been established following the events of Warcraft III means that Kamalia would have spent most of her life prior to the beginning of World of Warcraft as a nomad. Until I was playing through this new questline, though, I didn’t have any sense that her nomadic experience would have involved constant fleeing from, fear of, and hatred of the Centaur.
Though the arrival of the Orcs saves the Tauren from extinction at the hooves of the Centaur in Warcraft III, I feel like what mentions of that history exist in World of Warcraft‘s quests in Mulgore, the Barrens, and even Desolace — in both Classic and Cataclysm** — don’t convey that aspect of Tauren history & culture very effectively at all. The Harpies, Gnolls, and Quillboar are presented as equally important threats as the Centaur. Nothing that I remember of my leveling experience suggested this degree of cultural trauma:
I feel like I might have felt differently about Kamalia’s interactions with the Centaur of the Ohn’ahran Plains when I first played through that zone if I had understood that the conflict between the Tauren and the Centaur in Kalimdor was that horrific.
~*~*~
*In contrast, Lasan Skyhorn, standing near the flight master in Maruukai, comments that Highmountain Tauren do not have this prejudice.
**Perhaps it’s time to play through those zones again, paying more careful attention to the quest text in both text panes and chat bubble dialogs, in Retail with Kazithra/Kaiuna and also in Classic…
Posted in Cataclysm, Classic/Vanilla, Dragonflight, Kamalia, Questing, Story/RP/Lore, Tauren | 2 Comments »
Yeah yeah there was a patch this week, and I did some of the new stuff, but more importantly, it was Spring Trial of Style!
Trial of Style: Crimson Creations
Red Pointy Hat, Devouring Pellicle Shoulderpads (M), Phoenix-Wing Cloak, Scarlet Sin’dorei Robes, Voidweave Cilice, Infernoweave Boots, Twisted Visage
I got this theme first, and then again a round or two later, and this outfit placed 3rd both times. I participated in Trial of Style a few more times to get enough Tokens for all the new goodies I wanted to acquire, and a couple of those times I even placed 1st — but the outfits I made for the themes of those rounds were just minimally modified ensembles or previously saved outfits, so I won’t share them here.
Trial of Style: Winter Wear
Boneshredder set with Crimson Beanie, Swashbuckling Buccaneer’s Sash, and Miniature Winter Veil Tree
This theme was so easy for a dagger-wielding leather wearer 😀 This outfit placed 2nd, which was enough tokens to get the leather items I wanted.
Trial of Style: Going Green
Fel-Proof Goggles, Pauldrons of the Unrelenting, Silithid Carapace Chestguard, Jade’s Lovely Shirt, Ooze-Ridden Gauntlets, Felforged Waistplate, Zanj’ir Scaleguard Wargreaves/Emerald Legplates, Boots of the Colossus, Supposed Mace/Light’s Justice, Gizlock’s Hypertech Buckler/Aegis of the Sunbird
Karaelia had been feeling like she needed a new outfit, so I sent her to the Trial of Style to get the Anointed Crusader’s Claymore and the Jade Arcus. I got “Going Green” for her first theme, then iterated that outfit for all of her rounds, changing usually just the hat and weapons to approximately fit whatever the theme was. After several rounds of not placing, these versions placed 3rd for the themes Profession Expression (except that she’s not really an Engineer — she’s a Jewelcrafter) and Summer Styles.
Sailor’s Success
Crimson Beanie/Dread Captain’s Chapeau, Swashbuckling Buccaneer’s Tunic, Swashbuckling Buccaneer’s Sash, Seafarer’s Pantaloons, Buccaneer’s Boots, Torch of Austen + Gnomish Liquid Transfer Apparatus/Admiral Taylor’s Cutlass + Mistyreed Torch, Cap’n Crackers
A new pirate hat wants another pirate outfit remix to go with it!
WTB a staff that looks like a mop so I can really be a swabbie.
Apprentice Soupervisor
Ancestral Chieftain’s Headdress, Frostwolf Spaulders, Rivermane War Harness, Ottuk Hide Vest, Rustic Workman’s Shirt, Frostwolf Mitts, Miststalker’s Belt, Frostwolf Leggings, Ottuk Hide Waders, Big Kinook’s Spare Ladle
I was looking for alternate shoulders to go with the Ottuk Hide set, and this mashup with the Frostwolf set from Warlords kind of just happened.
~*~*~
This series of posts began because I set myself a goal to document new Transmogrification outfits in a more timely fashion. As soon as I create a new outfit, I write it up in a draft post. As the weekend approaches, I start working on taking fashion screenshots, processing them, and updating “Things my [Class] Wears” posts. On Sunday — though not every Sunday — I publish the collection of my recent efforts. Then I begin the next “Sunday on the Promenade” draft post.<
Occasionally, I have ideas for themed Transmogrification collections that take several months to completely assemble. Thus, some of these outfits might get re-posted at a later date as part of such a themed Transmogrification collection.
Posted in Sunday Mog Show, Transmogrification |
Well, I went and collected all the new Dragonriding Glyphs so I could get my drakes some brakes. Kamalia set her hearth to the Forbidden Reach. I’ll work on the Forbidden Reach questline some more another day.
I’m keenly interested in the new Tauren lore in the Ohn’ahran Plains, but I think I’ll wait a week or two to do the questchain so that my screenshots won’t be quite so cluttered up with other players 😛
Posted in Dracthyr, Dragonflight, Questing |
Kamalia continues to slowly advance in Reputation and Renown in the Dragon Isles. She recently reached Renown 14 with the Dragonscale Expedition and unlocked the Renowned Expeditioner’s sets for everyone. This handsome brown and green coloration is my favorite version of this armor style — though I am rather partial to the turquoise and silver quest versions, too. Additionally, Kamalia’s efforts to gain friendship with Sabellian have succeeded enough to allow her Mage friends to acquire the Sabellian’s Battlegear set. Although a Cloth-wearer must purchase and learn the Sabellian’s Battlegear set, once it has been learned by that character, its pieces will show up in the Appearances collections of characters of other armor classes, as well!
Renowned Expeditioner’s Cloth
Renowned Expeditioner’s Cloth Armor with Vital Headband, Imperial Lotus Cloak, and Drakewatcher’s Beacon
Hood models have gotten a lot better since Classic. I still don’t like them.
Renowned Expeditioner’s Leather
Renowned Expeditioner’s Leather Armor with Headdress of the Sleeper, Renowned Expeditioner’s Cloak, and Wildfury Greatstaff
The set hat isn’t bad… it just seems better suited to a Rogue or a Monk than a Druid.
Renowned Expeditioner’s Mail
Renowned Expeditioner’s Mail Armor with Emerald Winglord’s Coif, Renowned Expeditioner’s Armored Shawl, Expedition Dissection Knife, and Hoursteel Barrier
Although I kind of like the concept of a visor that has been pushed up on the set hat, somehow I’d still rather just choose another hat.
Renowned Expeditioner’s Plate
Renowned Expeditioner’s Plate Armor with Obsidian Drakonid Helmet, Emerald Shroud of Loyalty, and Hammer of Ten Thunders
Keija spent just enough time in the Dragon Isles to collect 750 Dragon Isles Supplies to get this kit. I found Fury Warrior rather fun to play in the process and might level her all the way to 70 sometime later in the expansion.
This ensemble also looks rather hilariously awesome with the LFR Helmet of the Last Mogu.
Sable Sorceress
Sabellian’s Battlegear Cloth Armor with Jewel of the Firelord and Shadow Wing Focus Staff
Kamalia’s efforts to gain friendship with Sabellian have succeeded enough to allow her Mage friends to acquire the Sabellian’s Battlegear set. Sadly, Baron Sablemane in Outland hasn’t been updated to Sabellian’s Dragonflight Visage form model. Being something of a Mog nerd, I recognized this ensemble (minus the unique shoulders, of course) as a recolor of the Elite Cataclysmic Gladiator’s Silk Armor worn by Archmage Karlain in Legion Dalaran.
~*~*~
This series of posts began because I set myself a goal to document new Transmogrification outfits in a more timely fashion. As soon as I create a new outfit, I write it up in a draft post. As the weekend approaches, I start working on taking fashion screenshots, processing them, and updating “Things my [Class] Wears” posts. On Sunday — though not every Sunday — I publish the collection of my recent efforts. Then I begin the next “Sunday on the Promenade” draft post.
Occasionally, I have ideas for themed Transmogrification collections that take several months to completely assemble. Thus, some of these outfits might get re-posted at a later date as part of such a themed Transmogrification collection.
Posted in Sunday Mog Show, Transmogrification | 2 Comments »
Based on how quickly I finished up the Traveler’s Log last month, I was going to let the Traveler’s Log points accrue as they would this month, until it occurred to me that I’d want to take pictures with this months’ Ultimate item at the Darkmoon Faire while it was still in session. So I pushed a little bit to get it done this week.
Kamalia et alia passed its 13th blogiversary this week. After I reached the 10th one, I stopped paying attention to when my blogiversary would be coming up and have been a bit surprised each year when I get the “happy anniversary!” notification from WordPress.
The Titans’ Fool
Darkmoon Harlequin’s Bells with Pink Party Hat, Cloak of the Darkmoon Faire, Aluneth (hidden, tint 1)/Staff of Dominance/Blade of Savagery + Omega Orb*/Depraved Ritualist’s Kris + Dreamseeker Dandelion/Groady Goblin Wand + Night Courtier’s Lyre/Torch of Austen + Mistyreed Torch
As I don’t like masks in general, I’ve chosen the most utterly obvious — and fortunately also at least somewhat coordinating — alternate hat. If there was a version of the Fae Revel Masque in some kind of gold tone, it would be a brilliant choice to wear with the Harlequin’s Bells, but alas, the purplish-silver just doesn’t quite work.
I’ve shown here weapon suggestions for all the weapon types a Mage can use; there are of course other great options for each weapon type. I’ve also shown my favorite option for a staff that one not fortunate enough to be a Mage could use.
If you simply must wear the set hat, the Felsoul Staff complements the style and has Darkmoon Faire-appropriate colors.
Harlequin’s Hoard
Darkmoon Harlequin’s Bells with Demonic Gladiator’s Leather Helm, Trusty Treasure Trove, Demonic Gladiator’s Leather Slippers, Surgeon’s Needle and Rolfsen’s Ripper
I couldn’t decide which of these fancy daggers I liked better with this ensemble, so I used them both!
Darkmoon Trickshot
Darkmoon Harlequin’s Bells with Bronze-Tinted Sunglasses, Gauntlets of the Dragonslayer, Dragonstalker’s Greaves, and Thas’dorah (upgraded, tint 1)
Getting most of these screenshots was more like “lucky” shots than “trick” shots — I don’t think I could capture any of those exact frames of the animation again if I was trying for them.
Darkmoon Chuckler
Darkmoon Harlequin’s Bells with The Horseman’s Horrific Hood, Cloak of the Darkmoon Faire, and Darkmoon Hammer
This was just too good of a combo to pass up. Keija probably won’t wear it long before insisting on something else, though.
And of course I couldn’t resist playing mix-and-match with Harlequin x Sprite Darter and Harlequin x Fireplume, though as you’ll notice, these are all Dressing Room pictures — I didn’t actually commit to Mogging any of these combinations.
Which one is your favorite?
Meanwhile, Kaelinda dinged 70 without having done more than a few regular storyline quests. She got XP from gathering, First Crafts, profession quests, and the occasional World Quest. She’ll still do the main storyline quests anyway, for the Mog appearances and so that she’ll have the restored Oathstones available as Mog photoshoot locations. Anyway, now she can wear the full Tailored Surveyor’s set,
augmented with the Crimson Combatant’s Wildercloth Tunic, Starfire Tiara*, and Neltharian Channeler’s Rod.
~*~*~
This series of posts began because I set myself a goal to document new Transmogrification outfits in a more timely fashion. As soon as I create a new outfit, I write it up in a draft post. As the weekend approaches, I start working on taking fashion screenshots, processing them, and updating “Things my [Class] Wears” posts. On Sunday — though not every Sunday — I publish the collection of my recent efforts. Then I begin the next “Sunday on the Promenade” draft post.
Occasionally, I have ideas for themed Transmogrification collections that take several months to completely assemble. Thus, some of these outfits might get re-posted at a later date as part of such a themed Transmogrification collection.
Posted in Cloth, Leather, Mail, Plate, Sunday Mog Show, Trading Post, Transmogrification | 2 Comments »
A collection of Transmogrification Kits actually worn in-game by my Blood Elf Mage. Outfits are listed from most recent to least recent. Items that are no longer obtainable are marked with an asterisk (*).
162) Renowned Expeditioner’s Cloth
Renowned Expeditioner’s Cloth Armor with Vital Headband, Imperial Lotus Cloak, and Drakewatcher’s Beacon
Kamalia reached Renown 14 with the Dragonscale Expedition, thereby unlocking the handsome Renown recolor of the Dragon Isles quest armor sets for everyone.
Hood models have gotten a lot better since Classic. I still don’t like them.
161) Dragonscale Expedition Surveyor
Surveyor’s set with Crimson Combatant’s Wildercloth Tunic, Starfire Tiara*, and Neltharian Channeler’s Rod
Kaelinda came to the Dragon Isles already at least level 61 (maybe as high as 63) from doing various things in the Shadowlands. She dinged 70 without having done more than a few regular storyline quests. She got XP from gathering, First Crafts, profession quests, and the occasional World Quest. She’ll still do the main storyline quests anyway, for the Mog appearances and so that she’ll have the restored Oathstones available as Mog photoshoot locations.
Posted in Blood Elf, Cloth, Mage, Transmogrification |
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