Mend Pet

So if you haven’t heard the news, Blizzard has added two extremely adorable non-combat pets to the Blizzard Store.  This was instantly controversial, with people calling Blizzard out for adding ‘microtransactions’ to the game, and being profiteers or some such.

They announced it yesterday.  I’m sure half the blogging world has a post on it by now, that’s what we bloggers do, you see.  We hear juicy topics of debate and our mouths start watering until we get to our keyboard.

Well, I had a whole post typed up about this and why I think this is nothing new.  That it’s no different from buying loot cards and is in fact better because there is no middle man.

But when I told the news to Gadgets, his reaction was that it was cheating.  After a lengthy conversation about why he thinks it’s cheating and how it’s different from buying loot cards, I was enlightened and found there are other ways to look at this than I initially did.

So instead, I’m going to outline our different outlooks, and how in the end, they seem to converge.

You see, Gadgets LOVES his achievements.  He’s about halfway through his last reputation to get The Insane.  Seriously, him and achievements should like… get married.  Or something.

If you don’t already know my take on achievements, I’m a fan of them.  But I rarely go out of my way for them unless it’s something I am passionate about or particularly interested in (see my Brewmaster, Chef and of Sen’jin titles).

Him and I have both been casually working towards the [Lil' Game Hunter] achievement (he’s at 73, I’m at 72).  But we’re working at them for different reasons.  Like I said, his epeen is measured in achievement points, and that’s fine.  Me?  I love cuddly little pets.  Why do you think I rolled a hunter in the first place?!  I had quite a collection of non-combat pets before the achievement system was even mentioned.  If you ever see me in-game without a non-combat pet trailing behind me, assume my account has been hacked and notify the authorities!

Anyway, here’s how we each looked at the situation:

Brajana: When I saw these new pets, I equated them to buying a t-shirt or the murloc plushie from the Blizzard store.  No one really needs them, but people want to buy them because they are cute, or because they want to show how much they like the game/their class/murlocs/cuddly things.  $10 for an in-game plushie-type thing?  Nothing wrong with that.  Have you seen Lil’ K.T.?  He’s adorable!  And what’s different from the card game?  Nothing. Except this is cheaper. And directly from Blizzard.

Gadgets: Of course, the first thing in his mind was the fact that $20 could get him from 73 to 75 for that tasty, tasty achievement.  But he wouldn’t do it, because it wasn’t a reward for something and it wasn’t something he earned in-game.  It’s like buying achievement points.  Spend $20 and you’ll have this achievement is what he saw.  Because he doesn’t run around town with a different pet each day.  He doesn’t bring out holiday-specific pets when it’s appropriate, he doesn’t raid with a non-combat pet by his side. As for the card game, Gadgets thought of the loot cards as a reward for being a player of the TCG.  Even if you sell it, you’re making money as a reward for playing.

And so we found our point of convergence on the topic:

Buying non-combat pets from Blizzard for the non-combat pet:  Dandy.

Buying non-combat pets from Blizzard for achievement points: Stupid.

It’s a very small distinction.

Let me go back to my “Blizzard Merchandise” theory.  If I bought the Murloc plushie because it’s amazingly cute and cuddly and I’d love to have it sitting on my desk greeting me every morning, fine!

But if I was buying the Murloc plushie because I have a plushie fetish and I’d just shove him in my box labeled “Plushies”, that’s just dumb.

But of course… this is purely an opinion.

The fact is that Blizzard is doing nothing wrong here.  And I will continue to believe that until the day they start selling things that have a major effect on the game (i.e. gold, emblems or gear).

So what do you think?

If you’ve even got your little toe stuck in the ocean that is the World of Warcraft community, you’ve probably already heard about it.  But if you haven’t, I’m here to tell you what you need to know!

Azeroth United, a recently established home base for WoWers who dabble in blogging, podcasting, comic-ing, and all other forms of expression.  And with their great power of community, they’ve decided to lend a hand (and heart, and voice) to Child’s Play charity!

You can read all about it at their site, and follow AU on Twitter to keep up to date on new developments. And of course, you can find out more about Child’s Play if you haven’t heard about their worthy cause.

As you can see, I’ve added a shiny “Featured Content” link to the campaign on the sidebar, and I really do encourage you to check it out and see all the good going on, and help to contribute whatever you can.

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have been hearing my ever increasing complaining about not getting this achievement.

For some, it was the elusive Tooth Pick.  Others, the Helm.  For me?  It was that cute little Sinister Squashling that became my source of frustration as the end of this holiday grew closer and closer.

As you can tell by my *cough cough* frequent posting, I’ve been a tad busy lately.  So trying to find time to run the headless horseman daily was a bit of a chore… but I still managed to get it run at least half the days of this 2 week holiday.  I also trick-or-treated any hour I was at home and not asleep, just hoping to have that dear little Pumpkin pet.

I managed to finish every other part of the Hallowed meta last year, and I was not going to let this one pet hold me back from getting my drake for a whole year!

In fact, you can see how diligently I trick-or-treated by looking at my progress on A Mask for All Occasions.  15/20 masks found… and still no Squashling!

Last night, the second last day of the holiday, I was almost ready to give up.  But I pulled together a PUG composed of 3 hunters, a disc priest and some DK who said he “can probably tank it”.

I make sure to mention that the Squashling is the only thing I need to finish my achievement.  Everyone else, except the DK already has the pet.

Then the DK asks, “So what does this guy drop anyway?”  Followed by “Where do we go? Scarlet Monastary?”  And even a “Oh look, a pumpkin with a quest!” when we got inside.

The Squashling is going to drop, I tell myself.  And he’s going to win the roll.

Wouldn’t that just take the cake?  Well… we pull.  Mister DK-in-quest-greens can’t hold aggro even with 3 hunters misdirecting.  He doesn’t know how the fight works, he just runs around in circles, really.  But we take him down anyway.

Oh look!  It’s the Squashling!

Brajana rolls 65 (1-100).
UselessDK rolls 57 (1-100).

OMG I WON!!! Isn’t that quite the plot twist?  I even had a whisper ready to send to him saying “Please don’t use it!  I will pay you to trade it to me!”

Well, I’m glad I didn’t pay him for it… because we proceeded to get another 2 Squashings to drop.  Apparently the Horseman was saving all his Squashlings for actual Halloween or something.

But I got mine.  And I’m happy.  So happy.  Now I just have to become an Elder and I’ll get to join the Pink Purple Violet Proto-Drake Club!

Have a fun Halloween everyone!  Dress up in fun costumes and party!

In nearly 5 years of playing this game, I’ve gone through many different stages.  There have been times when I’ve come home after school/work and played WoW until nearly bed time every day.  Then there are the times when I’ll go two weeks without playing and not even notice.  Most of the last few months has been somewhere in between: I’d log on to my main for most raid nights, and then on days when I find a few spare hours I’ll level an alt.

I realized I was no longer Brajana, the Troll Hunter.  I was a group of alts of various faction and level. (As evidenced by my ever growing blog banner)

There’s nothing wrong with that, but I wanted to figure out what changed and to go back to being a Hunter full time.  Unfortunately, I also haven’t been able to commit to raid times lately.  Some days I find the time to log in, but with my hectic student life, I don’t know when I’ll be able to log in most days until it’s time to raid.

So I began logging into my Hunter, day after day, but not at raid times.  I opened my social tab to see which guildies were on, and it was empty.  Almost every time.  So I ran circles in Dalaran, and then logged off and switched to playing on a server where I have friends to talk to.

Unemployed has been my home for two and a half years.  I’ve been an officer most of that time, and I’ve even organized a guild trip to Las Vegas!  You make great, lasting friends playing a game with people for such a long time.  That’s why I couldn’t leave.

But then it hit me – out of all the people I feel I’ve made lasting, meaningful friendships with… only a handful still log in on a regular basis.  Of those, they are almost only online from 6:30-10:00, raid time.  However, they’re all available and easy to get in touch with through things like Facebook or Twitter.

And that’s how I realized they aren’t my guildies anymore, they’re my friends.  Sure, the guild is how I met them… but I don’t need to be in the guild to keep them as my friends (hopefully, at least).

And so when I was approached by some former guildies and friends eager to start a new 10-man raiding guild with a relaxed, flexible schedule, I got quite excited.  It was something new.  They wanted my help to organize it and get it up and running, and that seemed like a really exciting prospect for me.  So I jumped on it.

And the moment I made the choice, I felt myself drawn back to my Hunter, almost as if I’d just hit the level cap again and realized there is so much for me to do! I began running dailies again!  Finishing up achievements!  Getting my leatherworking those last 6 points!  RUNNING BATTLEGROUNDS!  (Ah, how I’ve missed the BGs!)

It’s a whole new world for me, and I hope the feeling lasts.  I will miss my guild, but I don’t feel as if I’ve truly left it.  It’ll always be a part of me, and I’ll always picture that flaming badger burning brightly across my chest!

Look what I’ve got!  Yep, my dear boy got me my very own FigurePrint for my birthday.  He had it made on my actual birthday though, so while that was nearly 2 months ago, I just got from him last weekend.  Still… worth the wait!

While I do prefer bows, and I loved my Siren’s Cry… I must admit my newly acquired (at the time, at least) Death’s Head Crossbow has a pretty cool look, and came out really well!  Look at those teeth!  Rawr!

Even her earrings have holes in them.  This thing has super detail, and I’m really happy with it!  I just wish I could take the cover off so I could get pictures without all that glare.  Oh well!

Thanks sweetie!

Also, TROLL FEET PRIDE!

Close up!