Petoholics Anonymous

And believe me I am still alive

// April 22nd, 2009 // 5 Comments » // Hunters and Pets, Random Stuff

So it’s been 22 days since my last post…I think it should be expected by now that I will disappear for long periods of time. What can I say, I write when I feel like writing. And unlike some certain energetic people, I am lazy. And part of the reason is I want to change the design of Petoholics. Every time I come here, I keep thinking “I want to change that, and move this, and ooooh that would be shiny” and then I get thinking and I end up not posting at all.

First of all, a quick linkback to Zhire at The Spiked Collar who despite being a fairly new blogger has posted some nice hunter tips.

So for an update of what’s going on:

• The guild leader of Bloodriver and his wife (Mysthowl and Linserai) are taking a hiatus for some personal reasons and he has named Niqora as his temporary replacement. Sure, I joked about it while chatting with guildies and some of our allies (there was much evil laughter and phrases like “Bow down before me, peons!”). But honestly, I can’t wait until they get back. Mostly because me and the other members will miss them terribly but also because I’m not certain that I fit the leadership role. If Ticalos and Tzia weren’t going to be around, I think I would freak out. Really the three of us are going to share the role but Myst could only name one as chieftain and since RPwise, Niqora is Myst’s wife…even in character Niqo would not be suited to be a leader. She has the patience of a goddess but she’s also shy to a fault and avoids conflict whenever she can. Unless someone is going to get hurt, as Tic has found out in a RP session. So, this will be an interesting (and sad) time coming up very soon.
• Anuniaq is level 40! However my goal is 65 so I can train up her inscription…I have a ways to go yet.
• Niqora tamed Loque! And she got the albino drake! Pictures to come in a later post.
• My little shammy Zulrea is level 25, which is the highest I’ve ever gotten a non-hunter. I really enjoy healing. So once she reaches 40, I’m going to buy dual-spec for her and spec both resto and enhancement.

For some quick RL news, I got a job back at the beginning of February as a junior web designer. It was only suppose to be a 3 month term but I just found out that it’s being extended another 3 months at least. After those 3 months, they might hire me on as a regular employee. Which is wonderful! Also, I was chatting with my brother and once I have the money (because he’s a starving student), I’m going to get him his own WoW account so he can play with me. Finally! I will have someone I know IRL who actually plays the game.

Now I will leave you all with the song that inspired this post’s title. Try singing that on Rockband, my friends.

Double meme

// March 20th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Random Stuff

It seems that Sellia likes tagging me (he did it twice now!) so now I will kindly oblige his requests by presenting you with…drumroll please…a double meme!

What’s your /played?

Now he did it for two of his characters and I was prepared to do it for at least a couple of my hunters. Since Niqora is my main, I started off with her. Then I saw this…

Your eyes do not deceive you. I have spent almost two whole months just playing Niqora, nevermind all my other hunters. After that, I didn’t even want to look and see what the /played was for everyone else. Kind of puts things in perspective doesn’t it? Mind you, I know that I have spent a lot of time RPing on Niqora and she’s about the only character that I bother to get rep and achievements on so that’s a good chunk of time right there. She also farms up all the gold that I end up spending on my other characters. And of course getting 5 pets all to level 80 wasn’t done in a single night either.

The SEVEN answers!

I had a hard time choosing which characters I wanted to answer these questions sooooo…I pick 5 of them. Frequent readers should know Niqora and Anuniaq, my 2 tauren hunters. The other 3 are *gasp* my non-hunters. Githinji is my male troll DK, Zulrea is my female troll shammy, and Saraku is a male belf pally (who RP-wise is the humanoid form of Niqora’s netherdrake mount).

1- What is your name, and where did it come from?

Niqora: *smiles somewhat shyly* My name is Niqora Wildstride and that is the name my parents gave me at my birth. [OOC: Comes from WoW's random name generator, with a bit of tweaking]

Anuniaq: *nods in agreement with her sister Niqora, head held up proudly* And I am Anuniaq Wildstride. [OOC: Means "One who hunts for food or knowledge" in Inuit and she had the name BEFORE that walrus NPC *grumbles*]

Githinji: I be Githinji dees days, dat all joo be needin’ to know. [OOC: Means "butcher" in an African language, there are conflicting resources as to which language]

Zulrea: *raises a curious eyebrow at Githinji* Mah name be Zulrea Totemspeak, and I be called dat ’cause ever since I was a leetle troll, I be hearin’ dah spirits of dah elements. [OOC: Comes from the PANDA name generator]

Saraku: *glances up from staring at the two trolls* Oh…yes, I suppose it is my turn. I am Saraku. *mumbles to himself* Why do those two talk so strangely? [OOC: Thought it up using some example Netherdrake names as a guide]

2 – How old are you, and what is your birthday?

Niqora: I will be 64 years old this winter.

Anuniaq: 53 years come the spring.

Githinji: *removes his helm to rub his forehead in thought* Mah memories be a leetle fuzzy from before. I tink I was close ta 30 when I was still breathin’.

Zulrea: *grins and puffs out her chest* I only be 21 but dah voodoo priests be tellin’ me dat I be very smart for mah age. I was born when dah day be dah longest in dah year.

Saraku: *cocks his head to the side like a curious bird* What’s a birthday?

3 – Are you in love, and with whom?

Niqora: *blushes lightly under her dark fur* I love my husband Mysthowl. Our wedding was not so long ago.

Anuniaq: *seems to become slightly irritated at the question* There is no one.

Githinji: *falls into a deep silence as he stares off into the distance, his fingers softly rubbing the worn scarf around his neck*

Zulrea: *frowns sadly at the male troll before she says quietly* Dere be no troll man in mah life yet.

Saraku: Love? That has something do with mating and fornication, correct?

4 – What is your favorite mount, and why?

Niqora: *reaches over to squeeze Saraku’s shoulder with an affectionate smile* No soul could ever replace my Saraku.

Anuniaq: I value my kodo but I can’t really say that I’m attached to him.

Githinji: *glares viciously at his charger*

Zulrea: *sighs* I not be old enough to be havin’ one of dos yet.

Saraku: *is too busy grinning at Niqora to notice that he was asked a question*

5 – Do you prefer a certain type of Azerothonian meal, and where do you get it from? Take out, or dine in?

Niqora: *chuckles softly* I can make many different kinds of food so it’s hard to choose which one I like best.

Anuniaq: Soothing Turtle Bisque, hands down.

Githinji: *actually has a shadow of a smile on his lips* I be missing Dragonbreath Chili.

Zulrea: Everyting dat be put in front of me be tastin’ good.

Saraku: *licks his lips at the thought of a Fish Feast*

6 – You know those giant mushrooms in Zangarmarsh ? What is your theory on how they came to be, and why they are so huge?

Saraku: *raises an eyebrow* I thought it would be obvious that the cause is all the unbound energy floating around the Nether. It has a tendency to do…strange things to organic life. *realizes that his left leg has become partially transparent again* This is getting particularly annoying. *runs off without another word*

*The other stare after Saraku in confusion, with the exception of Niqora who just laughs merrily.*

7 – If you saw the Lich King walking towards you, what would you do?

Niqora: *for once doesn’t have a smile. Instead her expression is stone cold. She responds in a low tone that’s alsmost a growl* I’d tear him slowly limb from limb…and I’d make sure he’d be aware of every ounce of that pain.

Githinji: *slams his sword into the ground and roars with a feral anger*

*Anuniaq and Zulrea nearly jump out of their skin and stare wide-eyed at Niqora and Githinji.*

~~~

And there you have it. Now I’d like to tag Myst, Ticalos, Tzia, Vlcan, Gebeorgan, and Batgrl with this double meme. Ha, now all the responsibility is on you! *dashes away before someone can tag her again*

Heart-wish: Niqora and Blacky’s tale

// February 27th, 2009 // 5 Comments » // Hunters and Pets, Roleplay

It’s kind of amusing when people come to me to ask what pet they should tame with their hunter. Sure, there are theories about game mechanics that say this or that and there are some hunters I know who switch out pets frequently. But I’m a firm believer in the phrase “you play what you feel is right”. So when I wrote the following story, I tried to capture what a true bond between a hunter and her companion can feel like. Enjoy.

The air was thick with moisture from the recently departed rain. It formed dewdrops on the leaves of the bush Niqora was shrouded in, drops that fell to mingle with her black fur. Her breathing was slow and quiet, her will carefully controlling what her lungs took in and out. Every one of her muscles was taunt in anticipation and ached so, but she dared not move in case her quarry would hear her motions. She would be patient, she was always patient.

Her body may have been still but her thoughts danced around her head as always. She was thinking of the black worg that had accompanied her for so many seasons. She cared dearly for him, as a hunter should for any of her pets. Indeed they were true friends, but Niqora had always felt a restlessness, a tug at her heart that had eventually led her here to Feralas. The worg did not complain when she had left him in the capable hands of the local stablemaster and wandered out under the gigantic trees that dwarfed even the tall Shu’halo. He knew that his friend needed to seek out her heart-wish. Even though she had not spoken a word to him about it, he knew in the way only an animal could. He would not worry for her safety as he usually did, but instead focus his attention on cracking the marrow from the large juicy bone the stablemaster had presented him.

(more…)

I live!

// February 11th, 2009 // 7 Comments » // Hunters and Pets, Random Stuff

So…I’ve had both Cait and Tzia poke me to post an update (Tzia so subtly said to me in guild chat: “Niqo, you DO remember that you have a blog, right?”). In my defense, I have been kind of busy searching for a job and finally landing one (Yay!). But…I have also had enough time to play a lot of WoW. >.>

Instead of doing one big update that would look very daunting right now, I’m just going to say a couple of important things and then go into detail in a later post.

First of all, I’ve moved all my characters that were on Moon Guard to the new RP realm, Wyrmrest Accord. That includes Niqora, Anuniaq, Brighit, and Tkasha, as well as my new DK Githinji and my baby shammy Zulrea. Yes I know, I actually made some non-hunters. I’ll explain those later.

Secondly, Niqora has reached level 80! Woot! And…she’s engaged to be married! Screenies and details to come.

Thirdly, all my hunters are staying Beast Master. I have nothing against other spec, BM is just what I like. After all, I am a petoholic.

And lastly, I have had a lot of pet changes for my hunters which I will need to post and talk about.

Oh! And I command you all to visit A World (of Warcraft) Apart, the home of my esteemed and wonderful guild leader (and Niqo’s betrothed <3).

Ha! I dare you to tell me that I need to update now!

Fun with stats and stuff

// February 13th, 2008 // No Comments » // Hunters and Pets, Random Stuff

Curiosity is basically my nature so every couple of days or so, I take a look at all the stats I gather through Google Analytics, Wordpress.com Stats, and StatPress. Okay, so I’m a little obsessed with seeing who visits my blog and why. Anyways, here’s a few things that I found of interest:

• The two most popular articles are the name generator and the Horde guide to tame on Azuremyst.
• Someone has looked at my site over an iPod. Cool!
• Firefox is kicking IE’s butt! Hooray for geeks!
• The top five nationalities of people that visit are USA, UK, Canada, Sweden, and Australia. Don’t know why so many Swedish people are visiting…
• Google really likes me. Of all the search bots that visit, it constitutes 93%. Its IP address also has the most page views.
• Someone found my blog by Googled “faeldray” which is kinda creepy because I’m the only person in the world that uses that alias. *puts on tin foil hat* I know because it’s completely made up and completely obscure. Google it and everything that comes up is related to me.
• Wordpress.com Stats says that I’m getting over 100 hits per day. Google Analytics says less than 100. I’m gonna believe Wordpress because it makes me feel better
• There have been at least 3600 hits from RSS feed alone. A lot of you are like me and enjoy your feed reader.

Now for some character updates:

Nicora reached level 52 and put her first talent point in Ferocious Inspiration. I’m really enjoying that because Blacky crits a lot! The pair of them are still completing quests in Feralas, despite them being too high a level for the area. At least the quests are easy

Aunniaq is still level 29. I’ve been holding back leveling her because I don’t want her to get ahead of Xion. And since he’s created a toon on Hydraxis-H (yay!) and has been leveling it to reach around Khaja’s and Aithne’s levels, his Moon Guard character hasn’t gotten much play. So the other day, Anu just went around killing turtles and collecting their meat to cook with. She’s now about 3/4 of a way to level 30, cooked 60-something pieces of turtle meat, and maxed out her cooking skill at 225. She can’t get the next rank until level 35

Last night, I took Khaja to Tarren Mills and got her fishing from 75 to 120. She also cooked all the fish but I can’t remember how much that skill went up. The funny thing is that despite hating cooking IRL, I’m beginning to enjoy it in-game. I’m thinking of getting it for all my characters, especially Nicora who will have to do a lot of farming to get that skill up.

Lately, my schedule has been going like this: get up at 7-ish for school, finish school at 3:30, go home and take a 2-3 hour nap, work in the evening if I’m scheduled, and then stay up until 2 am playing because that’s when Xion is online. Not the best schedule but as long as I get enough total sleep, I won’t be really grumpy. I know, I’m bad. Like last night, originally I was planning to fish for just 15 minutes until 11pm but then Xion logged onto his Hydraxis character and we chatted and then suddenly it was 2 am. Thankfully I had taken my nap earlier so I was able to get up this morning without too much effort. And I plan to repeat this all over again today.