Two servers become one?

So, it is already happening for a time, but I didn't really had any thoughts about it, and when I though about writing something about it, with intend to gather more alts, I wrote down the title, and suddenly the post I wanted to write changed.

It would have been about the fact that a merged server actually means more place for alts, but that bigger servers probably wouldn't be merged, so people on a larger server will have less alts.

But then I wrote down the title, and now I am questioning myself if some servers actually can be merged, and I am not talking technical, more psychological.

Mardah and her army of alts lives on Argent Dawn. AD is a Role Playing Server. Now that doesn't mean everyone does role play. There are enough pure-PVE and pure-PvP players on the server, but there's also a lot of roleplaying going on....well..at least I think there is.

Fact is, I am not that a big role-player. I did participate in some random roleplaying, mostly by being a random bystander. But in those cases, I was remembered that I was on a RP-server, some random stuff can happen suddenly, enjoy it I would say...well..unless you go to Goldshire.

Now I don't really know if merging another server with AD would work. Blizzard already stated that RP-servers wouldn't be mixed with non-RP-servers, but still, merging two different societies can have some problems.

Players will have different opinions, and instead of 3 blood-elf guilds trying to run Silvermoon, you will 6 I guess (Side-note: why are there still Kael-Thas statues there).

Oh wait, reads before the side-note, It may actually be more interesting I guess, a larger influx of role-plays with slightly different ideas may actually spice things up  :0

But back to my original idea for this blog now, Argent Dawn is a pretty huge server, so I actually have no idea if it will be merged, and at the moment my gold would go to 'No'. Which means I will not have access to more alt-spots.

Lorinthe trying to breach the dimensions between worlds.

Remember they said the two servers would works as one. So basically, if you live on one of those servers, you suddenly would get access too 22 character-slots (or 33, if it's tri-joined).

Now, to be honest, I haven't...and actually can't test if you can actually make 22 characters on two merged servers, but as far as I know, they didn't said it wouldn't be possible.

So, now I am going to throw a card, I hardly play...the 'I pay the same as everyone else, so I should be able to do the same' .  Do min, I did use 'able', and at this moment I think everyone is able to do everything gamewise, although for some it may take a little longer, the option is there.

Now if AD wouldn't be merged, I actually will have 11 character-slots less then someone on a merged server, and for me, with only 17 levels to go for 11 level 90's on Argent Dawn, that is a big deal...

I actually like playing lower levels, but I also like them to be in Innovation (or their channel). In the past I did actually transferred high level characters of to other servers, to play lower level again. But that has just become to expensive.

So, yeah, one solution is, something that Blizzard has mentioned before, just scrapping the limit on characters on servers (although the total-limit would remain 50). But I would love to actually increase the size of my army of alts...and maybe start a lower level Horde again with Single Abstract Noun.

Alt Appreciation: Shaman

Continuing the Alt Appreciation started by World of Lae.  This week:  Shamans

Shamans, totem-throwers, master of the elements, and I even levelled two of them to the (then) max level. First up, the one I levelled during the now infamous ICC-summer, in Single Abstract Noun.

Cloudcaller

I may be mistaken, but as far as I recall, this was actually the character with which I first joined Single Abstract Noun. I have no idea what his spec was, but I do know I did some Role Playing with him. Listening to tales of the Loa, visiting a fight-tournament in the STV-arena.

I also remember that during Cataclysm, I actually walked with him from Ogrimmar to his birthplace in Feralas...yes walked... and got horrible stuck when he fell into the chasm between north and south barrens.  The pictures are somewhere on my hard-drive, one of the projects never finished.

But this character is for me how I played in Single Abstract Noun, a little levelling, a little Roleplaying, and a lot of talking...  the catchphrase for the guild was '... the guild where nothing gets done, because everyone is talking'

My second Shaman is alliance, and currently my best geared alt:

Verulani

I have no idea where she came from, it is probably buried somewhere in my blog-history, but she may actually been one of my earliest alts. She is now my enchanter/tailor, supporting Mardah. She is also my best geared alt, and I actually did Heroic Stone MSV with her.

She was one of my characters that started my transmog-sets. Although the set is fairly well know, and often seen, my transmog has some nice oddities mostly not seen in combination with the rest. First is the shield, which actually made me do this transmog. It's a reward from the north-western-plaguelands quest in the alliance city.

Th shoulders are from the bug-bosses in AQ40, this on from the one easiest killed...so hardest to get. Try keeping that one alive...I also have a set for weapon transmogs, shown is the dagger of Julie or something. I also have a big axe, and a hammer.

She was enhancement until she killed the LFR-Deathwing enough times for two of his axes, and then went Elemental. I actually considered making her my main starting Pandaria, but it is a little bit hazy why that didn't happen. And in the months to come, she will probably be played more, while we wait on the next expansion.

Next week, the dark arts...

My Warcraft-life sofar.

How did I get into this?

So, World of Warcraft, which has been a large part of my life the last 5 years, and probably will be for the foreseeable future. How did I roll into this, and what did I do?

I am actually a quite old warcraft-player. (yes, besides age). I clearly remember playing Warcraft: Orcs and Humans way back in the 90's. When I was still studying that is.  Because the follow-ups were released when I already was working, I didn't know them that well. I did try Warcraft2 I remember, but no idea what I thought about it.

I know I was actually playing the civilization-games a lot (or Birth of the Federation).  Turn-based strategy games. I did try some RPG-games, but non of those actually stuck with me.

Now fast forward to halfway the first decennium of this millennium. There where some large things going on in my personal life. One of which was getting a job with more time to do other stuff.

Now, I heard of this World of Warcraft-game. One of my best friends (Kemwer/Gunho) was playing it, and I sometimes watched it. I clearly remember him doing something called 'tanking' on a character shaped as a female cow. (He was playing a Tauren female warrior in SFK I later learned).

So, somewhere in my first vacation as 'Teacher', I got myself one of those try-10-days-for-free thingies, and I went to Azeroth.  And I made a dwarf hunter (with a bear-pet called Ursa)....

...and well...  I completely forgot about Civ that week, so at the end, I signed up for the real deal (including The Burning Crusade), and made a Blood Elf Paladin on the server Ghostlands called Gowron.

Now this was way before the Zulaman-patch, so yes, I did it uphill in the snow.  No mount till level 40, and the level 60 mount was still pretty expensive. I actually got that mount on lvl64 (with the quest).

I levelled quite slowly, looking at current levelling-speeds.  I remember hitting level 70 somewhere late august, that's around 5 months. I met a lot of people, was in a guild, co-founded another guild (retribution) and killed Prince somewhere end december/beginning januar.

After a little break I joined a guild Gunho was playing in, called XII. And well...  most of the first 100 posts on this blog are about XII. I became Maintankadin, Raidleader, Recruiting-officer and DKP-officer....  which ofcourse was too much.

I had a nice time in XII, even meeting up with the GM who lived in slovenia or something. At the beginning of 2009 I had some problems IRL and with some in XII. So I tried out for Blood and Tears, then the best guild on Ghostland, and they accepted me. BaT and me didn't click though. I left, and played a little around on the server Khadgar with a druid called Mardah.

Although I returned for a short while to XII, doing some stuff in Ulduar and Sarth3D, I actually think I had enough of hardcore-raiding. And when the culling happened, well, I went on to do other stuff.

I levelled Mardah some more, and brought her to Argent Dawn to join Gunho, who was playing there. Not much happened. Somewhere on this blog there are probably more stories. In Januar 2010 another thing happened, Single Abstract Noun.

SAN was formed by Tam, to make a guild for bloggers, and readers, and everyone else. We had a lot of fun those months, now remember this was the ICC-summer. ICC was the Endraid for almost a year, so people got bored, and SAN was exactly what most of us needed. In the end we even did some raids in SAN, but with the start of Cataclysm, SAN was empty.

When Cata started, I started with Gowron, now also on Argent Dawn and in SAN. I reached level 85 fairly quickly, but I disliked (and still do for prot) the Holy Power system. So, instead of getting Gowron raid-ready, I turned to Mardah...  but what would I do if she hits 85?

The answer came in the raiding-community Gunho was in. I already saw some raids in ICC over his shoulder, and well, any guild that keeps him in for over a year, is probably a good one. So an application was fired at the Inno-site, and I was accepted as Boomkin.

And I liked it in Innovation, not the fastest guild, but I had, and still have fun there, some drama sometimes, some hard words, but always solved. And I even went to the guildmeet of Innovation this year, which was hosted by the healing-officer Kris.

And here I am now... well almost... considering that I am writing this in the home of Kris, where I have been the last 6 weeks....

....the road goes ever, ever on....  but watch out for little fury bears.

Job Done

Yeah, like I really have time to also GM a Bloggers-guild.

Nope, after cleaning up the Gbank, and really looking at all the characters in the guild, I passed the reigns. No way I have time to also do that, I know where that leads.

(Insert picture of Warcraft Orcs and Humans 1994)
Job Done.

SAN: Revolution?

Yes the rumors are true.

Last Saturday, at around 10 o'clock in the morning, I send out a ticket.

Not long after that Gowron was made CEO of Single Abstract Noun, and started to get the Single Abstract Cows back into the fold.

Since them, there seem to be life again, some new, some old....some older (looks around for the Steamynose-blog).

And that just after I wrote a blog, Gowron was like... retired....

So, what now, well... have fun for sure :)

Happy May?

Yes... not dead yet. I have just been busy with a lot of things lately, so actually writing in a blog came in last. So let's do a quick recap I guess.

Mardah still raiding 2/3 nights a week, we haven't downed Nef or Cho yet, but I don't know wether that is because we lack the skill to quickly clear the first bosses, or the fact that it was really hard to get 25 man online the last month. The last week seemed better, we actually had people to sit out.

It is also a little strange that I am not in control. Both in Retribution and in XII, I was an Officer. I am now just a loyal foot-soldier, or Tsjikin for that matter. And I do like it, not the burden of having to do stuff.

On the horde-side, Gowron is retired. As is all of Single Abstract Noun it appears. There are still some players who log in often, and it seems that with the absence of the Guild Leader Tamarind, some members have formed a new guild called Single Abstract Cow. But the busy guild it was, is gone. Maybe we'll really return there if there is again a year-stop in new content....

And of course I still have altism. But I noticed something strange, I remember having a real problem leveling a priest in TBC/WotLK, it just didn't click for me it seemed. But the last two characters that I got to 80 last year, are now both 85. Although one has become a gnome (Gnome shadowpriest on a Roflcopter rocks), and the other is back to dwarf. I also transferred a shaman back, and leveled that one from 72 up.

Yes, that means some other chars where send away. I have several 70+ and 80's scattered around different servers now, just doing nothing until I call them back I guess. I got two lower-level characters left on AD. A goblin disco-priest, in support of a goblin harry-in-the-warry-warrior. And a Tankadorfadin called Yurinov, heirloomed out, and already rockin in the mid-30's.

And now it is time to see if the servers are back online, and time to think about more boomkin-nerfs incoming.....

Oh, yeah, and a need a random-blog-title-generator.

Counting Down.

Whoops, I seem to not have written for a while, and even missing my new project, shots from a month....

So, to start of, what happens if 3 SAN-ers go harass the LFD.....



Yes, the Healer was in for a susrprise :O

Lately I have been smite-spamming with Deathoorth trhough dungeons. Just because it is fun to play with guildies. I just can't seem to hit the LFD-button on Gowron at the moment, although I do think he will be my first 85. But with 10 80's, there is not much to do... I levelled a nelf to 20, just to experience the darkshore-quests once more. Played a little on 20-something rogue killing all of Hillsbrad, made my new priest a miner/engineer, made more alts just to see how low-levels work these days.

One of the Alts is a genuine Holy Clothadin, very interesting how that all works, I wonder though, if their will be some low-level intellect-mail available for my future cow-adin...

While levelling the Pally, I encountered a little quest-chain, I know I did it on Gowron, waaaaay back, but now I actually read the lines.... and I did feel sad afterwards.... I am not going to spoil it, just try to find the named treant.



And, with the coming of Cataclysm, I am making sure to take some nice pictures along the way....



I still remember the first time I was there. This was before I used add-ons, so I was actually using the sign-posts along the way. If you follow them, you actually must climb some of the needles to reach the Flightpath.... you only see the elevators when you have reached the top...

I am ending this post with a picture of one of the most honorable and noble characters in Azeroth.

NOOES, to many new talents...

Let me see, with all the alts i have, and now every class played till 72, I have a little problem with all the new talents. My next week will probably be spend figuring out how they all work, what they do, how to glyph, and how to reforge... around 13 characters...oh my.

And what is this about 939.... look like 969. I thought and hoped I would be free of the GCD-key-tapping. To have some time to look around... but no... hit Crusader Strike (What? am I ret?), hit another button, hit CS..etc.... And Holy Power, the Paladin-rogues.... or something. Luckily I have a 66-tankadin, to get a feel for it, before I actually see all... or I am shanghaied into a dungeon by fellow SAN-ers.

Now, it's time for (another) mind-quake.

Shots of August

Time to picture and roll... August Screenies are here.

RP-GEAR

I finally got around to get some real RP-gear... the level60 PvP-set, combined with BoJ-cape. I could have gone farming the Blood Knight Shield, but instead I opted for this Shield, which does set me apart from the rest of the Blood knights in Silvermoon. Ooh, and that troll... it seems to pop up on more of my screenies.

Thanksgiving?

This is what you get in a 6-week vacation, boredom and chasing strange achievements. This one is from feeding 10 pets food, making them your temporaly pets.

Single Abstract Noun ICC10 - raid

A fully SAN-raid, very relaxed, and my first new boss-kill in 6 months, and also a nice screenie to show my UI.

Tanking ShatH

It has been a while since I tanked Shattered Halls, this time I did it as a warrior. Was a nice flashback... oh, and there's that other troll again...

...the moron of course

While just shooting around on the future troll capital islands, I had to kill zalazane. So I was clearing some mobs, when this figure came along. And I do mean along. He just sprinted past me, shot zalazane (which I almost cleared), aggroed 3 more trolls, killed Z. and ran away. After which he 'thanked' me for helping... sorry to say, but I ain't helping such people. I would have lolled at him if he died... I would have joined Zalazane's trolls at that moment if it could be possible...

A tribute

Remember this, the outpost CampT. Which does want me to make some sort of Tribute-post....

O_o, what did I do.

Did I really write that many in the past 2-something years?

I remember why it started, well, it is post 1. Retribution went Boom, and all my articles I wrote where lost. So I actually made the blog as a backup. Which is a good thing, especially considering XII (where I am probably still the highest poster, even after a year gone).

Back then, I just wrote what came up. Mostly new boss-kills. These days I tend to think a little more about posts, until the moment the idea overflows my head. Yes, I tend to write my posts in one stint, while other ideas continue hatching in my brains. Luckily I never said I would write every day/week/etc. I write the Blizzard-way, when I feel like it is ready. Ok, now and then some short answers/remark-posts are still made, but hey, my blog falls under the Munckin Rules: Owner decides.

So, looking back, I really do write like the underline of my blog. Some alt here, some alt there, always returning to Gowron, the Tankadin. Just my 2 cents on World of Warcraft, and to continue...


What have I been doing the last couple of weeks:

Gowron is a little bit done with Wrath. He is now actually collecting pets... but also 5/12 in ICC10 with fellow-bloggers. That was a fun raid. No rush, no expectation, just a walk in the park.

The threesome Dorf2Noam are gone..... they should be called TrollTree???

I played some evony.... which reminds me of Travian... which I do NOT have the time for.

I went some days without internet. Seeing DS9, playing Arkham Horror, and rediscovering Civ4... which still costs 50+ euro for Mac.

Read a lot of posts about Cata.... but I am not yet going to figure it all out... although Paladins need to relearn their stuff.... again. At least we ain't getting spellpower back.

Still trying to get a priest to 80... chances are big that the priest first has to become a Tauren.

8/10 level 80's now. 6 in SAN, 2 on the Allie-side in WEF (which never came off the ground)

Had 6 weeks vacation, way to long, way to hot, monday work starts again.

Bought fast-flying, and the DK-specific mount for Tamarian. Why? Because I could....

Wondering what to do when Cata comes.... AD is full on chars... take another account?

Oh well, we'll see.... oh, LFD for UK-normal pops up... gief AXE