What am I DOING?!

Despite everything, I have been won over by the most unlikely pet.

Meet the Calydonian Boarcupine, my official pet of the beta.

Calydonian began life as a joke tame, thanks to pet sizes being bugged out.  I absolutely had to tame the super-tiny Lo'Shall.

Even then, he was trying to win me over.  Look at that tiny "rar!"  We ran a few battlegrounds, Caly hiding beneath the army of bugged beasts from Call Beast (now Dire Beast).  He survived more than Orpheus or Arachne, who were both showing up in their quite large wild sizes.

Sadly, the bug was fixed, and I let my little Calydonian Boar go.  But not even an hour later, I saved a red porcupine from a vicious tiger.  Since porcupines are currently showing up in the boar family, it seemed natural to name this little guy Calydonian, even though he was a porcupine.  Hence the Calydonian Boarcupine.

This of course was a mistake of the adorable variety.

I found myself charmed by the little guy even more than I had been when he was a boar, which was surprising, since I didn't think porcupines were especially cute from their model.  Upon further reflection, I realized that the porcupines were more attractive at a larger size than Caly's original boar form.  Plus I've always had a soft spot for this particular shade of red in WoW models.  If I could tame a shoveltusk, it would be this color.  Except...the porcupines are cuter than the shoveltusks due to their size.  They even shrink significantly from their wild form:

And when compared with wild porcupine critters, well...

It's pretty clear I was destined to be a goner from the beginning.  Since I'm still done with MMOs, this has all been very distressing.  But I'm going to enjoy every minute we have together regardless!  Hence, random photos:

With the new clefthoof minipet, making them both look even cuter.

That is one stompy little clefthoof, for the record!

Porcupaddlin'

Fishing.  Sorta.

Calling it a night.

The death of a blog

This is my original reply to Spirtbinder, which I'm posting here, since I'm absolutely fed up with Blogger.  Even if I hadn't already burned out on MMOs, this trouble I've been having - for MONTHS - with Blogger not letting me reply to comments (I had to reply to that one on the poster's blog...I don't understand why it won't let me post on mine) would be enough to kill this blog.

It's the end of this era. The real end of it.

Of course, I've already been gone for months. The end for me already came. But I'm going to make some use of the game time I have left anyway.

You're right, though; my wording was heavy-handed. I'm sorry for that. I just have to keep the end of WoW for me real lest I get sucked back in (though at this point, I'm not feeling the burning need to stay, thank goodness).

I just need to figure out how to keep the friends I've met through WoW in my life once I'm truly done with WoW. But there's time yet to get that sorted...

Mini-Photo Shoot

No, I'm not back.  However, I haven't completely left yet either.  My account doesn't run out until November and I've gotten my beta invite, so there may yet be a few stories left to tell before then.

But today is not a day for those stories.

Today is for Ursa.

Ursa is my baby, but he hasn't always gotten the devoted attention in terms of screenshots that some of my other pets have (like Orpheus the stubborn).  I intend to take the time to do so before the end arrives.

Happy Trails

Well, this blog has covered my craziest taming days of WoW, and some of my deepest dedication to the game, so it's only fitting that it also cover the end of this era.

Kalli will be hanging up her bow before the Mists of Pandaren.  For good.

I'd been playing less and less, then quit entirely for SWTOR, but I didn't realize the full scope of the truth until recently.  I haven't even been playing TOR much.  I went to be with a friend who I know from another game, and that's where we went.  Again.  This isn't WoW burnout; it's MMO burnout.  I'm tired of pushing for endgame goals, and without them, WoW has no real meaning for me.  Crafting for its own sake lacks appeal.  Questing is just another grind that I'm not engaged in anymore.  That's the real kicker for me, since there are still some really solid zones I haven't explored - in both games - but I just can't bring myself to do them.  Alderaan killed me in TOR; couldn't wait to get out.  Every zone in WoW feels like a grind, even the better ones.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm still looking forward to the MoP beta on some level and may poke my head back in for it. But it's not going to go beyond that.  When my account runs out, that'll be it.  I won't say that I'll never come back (speaking in absolutes is silly), only that I'll need to have a really good reason to....and I really don't forsee that happening, since I really do appear to be done with MMOs.

As for my pets...I take them with me in my heart, just like I'm taking Kalli.  That's where they truly live, anyway.  It's not about the pixels that are part of WoW; their essence will remain a part of me forever.

Like life itself, all things must end, and so will close this chapter of my life.  But that's not for almost an entire year, so let's end the journey on a high note.  Keep exploring and listen to your inner hunter.  Remember that true connections transcend any one game and that is what you bring with you wherever your path takes you.

Why hunter?

Ever since I jumped ship for TOR, I've been reflecting back on what I learned about myself as a player from being a hunter, since I learned very early that I liked the priest-type.

1. I like pets.  This seems like an obvious one, but prior to WoW, I hadn't known that I truly like the companion mechanic.  I'm not fond of having more than two companions, though; the third tends to get lost in the shuffle.  Mind you, this preference is not simply due to having a permanent companion at my side, though that's clearly part of it.  No, it goes deeper than that.  I like having a companion to take some of the direct fire off myself so I can think more clearly.  A bit of the healer in me surfaces here too; if my companion is tanking, then I am most likely responsible for keeping him healed.  Everything comes into sharper focus.
2. I prefer ranged classes.  There are some exceptions to this, but in an environment where there are other players, I definitely gravitate toward the ranged area.  And this makes sense for hunters; you get a great view of the battlefield and can truly see what's going on.  Once you're down and dirty in melee, you're a different kind of hunter with different priorities.
3. I like playing the loner.  This is sadly something that I could never get from a healing character and is pretty much unique to the gunslinger type.  I like the feeling that I can take off and strike out on my own doing whatever needs to be done at the drop of a hat.  Alone.  Why is that freedom important?  I haven't found an answer, since the healer in me wants to be bound to a group at all times.  And therein lies the contradiction of my personal preferences.

Everyone has their reasons for playing a hunter type.  These are the biggest draw for me.

Penelope's home!

Yep, Penelope is finally home for good!  I just couldn't get into having her as a pet....but as a mount, definitely!  Yay! ^_^

What do you mean, this isn't window shopping?

My friend and I who rolled together on TOR visited Alderaan for the first time last night, and for the first time, I felt myself repressing the urge to spew hunter technobabble.

I had actually not held back when I first realized that one of my guild's tanks was able to tame a beast, an alchemical snarler, in Athiss.  I went into full on "d'awww!" mode and healed the puppy the best I could, despite his not having a pet bar. (The same treatment was given to scavenged droids as well.)

But Alderaan last night was different.  My friend spotted a Thranta and I had to suppress every urge to compare it to a chimaera with sporebat-like wings.  He played WoW too; he would have understood....it's just the idea that I am most definitely a recovering hunter.

It's a good thing that my TOR Kalli equivalent over there is an alchemist!  Or....wait, no, that just means I'm going to be in trouble once she's Athiss level.  Sigh.  This is going to be a lengthy recovery process, I can tell.