The trading post rewards this month included a lot of transmog that I just absolutely adore, AND this mount, the Forsaken’s Grotesque Charger. There’s also a version of it for sale in purple from the trading post, which I picked up (of course). I think it’s really pretty, and while I do tend to stick to my usual mounts, I’m sure I’ll be using it here and there.
There’s so many events going on in World of Warcraft at the moment that I was almost paralyzed with indecision over what to work on first – but I did get a LOT done, and I’m quite happy with the progress I made.
First up – I did install Classic Catalysm, and I created a Pandarean Monk to complete the Mists of Pandaria pre-event that rewards you with a mount in the regular version of the game. This was INCREDIBLY painful! It took hours, and was nothing but a reminder of why I play retail and NOT classic. I died more doing that starter (I also made the mistake of going tank, I had 2 skills I could use the whole time, ouch) than I have in the last year of retail, I think. I did manage to reach level 12, completed the starter island, picked a faction, and received my mount in retail. Worth it? Well, if you enjoy collecting things, yes.
Next – I took a good number of my level 80 characters through LFRaid and did their weekly chores, which includes professions. I also did timewalking on each of them, and the delve weekly. They have their belts, so I also upgraded them (the first week I did this I had no idea I was supposed to use the quest reward ON the belt to level it up, whoops).
Timewalking – It is the burning crusade, and I have done a LOT of timewalking this week. The goal was to level up roughly 1 character each day from 70-80 through timewalking. First, I leveled up a paladin on my EU account. I love playing my EU account but once I was 80 I realized I would have to do all of the story for The War Within to unlock the weekly quests, and honestly, I just wasn’t up for that so I swapped back to my NA account. I leveled up my shaman, death knight, rogue, and I’m currently working on a druid. I love timewalking. Not much to say about that.
With all of these new level 80 characters I’ve also been participating in the collector’s bounty event that Blizzard has going on right now. There are a lot of mounts I’m missing and of course I love to collect transmog as well. Having completed M+ in previous expansions I had some ports, like Freehold, that all 80 characters could use. So I would just port them to the dungeon and clear the zone in 2 minutes and hope I got the parrot that I’ve been trying to get for some time now.
On my 8th run – it dropped! I was so very excited. I’m not sure what other mounts I plan on going after, but I really think this collector’s bounty is a neat idea. I’ve also picked up a few addons for it that easily track what I’m missing and where I need to go for them. Of course as always, travel is the longest part. Especially since I’m running multiple characters all over the place.
Anyway, I’ll get back to gold making posts soon – for now, I’m just having a lot of fun playing the game. Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!
I was only trying to queue for the cooking daily.
One click too many and—poof—I was standing in the upper reaches of Hellfire Citadel, wrapped in the vaguely sulfurous scent of The Blood Furnace, wondering why I’d equipped my tea-stirring spoon instead of my proper staff.
“Wait, are you the healer?” asked the draenei paladin at the front, squinting at me as though I might still poof away.
“Er. Yes! That’s me. Auremai. Mistweaver monk, mostly merchant, occasional healer,” I said, bowing. “I dabble.”
The group charged ahead before I could elaborate, which was probably for the best because my last healing run had been before Deathwing redecorated the planet.
I took a deep breath and shifted into mistweaver stance, letting the familiar flow of chi swirl through me. It was like riding a gryphon: you never really forget… but that first jump still makes you question your life choices.
The first pull? A lesson in humility. And combustion.
I targeted the wrong person, cast Life Cocoon on the rogue who hadn’t taken any damage, and managed to roll directly into a Firebomb.
“Gnome down! Gnome down!” the mage laughed, while I extinguished myself with a small squeal and a health potion that tasted like burnt pennies.
But I didn’t give up.
Monks fall, monks rise. And monks—especially gnome monks with a sense of misplaced confidence—improvise.
I planted my Jade Serpent Statue this time (in the right direction!), let Renewing Mist dance through the group like a breeze, and used Vivify so fast my fingers blurred. The tank, bless him, only died once more after that.
“Getting the hang of it, shortstuff,” the rogue grinned after we survived a rather dramatic encounter with a room full of technicians who really needed a union.
“Thanks,” I muttered, cheeks warm, as I ducked behind my cartwheel to dodge another Fel Nova. “Just… channeling the mist. And mild panic.”
By the time we reached Keli’dan the Breaker, I had settled into the rhythm: soothe, roll, heal, repeat. The boss ranted something about destruction, but all I could think about was how very rude it was to yell indoors.
When he finally exploded in a spectacular burst of fel energy (and flair), everyone stood—somehow still alive. Even the mage.
We looted in silence, the good kind, and the paladin finally gave me a thumbs-up. “Not bad for someone who said they ‘dabble.’”
I shrugged, blushing as I tucked a small healing charm into his bag when he wasn’t looking. “Helping people is the easy part. It’s the not panicking that takes training.”
Back in Stormwind, I climbed onto my cart, pulled out my notebook, and jotted down a new idea: Love in the Time of Felfire. Maybe with a paladin and a baker trapped in a fortress together…
Maybe next time I’d heal on purpose. But for now? I had tea, a story brewing, and no scorch marks.
A pretty good day, all told.
Way back in April of 2024 I wrote about how I had earned my 420 something mount, and I was hoping that I would be able to break 500 before The War Within released.
That, obviously never happened – but I continue going after mounts. I now have 481, and today picked up two from the Mists of Pandaria timewalking merchant. Maybe I’ll be able to reach 500 before the next expansion (Midnight?) releases? It has been a very long time since I focused on pets or mounts to any degree, but we’ll see how it goes. I’m still missing 300+ pets, and that is something I’d really like to work on.
I currently have 1579 unique pets, and I’m missing 340 of them. I also need to level quite a few of them up, but that’s mostly to put them for sale.
As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!
I’ve recently returned to World of Warcraft after quite a few months away – and I’m attempting to get caught up. The problem is, I swap “mains” frequently, and no one character has done everything in ‘The War Within’ let alone prior expansions. This time around I’d like to change that, I think. Of course things may change – again, that’s just the nature of my nomadic gaming.
I’m playing my Monk – it has been quite some time since I played her. In fact if I take a look at WoWThing, it looks like the last time I played her with any sort of consistency was Battle For Azeroth. She has bits and pieces completed from other expansions, but nothing of any significance. I’ve at least kept up with her professions (Inscription and Engineering).
I’ve got her on a roleplay server, and I’m actively looking for a community there. It’s refreshing to be back in game, I think I returned at a good time and I’m VERY excited about the future of Warcraft, with player housing just around the corner. For now the stats are:
All The Things Total: 41.32%
I’m tracking all of the expansions, but for now I’m going to continue with The War Within until I’m at a comfortable percent, then I’ll start working backwards a bit and pick a new expansion to work on. We’ll see how long that lasts!
As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.
A Pixel Nomad 