Changes.

I was endlessly excited about the 3.0.2 patch, and ever since it finally arrived I've been on a constant sugar high :D Now, when it's been with us for a while, I think I'm starting to get back to some kind of "normal" state. A few major, and many minor achievements have been completed:

• 50 mini pets -> Stinker
• 50 mounts -> Albino Drake
• Exalted with all 5 alliance factions -> Ambassador title
• Exploration of all pre-TBC and TBC zones (Which will lead to the Explorer title when Northrend has been fully... Well, explored.)
• Fallind 65 yards without dying (Scryer's tier in Shattrath is a hot tip, from the balcony to the left of the elevator, when facing the center of the city)
• And a whole bunch more...

Of course, I have to add a screenshot of my druid and her new, smelly friend:

(Yeah, yeah, it could be a lot more exciting, with fireworks and hordes of dancing gnomes, but this is what I have, OK? Also, skunks rock.)

It's been lots and lots of fun, and the general atmosphere on the server is all "SPRING BREAK!!! WOOOOOH!!!!", which is such a relief after the rather high strung era of be.imba-scores and general e-peen-ing that's been going on ever since the last batch of badge gear came out. Hardcore raiders spend their afternoons in Goldshire, putting out fires and dueling, while wearing RP-greys and pumpkins.

My druid is one (1!) silly achievement away from getting the "the Hallowed"-title - all she needs is a Sinister Squashling and a Hallowed Helm (and the upcoming removal of the 20 mask achievement from the requirement), but the few times she's killed the Horseman she's been outrolled on both helm and Squashling, and she's not having any luck at all with the trick-or-treating... I'll try to run a few pug's, though - hopefully a lot of people have those two items already, are only after the mount, and are willing to take me on just because I can summon the boss. Honestly, I'd be willing to pass on the mount just to be able to get the two drops I need for the title. It is a sweet mount though, and in a perfect gaming world I'd have all three :D

What bothers me the most is that three of my alts, low-level, seldom played ones, have gotten helm+pet through trick-or-treating, seven others (yes, I have *that* many characters) have gotten the pet, and five have the helm, while neither my main - my beloved druid - nor my planned primary alt - the mage - have either one. I bet the drop rates of these items are higher for lowbies :( If for nothing else, just to annoy high level casuals like myself.

Anyway, after a couple(?) of weeks with the new patch, I'm mighty pleased. The new achievement system really speaks to the old Pokémon-player in me (Charizard was cool), which is both a blessing and a curse - it leaves me with tons of stuff to "complete", but not getting certain things completed (such as the Squashling+Helm situation) drives me crazy.

I spent the weekend at my parent's house, with no internet (gasp!), and even though I had a number of other reasons for needing to get away for a bit, the time out from WoW was a welcome one. I still really, really want that title, but other than that, I'm going to take it easy for a while, i.e. no hardcore farming - buying enough mounts to get to 50 took quite a bit of dailies... The occasional daily, yes, but since one can't use flying mounts in Northrend in the beginning, I'm not really in a rush to get epic flying for the mage, and I don't think I have a lot more to spend cash on, except for raising profession skill caps, paying trainers, and buying fancy little things that may very well be available in the new continent. But that won't be until after the 13th of November!

So, my plans for the next couple of weeks include a lot more RL than WoW. Studies have been piling up at an alarming rate, and I have to do something about it. At the end of January next year, I'm hoping to start a new era in my life - one without studies! It's all I've ever done, so it scares the crap out of me, but finding a job, moving, and having a real income seems like heaven, and has done so for a long time. This does in no way mean I'm quitting WoW, though :) Just that there'll be a lot of RL-changes, which will lead to a much happier player!

Finally!

About 20 minutes ago, the Background Downloader finally started working again. For some unknown reason it's been stuck on 63% and "tracker is not responding" ever since the third and last part of the upcoming patch was released for downloading, but now it has increased to 65%, and the "Downloader" is even stating an approximate amount of time needed for the remaining download. OK, the amount of time varies between 4 and 8 hours, but an amount is an amount!

Boring: Will probably have to spend some time this evening frying pancakes. Had sushi for dinner yesterday, and considering my limited finances, that was this month's take out. That sushi was gooood, though. So worth it. Anyway, off to book the laundry room, and to buy eggs and milk.

Short-term Plans.

Since I play on a European server, I won't get to enjoy the hassle of "o-shit-the-patch-is-still-buggy"-downtime until tomorrow, so I've been making (very loose) plans for the evening:

• Herb gathering. Inscription will be introduced, and as much as I love my druid's alchemy trinket, she's switching from alchemy to inscription. (While I keep my fingers crossed she'll be able to get a trinket less embarassing than her old Glowing Crystal Insignia.) I'll still have the rogue to make pots/elixirs/transmutes.
  
• Dailies for a bit of cash. Since I'm going for both the 50 mounts, and the 50 mini pets for the achievements, I'm going to try and get those together asap (regardless of when the achievements are actually introduced), now that they wont take up any space in my inventory.
• Getting the horde mini pets. I think I'll fire up my undead mage to do a bit of Booty Bay AH trading with snakes and whatnot. Good thing, that - getting her past 20, so she can teleport around a bit.
  

Since the amount of Azeroth herbs needed is rather huge, I think that's gonna have to be it. May have to temporarily make one of my alts into a herb mule, though, since my main banker is filling up, and the guildbank only has one tab.

Chilling/Changes

I've pointed out earlier how the summer seemed to be over, and sadly it's gotten more and more obvious as the days have passed. I'm wearing a sweater made of the wool from what might be several goats, and finally I'm not shivering. It's not extremely cold in the apartment, but the drop in temperature is noticeable. Also, I'm getting older :( I really should do something about that "start working out again"-plan. Once I get some nice looking pants for it, I may very well start running. Or I'll start doing triathlon, or start a religion dedicated to clogwearing chinchillas.

Anyway, still stoked about the upcoming WoW-changes, even though I can understand raiders becoming frustrated that the last month pre-expansion will be screwed up due to every class being different enough to mess with all the available strategies, and arena junkies wont be too thrilled either, I guess, for the same reasons. I, however, can't hardly wait.