Leafshine: Lust for Flower

Patch 3.0: The Barber Shop

So, it's the big patch day. And what's the first thing I do?

Well, learn the new spells, actually. And then respec. And transfer all my pets to the new pet tab. Oh, and visit Stormwind Harbour.

But once I'd done all that, the very first thing I did was get a hair cut. And, as the Duck-Billed Matticus had challenged us to post our haircuts, here are before and after shots of Leafy:

Not a huge change, I admit. I'd intended to change it more, but none of the others felt like Leaf, so I just went for a less structured, looser version of the ponytail she's always had. After all, she's a busy girl these days, always on the move. Keeping the old hairstyle was too much of a distraction. And the switch from the white to green reflects her increasing attunement to restoration and the Tree of Life. Leafy is close to the plantlife elements of nature, and all that time in tree form is affecting her hair and facial markings.

A small change, but one I'm happy with, for now.

Wrath Cinematic Analysis

You know what? I'm so completely out of touch that I missed the launch of the Wrath of the Lich King cinematic. Here it is:

Join me after the jump for analysis and revelations...

Patch 2.4.3: Riding Letters

After the patch went live this morning, I logged into Amontal, a previously unmentioned member of Team Leafy (and the longest-standing one, to boot). There, in his mailbox was a letter alongside his stipend from Leafy:

Isn't that cool? A letter informing the character of not only the availablity of riding skill at 30, but also where to go to get it.

My question: is this new in 2.4.3, or was it introduced earlier, after Leafshine got her mount, but before today?

Patch Day

Maintenance over by 11am Paris time, my ars…

Ennui time in WoW?

I haven't been playing much WoW lately, partly due to family issues, but partially due to boredom. And it seems I'm not alone. While flicking through my feeds this morning, I found both the Game Dame, the Rambling Bear and the Three Druid Noob describing how very bored they are with WoW right now.

My problem is this: I've pretty much nothing left to do but group quests, and there's rarely enough guildies on at one time to get group quests done. Plenty of instance running left to do - but few enough people around to do it with. We ran Kara on Monday night with 7 people on Attumen and 9 for everything up to Opera. And I can't even blame Age of Conan any more - most people gave up on it and came back to WoW. I can spend the odd hour putting half a level on an alt, but it lacks the enjoyment I get from Leaf - I really am a one toon player at heart.

So, have Blizz completely messed up this time? Wrath is still months away, yet more and more people are just running out of things to do in Burning Crusade. Will their player base drop catastrophically before they get Wrath out?

Hello, Patch 2.4

Morning, all!

It's EU patch day, and 2.4 is busy installing on my MacBook.

I'm not holding out much hope of getting much play time in, though, partially because I'm out for a few hours this evening, and partially because yesterday's US experience seemed to suggest that the servers might take a while to come back up…

Still, I'm more excited about this patch than any since the pre-BC patches, because I'm in a position to go and enjoy the content straight away. Sure, I won't be in Sunwell Plateau any time soon, but the rest is accessible.

Well, accessible, if the lag of everyone piling into one island doesn't destroy playability for a day or two.

Patch 2.4 is Here! (Well, There...)

So, chums in other parts of the world are busy installing the 2.4 update. Us poor Europeans won't get it until tomorrow morning, so I shall watch everybody else's first 24 hours with interest.

My guildies are already busy arranging Magisters' Terrace runs, but for nights I can't do, alas, so it'll be the Shattered Sun Offensive dailies for me at first.

What are you planning to do first in the new patch? Taunt me with your US/Oceanic realm plans... :)

Don't Go Nerfing My 'blooms

Oh noes! Patch 2.4 brings us a Lifebloom nerf!

Now, my guildies tell me that it's just an 8% reduction in the healing co-efficient. But I have no idea what that means. So I'm just going to justify my QQing by linking to people who do! (probably)

Bell tells it like it is, over what seems to be a PvP-orientated nerf, while Lifebloomer does the maths to prove that this is a bad idea for us PvE druids.

Woe, woe, woe is me. Woe, woe, woe is the tree!