in which our hero blathers on...

...about his new main guild, Kiss My Murlock.

You guys are seriously awesome. Congrats on the first ever full clear of Kara! I wish I could have been around more this weekend but I'm so proud of you. I hear the drums calling us from ZA and I'm looking forward to spending more time with you guys.

...about his new alliance alt and associated guild.

I'm a total follower sometimes and have joined BBB and Cassieann's new guild, Sidhe Devils, on Kael'thas. Having always rolled Horde, I've been feeling an itch to explore the Alliance side of the game. I've recently learned about how important the social aspects of the game are to me, so when I read the announcement it really scratched my itch nicely. I've rolled a dwarf warrior named Rotaan (there's a story, naturally, but probably not one worth sharing). It's really odd talking in guild chat and seeing this "other," non-Wara-prefixed name speaking in my voice. I'm starting to get used to it, but it's still a little disconcerting. "Who is this guy, and why is he saying what I'm saying?"

So far, I'm really enjoying the dwarf story. I like the snowy wilderness that we start in and I think Ironforge is really cool. I'm totally lost, still, but have gotten good about flipping between the map and where I'm running. QuestHelper has been a blessing, too.

A few more words about the guild, before I forget. It's awesome. I'm still a little starstruck when BBB or Cassieann are on but they've been nothing but kind and friendly and funny. In fact, BBB made one of the worst puns I've heard in a long time the other day. There's another guild member with the exact same first name as me (a rarity, at least in these parts) and the same first half of his last name, and we were chatting about how to translate our names. "Hegge" roughly translates to "rocky" and I thought that "stad" roughly translated to "land" -- so my last name would mean rocky land, which is quite appropriate for the town we came from -- but my alter ego informed me that "stad" actually means "city" from the old Norwegian. So, rocky city. After which BBB interjects, "Philadelphia." Huh? Oh. Rocky city. Not rocky, Rocky. /golfclap, sir. You win this round, but I'll get you yet.

There are also a bunch of Poxers in the guild and I'm having a blast spending time with them. One of my regrets about the way the Pox Arcanum project is going is that we've become a little insular in our groups and we don't get a chance to spend a lot of time with the other groups. I know it's mostly due to the innate difficulties with scheduling but it make me a little sad. And now, here's a chance to hang out with them! Hurray!

...about the new dailies.

Honestly, I'm split. I like the diversity of the dailies and really like that there are some that benefit gatherers and fishermen, rather than just kill-10-of-these-dudes, but they're not very stimulating. Especially when you do them day after day after day. Consequently, I'm not. I'm doing enough of them to keep me supplied for raids and keep all of my armor sets well-repaired, but that's about it. If there's a little extra I might try to upgrade a gem or two, but I'm not doing enough dailies for there to be much extra.

My typical routine is to do the Outland quests three or four days a week, then go to the Isle of QQ once or twice a week. This seems to work okay. The Outland dailies are enough to meet my monetary demands easily, so the rest is gravy. I tend to do the Nether Residue quest by skinning clefthoofs in Nagrand, so I've built up a few nice stacks of Thick Clefthoof Leather and Heavy Knothide Leather which will be useful for either myself or other crafters.

As for the Isle, phooey. I do them occasionally, but find them very boring. I'm not in a huge hurry to build my Shattered Sun rep but am already at Revered, even with my casual play. I picked up [K'iru's Presage] to replace my current healy mace ([The Essence Focuser]) and love the [Naaru Rations], but otherwise...*shrug*.

...about his gear.

Nothing terribly exciting to report. I grabbed an [Ember Skyfire Diamond] for my beautiful new helmet. I also got my bracers enchanted (Greater Intellect) and have the mats for most of what else I want.