At last! Something to blog about in WoW! While <Conviction> has been keeping me busy killing Gruul & Mag and working on SSC and The Eye, I’ve felt that I was missing something in my WoW playing. I needed more cowbell Whimsy. Brewfest has brought me just that, I suspect All Hallows will do the same. Dammit, I want my cool non-combat pumpkin-headed lasher! But yeah, I am proud to say I gathered up the 600 tickets necessary to make it all happen. Check out me on my sheep! Suck it, Alliance!

Brilliant. Just brilliant. Go read for all the laughs.

Dancing in the nest

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

I love good whimsy in my games, and the quest line that features the Jump-a-tron 4000 is quite possibly one of my favorite “Silly” quests in WoW. Well done, Blizz, this one has kept me laughing all day. Challenging, fun, and good rewards, to boot.

Much to my surprise, I recognized their livery, that of Thrall’s own honor guard! Was the warchief truly here in the Outland? He was. He, and Drek’Thar, ran by on their wolves, headed for Garadar. Finishing up with Nesingwary, I mounted my war raptor and headed into Garadar to see the warchief’s arrival. As he approached the city limits, his honor guard lined the road, the wolves howling their salute to the chief as he paced in on his mount. Dismounting at the gate, and carrying his fabled Doomhammer, he walked to the center of Garadar to see Garrosh Hellscream, chief of the Mag’har, as well as the Greatmother herself, now dying in the hospice in Garadar.

Their reunion was one I shall never forget. The joy of reunion, the sadness of the Greatmother’s condition, the relief and pride of Garrosh Hellscream at learning the true fate of his father. Without question, one of the finest moments in the Outland, thus far.

The sense of urgency followed me through all of the peninsula as I went forth from Thrallmar to Reaver’s Fall, south to Spinebreaker Post, and back out to the desolate lands near Falcon Watch. Everywhere around Hellfire Peninsula there were angry mobs, grinding their axes against my armor. The outstretched piles of bodies are high, both of the dead orcish shattered hand, and those of the Alliance and of the Horde.

The war footing is clear and everything is pushing toward it.

Yeah, it sounds like a cheat for a Konami game, but that’s what it’s like on the Outland realm of Eitrigg tonight. Things were just fine until about 7:30 eastern tonight when the East Coast got done with dinner and the West Coast was done with school, installing and patching. Then, the server ground to a halt with impromptu reboots and kicks galore, making the whole area unplayable. It’s not so back if you’re on the mainlands, as they’re on separate servers, but whose brilliant idea was it to wrap Exodar and Silvermoon City into the same server as the Outland? They’re just not holding up on our server.

How’s your server holding up?

C’mon DHL

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

My copy left Amazon.com’s Wilmington shipping hub yesterday evening, and arrived in Alexandria this morning. Right now, my copy of TBC is on a truck somewhere in between Alexandria and Arlington. Daaaaamn, c’mon DHL, don’t make me wait!

That said, our first horde-side 61 is a Warlock this morning on Eitrigg, and there’s now a level 15 Blood-elf as of 9:04am, Eastern. Not shabby. Keep it coming, folks!

At the Portal

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

The portal is getting crowded on Eitrigg tonight as folks are parking their toons at the gate and heading off to their retailers to buy their copies of TBC. I counted easily 50 toons there as of the time of this photo (around 11p Eastern) and I’ll bet it’s more still now.

AOE Orgy

Originally uploaded by tbridge.

I’m betting on your server, this is what the Dark Portal looks like right now.