The one thing I like most about a hunter toon is the ability to have pets with companion pets.

This is Thorain Storm with baby BB upon an iceberg  in the frozen sea

This is Miosain my cat and spook the kitten

I have always loved Owls, This is Furyain.

I love my white eagle. Though, I am yet to settle upon a name for him.

I have a great friend, who I enjoy playing with quite a bit, they lived in a country that matched my own time zone nicely. Though they had to move back to U.S.A and would no longer be able to raid with me. They joined Amacitia a U.S guild on the Oceanic Sever Khaz'goroth Which meant we were not able to play and hang out as much. I really missed hang'n with them as time zones meant I could not play with them as I had been, and missed doing so I contemplated moving Cernowain my newly lvl 80 hunter to the same guild. Per chance, their guild had a couple of runs and I was invited along. The people in the group were all pretty cool, mature, into having a good laugh. which helped presuade me more, about moving Cernowain yet I was still reserved, I mean what would be the point of moving my hunter to Amacitia, and find I not like it or more to the point the people and what sort of gaming out look and attitude they had. These questions and concerns where soon laid to rest when I went to Amacitia Guild Site. the one thing that caught me was their by line  Amaicita Measuring the Success by the Quality of our Friends.

So I signed up to become a Member of Amacitia. The guild members are all great people thus far I been there a fortnight, and have found nothing I do not like about the guild, or the members. They all willing to help you run things and are encouraging, helpful and just fun to hang with. They take on heroic and Normal instances at a fast furious pace,going full tit like an undead running from a bath of holy water yet on all heroics I have gone on  we have never wiped. ( at least not when I have n=been in one o the teams.) We get through a heroic Instance in like 30 mins. Its all such a smooth and polished run, that I heard my thought qestion, this is a heroic and not normal ? its like a Hot Knife through butter

This change has been in many respects the change I required to come out of my shell which is a  good thing, I found I more out going, and though there are plenty of guild runs, One thing that is to me of notable difference and new is, I am out pugging far more than I ever use to, it s liek this guild has given me a confidence boost to actually Pug ( something I sorely lacked, and thus never really pugged)Thanks to the Guild members and a few pugs Cernowain is now Raid ready and so I look forward to running Naxx With the Amacitia team when they next run it. As I need to gear up before I can start running Ulduar with them.

So if you are on the Khaz'goroth server and looking for a guild I recommend you at least check out Amacitia.

Over some time of playing WOW, My main toon Widget the Mage. Has obtained a number of outfits. Though they saw little use, due to the hassle of swaping over chest and leg peices etc.

Until a friend pointed me to Outfitter by Mundocani.

Its a nice compact little add on, that allows you to change the look of your toon. with a simple left click of a button. its simple easy to use, and will make it so you never forget to put on that tabard you want to wear in Instances to get rep with factions.

Here are the three main outfits I tend to use on my mage.

This is my Biker gnome look, goggles and red check shirt, black pants and boots

Gone Fishing, is a

Mage of the Kirn Tor is my look for hanging out in the citys or when on raids as this is the Heroes' Frost fire Set from doing the 10 Man Naxx runs.

I am hoping to be able to put a chefs out fit together, though apart from the hat, from cooking dialys I am unsure what cloths would suit best so any ideas and postive input would be welcome.

I also have the Don Carlos' Famous Hat that summons the spirit wolf compainon, and outfit, its a pitty there isn't enough room in my bags for another outfit.

So dressin gup to match my activie I have found fun to do, andit maddsa little bit something diffrent while playing the diffrent aspects and doing proffs. 

So is there an outfit you like to put on just for the fun of being able to do so ?

I love my Night Elf Hunter.

I decided to get a pet ape, and went to name Him and recived this interface message

That name is reserved. Pick another name.

I wanted a fun name, for my  Hardknuckle forager  

Lets face it they look toff, but a fruit eating gorilla, who doesn't attack when you walk by one, doesn't seem to be the toughest of apes.

so the Name I came up with was

GongoGoBongo

I neaver had that message before when naming a pet.

So I am wondering how many hunters have ?

My night elf Hunter Cern is now lvl 75.

I Duel specced my Hunter to be MM, and the secondary Talent tree is a mix I am still playing around with it  fine tuning it so I can use it as a leveling and PVE spec, as my main spec is really for Raiding. Having found it give's me the best versatility and bonus's to raid / party members

The biggest challenge I am finding is leveling my pets without leveling my character to fast or to high. As it s a right pain having a pet to low, and not being able to hold agro while I lay in with dps.

I found the best way to do this is by grind leveling my pet, which isn't a bad thing as it also allows me to gather leather for my profession to make mail and leather good's.

I happy I got my leather working to 115 today, which means I am making gear a lvl or two lvls higher than my toon and being able to sell leather / mail armor on AH for some  good prices. Now it is at 115 lvl I can make a couple of the high end big pocket bags, which I see sell on A.H for a good sum of gold. Of corse the main reason I took up leather and skinning on my hunter was so I could make my own armor to save me some gold, and not have to be solely reliant on quest rewards which are generally not as good as the stuff I can make. Being able to sell gear is a bounis and a welcome one as I want to be able to buy cold weather flying skill when I hit lvl 77. The epic flying skill will be a  harder target to reach. Though now I am able to make some good quietly leather, Mail and cloth gear, I am sure It won't take me to long to get both flying skill targets.

I seem to have a knack for naming pets. I fair time ago I named a couple of my friends Pets. My other friend commented  on how much they liked the names, and was told I came up with them. So in a moment she was talking to me and asked if I would name her pet, which I was happy to do, Upon seeing her Cat, I picked a name I felt best reflected Her and her Pet, she loved the name and said it was perfect. I seem to have a thing for names in that, I go for names that have some deeper meaning to them, other than the face value. I have found It pays to be with the person and pet, it sounds silly as it all VR, but I do pick up on a vibe so to speak. With some quite thought and my mind racing though thousands of possible names, I then center on those names that seem to pop out at me, and the one that "speaks" to me most is generally the first option, which is most times the name the person likes the most.

Trailing on from my last blog post about my strong dislike for gold sellers and those that rip people off using their love of WOW. I see after my complaint about a comment that read to me like an ad, and my comment on gold sellers using our blogs to "comment" /feed back to our blog posts simply as a place to write an ad for their gold site. This has taken a disturbing twist, As I see they are now setting up blogs solely to push their gold sites. One has already been band. However the person or persons have simply just created a new account to carry on this disturbing trend. Thanks to Curse Admin the first is already banned, and I hope this second attempt shall be also, I just Hope Curse can just ban the ISP's saving the Curse Crew pain in the butt stuff leaving them free to deal with more important site related issues.

A really cool guy, friend and fellow guild mate got their account hacked on Friday. all His toons were striped bear and all their banks were also wiped clean. He brought a TCG card with the spectral mount on it, the link he got in the sale confirmation email to claim his Mount, was a fake, a very good fake of WOW's official web site. SO as he entered his details he unwittlying gave said seller his account details  user name and pass word. The web page looked for all intensive prepossess to look well exactly like a Blizzard web site page. Only a couple of letters were different in the url bar. They went to a lot of effort to make sure the slightly altered and fake url, did not set off any warning bells, or draw attention to the fake url.

Luckily he was able to sort it out with Blizzard Accounts, though this took a number of hours with toll calls to the states, emails and proving he was in fact the real account owner. He will be getting a WOW card ID which gives an extra lvl of security. Yet  he was left feeling, like a mug victim, ie abused and venerable. So another Heads up for all players. If you purchase off Ebay  a wow related product such as a CTG, best bet is, Do not use the link enclosed in the email and go to the official web site yourself. Should you find the product you brought is a fraud in anyway email Pay Pal and they will not only refund you your money, but also bane the person and the isp from being able to set up  any future frauds and will prosecute the person under false and Fraudulent sales laws under the country of origin laws about fraudulent sales etc.

I am getting round to finishing my wow music video. I left it for a few of weeks as I had the beginning and end alright, its been the middle where the acoustic bridge is, that has been a bit harder to smooth out. As I trying to make it interesting and not look like I threw just any old thing into it.

So hopefully by this time next week I will have a link to the completed peice

Well the gold sellers are back in force. It was a nice rest from their unwelcome and unwanted stupid whispers .Gold sellers are one of life's scum bag's that in my opinion are so low they would have to parachute out of a snakes ass, just to get to their computer to log onto W.O.W

You can always tell when they are back,Good's you can sell on the  AH get undercut by a fair bit. Making honest players out to earn some gold , peeved as, as they legitimately save up gold to get, what ever their "goal" is that requires gold. The sellers don't care, they have no play life, their sole prepose is to farm, 24 /7  not play or to make any genuine welcome and positive contribution to the game in any shape or form. They create a self fulling cycle. But is it just the gold sellers ? Nope, as with all things its a two way street supply and demand. Players that either are ( A ) to dam lazy or stupid to make gold ( B) People that want a quick fix,with the concentration span of a Nat, and those that can't tell the simple difference between what they need and what they want. (C) those that  get so frustrated at being undercut all the time, and wanting to buy item X  for a heap of gold out of frustration turn to these evil Selfish Gits, to get the gold to get X item. Therefore unwittingly cause the cycle of undercutting to continue. Yet they do not seem to realize the gold sellers are screwing them over twice. One making you part with real life money. Secondly as already stated, undercutting the very goods you are trying to sell on AH. Which caused you to want to use their "services" in the first place.

If that wasn't enough to peeve me off in game life. I now see a number of comment posts recently from gold sellers on our blogs, once more they are not adding any positive input. just clogging the system up with their crap.

So all you gold sellers and those that use Game players Blogs to peddle your crapy existence BUGGER OFF AND CRWAL BACK UNDER THE ROCK YOU SLITHERED OUT FROM.

So its been a couple of weeks from last I wrote.

I finally got Widget one companion pet I have been wanting, the drop from daily fishing quest finaly yielded Chuck the baby croc. though I haven't been playing widget a lot just the odd daily that I like to do.

I been busy playing my hunter for a change of pace. Though there is the whole new quest zone in Northrend with everybody becoming Knights and champions of their race thing and other achievements and things I would like, I simply not in the mood and they can wait not like they going to be taken out of play in the next month

ITs been great fun and I really enjoying  playing my hunter, thus far I have gotten him to lvl 72.

I got the "easter" achievement for my hunter a day or two after the first day mad rush of got to have it now  a load of people fighting over eggs and getting pissed with frustration thing, So yeah I liked the ring the title achievement had "Cernowain the Noble" and will be most likely the only title he has. I not into doing achievements on all my toons. As I not into doing an achievement for the sake of it, the closet my main Widget will get to it is getting enough eggs for a pet bunny and the polymorph spell and thats it.

For those that read my blog, its no real gussing game why I have and like my hunter so much, as the one thing I do love is the games pets, o and the fact I can kinda match up companion pets to my hunter pets is a boon.

all my pets have two things in common, One they are all white ( so is my hunters hair) Two all three are rare, elite, or spawned pets.

I  got Olm the wise tamed ( at lvl ) so my wonderful Owl, has a white tick bird hatchling not exactly the same I know but does look pretty cool when both flying along side one another, and when I jump on my white cat mount I have a reflection of my current hunter pet  I have a great white Lion, his companion = white kitten

For my thrid and final pet I managed to with help from a priest friend, tame Hosser the elite lvl 71 bear from H.F and of corse baby blizzard bear is the companion, ( which also looks best, and reminiscent of the bears and cubs in dragon blight) so I have a pet for each tree. Yet more to the point, each pet I have found better for one aspect of play over another. 

I did do the beast master talent tree, but found it a bit of a waste and prefer duel spec of MM and survial trees, probably  because this suits my play style better. and found one is better for solo play while the other is better for instances and B.G's etc

I shall defiantly be getting this hunter up to lvl 80 and raid ready

I like PVP with this toon, However on my last foray into battle grounds (lvl 69 ) I was shocked at what I found. apart from W.S.G

The other battle fields were so light on Alliance players, the horde players at times out numbered us 10 to 1 ( respective of battle ground game group sizes ) I did get to have a couple of P.V.P achievements, and  win the odd  game, though I did give up in frustration. As the battle fields were it seems resembling a lot of older world game instances. It appears the been there done that attitude, and the thats old school, nobody does them any more, seems to have crossed right over into the battle fields. I found myself waiting for hours to get into a b.g , and not because they were so full, because not enough players on Alliance side were about to even get a game started and not even the incitement of BG quest of the day could not pull more player's in. IN the end it was frustration that took any and all fun out of the B.G's So I went back to lvling.

I prefer bows over guns, I just do not like guns , and can live without the bang of a gun in my ear, I hate loud and sudden bangs. I always found even as a kid a bow had  a lvl of class and skill required  that guns simply do not. Its a pity though that a lot of the Hunter rewards for the Alliance when it comes to weapons is guns, The Dev team apparently prefers the Alliance to have more Dwarf Hunters than Night Elf Hunters, based on quest rewards, and most mail is suited for Sharmen not hunters. The mail quest rewards or lack there of for HUnters armor is ok I can make that. THough I can make all the top guns, on my mage, of corse as stated I hate guns. So if a profession comes out where i can make bows I shall indeed take it up. 

So yes life as a Night Elf hunter is fun.

I still play widget, though just giving him a break, as he is a prety well finished  there not all tomuch left for him to get or want to get. The only way I could up his gear is 25 man raids, and I am more a casual raider and go raiding to help the guild dps side as new players lvl and get their toon's raid ready.

So for now my main play time is on my hunter, all the achievement's and all the new items can wait. I have hunting of another kind to do for now. See how we go.

OK so Add ons.

For the longest time I played without them ( gasp, shock, horror ) though  they are most helpful I am not the kind of player ( as others might be) that they are so dependant on add ons if they bug out all goes to Hell play wise.

I keep add ons at a minimum lvl as I can only using those I need for raiding and professions.

I only got a quest helper, some where around lvl 70. and had played all the game with out any such add ons and yes I could power level and I rembered all the quests (  i love a good quest story). I only then got a quest helper because of circumstances in my life meant suddenly my memory isn't what it was But I digress. 

I decided to set up my thoughts on the following add ons having had some new ones for a trial peroid so here we go.

Quest helper add ons.

QuestHelper is an awesome tool and I highly recommend it for those newer to the game. more so for the first time players just on their first toon 

coming in a neat easy use package with help full in game pointer arrows where to go and what you need.

HOwever as a more well versed player and no longer requiring alot of those helpful tools and always  making sure add ons take up the lest amount of run program space as possible I switched to 

Bayi's Extended Questlog    This is a slim lined helper, and is great when I am having one of my pink haird days, Or need a refresher  on where to find a perticulaerr bad guy,while reducing brain damage  caused by over thinking trying to recall where you went and what you did on a higher lvl toon,

Info can with a click display  on the map when you left click the speach bubble next tot he the quest objective. so a slim and slick wee add on for the more experienced player This helper I recommend for the more experienced Player who just having a Pink haired moment, or slightly fuzzed memory on a quest when playing an alt.

Personally having used QuestHelper for so long I find this a great tool  and highly  recommend it for the newwer player to the game, as it will speed things up for you and give you more help than alot of people can or know where something is, also will even help you find your body  a wee quicker  when you bite  off more than you can chew.

for Profession add ons you can not go past one of the following two 

Gatherer  is best tool for those miner and herbiest out there. a powerful add on that can help you and your whole guild.

I tryed this new tool GatherMate  agina slim lined helper and am still using it finding it great tool as it also allows an engeriner to mark the gas clouds one finds. So for me it si the prefered of hte two.

I have found alot of these add ons are not just a cleaver tool, or that one is better than another. I would say this I personally do no think any one is better than another, simply one is more suited to my/ your play style over another.

I have found Auctioneer  One of the most helpful AH tools. especially when I have not known what I should sell something at, whats the best price without being greedy, what is the base price, a must have if you often sell and buy from AH 

Its easy to clutter up alot of space on your hard drive with  so many niffty add ons, my thing is get those that are useful to you and your toons, and you cann't go wrong.

Well Its been a long long time from when I last did any eiditing of video. Due to cercumstances( I won't go into ) Much of my knowdlge of how to do it all was gone from memoray so I have had to relearn.

I am wanting to create a speical project

( I hope to be able to share with you all when I have it completed) 

So here is a little something I put together, ( real basic and simple) 

My First Clip mini music vid

So, I am working on a much bigger project. If it turns out as good as I hope I will, be very happy Gnome.

Also thanks to all for your support, the friendly feedback. and Hi to my first and new curse friend, you know who you are. :-D

Well I learnt something new about my Kirn Tor Familiar. He does a cool arcane blast, His animation is he holds out one arm ( like to cast a spell) and happly blasts away a few arcane bursts. 

However he does have to stand in a spot  for some time and this seems to be his way of saying, ha buddy I been standing here for ages I built up to much power and not gotton rid of it with a few arcane blast's, instead of how I normally do by  chasing you over hill and dale and through every street and lane in the city's you visit.

I discovered his trick as I was working on  the coins of Dalaran achievement, As yes he had to stand in a spot for quite some time as I fished up the coins required.

Side note here. fo rthose wondering how hard it is and how long it will take

I did find on each occasion, as I started to fish at the fountain that one seems to have to fish up gold fish and asorted junk for a bit before catching a coin, then once you got one they seem to flow.

I had completed the whole achivment in about 48 hours, and this was taking a break going off questing working on other game projects etc.

this is also saying some thing about me, as I was never really bothered with fishing, and only lvled very recently. In Part to hope to catch a rat ( for those that read my blog you know I a nutter for Champaign pets) 

and found it rather fun also did it to lvl up my cooking skills so I can do the daily and make the very cool buff food ( way better than B.C buff food) The critter food recipe one of my fav's nothing like having a number of critters become your minions for a period of time so Blizzard has made fishing and cooking far more desirable skills to learn and skill up. Added to that the achievements and rewards you can get, its now actually a lot more fun and rewarding than ever. Also baby spice is always good for a laugh

IF you are wanting to lvl your fishing and cooking then I highly recommend 

El's Extreme Anglin' fishing guide. A Guide to fishing in the World of Warcraft.

by following it I was able to skill up in 24 hours, with the new patch some exciting changes to fishing skill rewards and achievements will be coming. even if you are not lvl 80 and wish to know hwo best to skill as you level, follow this guide.

So yes I got my  Titanium Seal of Dalaran

by completing  Titanium Seal of Dalaran which is made up of hte following three sub achivments

A Penny For Your Thoughts

Silver in the City

There's Gold In That There Fountain

Some of the things written and wishs made with the coins are rather funny

So a very breif blog this week.

I would also like to thank those that gave my last blog entire a five star rating you really made my week so Cheers

I thought I would take some time and write a blog to answer the qestions I get asked most about my Mekgineer's Chopper.

Being a Hip Gnome Engeriner I had to of corse, make a Mekgineer's Chopper. Apart from the number of requests I get asking to ride shot gun. I also have recived a number of questions regrading these wonderful mounts the 

Mekgineer's Chopper ( Alliance) 

Mechano-hog           ( Horde )

What's the difference between the Mekgineer's Chopper and the Mechano-hog ?

Not alot both use the same model. However that said both use their own mount icon ( a different key)  and both have their own textures and colors

The Mechano-hog  for the Horde is panted Red and brown with the Horde Insigna on the front of the bike

The Alliance has the Alliance Insignia on the front and is painted Gold and Blue 

What is the Level limit requirement to ride one, IS this another Profession only mount ?

To own and ride you must be lvl 80, and no you do not have to be an engineer

To ride shot gun in the side car I know of no level Limit  and have had lvl 20's riding shot gun 

Is the Side car a separate option does it cost extra to get ?

No the side car is part of the bike  and when not in use folds up 

It sits on the right hand side and looks as though it is a spare tier with a bag just below it.

Blizzard model designers  put a lot of neat detail into the bike model

including the license plate on the back, ( just released never seen a horde bike close enough to see if it is the same license plate 

 As you can see the License Plate reads PWN. This is also a shot of the "interface" of the bike and the way Blizzard along with PVE planes and tanks has the same sort of controll to dismount.

At the time of writing this the Bike has  its own health bar and if you look on your mini map you will see a "Party" icon dot for your bike right under your own icon of yourself

You can ride off almost anything and not die. ( apparently that is about to change will write here if it does)

If you find clicking the "pet" icon for yourt bike a bit of a pain simply right click the "buff" icon and you will dismount

You can not cast spells etc while in the bike however you can interact with PVE Characters for quest etc.

This is simply a look at the left hand side the Bike Foot  will come down when you are stopped will lift when riding and if you "jump" pushes down lifting you up on an angled jump into the air 

Doe's it matter if I specialize in Goblin or Gnome engineering ?

No it doesn't matter. As the two bikes are faction based, not profession specialization based.

I've seen these on the AH why do they cost so much ?

It is just the expense of the Parts, and the time required to get the other matt's

How much do the parts cost ?

I have split the parts into two groups. Those you can farm and those you have to buy from K3.

12 Titansteel Bar ( if you can mine the Titanium and smelt it this is the cheaper option                               do not worry about the cool down as you will need to make gold to                               buy the K3 parts )

If you are buying the Titansteel Bar you are looking at lowest base line cost of 99 to 105 gold per bar.

 40 Handful of Cobalt Bolts   ( mine Cobalt ore and smelt yourself)  

If you are buying the bolts  price's range in price depending on sale and demand

2x Arctic Fur  If you do not have a skinner or can get from a friend you can buy these on                      AH from 30 to 50 gold per fur

The K3 Parts 

The total cost of the K3 parts is 12500 gold 

and is made up as follows

 x 8 at 1000 gold each = 8000 gold

  x 1 only 

x 1 only ( once brought the icon disappers wil come back on your                  next visit)

Where can I get the Schematic ?

You can get the Schematic from two of your Factions vendors

                              For the Alliance you can buy it from 

                              Logistics Officer Brighton Alliance Vanguard Quartermaster in the                                   Howling Fjord

                              Logistics Officer Silverstone Alliance Vanguard Quartermaster in the

                              Borean Tundra

You must have an exalted reputation with the Alliance Vanguard, do not confuse  this with the Alliance Expedition. At lvl 80 if you run lvl 80 instances or heroics. Wear NO FACTION Tabard as Alliance Vanguard is the default faction for rep points.

                             For the Horde you can buy it from 

                             Gara Skullcrush Horde Expedition Quartermaster in the

                              Borean Tundra

                             Sebastian Crane Horde Expedition Quartermaster in the                                              Howling Fjord

As I have no high lvl Horde I can only asume that the same Tabard Rep lore's apply as it does with the Alliance

                              I hope this has been some help to both engineers and                                                                      non engineers alike

I got Stinker the skunk  before WOLK was released. 

  Most pets you click and they make a sound but stinky, was as quite as the grave, ( the graves that don't have undead rising from them)

I did think it would be cool if you clicked him he would let a stink bomb out.

Stinker though cute didn't seem to do anything, that is untill I found out the other day by chance that if a player has out a Bombay cat, or the black tabby cat. Stinky will have a heart apper over his head and chase the cat all over.

Fot those old enough to re call, this "trick" of Stinker's is in fact a tribute to Pepe' Le Pew

 a cartoon chracter  from the Warner Brothers Loon Toons

Most oft a  female black cat would often one way or another get a white stripe of paint down  its back, seeing Pepe'  and knowing he was a skunk would naturally run a mile. Pepe'  of corse being the romantic French Skunk would pursue said Cat. hence World of Warcraft has Stinker chasing a black cat's. Any other color / type of cat and Stinker will just well stand there.

very funny to watch.

For those that wish to add something a little different to their pet experience I made this macro up. Using the Happy pet snacks you can buy from Dalaran.

/emote gives His  %T a Snack,and a pat and then whispers to the %T,  "Your the best pet ever"

/use Happy Pet Snack

/hug

I am now a "Real Mage"  having studied the books of Arcane. One does have to be patient, and there is no "short cut to accomplishing this achievement.

The first Four Books I was lucky to get in 24 hours, two of hte last four I got very shortly after the last two. these took abit longer to get, and the final one, by chance I was up late. So at 2 am my time =The 12 p.m v.r.t spawn time I thought o what the hell and there it was finally. 

You are mailed a book that will teleport you to  the highest Spire in the city 

I  recived my very own Kirn Tor Familiar. when I talked to the Mage there.

For all who read my post entitled 

INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS Read this before you order from a secondary party of Official Blizzard product.

I am pleased to let you know that last eve, my calendars arrived. Thier post date was for earlyer this month so one of two things  may have happend the orginal order was for whatever reason returned to sender whoi then made sure I recived it as planned. Or the charity had recived 2 calendars ( possibly cancled orders  /shrug) 

I do still stand by my original post in that if you live out side the states  check a couple of things at time of ordering. ( see orginal post) 

Also I stand by the fact  though I was disappointed my order had not arrived. The fact  the money I paid, went to young people who are in more need of help, than I am in need of the  calender, and though am happy I got the art work. Which was the reason I placed an order in the first place. At end of the day it wasn't the be all and end all. Knowing that money went to help young people with cancer, was the better end of the deal. 

Well at long last I finally got to make my chopper bike.

  OK so yes there should be an achivement just for getting the schematic ( seeme dto take for ever to get exalted.

Then thres the Bike making itself.

I go the matts together ( those you do no thave to buy from k3) pretty quick all things considered

Yes the Matts from K3,they are the kicker and thats the part that hurts the gold purse 12500 K gold

Piston 1000 gold each x 8

Salvaged Iron Golem Parts 3000 gold x1

Elementium-plated Exhaust 1500 gold Pipe x1

Yet now having made and ridden my Chopper bike. Totaly well worth it

What other mount can you drop vertically out of the Dalaran sewer pipe and not find yourself on impact, having a tea break with the spirit healer ?

Yup I tested this out and have done a number of vertical drops and not died 

Its a guaranteed  way to make your friends lose ten pounds ( from all the pooing in their pants) and make thier hair go white with fright.

The best thing is getting your mate riding sot gun in the side car and riding stright over a very high cliff

( hope this isn't something Blizz wil fix if they find out you can do this ) 

The best thing is getting your mate riding shot gun in the side car and riding stright over a very high cliff 

( the over hang balconey at Ulder very good ride off point)

You can hear them scream  and poo as they wonder what the hell you playing at getting them killed until you land and the cheer of "do it again", echos out and amazement of not finding they are dead.

Its just a supa fun and cool ride. Those in the side car get a very cool trip. As one of my friends put it, "this is so cool, its like going on a road trip"

though it beside the point they do not have to do anything but sit and watch the screany pass by, get up go afk and come back and find them self in another zone. Though one friend did say she couldn't take eyes off the monitor  and said " This is the best fun I have had while doing nothing"

So all you engingers out there that have said blow that what a rip off. IT is well worth  the time and effort.

I hope to edit this particular post and  add a screen shot from the drivers point of view, much easier than trying to explain the "set up" of this particular mount.

Well I got enough rep at last to get my penguin, ( couple of weeks ago now)  though to be honest its not as cute as the polymorph penguin spell.

I still doing the fishing daily in hopes that I get a babay croc for my main mage.

Funny enough my DK only did  crocs in the city eight times and got the perfect d.k croc, muck breath.

Last Friday right before guild Naxx run. I hatched my fourth egg, from the Oracles. I half expected it to be a yolk, due to three successful hatchings already.

Was  real happy when from out of my egg poped a Proto drake whelp. A friend swore to kill me, if I got one before he did. So I am now writing this blog as one of the undead.

Like the Tick Bird it will fly at any hight. I have also seen a character on my realm with a white tick bird hatchling (looked cool)

The shame is Blizzard have not enabled them to fly at epic speed. I might be pushing my luck as Blizzard have allowed them to fly at any hight. Though i.m.o it seems a bit of a wasted ability in certain respect's. As when you fly off at epic speed, you soon lose your companion. It would be cool if Blizzard did allow these top end companions to be able to adjust flight speed. from  non epic flight speed( which is the speed they fly at) to epic speed. As they have done with the death night winged steed.  

I do have a DK and got the DK fly mount, people think its expensive, though personaly I do not think it that expensive when it adjusts flight speed to your flying ability. Prehaps they expect more meat on their mounts for the gold they cost. One other thing of note about Dk mounts is. When you are on your horse, and then summon your flying steed. you do not dismount, in the summoning process. As all other class's do. I think Blizzard idea is that your death charger turns into your flying steed and hence the name of both mounts. One becomes the other, However you will dismount from flying steed when re summoning your death charger.

Talking of Mounts, you may or may not have seen on your realm one of the latest mounts a spectral saber. This is one very bad ass looking saber, totally cool. though the only way one can even have a chance to get one is via the WoW Cards. I can not see myself ever getting one as. I not about to go out and getting cards in slime hope of getting this bad ass cat mount. So for those that have got it congrats.

so thats my update on the pet and mounts front.

One thing that caught my intrest as a new player to WOW was the use of Runes, though these have a base in Nordic Mythology and tradition. The Runes also knowen as a futhark, were spread and then found a common use right throughout eroupe and down into the britsh Isles. there use was a multiple one, and listed in no particular order of importance.

 Firstly as a way of written communication, secondly as a number system, thirdly when placed in certain orders, or groupings  known as bound runes, as a way of forming a spell of incantation for healing the ill, to wining a game,  to help win a legal argument as well as a form of protection from and against evil spirits, bad luck, also as a curse to those disturbing burial stones or helping to have bountful harvests the list goes on. Fourthly most notably known in the modern area as a use of divination

The Word Rune is believed to have come from the Indo-European word ru, which meant a secret thing or a mysterious. Though  the word Rune is  also found commonly through out most of  the  germanic and gaelic languages, though the names differ slighty in spelling they all hold similar meaning or variant of a similar meaning, holding associations with the carefully guarded inner secrets of spirituality and magic. The word rune, also known as, runa, the nordic word run, Rhin, Roun all had similar meaning's either referring to a whisper : one who knows:  a wise woman or a cunning man. one who knows and keeps secrets.

The administrators of Anglo Saxon England called their discussions Runes, again referring to whispered talks, to talk much and about one thing or secret knowledge.

In the WOW game itself you can find runes in the textures within Black rock Mountain and in Iron Forge  The actual runes, I have seen in game are the runes  Dagaz, Mannaz, Uruz, Inguz, and Thurisaz, they are mixed in together with other "glyphs"

In the newest release with the Wrath of the Linch king  Blizzard has introduced glyphs of power, and in ways  seem to have shied away from using actual runes, in a number of quests in Northrend the Iron dwarfs have been portrayed as more as the users of Runes. Again the use of Runes in the Iron dwarfs architecture has been replaced by the new Glyphs. Though there are still "runes" in use within the game such as runes of teleportation and rune of portals. these too using icons of glyphs rather than actual runes.

If you wish  to learn more about Runes I sagest you search team Futhark or Elder Futhark, and Younger Futhark.

So like most things there is more  than mets the eye on first glance within the game.

My main character is a gnome mage, just respeced to a better talent point raiding combo.

He began life as a pure frost mage, and only respeced to fire/arcane for Kara raiding, needed the dps.

I really loved frost spec, and have kinda missed it, even with the new fire frost spec combo. So I have created another wee gnome mage who will be 100 % frost  

Frosty a Gnome's love 

Frosty been quite fun and as it been awhile from last I did alot of the lvling quests its not to bad. That and so much has altered with patches and the release of W.O.L.K, its almost like playing a different game from when I lvled my main mage

Frosty Character/ personality make up is as follows

Frosty Loves his Baby Blizzard Bear whom he has named affectionally Boo  and finds Boo the perfect frost mage companion for adventuring with

When he grows up Frosty greatest wish is to ride a mighty frost saber. For his flying transport he wishs only fo a magic carpet.

Though he can freeze you on a spot, cause you to feel chilled to the bone slowing all movement, he has a big warm heart. he will commonly bless mana class 's with intellect as he ride/ runs by, will greet them with a hearty hello. Yet his love and kind spirit for  others is not relegated to only the Alliance. Often he will greet  a memeber of the horde as he pass's them with a hearty hello or a friendly wave.

If Horde or alliance challenge him to a duel, or go into battle p.v.p mode Frosty is is more likely to laugh give you a hug and run on his merry way than fight. THough as he is still so young do not discount that you will find him on a battle field, he is still full of the innocence of life.

So if you are horde and see a wee gnome with a bear running along and waves at you or says hello, try not to be to boggled its just a little frosty with a big heart being friendly.

Ok so I am a WOW fan. Which means I will at times purchase Official and officially endorsed Blizzard WoW products. I have to buy online and pay up to twice the amount, then pay etc for PPH because I live in New Zealand and we have a weaker dollar. It's path of the corse. So the products I do choose are after careful consideration, and the how much do I really want this factor.  I do expect a standard of service, provided by Blizzard online store, and by Second Party Officially endorsed Blizzard merchandise. 

However, I would Urge Caution when purchasing Products from Second Party Officially endorsed Blizzard suppliers.

I have four cases in point.

The official Blizzard on-line store.

Great service the product I ordered  arrived in a week, and had a tracking code as standard practice. 5 stars

Jinx who makes T shirts and is a officially endorsed product supplier by BLizzard, their service  is excellent.5 stars  ( perhaps it is because they are a professional company suppling a range  of products for other companies besides Blizzard)  again arrived in a week with tracking code as standard practice.

The latest product I brought was a collectable clander for 2009. An officially endorsed Blizzard product printed to order so limited to literally  only those that brought it. ( to this date I have not recived the product.)

It's now Feb. The contact person I admit was prompt at first. when I wrote and inquired to my calendars delivery, having been told the printers let them down  etc, these things happen so I excepted this answer  as I was told it would / should arrive in the next ten days. My last email has taken almost two weeks to receive a reply.

the Reply I got  basically in sum up, Sorry no tracking code or any way of knowing where or what has happened to your ordered product. its sent  by First Class Mail via the USPS If it arrives back here, we shall contact you and re send right away. ( hmmm if I lucky I may get it in Jan 2010 if ever)   So you ask why not just lay a complaint with Pay Pal ? well fact of the matter is the money go's to charity and helps young people suffering with cancer I do not see why they should suffer.( I  have left out the charities name as again I do not feel it fair or right people should suffer more than they are because of a couple of people who do not appear to know what they are doing )  However it is the principle of the thing. This is not the first year they have done this exclusive Blizzard calendar  so  one would think they would have some checks and balances in place. If and when I ever receive my product. It I shall let you know. IT may be also  it has been stolen in shipment as it did not have a tracking code. There fore an easy target. for less than honest postal service employes

Figureprints.

CAUTION TO INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS.

At the time I ordered my one of a kind 3d sculpture, it was when the lottery system was still active. Yes I was thrilled that on my first go I got to  order my Main toon in a 3d sculpture having seen the details put in  to others characters in the gallery. Having read the blurb about the time it take's to make. It being hand painted and the time it took to send my product. It would work out this this would be arriving close to my birthday. = Birthday present. I already knew what process they used to make such sculptures having learnt and seen the technology in action 2 years before.

So I waited, when the  preposed delivery time had elapsed, and given fair time for any postal hold ups I became concerned,as I now had  waited and waited and waited long story short the only way I got  to learn their customer service email, was by writing directly to Blizzard online store.

Once learnt I sent in the end several emails. the final one getting a response after a very blunt email. Their reply said sorry your emails ended up in the spam/ junk folder, no company logo was on the email. So for all I knew it was the janitor replying to me.

I was then informed  that it was sent over land then by ship of all things. and no they could not send by air. We shipped the order April 2. There isn't any tracking numbers for it, as we ship out Canada post, then it's ground (ship) after that. the typical times are supposed to be 6-8 weeks they told us.( I and my other half order things from around the world, this was the first I ever heard of a company saying they could not supply air freight due to their country's postal service) It Took  months to arrive from time of shipment notified shipping date april 2 to arriving at my door step in June. Eagerly I opened the package. Disappointment hit me as I unwrapped the final layer of bubble wrap. If this had been hand painted the person must have been blind.

The mages staff looked nothing like what I thought it should, not even close and the rest of my scupltrure was faded out colors. It was as it appears from the 3D laser cutting scanner, no touch ups or hand painting had been applied. 

I see now that Figure Prints offers the product with a no wait, with mini movies of how they make it, and how "artists" touch up   making the figure look like one would expect it to look. I am under the impression now that my own may have been a last mintue rush  half arsed job, and I was told a lot of fob off lies. Perhaps their thinking was that because I lived so far away and in a small  country  it didn't matter.

Perhaps certain companies  think they can get away with such second rate servie and product. Because New Zealand is a small out of the way  country with a population less than small tin pot city's in the U.S. They forget or don't know we are the first country in the world that stood up to the U.S.A Navy and told them no way could they bring their nuclear ships into our harbors. Or we were the country that caught and sentenced French secret service after blowing up the Green Peace ship Rainbow Warrior in  Auckland Harbor 

We are a country of really nice people. Just do not  treat us like we are unimportant nobodies.

Or Perhaps I just happen to be the one unlucky customer that gotten  screwed by second party companies officially endorsed by Blizzard

So what does Blizzard have to say about such service 

Basically tuff cheese its not our responsibility as these companies are not owned or operated by Blizzard inc. Personally  I really do no think this attitude  is good enough. How hard is it  for BLizzard who officially endorses these products with their name  gos out of the way to set up  web sites to ensure they all look like part of Blizzard  and not ensure a few basic standards are put in place. As at the end of the day Its their name that suffers.

So a word from learning the hard way. 

Heres a check list you should ask in email with order or before you order

(1) Can you send with a tracking code ? if so how much etc will it cost

( however there is a postal service from the U.S that includes this as standard )

(2) how long and by what method do you send international orders 

(3) what delays can one expect and reason's why.

One would think you  should not have to ask such questions, that the companies you deal with already know the basics of international postal services. Apparently they do not, and apparently you do have to ask and make sure your not talking to the Janitor.

Its not often I get upset enough to have a rant such as this, I only wish to share my experience's so other WOW fans do not have to suffer as I feel I have when ordering Officially Endorsed Blizzard products by Second party companies, or is that second rate companies.

One thing I loved from the Get go about Wow was it companion / pets

My first pet was a snow shoe rabbit I refred to as Hopper

I clearly remember getting it thinking it was kinda fun and funny the whole mage / magian thing having a rabbit  along for my adventures, and  as I found out later the mage in Storm Wind in the  Mage Quarter who had a spell backfire and transformed himself permanently into a rabbit, ( model snowshoe rabbit)

that was 59 compainions ago ( have 60 all up)

My guild mates think I am a right nutter ( they not completely wrong)

Some have asked do I even summon all my pets/ compaions and do I recall which ones I have answer is yes to both.

One companion type I have and really liked is the birds. At one point they were all ground skimmers. Then Blizzard with one of its patches made it so some flew at a half decent hight. Though I always wished they could fly along side you while you flew about on your personal flying mount.

Yesterday  the Tickbird Hatchling hatch form its egg.

(hatched from oracle faction egg)

This is one special very cool flying pet, apart from the fact it has the latest flying animation which includes a really nice glide, it is the only Bird ( I know of ) that can and will fly with you at any altitude. The Only Shame is that it can not fly fast enough to keep up with an epic mount. Non the less when I discovered this flying abilty I was pleased as a dwarf with a room full of kegs all to himself.

I found it fun to have tick out flying when I am doing a localized quest/ daily and speed is not a factor so I can fly on my first rank Griffon or flying machine and have Tick keep up  with me, just another personal fun thing  you can do. 

Its not a bigg wow wee thing, and some may think what's the deal and why go on about it, but I find this just another small detail Blizzard has put into the fun pot when playing Wow 

So go on dare to wish, Blizzard may pick up on it and make your wish come true.

OK  so a bit about me

I'm a 38 yr old Big Kid I love playing WOW. Its great Curse has a blog section where players can share their love of the game ( and other games) and just general stuff about themselves and their game life so cheers to Curse.

I play mainly Alliance toons, how ever  I decided the other week to find out what life was like from the other side, (more about that later) so I now have one horde toon

My main toon is a Mage Gnome. Fire / arcane spec lvl 80.

I have a number of characters each has its own personalty so to speak and each does different things. Down to even some not doing certain quests for two reasons one is the  character thing its just not in their personatly profile that they would do a certain quest

the other is I have other toons that I save quests for, this keps the game intresting and gives me new experainces as I play my different toons.

so My blog is yes about my wow game life but also observatiosnand a chance to share  things with other players

so cheers to you all. Look forward ot reading your blogs etc on tues night when theres shut down.