Pets, Mounts and Achievements

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This is as good a time as any to make a post. I'm at a temporary loss of internet since early this Friday morn, and don't expect it back untill tomorrow afternoon, Sat. Apparently an underground wire wasn't quite where it was suppossed to be, and is now waiting repair.

I did have a short time in game this morning before the incident and Sol managed to obtain the last two TB commendations needed for his staff upgrade. He took a minor loss to spellpower and hit with the change, but gained in all the other stats. Besides, he will make up the loss somewhere else before long. The power of positive thought, or so they say.



My little green Disgusting Oozeling

I'm not what one would call an avid pet collector in-game, though I do like watching for those odd pets to come along or the ones not everybody in Azeroth already has. This is not to say that I don't have some of that flavor, as they were collected during early leveling years. I'm sure that I also don't quite meet "Hoarder" status such as perhaps Saz would define pet collecting. With something like 57 pets, I'm somewhere in the middle sitting on the fence. Khrox, the hunter, uses Petopia to guide his cravings for rares and exotics. Sol wanders through the pet and mount listings with Warcraft Pets and Warcraft Mounts respectively. (Links in the sidebars will take you to his collections, if your interested) While updating his pet collection mid-week, Sol came across two he thought would be nice additions, so the next morning found him off on adventures to round them up. Not hard really, one had to be farmed, but the other was a simple continent jump to purchase. The Disgusting Oozeling took about 30 minutes to farm in Swamp of Sorrows. The Winterspring Frostsaber Cub was adopted for his Winterspring Frostsaber to raise. This is kind of like a 'set', now. And I guess now, that the Frostsaber's true identity is for sure female. I'm sure she'll be a wonderful Mom.


The Winterspring Frostsaber mount turned out to be a Mom!

Sol's mount collection is in about the same boat, somewhere inbetween causal and "Hoarder." His only drake of coarse is the Albino Drake offering from the mount achievements. Actually quite useful on long flights. Sol has made consious decision to go for the next level of achievements on both pets and mounts, it's just a matter of time before he gets there. And that brings us to the last section of the post title, "Achievements."

There has been something of an on-going "discussion-debate-opinionated postings" thing around lately over game achievements. Are they "real" or "not", are the people seeking them actually accomplishing anything, their life value, yada-yada-yada and so on. I'm not going to bother with linking the original and "debating" posts, (general use of terms here), but I will reccomend Pshcochild's take on the whole matter, and his post does have links. As for myself, yes, I do like my game achievements. Yes, I do feel that each one does bring me some moments of satisfaction when accomplished, and I look forward to the next victory be it minor or a rough journey. So yes, at least for me, they are "real." And that is what it boils down to. The individual person and how they feel about game achievements. BTW, I also spend time working at other achievements with pleasure, those which benefit the guild. My way of contributing to the overall good of the guild and my guild mates.

Okay then! What do you like collecting? Pets? Mounts? Achievements? Or are you like Sol and dabble in a little of everything? (Psssst, his archaeology rares are up to something like...14?)

One more little cutie to share with you....



Gotta love this little panther cub!



Shineys and Interupts

Surely by now, everyone is at least aware that I have this "Ohhhh, Shiney!" affliction. I could be in the middle of a serious quest chain, fighting a small pack of mobs or even just flying to the next place I need to be when something catches my eye and waylays me off on a completely different objective. Herbs and fishing holes are prime attention grabbers, but not alone in the woods so to speak. At least, they only side-track me for a relatively short period of time. Not a big deal, right?

Another culprit (make the plural), would be the odd-ball achievements which suddenly show their face. Like just finishing up a batch of dailies and realizing I'm close enough to Org and still need that one fish for the Fishing Diplomat. *Minor thought reminder to self / me ally + horde heavy pvp server = time consuming multiple corpse runs.* Well, not enough of a deterrent obviously, as I'm flying in over the mountains tops and kitty stealthing large jumps down to a little out of the way nook next to a waterfall. All this to hopefully get a ten minute crack at that damn fish again. Getting in and when necessary, out of Org are the easy parts. Actually fishing for a whole minute or two is the real challenge. And let's not forget that bugged Limnologist achievement, (I KNOW I've caught ALL those damn fish before), still saying I need some bloated fish specimens. Okay, 'nuff said.

Other things that tend to waylay me fall into either useful or vanity grinds. Like faction reps. These can be useful, sometimes. Except for the time period I was grinding them just for the 20 faction exalts achievement. I never completed them during leveling so it was a "go back in time and grind them" sort of project. And don't get me started on the horrible rep grind for the Winterspring Frostsaber Mount. The vanity stuff usually involves completing some very old quests I didn't do back then, just because I desire some little companion pet which caught my eye. Or some, maybe unusual, mount. Most recently, this involved the three escort quests for the OOX-??? dohickey contraption. Why? That little adorable mechanical chicken at my feet.

Then we have: Archaeology. ATM, there are only two good things I can say about this addictive compulsion. One, Blizz buffed up the vendor payouts for the commons. WOOT! On patch day, I logged in to collect a quick 500 gold and gain some much needed bank space. Two; I now have 11 rares solved, which delight me to no end. Still haven't found the jar with the Sandstone Drake recipe as yet ;( but I am still spending hours at a time OCD digging away). And I mean, HOURS! Many, many HOURS! Oh yeah, those daily dungeons I should be running, actually want to be running...wait...there's a red spot on my map not far from here. Just one. It won't take that long. Really! Just one. Well, maybe I'll come up with THE jar this time.

Oh, and btw, my name is Solitudeone and I'm an altoholic.

Final Days

A couple of days back, Sol decided to awaken from his druidic rest. It was finally time to go through the last of the changes necessary and activities necessary for Deathwings' coming. He wanted to get the fastest flying mount possible for use in the now shattered Azeroth. Determined not to let his short-comings deter him, the search/mission was on. The way became clear to him while looking through possible achievement mounts. 50 mounts = 1 Albino Drake. Now, Sol had some 15 mounts already even though he wasn't much of a mount collector. One from each of his exaulted home cities, a couple of early on griffons from Outland, and a few he added just for the sake of spending some gold on himself instead of the kids for a change. So he made the rounds of all his factions' stables and picked up everything they had to offer. After a couple of hours of travel and spending, that magickal letter from Mei Francis appeared, and the Drake mission was successful.

Next came a combination move of sorts. Doing a few argent and Hodir dailys, mixed with some herbing and fishing. This was really one of those relaxing, take his time and gather his thoughts ventures. Even though the new drake was available, Sol took advantage of the taxi services to sift through and organize his bags. Taking some last looks at Northrend from the air, and recalling many of adventures it held for him. There were some disappointments, goals not reached. But there were so many other things to celebrate and be quietly proud of. He was into his second day of dailys and stockpiling the much needed mats. Thoughts of attempting a few more of the hideous dungeon finder tool lurked in his mind as he flew about picking herbs. Hummmm? Where are we? Oh yeah, the Basin. May as well pick up some extra nettlefish. Bypass River's Heart and head out northwest to that other little lake not many people of either faction go to. Quiet area, good for thinking and fishing with no interuptions, short of a few crazy water monsters. And then out of nowhere.....the silence was shattered.

Sol had given up on farming this rare mount several months ago, having spent over a year bounceing around Northrend hunting for her. Now, with only a few days left before moving on, the loot gods finally provided their blessings.

There are still a few things left to do before all the new adventures and challenges hit home next week. Sol took a good look into the mirror and saw his gear for what it was. Far from top end raiding gear, it would have to suffice/endure what lay ahead. And though it wasn't the best, it was a decent mix of what he could aquire. A little pve, a little pvp and crafted for the topping. It'll do, he'll make it work. It has kept him alive all this time. Well, more alive than dead anyway. He may re-spec one more time, fine tuning so-to-speak. A little more re-forging perhaps, along with a final look at gems and enchants. With Cataclysm being so new for everybody, hopefully pugging through the random dungeon finder early on won't be so distasteful. Sol will just have to start straight off from the beginning this time instead of waiting so long. His first few days will be spent somewhat quietly. Building up some rested time, fishing and cooking dailys, and farming. He will fill up his quest log, but wait just a couple of days to start them. Hopefully avoiding the massive onslaught of day one. Of coarse, there is always something that can lay waste to the best laid plans.

MumbleJumble

Mostly just a few pics this time around. Showing off that Winterspring Frostsaber that took soooo very long tedious hours to get. Then there's the Colbalt War Talbuk, many many warbeads worth of rep grind. Added in are a couple of rares found along the way. Just never know what is going to pop up in the middle of your path. :)

Enjoy! Have fun working those achievements. ~Sol