That's Admiral to You.

You know I really shouldn't be allowed to play on my own. I make the worst decisions when I'm playing alone. Like when I was still a wee little level 20 and I decided to make some quick gold by catching deviate fish in Wailing Caverns without considering how I was going to get past the elite dinosaur thingies. Or the time I thought I'd catch every single one of the coins out of the Dalaran fountain, not realising just how long or how boring it was going to be.

But this time I've really done it.

I was in Booty Bay the other weekend for the fishing competition and I couldn't help but notice how many players were running around killing the NPC. I couldn't work out why, after all Booty Bay isn't exactly a combat zone, but after a bit of a google search I found out. They were trying to get the Bloodsail Admiral Title!

Of course, it was a short jump from that to deciding that, of all the things in the world, there's nothing I want so much as that title! So without even thinking about it, I quickly switched the Booty Bay rep to at war and started slashing my way through the bruisers who wander around in there.

Of course, like all of these little ventures of mine, I hadn't really considered all the consequences. Firstly, it took FOREVER to kill enough of them to become friendly with the Bloodsails! I mean, literally hours of just killing Booty Bay guys! But by the time I realised just how long it was going to take, I was already committed so I ploughed on.

Secondly, once I'd killed enough of them and could get the quest that gave me the title, I realised just what I'd done. I was now hated with Booty Bay, Ratchet, Gadgetstan and Everlook!!!!! And do you know how you have to get your rep back? Killing pirates for anywhere between 2 and 5 rep points each! I did the maths and worked out that to even get back to friendly, I'm going to have to kill approximately 36,000 pirates! Holy crap, what have I done!!!

But on the bright side, I've got the title. I'm now Bloodsail Admiral Tammamou. And I got a swish looking pirate outfit and a hat that procs a parrot. Arg me hearties, hoist the missen mast and swab the decks ye scurvy knaves!

Well I guess I won't be winning the Booty Bay fishing competition any time soon. It's really hard to hand in when the NPC that announces the winner is trying to kill you.

Podcast Recommendation

I haven't had much time for playing lately, or posting for that matter, so I'm just going to make a quick recommendation.

If you're looking for an interesting podcast, go have a listen to For The Horde Radio.

It doesn't have the same polish as The Instance or Legendary Thread, but this is a podcast by players for players with plenty of rants, gamer observations and amusing stories to satisfy anyone. I'd better warn you though, they're a bit prejudiced against the Alliance.

The Secret Life of Belfs

It's happened to all of us at some point, I'm sure. One minute you're running Heroic Nexus, the next you're dancing on the bank steps in Dalaran wearing nothing but a slutty looking Christmas outfit.

Hey, could have happened to anyone ... well, maybe not anyone.

All I know is one minute we were discussing S's new baby priest and how S was loathe to give up the tarty dress that all the Belfs get in the ghostlands even though the stats on it are as good as wearing a sign that says "come on and kill me, I'm free honour", and the next we were scouring Tammamou's tailoring inventory to find the most whorish looking kit we could come up with. I think we did a fine job, don't you?

So I threw one together for the Baby Priest (nice, I think that's what I'll call S from now on), and the Tanking Priest didn't want to be left out so I had to make one for his Warlock to wear. Of course it was only a short jump from them trying the outfits on to them dancing on the Dalaran bank steps. *Sigh* You just can't take them anywhere.

At this point I have to plead temporary insanity. I have no idea why I thought it'd be a good idea to knock up half a dozen of these outfits, or why I though it was a BRILLIANT idea to change into my Belf hunter and join them. All I know is by the time I'd finished handing out free Slutty Santa outfits the Dalaran bank steps looked like this.

And no, despite all the evidence to the contrary, there was no alcohol involved in this decision making process.

For the Love of Epic Flying Mounts.

Okay, so at the risk of sounding like a money grubbing, skum sucking, bottom dwelling gold farmer ... does anyone know of any good gold making schemes?

I've been going nuts lately, trying desperately to scrape together enough gold to get Viserene an epic flying mount. Tammamou and Indigoblue both have theirs, but when Viserene hit level 70 I had just spent a ridiculous amount of gold on getting Tammamou's tailoring and enchanting levelled up. So now I'm broke, and Viserene is stuck flying around on a crappy pus-mount.

It wouldn't be so bad if I could just do what I've always done to make gold, but lately the bottom has dropped out of the prospecting business. I used to be able to buy a stack of ore, prospect it, and sell the gems I got for at least twice as much. Not anymore though! Now days with the prices being where they are I'd be lucky to break even.

I've been trying to play the market instead, buying trade goods on the AH when they're listed at 30% or less than average price and then relisting them at a higher rate, but it's been slow going and it's quite a bit riskier than prospecting. Too many times I'm ending up with stuff that I bought at what was a good price at the time, but won't sell for two copper now.

If things keep on going this way, I'm going to have to do something drastic, something I swore I'd never do again. I'm going to have to resort to ... shudder ... gathering professions.

Five Minute Attention Spans.

Well, after a break of a couple of months I'm back playing again! I don't really have any good reason for the sudden abandonment of my WoW related responsibilities, I just felt the need to take a break for a bit after getting Tammamou to 80 and before knuckling down to start levelling Indigoblue, so I spent some time away from the game, catching up on my television watching and only logging in to check my mailbox.

And can I say, I had no idea just how much TV you miss when you're playing this game! I went to watch my favourites on TV, only to realise that the ongoing storylines have well and truely left me behind! If it's not half the cast being different to the ones I remember (and then I'm left wondering what the hell happened to them), then it's some convoluted storyline that's obviously been a season and a half in the making and I have no chance of catching up with!

Bah, who needs television anyway! My attention span can't really deal with anything more than 5 minutes these days anyway. Damn Youtube, destroying my ability to concentrate for long periods of time.

Good thing I always have WoW to come back to.

Azerothian Dining Experience

I've always known WoW was popular, after all any way you look at it 11 million people is a lot! But I think this article about a new restuarant in Beijing shows just how mainstream it's starting to get.

Why can't someone open something like this up here in Australia? I'd be a regular customer!

Waitress: Hi, welcome to the Dalaran Cafe. What can I get you?

Me: Umm ... I'll take a Murkyburger, with a side of Hinterland Greens.

Waitress: Okay then, and for desert?

Me: The pear pie, I think.

Waitress: Great! And can I get you anything to drink with that?

Me: Just a glass of the Dalaran Wine thanks ... and not one of those half empty ones either!

I think we need more WoW themed places. There's so many of us, we should be showing our true colours! Getting our WoW pride on!

Honestly, I've never had any desire to go to Asia, but I think I'd make the trip just to see that restaurant.

Sailors! They're called Sailors!

Due to a case of the flu (although I'm telling anyone who'll listen it's galloping consumption), I haven't played much this week. So rather than tell you the fascinating story of how in my fever induced delirium I thought the cat was trying to tell me something about the microwave, I thought I'd just share one of my favourite WoW clips with you.