My guild deserves many cupcakes

November 4th was my guild's 3-year anniversary, so I decided this would be an appropriate time to gush about just how special we are.

On Tuesday, we went back to Ulduar and killed Yogg-Saron for the first time. Big deal, right? That content is three tiers old news. But Yogg was the last bossed we needed; now we've cleared all the 10-man normal raid content for WotLK.

What, no hard modes? No 25-man content? And you just now got around to slaying a raid boss that most guilds downed a year ago? Why are you celebrating?

I'm celebrating because we achieved this on one night of raiding, a grand total of four hours each week. I'm celebrating because we killed the Lich King in pure 10-man raid gear, meeting the qualifications for "10-man Strict," since we don't run 25s. Most of all, I'm celebrating because we had a hell of a lot of fun doing it.

My guild is not a raiding guild--we're a guild of friends that raid together. We're adults with busy lives: jobs, families (even new babies!), and other hobbies. We started playing WoW together three years ago, and we're still having fun. I've never had anyone ragequit from my guild. When we raid, it's a team effort; everybody comes prepared and does his or her personal best to help the group succeed. When we wipe, we laugh at our mistakes and we learn from them, without throwing around blame or pointing fingers. And we sing on vent.

Deathwing had better be trembling in his armor right now. Because WOW Cave is coming for him.

New Blog - Aspect of the Wild

I have moved to a new blog! Please visit me at Aspect of the Wild, where I will continue to obsess over kitties, minipets, and anything that sparkles.

Like I'm some kind of raccoon.

You can even follow me on Twitter.

Frostbite me

I've been working on Frostbitten for many months. This achievement has soaked up dozens of hours of my life, which I've spent hovering or circling around the spawn points of rare elites, hoping to spot and tag them before the competition does. This endeavor has required mountains of patience and caused me oceans of frustration. To say that I've worked hard for this is an understatement.

Three of the rares on the Frostbitten list are tamable beasts often prized as pets by Hunters. All three live in Sholazar Basin--Loque'nahak, Aotona, and King Krush. That makes these rares some of the most difficult to kill, because you're not just competing with other Frostbitten seekers--you're also competing with Hunters who want to tame them, and the area is heavily trafficked by miners and herbalists who are likely to spot a silver dragon and kill it for its loot.

Before the patch, there was no question of whether I would kill Aotona or King Krush when I eventually spotted them. My stable slots were full, and I sure wasn't going to trade one of my lovely Spirit Beasts or my dear Roflz for a green t-rex or a purple parrot. But suddenly I have 20 stable slots, plenty of room to take home Aotona or King Krush should I choose to spare their lives and love them and squish them and call them Fluffy, instead. So yesterday when I was circling the Basin and I spotted Aotona, I flew to the ground not knowing whether I was about to tame her or kill her.

Well, my compulsion to collect new pets won over my desire to finish my achievement, and much to my surprise, I found myself dismissing my current pet and mashing Tame Beast frantically. But it wasn't working! The angry parrot kept trying to gouge my eyes out with her talons while, in my panic (finding/taming/killing rares is always an adrenaline spiking experience), I repeated this process--Call, Dismiss, Tame Beast--about eight times before I finally realized the problem. "You have too many active summons." Translated: I was running around with 4 pets in my active slots, which meant that in order to tame a new one, I'd need to go dump one of my pets at the stables. Or abandon it.

I wasn't willing to abandon one of my pets, and I knew that if I fled from combat and ran to the nearest stables, chances were high that Aotona would be gone when I returned. Someone else in this heavily trafficked area would spot her and either tame or kill her before I could get back. I sure didn't want to let the rare opportunity to snag a new pet or get credit for my achievement pass me by, so, with mixed feelings, I called my wolf and we killed the bird.

I shared this story on one of my favorite Hunter pet forums. Oops, bad idea. Turns out I may as well have painted a big red target on my back and run around shouting, "I kill tamable rares for the lulz!" based on the load of hate that I  found myself receiving in comments to my post.**

Pardon me, have you seen my cat?

My first hunter pet ever was a Ghostclaw Lynx named Lolz. Thus began my lolcats theme of naming pets. Lolz is the reason that I now have Roflz, Ohai, Kitteh, and Goggie. Being a lynx native to the Blood Elf starting zone, she was an appropriate and beloved companion throughout Jag's early levels. Even after I tamed Roflz, who became my official sidekick for the remainder of my journey to 80 and beyond, I would often bring Lolz out of the stables to play.

Jag, being a cat person, used to keep a stable of five cats. Then Spirit Beasts came along, and the allure of their rarity and sparkle-shiny-moonfire-prettiness necessitated that I make some tough decisions. With each new patch, and each new Spirit Beast added to the game, I reluctantly released one of my kitty friends into the wild, until only Roflz and Lolz remained. Then came Arcturis, and after much deliberation, I sadly set Lolz free. I like to imagine that she returned to her home in the Ghostlands, welcomed with purrs and pounces by her lynx family and friends.

So the very best thing about Patch 4.0.1: with twenty stable slots, I can have all my kitties back! The first thing I did was go looking for Lolz. I found her waiting for me just across the bridge, on the banks of the Elrendar River, playing in the water by the lily pads. Yes, this is the exact, specific mob spawn of the original Lolz. First lynx on the left, when you cross the bridge into Ghostlands. I always remembered. When she saw me, my old lynx friend pounced on me joyfully. To an outside observer, it might have appeared as though she was quite angry and attempting to rip my face off, but I know it was all in the spirit of affection. She had a very nice visit with her wild cat friends in the forest, but she's delighted to come home.

So, it is to be war between us

See that dog in the screenshot? I’m shunning it. The hunter is Sola, my guild leader. She’s a traitor. She used to raid with her beloved brown lynx, Caliban. As a fellow attack-cat, Caliban is one of my posse. We look awesome paired up together on a raid boss’ butt, clawing and mangling our way to victory. Sometimes we’re even joined by a third cat, usually Seishou, a pretty ghost saber who owns one of the guild’s other hunters. We have kitty power. JOHN F^#*ING MADDEN.

That dog puts a serious crimp in my style. When Sola began bringing it to raid for the dps boost, I made my disapproval abundantly clear. I gacked up an epic hairball in one of her favorite +120 Agility boots. I clawed up both sides of the guild sofa. I practiced the above-pictured shunning ritual each time she summoned the mongrel. When she betrayed Caliban, she betrayed one of my own. Caliban deserves to be Caliban the Kingslayer. The dog deserves a flea dip.

I do have to confess, though, that part of my vehement Caliban defense is motivated by guilt.

Cast of Characters

I feel it might be useful to introduce some of the names I'm likely to mention frequently in this blog.

My Characters:

Lynxr – My first character, and my main until WotLK. She’s been a feral kitty spec since day one, or at least since day one of level 20. She’s my primary pet collector, keeper of 127 of my 132 vanity pets.

Jagwyr – My co-main, a beastmaster at heart who runs as marksman for raids. Her companions are Roflz the lion, and four Spirit Beasts: Ohai, Kitteh, Goggie, and Lynxr.

My alts – Phasers (Draenei elemental shaman), Raevynn (Blood Elf frost/blood death knight), Kyttyn (Blood Elf discipline priest)

My Boyfriend:

Thulgasta – Usually I’ll just call him “Thul.” He’s an enhance shammy. We’ve been a couple for five years, and playing WoW together for three. We co-lead my guild’s 10 man raids. He’s a lot wittier than I am, so I will frequently demand that he provide me with humorous one-liners which I will shamelessly publish here and claim as my own.

My Pets:

Koda – My dog. Main spec is goober, off spec is booger. Leet solo raider of The Trash, known loot ninja of empty Starbucks cups.

Gwyn – My cat. His name means “white.” He got lucky, cause my previous cats were named Fido, Spot, and Rover.

My Guilds:

WOW Cave – I lead this guild with Jagwyr, on Malfurion. The name is pretty literal… we started as a group of six real-life friends squishing into one room to play WoW together. Three years later, we’ve grown a little bit, but we’re still a tiny close-knit bunch. We raid 10 mans, one night a week, and recently we downed the Lich King.

Sheep Nova – Lynxr’s guild on Farstriders, the other bunch of lunatics I play with. This is where I take a vacation from guild leading. Although my responsibilities in Sheep Nova are limited, I do take my role as “guild cat” very srsly.

I like kittens. And also WoW.



Hi, I'm Christie--more commonly known on the internet as Jagwyr or Jag. I’m twenty-six years old, college educated, and mostly unemployed. I live in my mom’s garage, which I share with my dog, cat, and many stacks of cardboard boxes. Half the garage is my domain; the other half is storage space. It was never my intention to become a basement-dwelling nerd, but here I am, so I may as well fess up to it.

This blog will be (mostly, most of the time) about WoW, from my perspective. That is to say, the perspective of somebody who loves the game for its plethora of digital animals, pretty fantasy outfits, and because it’s an interactive social hobby to share with friends.

In this blog, you are likely to find many screenshots of pets, mounts, and RP outfits. You’re likely to read my opinions about the facts that Worgen do not have tails, and that the Alliance guild mount is a majestic golden lion, while the Horde's is a disgusting bug with pincers.

You are unlikely to find any discussion of class mechanics, raid strategies, or damage meters, unless they happen to relate directly to something theme-appropriate—like the fact that I am so excited about the Worgen Running Wild ability that allows them to drop to all fours and sprint at mounted speed.

By way of introduction, I will share the story of how I became a WoW player.