Playing Catch-Up: My Thoughts on Patch 4.2

So, while I was on my WoW hiatus, I apparently missed a whole bunch of things. Including Patch 4.2. And my guild moving to a different server. Yeahhhhh.

Which means I have a helluva lot of catching up to do.

*Catches up*

All right! I have read the Patch Notes. And I have thoughts on them. *grins madly*

Let Me Re-Introduce Myself

Well, hello there.

So it has been SOME MONTHS since any of y’all have heard from me. I sort of went into hiding and had to wallow/wander about/re-prioritize my life for a bit.

Mostly, that’s me making excuses for being a silly, silly girl. But you understand, right?

Right! Wonderful, moving on. What is of importance is that I have found my way BACK to where I believe I NEED TO BE, and now am ready to be back HERE again. 🙂

So now I will UPDATE you on the things that have happened in my life since we last typed with each other. It’ll be like those really annoying Christmas updates, except this one will not be as annoying.

I hope.

1. I went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. With my MOM. 

This actually happened back at the end of March/early April, but I don’t think I ever told y’all about it on the blog. I sure as hell tweeted about it. Anyway, here are some PICTURES of THAT.

Butterbeeeeeeeer!

2. I saw Andrew Bird in concert, with my seester. ‘Twas fun. 

3. I saw Taylor Swift in concert.

This was not a planned event, it just sort of happened. Kind of like this:

*phone rings*

“Hey, dad.”

“Hey, B. You wanna go see Taylor Swift this weekend?”

“Um, sure, I guess.”

“Ok, cool. There are two tickets under your name at Will Call.”

“Awesome, thanks, Dad!”

Yeah, that’s basically how that happened. So I went and saw T-Swizzle, and she is actually really, really good in concert. Fun and adorable and didn’t sing off-key one time!

4. I have read MANY BOOKS and have BLOGGED about them. 

If you would like book recommendations, lemme know. I’m good at things LIKE THAT.

5. I bought a shirt that makes me unbelievably happy. 

6. I had a very Rory Gilmore-kind of day, and took a quick trip to New Haven to hang out on the Yale campus. 

7. I had a (very) brief affair with online dating. 

I am prepared to use this information in an “Of Love & Warcraft” post if you think that would be OF INTEREST to you.

8. I have been working on my novel(s). A lot.

9.  I saw Josh Ritter read from his new book and play some songs in a Barnes & Noble. 

10. I took a little trip to visit some friends and D.C.

I sat in a pool while the sun was shining, and did NOT get sunburned. In fact, I got a little bit of a tan.

Alright, I think that’s all. What have YOU been up to this summer? Hmmmm?

Introducing: Spider Bethie!

Alright, Blizzard, you’re just being mean now.

It’s ONE thing to put giant, creepy spiders in the game, but to include a portion of MY name in the name of the fire spider (I know that’s not what they’re called, but I like saying fire spider) in the Firelands raid is JUST rubbing my face in my own fear, you schadenfreude-loving bastards.

But you know what Blizzard? I’m not going to be afeared. This giant, creepy, fire spider and I are kindred. KINDRED!

BEHOLD! SPIDER BETHIE!

Okay, so her name is actually Beth’tilac (but you know that already don’t you, reader? . . . Show off.) and the best part about her is this: she has a TITLE. Her name is Beth’tilac, The Red Widow!

HOW BADASS IS THAT?!

This Week in WoW

I don’t know if you guys heard about this, but this past Tuesday Blizzard introduced this patch thing that came with some new quests and dungeons and shit. Oh, you heard about that? Huh. Small world, right? (Please tell me that you can imagine the sarcasm dripping ever so seductively from my fingers as they type. I guess things dripping from fingers isn’t that seductive. Wait. Oh, just forget the whole bloody thing!)

Anyhow, Patch 4.1 came out, and there are new SHINY things for everyone to do/experience/see in Azeroth right now. Although at this point I’m sure y’all have already done it all and are like “Patch 4.1 is OLD HAT. Bring on the Firelands! *thunderclap*”

Unfortunately, I cannot bring you the Firelands (click the linky…it’s the best I can do) and therefore I will give you my sort-of cracked and silly thoughts on Patch 4.1-type things. And some other things.  *smiles mischeviously*

This Week’s Most Notable In-Game Moments

‘ello lovelies.

Today we are going to discuss leveling-type things.

I know,  I know. All I ever do is level toons. You’re thinking (My guild and The Wow Guys are both constantly asking) “Bethie, why the eff aren’t you learning how to actually play the game with your level 85 main?!”

*evades question*

By now, I hope to Ceiling Cat that you know about my penchant for all things bizarre and silly. Because it’s about to get alll kinds of bizarre and silly up in here.

The Guild Season 4 & My Ever-Changing Thoughts on It

The Guild is one of those shows that sometimes makes me really happy and sometimes makes me roll my eyes. But for some reason, I’ve stuck with it. Maybe it’s because an entire season is an hour long. Maybe it’s because I feel ginger-induced solidarity with Felicia Day. Whatever the case, I keep watching it, and I keep having thoughts about it.

And now I’m going to tell you about my thoughts on Season 4.

Overall, I liked this season. I greatly enjoyed Season 3 and the animosity that grew between The Knights of Good and the Axis of Anarchy (WIL WHEATON!), and was glad to see Wheaton show up as Fawkes in Season 4. I liked him and his kilt-wearing, douche bagginess, which is weird since I normally have a low tolerance for douche bagginess. (Conversely, I have a very high tolerance for kilts.) Somehow he pulls it off.

Anyway. Other than Wheaton, I have grown really fond of Robin Thorsen’s Clara. Do I still think she’s a horrible, horrible mother? Absolutely. But she’s hysterical. And, in this season, Clara and Tink become friends, and the two of them together is just the best.

However, my favorite aspect of The Guild Season 4 is what you see below. All you need to know is that it shows up A LOT.

Now that I’ve said the nice words, it’s time for the not nice part. Despite of all the nice character growth that happened in Season 3, there’s one character that I’m never going to like–and that character is Zaboo. Holy Buddah, I find him annoying. Sure he’s considerate and loyal, but he is freaking weird and creepy. [DON’T DO IT CODEX. DON’T DO IT. I think that if they hook up in Season 5, I will gag and die. That’s mean. But it’s also the truth.]

Anyyyyyway, one thing the writers of The Guild truly excel at are writing solid finale episodes–both the Season 3 and Season 4 finales are super fun and boast some really great cameo appearances. I don’t want to spoil them in case you are interested, but THIS PERSON is in the Season 4 finale. I won’t tell you in what capacity, just know that it made me heart happy in a very nerdy kind of way.

To sum up, I liked Season 4, I like Clara & Tink as besties, I like creepily romanticized portraits, I intensely dislike Zaboo, and I’m very concerned about Season 5. What did youuu think about it? (If you haven’t seen it, and would like to, it’s streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime.)

I’m on a Podcast!

Howdy long-lost WoW-friends!!

It’s been awhile, eh? Well that is about to be remedied, because not only am I about to start blogging like a maniac again, but you can HEAR me talk about WoW on this week’s The WoW Guys podcast. Click here. It’ll take you to iTunes where you can download the podcast to your music-playing device fo’ free dollahs, and listen to it over and over and over again.If you’re concerned about why it is marked “Explicit,” it is fully because of my use of the word “bitch” twice in the first eight minutes. The language never gets worse than that, and if you can’t handle the word “bitch,” then you probably shouldn’t read my blog. 😉

But for those of you who can handle my dirty, dirty mouth GO LISTEN TO IT NOW.

Bristowe’s Sartorial Situation

Hey there! So, it’s been a LONG WHILE since we last talked clothes, and I for one think it’s high time to discuss WoW fashion. This time, it’s going to be of the rogue sort.

Unlike my lovely pally, my roguey wears leather (yeahhh), which provides a whole new scheme of colors to peruse since leather is obviously easier to dye than mail and plate armor. (Obviously.) So with my rogue Bristowe, there comes a whole new fashion experience that is at times appalling and at others, kind of awesome.

Check out what I mean (and what I think I might wear to Blizzcon!) after the jump.

My Social Gaming Anxiety Vocalized!

One of my favorite things in the whole entire world is the NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. It is soooo happy and soooo funny and soooo great. It’s hosted by four NPR arts and culture editors from the areas of pop culture, music, film, and books/comics, and once a week they hang out for an hour and talk about whatever it is that they feel like talking about, and they are just the best. Anyway, on last week’s podcast they decided to talk about gaming!

The four of them went to one of their houses and played video games together. Although they didn’t play WoW (or any MMO actually), something incredible happened–Linda Holmes, the pop culture editor, vocalized my EXACT feelings about the stress of having to work with others while playing! (Side note: I love Linda Holmes. I want to be her. That sounds creepy, but if you knew me IRL, and listen to/read Linda’s stuff, then you would better understand. I think she is my current life role model.)

Aaaaaanyway, Here’s the link and if you would like to hear Linda eloquently vocalize my feelings, skip to around 16:30 and listen to around 18:30. Or if you’re super awesome, you’ll just listen to the whole thing.

I Love Gilneas.

I feel like I talk a lot about zones and areas I have an intense distaste for, but rarely do I talk about places that I hella-like. So let’s talk about Gilneas!

This just might be my favorite–it has that foggy London, Dickensian/Holmesian feel and everyone wears top hats (including me!).I don’t know about you, but that’s my kind of place, with or without werewolves. Actually, the first time I saw Gilneas and realized the werewolfy zone was uber-British, I giggled with joy and remembered why I want to play pop culture trivia with the WoW writers.