It's the Emerald Forest but it's not Oz

I took this picture because of all the green.
Yeah, I know, it's toxic water ;)

Cya,

Forest Cat

Amnennar the Coldbringer

My friend Analar needed to complete the quest Bring the Light so I went along with him to Razorfen Downs to bring down Amnennar the Coldbringer.
Analar was able to get three useful blues out of this quick quest and we sent our friend Kalber a couple of good greens. Kalber get ready, you're next!

Cya,

Forest Cat

Frostwhisper Gorge

A Frostmaul Giant from Frostwhisper Gorge in Winterspring.

These guys have a pretty nasty reputation, especially if you have to enter their domain for a quest. At 60 I didn't find them all that tough, and I soloed the gorge a couple of times before I got bored and moved on.
This clip shows the Treants attacking the Giant first. Despite the whining that goes on in the official WOW forums, I find the Treants useful. They are a good first attack for an enemy that you need to wear down a bit before they turn on you. Not quite the tank that a pet can be, but pretty good nevertheless. Where they are really useful is when you get ambushed by multiple mobs. Setting the Treants loose is a good way to occupy one or two of the enemies while you prepare a defense. The negative side is, like the mechanical yeti or the Greench, they are not controllable. Therefore if you turn them loose in a crowded place, like an instance, you may regret it.

You will notice, if the mob hits really hard, they go down rather quickly. The first Treant in this video goes down after four or five hits, and the second follows soon after.

Cya,

Forest Cat

Duskwood

Moving up through the levels led me from Auberdine to Menethil Harbor and then to Stormwind. Of course Stormwind lead me to Sentinel Hill and then a short run led me to this place - Duskwood.

When you first discover Duskwood across the river from Westfall you are likely in the mid teens and are going to be killed pretty quickly by the mobs that roam the shore. That was the case with me anyway. Once I hit twenty I dodged the rabid wolves and giant spiders and made my way to the town of Darkshire. I love Halloween and haunted houses so I got a big kick out of this area*. It's dark and creepy, full of zombies, black widow spiders, and other scary stuff.

I recently ran through here on my way to the Dark Portal which reminded me of how much fun I had questing here.

This picture is from Kalber, another one of my friends, standing in the center of town.If you do come here to quest, make sure you pick up Bride of the Embalmer. It's probably the best quest in this area, but you are going to have to run a lot!

Lastly, I don't offer much in the way of hints here, after all I consider this more of a travelogue than a hint page, but here's a good one for you crafters.

The best place in Azeroth for spider silk is from the black widow spiders near Raven Hill Cemetery and shadowgems drop like crazy from the wolves in the area.

Cya,

Forest Cat

* I love Duskwood, but I hate Eastern Plaguelands. I just think Duskwood is designed better. The Plaguelands area seems like it was created by committee.

My Friend the Yeti

Here's a picture of my yeti friend from the movie.

For those that asked why isn't he attacking me and how did he disappear?

Druid magic.
You mean you didn't get that spell?

Must be a real rare drop.

Cya,

Forest Cat

I'm Freezing Here!

Did you ever wonder why just running around in the cold doesn't affect your characters health? After all, most of your armor isn't exactly winter friendly. I guess you could have a bunch of frost resistance, but otherwise ...

For the most part the environment doesn't affect your character at all, though I did notice in cold weather you can see your breath. Nice touch there.

Campfires don't have much use other than cooking, and a tiny spirit boost, but they should keep you warm. Speaking of campfires when do we get tents? Kind of a portable inn that you can set up, so you can rest without returning to town.
Cya,

Forest Cat

Winterspring Yeti

Fooling around with the Mac video capture and iMovie. No music or anything fancy in this one. We'll save that for next time.

Keila runs into an ice thistle yeti, ice thistle matriarch, and ice thistle patriarch in this short video.

I like the frost breath on the third yeti (Patriarch Yeti) that I encounter. That's a pretty cool spell.


Cya,

Forest Cat

Stupid Sandworms

There's a quest in Silithus to get sandworm meat. No big deal. Right?

Hah.

I bet I had to take down 50 of these stupid things just to get 10 pieces of meat. What a stupid drop rate. Doesn't every one of these dumb worms have meat?

After wasting way too much time on this quest I enjoyed cooking these stupid overgrown slugs.
Cya,

Forest Cat

Maps, Give Me Maps!

Yes, you can ask the guards, but sometimes I just like a map. Here are a couple of maps. One shows the portals in shat (in the center) and one shows the alliance flight path (off to the right).

For my money a good map with a marker is the best way to navigate. This isn't a tip blog, so don't look for a lot of that stuff, but I do love a good map.

Shat Portals:

Shat Alliance Flight Path:
Cya,

Forest Cat

Terothias the Rabbit Rogue

I was standing in the Darnassus Auction house when this horde rogue came in to kill the auctioneers. Being a 70 rogue he took one down pretty quick before he started to run. I hit him with a couple of wraths as he fled and then he ran into the water.

I have a macro that switches to my water travel form so I jumped from the auction house, chased him down, and nuked him from behind. You can see his death in the combat log.
Guess what Terothias? It was a level 59 that chased you down :)

Note to Terothias: If you're going to raid a town, don't run like a scared rabbit. Stand up and fight. At least when you die you don't look like a coward. I know. I've died a bunch!

Cya,

Forest Cat

Shattrath Portals

I made the ride from Honor Hold to Shattrath, it's actually pretty easy and there is really only one tricky spot. About halfway, a nest of level 63 Ravagers will crowd the road. If you try to ride past, like me, you will most likely die. I suggest if you have stealth that you use it. I did that on the second attempt and none of those big ugly critters paid me any notice.

Here are the portals in Shattrath. These will take you to Darnassus, Stormwind, and Ironforge. In this same area is a portal to Exodar, and portals to the Horde capital cities. The first thing to do is make Shat your home and use the portals to visit major cities. So, for the first time since day one, Darnassus is not Keila's home base.

Cya,

Forest Cat

Outland is Chaotic?

My first impression of Outland was, "This place is nuts!"

There was a huge battle waging just beyond the portal and though I watched it, I didn't take a single picture.

First place you visit is of course Honor Hold. It is VERY odd to see people flying in and landing. Flying mounts are cool, flying form is cooler. Looking forward to that.

I picked up master leatherworking and skinning and checked out the inn.

I've seen beds in inns all around WOW, but not until Outlands have I seen NPC's sleeping in them.
Cya,

Forest Cat

Outland, we are here!

After you step through the portal and get your first glimpse into Outland.Cya,

Forest Cat

Vacation all I ever wanted

Here's another shot of the Dark Portal.I feel like such a tourist.

Cya,

Forest Cat

At the Dark Portal

Well, I finally hit 58 and here's Keilakat at the entrance to Outland, The Dark Portal.
Cya,

The Forest Cat

Keilakat at 57

This is my most recent armor. It's a combination of Wildfeather, Wildheart and Ironfeather. Some of it has outlived it's usefulness (the pants) but I like the look and someone stopped me in Booty Bay two days ago just to say how nice looking the armor was. That's a first for me.

It has a similar look to that of the Flight Masters, which is a look I have always liked, so I'll probably bank the feathery stuff even when it is no longer battle friendly.

I'd like to collect the rest of the Wildheart set, so I'll probably do that even though by the time I finish collecting Wildheart it won't be that great either. Still, it's fun for the "look" and fun is why I play the game.
Cya,

Forest Cat

Twilight Marauder

The first time I saw this trio they were in the middle of the road. I held up and waited for them to leave.
The second time they ran into a set of the Cenarian Outriders patrolling on their mounts. I jumped in and with the help of the Outriders took the three of them down. They are pretty strong, I think the Outriders would have been dead meat without my help.

Apparently the marauders are a quest. I guess I'll try that sometime. I now know how to take 'em down!

Cya,


Forest Cat

Wolpertingers

Another really old picture. I have almost nothing in the Archives from Brewfest. I'm not sure why. Brewfest was a fun event and I enjoyed it, but I never thought to snap any screen shots.

Here, of course, is the Brewfest pet, the Wolpertinger. The Wolpertinger is cute, but that's not what's unique about this non-combat pet. To see the Wolpertinger you have to be smashed. Only in WOW would they think of that.
Cya,

Forest Cat

Bobbing For Draenei

This is an old picture, from last October, but I was going through iPhoto (yes I'm on a Mac) and I saw this. It's so odd and so WOW, I just had to post it.

Yep, she's up to her neck in apples.
I love it.

Cya,

Forest Cat

What happens to your friends?

I noticed this when I used to play Everquest Online Adventures (EQOA), but now this is occurring in WOW.

You meet someone in game, hang out, quest, visit instances, and just in general have a good time. Then one day they vanish. They stay dark on your friends list, never answer your mail, and basically never log in again.
Did they quit WOW?

Did they get hit by a falling meteor from the sky?

Did they get whacked with the Blizzard ban stick?

Who knows?

But because you only knew their WOW character, you have no way of knowing.

This is what happens in the virtual world. I guess this is just the way it is, but I have to admit this bugs me.

Cya,

Forest Cat

Helping is fun too

I've been helping my buddy Analar level up.
It was fun standing off to the side tossing an occasional heal while he battled this elite giant near Booty Bay.

I never take a healer role in a PUG, because it's such a thankless job, but I enjoy the role when helping a friend.

Cya,

Forest Cat

Romantic Picnic

This is just like the grill that you can get as one of the loot cards in the trading card game. Those things are hard to get!

So, I was surprised to get this in my box of valentine candy yesterday.

No buffs, no armor, just fun WOW stuff. I think that's the best part of this game. It doesn't take itself seriously and that keeps it interesting

The WOW Romantic Picnic:

I just realized how pathetic this is. Somebody really needs a date. Know anyone that likes green hair?

Cya,

Forest Cat

Valentines

Thanks for everyone that reads this, and comments! I'm a bit surprised, after all this isn't a "tips" blog, it's just a bunch of photos and stuff regarding my experiences.

Anyway, comment away, I'll keep up much better than I have. Thanks!

I love WOW holidays.

Here's my Valentine dress.
Cya,

Forest Cat

More Alt Nonsense

During the Lunar Festival, Celastor went to Moonglade and flew back.

I couldn't resist posting this picture.
Cya,

Forest Cat

Alts, Auctions, and Banks

I have a bunch of alts. A few of them you can see here, but you've never seen Celastor. He doesn't get out much. He hangs out in Darnassus and spends most of his time between the mailbox, bank, and auction house.

To make him unique I thought I'd give him an identity. So, I made him the out-of-season holiday geek.

He wears his Christmas outfit with a pumpkin head and he's likely to greet you by tossing some firecrackers or a snowball.
Completely silly I know, but shouldn't your auction house alts be fun?

Cya,

Forest Cat

Aurora Skycaller

If you lived in a horrid place like Eastern Plaguelands, would you wear a dress like this?
Probably not ;)

Cya,

Forest Cat

A Real 60

I posted about my first solo take down of a 60. Of course it was "just" an elite 58, which is probably even harder, but this is my first real 60 solo.

From Eastern Plaguelands.
Cya,

Forest Cat