On finishing the bucket list:

IT IS DONE.

One long-ass, annoying, artificially-lengthened questline and $DEITY I hate farming Elementium so damn much, I am DONE with the AQ questline. Push button, receive shiny Feat of Strength.

On other things:

• Complete Loremaster.
• Get Raven Lord mount.
• Get Twenty-Five Tabards: 
• Failed. Somehow, I conflated this with Twenty-Five Exalted Reps. Whoops.
• Get Insane in the Membrane: 
• Scratched. It will continue to exist, sans Shendralar. I am very pleased that when it was announced that it might not make it, that I was able to unload all of my stockpiled Darkmoon Cards, Pristine Black Diamonds, and Librams for DISGUSTING MARKUP. =3
• Get a rogue to level 60 to use for Insane in the Membrane.
• Scratched. See above. Also, couldn't stand doing ANY 1-60 content. I blame Loremaster.
• beat The Lich King like a rented mule.
• Get a Venomhide Ravasaur.
• Run Zul'Gurub as many times as possible in order to try to get the mounts.
• But, given my luck, I will likely never see one drop.
  
• Finish out the holiday events for a VPD.
• AND I didn't cave and buy super-fast-flap. =3
  
• Get an Ulduar drake.
• Scratched. No raiding. ._.
• Farm up mats to sell once Cataclysm hits.
• Will be working on that soon.
• Farm up a Piccolo of the Flaming Fire for the sake of goldseller griefing.
• Farm up a Deathcharger
• There's still hope that it will drop before Cataclysm!
• Farm up a full set of Dungeon Set 1
• Scratched. The dungeons aren't going anywhere.

On Eating Crow:

Here's a quote from a while back:

"Now, we move on to Ulduar, and knock out those hardmodes so we can get 310% speed mounts before the expansion hits, save everyone 5K gold. Again, not as excited for this, because you know that I am only ever going to use Swift Flight Form, anyways, although the extra speed boost will be nice."

 ...okay, confession time. I finished the What A Long, Strange, Trip It's Been achievement, which, as I have mentioned, came out literally days before I was ready to finish it and get the VPD. And despite the ghastly purple color.... Proto-drakes are REALLY REALLY COOL! +_+

Which makes it all the more tragic that we stopped raiding due to people's schedules changing. I am not *entirely* opposed to the idea of actively seeking a Rustbound Proto Drake anymore. (You know, as opposed to passively, "Oh, well, if I get it, I get it. I'm just along for the ride")

....pardon me. I need to go bribe some people into Ulduar. +_+

-BTC

On the definition of insanity:

1.  [60] What Tomorrow Brings - 250 reputation
2.  [60R] Only One May Rise - 500 reputation
3.  [60G] The Path of the Righteous - 500 reputation
   •  [60G] The Hand of the Righteous - 500 reputation (repeatable)
4.  [60] Anachronos - 500 reputation (requires neutral with Brood of Nozdormu)
5.  [60] Long Forgotten Memories - 50 reputation
6.  [60] A Pawn on the Eternal Board - 100 reputation
7.  [60] The Charge of the Dragonflights - 10 reputation
8. Obtain the Shards:
   •  [Green Scepter Shard] fork
     1.  [60] Eranikus, Tyrant of the Dream - 25 reputation
     2.  [60] Tyrande and Remulos - 10 reputation
     3.  [60R] The Nightmare's Corruption - 250 reputation
     4.  [60R] The Nightmare Manifests - 500 reputation
     5.  [60] The Champion Returns - 250 reputation
   •  [Red Scepter Shard] fork
     1.  [60R] Nefarius's Corruption - 500 reputation
   •  [Blue Scepter Shard] fork
     1.  [60] Azuregos's Magical Ledger - 10 reputation
     2.  [60] Translating the Ledger
        •  [Narain's Scrying Goggles]
          1.  [60] Stewvul, Ex-B.F.F. - 10 reputation
          2.  [60R] Scrying Goggles? No Problem! - 10 reputation
        •  [500 Pound Chicken]
          1.  [60] Never Ask Me About My Business
          2.  [60R] The Isle of Dread! - 500 Gadgetzan reputation
          3.  [60] Dirge's Kickin' Chimaerok Chops - 500 Gadgetzan reputation
          4.  [60] Return to Narain - 500 reputation
        •  [Draconic For Dummies: Volume II]
          1.  [60] Draconic for Dummies - 10 reputation
             •  [60] Love Song for Narain - 10 reputation (optional, aids finishing Draconic for Dummies)
          2.  [60] rAnS0m - 10 reputation
          3.  [60G] Decoy! - 25 reputation
          4.  [60R] The Only Prescription - 150 reputation
     3.  Maws
        1.  [60] The Good News and The Bad News - 250 reputation
        2.  [60R] The Wrath of Neptulon - 500 reputation
9.  [60] The Might of Kalimdor - 500 reputation
10.  [60] Bang a Gong! - 500 reputation (only within the first 10 hours of opening the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj)
11.  [60] Treasure of the Timeless One - 500 reputation (after 10 hours)

Why yes, I very clearly AM insane, thank you. For the record, I only need to grab Fox and have her soak a mind control so we can burn Dr. Weevil down, and then farm some Elementium, (easy enough, I have an open raid ID set up for it) and that's it.

Elementium counter: 2/10.

(The above excerpted from Wowwiki.)

-BTC

On Bucket Lists:

Things to do before Cataclysm hits:

• Complete Loremaster.
• Get Raven Lord mount.
• Get Twenty-Five Tabards.
• Get Insane in the Membrane.
• Bloodsail Admiral
• Steamwheedle Cartel
• Darkmoon Faire
• Ravenholdt
• Get a rogue to level 60 to use for Insane in the Membrane.
• beat The Lich King like a rented mule.
• Get a Venomhide Ravasaur.
• Run Zul'Gurub as many times as possible in order to try to get the mounts.
• Finish out the holiday events for a VPD.
• Get an Ulduar drake.
• Farm up mats to sell once Cataclysm hits.
• Farm up a Piccolo of the Flaming Fire for the sake of goldseller griefing.
• Farm up a Deathcharger
• Farm up a full set of Dungeon Set 1

 More to come...

-BTC

On deflation:

Like taking an icepick to an inflatable bounce house, seriously.

So, found this on WoW.com:

Jason asked:

So ... I'm concerned about the guild achievements, in particular the 50,000 quest achievement. I've heard that any quests done prior to Cataclysm don't count towards that total. If that's true, then my guildies and I who earned Loremaster are looking like we're screwed. Also, can someone explain what's meant by the top 20 players in a guild being the only ones who count towards guild achievements? Is that based on guild rank or total achievement points?

You might be misunderstanding what a guild achievement is. It isn't "if 20 people in your guild have Loremaster, your guild has the Loremaster achievement." While you might have an achievement for being in a group that kills Cho'gall, your guild has a separate achievement for killing Cho'gall in a raid where 20 or more people are from your guild.

The top 20 earners count toward guild advancement, not achievements. Your guild can gain levels by people PvPing, killing bosses, doing quests, etc., and only the top 20 earners for the week will contribute to end-of-week XP gain. You also get guild XP for getting guild achievements, and Blizzard says it grants a "big chunk" of XP, so it feels good to get them.

The quests you completed prior to Cataclysm's launch won't count toward your guild's total for the 50,000 quests achievement -- but that's so when the system becomes available, everyone will be on equal footing. Note how all of the achievements say "as a guild" in them, too.

Dude. Top 20? And 50,000 quests? We don't *have* 20 active people in our guild. And let me tell you, doing Loremaster was the Worst. Thing. Ever. I mean, yes, I wanted the title, so I cheerfully made like a Korean and ground my way through them all, but Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick with Mary and Judas, but I do NOT want to do anything remotely even LIKE Loremaster again. Never again!

-BTC

On disappointment?

You know, I don't often get excited about kill achievements. Especially when there's a pity buff ticking along in the background. Taking down The Lich King and, in effect "beating" WotLK was not very exciting for me, but everyone else in the guild seemed to have the jitters and immediately ran off to get celebratory alcohol. Me? Quite literally, I was more excited to finally make Anzu my bitch, or to get my Cenarion War Hippogryph than beating the Lich King, even if I *did* have to tank him after most everyone else was dead, so our DK and Mage could burn him for the last couple of percentage points. (Again! You may may remember my previous heroics in stepping in and tanking Sindragosa during a connection blip.)

Oh well.

Now, we move on to Ulduar, and knock out those hardmodes so we can get 310% speed mounts before the expansion hits, save everyone 5K gold. Again, not as excited for this, because you know that I am only ever going to use Swift Flight Form, anyways, although the extra speed boost will be nice. (Exceptions are given for when I feel like showing off with the Hippogryph. Did I mention how much of a druid-nerd I am?)

-BTC

On advertising

Hooray, I got linked by John Patricelli! You guys may have heard of him. He's kind of a big thing amongst Druid tanks. And we don't mind when he decides to go on a tirade, either. =3

It's been a while since I've posted, obviously. Between a two-week break in raiding because people were getting burnt out, and the subsequent release of Starcraft II, things have been very quiet on the home front. Pretty much the only thing that stands between us and our shiny Kingslayer titles is Harvest Soul. And then after that, we take a break from ICC, and go clear out our older raid achievements. Ulduar is first on the list, so we can get those shiny 310% speed mounts, and then who knows what we'll do from there. (Really, it's not like I ever use anything other than Swift Flight Form anyhow. The only mounts I ever have bound to my bars are SFF, my Mechano-hog, my Raven Lord (YES! I FINALLY GOT HIM AFTER A YEAR OF FARMING! (Woo! Parenthetical abuse!)) and my Cenarion Hippogryph. I just want the mount for the 310% speed.)

Still steadily whacking away at achievements, though. Since I finished Loremaster, AND beat Anzu into submission, I've been looking for some new, overarching project to complete. Insane in the Membrane is an option. Twenty-Five Tabards, en-route to 40 Exalted Reputations is on the list as well. These are also on top of the Venomhide Ravasaur I'm doing daily. Since I just got exalted with Scryers as well, I'm inclined to start farming the materials needed to switch over the Aldor and get Hero of Shattrath as well. One of the other  non-achievement things, that I mean to do as well is roll that second druid for Boomkin, but I've been inclined to hold off on that so I can try the new Mulgore and re-learn Cataclysm druid tanking from scratch. I've also been pondering letting out some slack on my altitis as well. There's an Arms/Prot warrior I've been meaning to make, as well, and a Frost DK that needs levelling from 70 to 80. I'm giving up on the priest as well. The cost-benefit for making a threadbot isn't worth it, seeing as Fox told me that the epic spellthreads are rep-earned, and therefore out of the reach of a level 65 profession-only alt. Oh right, and I need to make a rogue for that Insane in the Membrane too.

....yeah, I've got a lot on my plate. Any suggestions?

-BTC

On ohgodkillmenow:

Just got The Argent Dawn, Argent Champion, Loremaster of Eastern Kingdoms, and  Somewhat disappointingly, it was off of Chromatic Mantle of the Dawn, and not In Dreams or The Battle of Darrowshire as I had intended. But hey, it's done, I'm finished and I don't have to finish...... the rest..... of the...... *twitch* quests...... there........ right? *twitchtwitch*

(Goddamn me and my completionist streak. It *will* be the end of me, one of these days.)

On the other hand, still wiping on Sindragosa. I had *hoped* that I would be able to carry it out without any Frost Resist gear, after seeing my co-tank resist damage like nothing else, I got suspicious that it really might be me that was holding everyone back. So, one quick trip to the AH, one quick trip to my local Leatherworker, one quick trip to the bank to fish that dusty mark out of the vault, one quick trip to the leather armor shop, and one short hop to Dun Niffelheim, and I now have a set of frost resist gear, and a Sanctified Lasherweave Headguard to go with it, gemmed with an Effulgent Skyflare Diamond. After today, I should also be able to pick up an Idol of the Crying Moon as well. (My sense of overkill, or lack thereof, will probably be the end of me, too.)

Yes, that's right. I plunked down 95 Frost emblems for a second Lasherweave Headguard, and then gemmed and enchanted it up as Sindragosa gear. Now, the new meta gem is nothing new. I have been seriously considering using it in place of the time-tested Austere Earthsiege Diamond, but intended to use it once I had gotten much closer to the armor cap. Now, however, appears to no longer be an option. Testing it during the rest of ICC this next Tuesday should give me the data I need to determine whether I should be using this full time, geared as well as I am. I'd also resisted getting the Frost Emblem idol, since the ramp-up is murder on trash packs, but against Sindragosa, I want to leave nothing to chance.