I Have Moved!

I have moved!

You can find my musings on video games, parenting and geek lifestyle over at http://www.mamaneedsmana.com/

Thank you all so much for visiting and I hope to see you around! :-)

Cool Looks for Dedicated Players

"Seriously. Feast away. I'm quite beautiful" - Burgy Blackheart

Last week we went over vanity items in game that can change your appearance and don't require a whole lot of time and effort to acquire. Well, as promised (Albeit later than I had anticipated.), this week we will delve into the dark world of vanity items that change your look at the expense of your time, effort and sometimes even your sanity.

Quests and Reputation:

These items won't send you insane, and are probably the least infuriating to acquire. As long as you have some time and elbow grease, you will be rewarded with the vanity item of your dreams.

• Stave of Fur and Claw - This item transforms you into a Furbolg for three minutes. All one must do to get their hands on this is grab 75g and head through Timbermaw Hold and pay Meliosh a visit. Naturally, there is a catch! To get through the tunnel and gain access to the item, you need to be exalted with the Timbermaw. Roll up your sleeves and start grinding the mobs outside Timbermaw Hold. 
• Faded Wizard Hat - Before any of you Alliance scum get too excited about turning into one of 16 different transformations, this item is Horde only. There are 26 pre-requisite quests to unlock before you can finally accept Farewell, Minnow and rock out your new look. A word of warning, it's marked as a quest item, so don't quest through the majority of Azshara and throw it out by mistake!
• Orb of the Blackwhelp - Alliance at least get something unique to their faction as well, but it only has three charges! Such a rip. Anyhow, you'll need to do the quest Meeting at the Blackwing Coven.
• Frenzyheart Brew - This item turns you into a Wolvar for five minutes. It has a chance to drop from a Ripe Disgusting Jar. You need to be Revered with the Frenzyheart Tribe to get this and... the only way to get to Revered is with dailies. Huzzah!  
• Leyara's Locket - You like dailies, right? Excellent, because you'll enjoy logging on every single day and heading to the Molten Front. Once you've opened up enough of the Molten Front and earned the achievement Legacy of Leyara, pay a visit to your mailbox. After a bit of flying around and some interesting RP, you'll have yourself a locket that can turn you into a Druid of the Flame for 5 minutes.
• Hook of the Master Angler - This lovely item turns you into a fish, and all you have to do is complete the quest Master Angler in Stranglethorn! Easy, right? Ha. Ha. Ha ha ha. No. This quest involves you winning the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza which happens every Sunday between 2pm - 4pm server time. Long live fishing!

Garrosh is really making a habit out of not noticing infiltrators!

Rare Spawns and Drops

Are you the kind of person who goes to the Casino and always seems to win? Lotto tickets love giving you money and you always manage to avoid disaster? Excellent! Getting these items should be a breeze for you! For the rest of us... well we'll just be weeping in the corner after being denied that coveted drop for 378th time. 

• Burgy Blackheart's Handsome Hat - This item has a 100% chance to drop off the NPC Burgy Blackheart. It turns you into a ghost gnome pirate (Pictured above.). Did I mention he's a rare spawn? If your stars are aligned, you'll find this bloke hanging out at the shipwreck at the base of Nespirah. 
• Time-Lost Figurine - This item turns you into a random Arakkoa and has a 9% chance to drop off Terrok. In order to summon Terrok, you'll need to work through the Sha'tari Skyguard quests in Terrokar Forest. You'll eventually work your way to Adversarial Blood, which is a repeatable quest that gives you the item to summon Terrok -- however they're consumed once you summon him. Tip: When he goes immune to damage, drag him over the blue circles that will appear. 
• Orb of the Sin'dorei - Transforms you into a Blood Elf for five minutes -- unless you're already a Blood Elf, in which case it does nothing (Yes, I found out the hard way.). This can drop off four bosses in Magister's Terrace. The catch? It only drops on heroic mode, meaning you can only do it once a day.
• Super Simian Sphere - This one is AWESOME. You turn into an ape in a bubble for five minutes! Naturally, to counteract it's brilliance, it's incredibly hard to get. It's a random Wrath of the Lich King zone drop. It looks like Sapph has the best chance to drop this... at 0.15%. Please excuse me while I go cry into a stiff drink. 
• Orb of Deception - Vanilla drop. Skarr the Broken has the best chance of dropping it at... 1.4%. Did I mention he's a rare? You may have better luck farming the Auction House for this item, as it's Bind on Equip.
• Muradin's Favor - Quest reward from Muradin's Lament in Icecrown Citadel. Did I mention that someone has to be wielding Shadowmourne for the initial quest item to be dropped? Oh, and that the Unsealed Chest which starts the quest only drops if it's the wielders first Lich King kill with the sword? Oh, and that it's in fierce competition with three other equally awesome awards? The good news is that it's Bind on Equip, so if you sell a kidney you can probably get it. 

There you have it, folks. My list of cool on-use items is complete! There are still a few items that I could have included such as the Vial of the Sands, Fandral's Flamescythe, etc, but since they're mounts or class specific, I thought better of it. Let's keep the grind torture universal! Good luck, and sorry in advance for any premature hair loss and greying that may occur!

Surviving Alice Springs: Night Fever

If you're moving to Alice Springs you may be concerned that there is a lack of entertainment options. Of course, the options are a fair bit smaller than your usual major city, but they are there, and they are fun. In the name of science, my husband and I hit Alice Springs at the weekend to see if it was possible to have a great night out in this small town. An empty wallet, tragic photos and raging hangovers the next day suggest that it is in fact possible!

First stop for the night was dinner at Sporties. It sounds like it would be an amazing sports bar, but it's actually a restaurant. Everything was absolutely divine. The people serving us were all lovely, and oh my god the food was incredible!

Yeah, I maybe kinda forgot to take a picture and started eating it.

That there fine specimen was the deliciously named "Beef and Bugs". Scotch Fillet and Moreton Bay Bugs with Rosemary and chilli. At $39.90 it was probably the most expensive meal on the menu, and you know what? Worth every cent. I'm drooling right now when I think about how amazing it tasted. A word of warning though, they under-cook their steaks, so if you're a person who can't stand blood, you may want to order yours very, very well done. My only other gripe? Sporties did not have the AFL on when we got there! It was odd, but soon rectified.

Next on our list was Uncles Tavern. Cheap beer, pool tables and some rocking old school pub music. My inner bogan was pretty happy here! At $11 for a schooner of Carlton Dry and a stubby of Jack Daniels, things could have gotten very messy had we stayed. Sadly, they were only showing the free to air AFL, so I demanded we move on to the next pub in hopes that they would be showing the West Coast vs Hawks game.

Just down the road is the Rock Bar. It's a backpacker haven, with cheap specials, awesome staff and Facebook status updates that always make me wanna hit the pub -- not that it's too hard to get me pumped for booze! However, I'm pretty dirty on this place right now. They were showing the West Coast game! And then, in the ultimate insult, they turned it off in favour of rubgy. Rugby! I was so horrified that we decided it was time to hit up the next establishment on our list.

Of all the things to photograph, why this? 

Oh, Monte's, you are amazing. Lots of seating, both inside and out. Awesome, quirky decorations such as mannequins, unicorns, chandeliers and life sized marching toys. Your staff were awesome and your beers were very hipster. The Leffe Blonde with Captain Morgan shots did a real number on my lovely husband. Needless to say, we were pretty messy by this stage and so this place definitely gets the seal of approval. (Eden, if you're reading this, sorry for thinking you were telling me you were eating and we should look away, when really you were just introducing yourself. I totally understand why you were quick to leave!)

We ended the night at the Casino. I could write an entire post just dedicated to my love of Lasseters. Sports bar, nightclub, awesome outdoor seating, gambling and cheap booze. What's not to love? We even stayed the night there this time around, which was a very wise decision -- mostly because when it came time for bed, we could barely walk, let alone co-ordinate ourselves enough to organise a taxi.

Long story short, we went out in Alice Springs and didn't get stabbed, mugged or murdered. In fact, people pretty much avoided us, probably because my husband was wearing his "Fear Hogger" World of Warcraft T-shirt. We managed to make a few friends for the night, and had we stayed away from the Roulette Wheel, it probably wouldn't have been too rough on the wallet. It was a good night indeed!

Now, let's hope the other photos on my phone never see the light of day EVER...