Holidays, oh how I hate thee

Sorry for the haitus...there are a few weeks every term when my day job gets really, really busy, and I just haven't had time to write.

So, the little undead priestess Xanzia is now 77 and closing rapidly in on 80. Why have I made her such a high priority to level? Turns out Jewelcrafting, which Xanzia is particularly good at, has several choice recipes that you only get through running heroic instances. Thus...MUST get to 80. I MUST. I MUST. I M....

*ahem* So, anyway. This weekend was all excitement and joy wrapped up into one big happy egg-shaped package. You know it as Noble Garden, and it comes bundled with its own share of Achievements.

The good thing about Achievements is that when they first came out, they practically saved the game for me. It was getting kinda boring...I could either play PvE or PvP, or I could go raid. But with the new system, I was able to pay more attention to what I was doing, spend a little more time doing some things, and receive a reward! It's like a Dilbert desk decoration I used to have...press a button, watch Dilbert smack the keyboard a few times, and ding! Out rolled a few M&Ms. Similarly, get a non-combat pet, and ding! Out pops an Achievement for you, everyone around you, and your entire guild to see. Get nine more, and ding! Out pops another Achievement. Get up to 25, and ding! Yet another Achievement! Ding! Ding! Ding!

Granted, I've often felt like Pavlov's dog might have felt if the dog had had to pay a monthly fee, but the Achievement system has definitely done its psychological duty. I'm still addicted.

I found some time ago that I really have to limit my Achievements to a single character. Before the Lich King came onto our radar, I had two max levels, and each was running through Achievements. Took too dang much time, that did. Besides, with Wrath, some of the Achievements are...silly. "Go over there, and /love that animal. Good. Now go over there, and /love that animal." Repeat 20 times, and you have yerself an Achievement. But I just can't do it twice. Can't. The first time, it's challenging. After, it's just silly.

Which brings me, in my typical roundabout style, to holidays. Holidays were kinda fun and cool, till they became Achievement competitions. Oh, some are fine..."Go make the big guy in red some cookies." Others are painful, though. It's when you pit me against my fellow WoWers, clicky - a - clicky, that it's just annoying. Ferinstance, consider that dang Wolpertinger quest. It's one thing to have to get drunk and then click on a small barely-visible bunny-ish thing. It's another thing entirely to have to do all that clicking BEFORE anybody else does it.

See, that's what's annoying about it. It's tough to think about the joy of Christmas, or Easter, or whatever the holiday is, when I'm wanting to be /rude to half of my fellow players because they somehow clicked faster than I did, and I didn't get the credit.

Most of the holiday Achievements for Noble Garden are like that. They're primarily based on Brightly Colored eggs that show up in four different areas, behind trees and shrubs and stuff, as blue and other color pixels that you have to right-click on before anybody else does. Everybody knows where these four areas are, of course, so the entire server seems to be there with you competing. Most peoples' modus operandi seems to be running around in large circles...quickly, since one of the things you get early on boosts your running speed. Problem is, that just means you're running faster than normal as much as everybody else is running faster than normal. What happens, thus, is everybody making big laps around the areas, often in phase with each other.

What I found to work best was, where possible, finding a spot where 2-4 (ish) eggs would occasionally spawn. Park yourself there, in a place where a short movement will put you in any of the spawn points, and wait. You'll miss out on some eggs as Speedy Gonzales times five runs past and nabs it, but there are frequently times when the egg will spawn and nobody else will be around.

With that, and a little bit of luck, I was able to finish Noble Garden yesterday and get one holiday closer to the pretty protodrake reward. Plus...ding! I got a title...now I'm Narrissa the Noble. Yay!

Now, back to leveling Xanzia before they get any more kibbles for me to ring the bell over.