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IcftB Reminder: More Midsummer fun tonight
Don't forget to join It came from the Blog tonight at 6PM Pacific time for some more Midsummer festivities. When: Today! Wednesday, July 2nd at 6PM Pacific (7PM server time, 9PM Eastern) Where: Undercity (Ruins of Lordaeron), Zangarmarsh Realm (U.S.) Who: Any Horde character, any level How: Just send a tell to Robiness or anyone in the guild for an invite to the guild and the raid We will be starting in the Undercity and then touring the flames of the Eastern Kingdoms. I do have some shards for summoning, but if you can get there on your own power, please be at the flame in the Ruins of Lordaeron at the start time. We are guaranteed to have lots of fun, dings and deaths -- but fun deaths. Mike Schramm and a few other bloggers will be there. Will you?
Reminder: IcftB Midsummer event today!
Are you overwhelmed by all of the awesome info from the Worldwide Invitational? Do you need a break from earning your Season 4 gear? Does the news of Diablo 3 make you want to participate in more fire-related activities? Then come join us today for the It came from the Blog Midsummer Fire Festival event! When: Today at 4PM Pacific (5PM Server, 7PM Eastern) Where: Orgrimmar, Zangarmarsh U.S. Server Who: Any Horde character, any level How: Send a tell to Robiness or any guild member to get an invite to the guild and the raid I'm currently farming shards on Robiness for summoning purposes, so don't worry if you can't get to Orgrimmar easily. And the quests we'll be doing can be done by any level and in a raid, so make a new character if you don't have a Horde character on Zangarmarsh already.We hope to see you there!
It came from the Blog: Let's honor and desecrate fires!
It's time again for another It came from the Blog event. Come one, come all to the Zangarmarsh realm and join us in honoring the fires of the Horde and desecrating the fires of the Alliance as a part of the new and improved Midsummer Fire Festival.Here are the details: When: Sunday, June 29th 4PM Pacific (That's 5PM server time, 7PM Eastern) Where: Meet at Orgrimmar, Zangarmarsh Server (US) How: Send Robiness or anyone in It came from the Blog for an invite to the guild and the event. Last year's event was fun, but there are new things to do this year including running around defending fires and desecrating those of the Alliance and collecting Burning Blossoms. So if you're not busy earning your Arena Season 4 gear, perhaps you could take time out to join us.
It came from the Blog: Revenge of the Orc-Moms
Last Sunday, It came from the Blog celebrated Mother's Day by taking a bunch of female Orcs to the Barrens and telling "Your Mom" jokes. I had a lot of fun and discovered that my ICFTB guildies were very creative. Daniel Whitcomb also joined us with Okasama, his Orc-Mom.On Saturday, I was on the WoW Insider Show with Mike, Turpster, Amanda Dean and her mom, Linda Emrys and we discussed what we would be doing for the event. Turpster joked that we would be telling jokes such as "Your Mom is so supportive, she's like a suspension bridge." I contradicted him on the show, but he ended up being right to a point. Many of the jokes did begin "Your Mom is so cool..." and "Your Mom is so hot...", but there were of course plenty of "Yo mama is so fat..." and the like, as well.
It came from the Blog: The running of the Orphans
Last Sunday, It came from the Blog gathered to run the Orgrimmar Children's Week quests together. Some weren't level 10 yet, but ran with us anyway. Because many of us didn't have the flightpaths (and because it was more fun) we ran together from objective to objective.Our Orphans were very well behaved, even after we gave them ice cream. I hope they enjoyed their group field trip as much as I did.Don't forget to join us this Sunday for the Revenge of the Orc-Moms. We'll be meeting at 6pm Eastern/Blog Time (4pm Server time, 3pm Pacific). Bring your female Orc with some form of "mother" in the name and your maternal sense of humor. I hope to see you there!%Gallery-22413%
It came from the Blog: Mother's Day event
You are cordially invited to join It came from the Blog for a very silly event on Mother's Day. We are going to pay tribute to the women who brought us into this world by going to the place where she is mentioned daily: The Barrens. I know, she's not exactly mentioned with respect there. But the thing about Ur Mom jokes is that they are jokes. No one in Barrens Chat has actually met your mother, let alone done that with her. And it's time we exact a little revenge for our dear mothers and show that they (and we) have a sense of humor about it.So go to Zangarmarsh server and make an Orc Female with a name that includes some form of "mother" in it. I made one named Mutti, which is the German word for Mommy. No, I'm not saying my or your or anyone's mother looks like an Orc Female. And I don't think my mom ever sported a belly shirt, let alone a mohawk and a nose ring. These females will not be representing the way your mom looks, but instead her inner warrior (or shaman or whatever).More details are after the jump.
Reminder: Join ICFTB for Children's Week today
Come join It came from the Blog today on Zangarmarsh (U.S.) to run the Orgrimmar Children's Week quests. You need to be level 10 or higher to get the quest, but you are welcome to join us for the runaround, no matter your level. When: 3pm Pacific (4pm Server) Today! (Sunday, May 4th) Where: Orphanage in Orgrimmar (the Valley of Honor) on Zangarmarsh (U.S.) How to join: Send Robiness a tell to get a guild invite I got my warlock to 20 this morning and stocked up on shards so I can summon if you are too far away, say in Mulgore bringing up a Tauren. If you are in Blood Elf lands, take the teleport in Silvermoon to Undercity and then the Zeppelin to Orgrimmar.Let's take our orphans on a field trip together! I hope to see you there!
[Updated] It came from the Blog: Children's Week event on Sunday
Children's Week will be here May 1st through 7th. But you already knew that because you saw it on the nifty Upcoming Events list in the right column. Children's Week is one of my favorite Azerothian holidays because it's fun, it's for everyone and you can clutter up your bank with more non-combat pets.So who wants to join me for celebrating Children's Week with It came from the Blog? When: Sunday, May 4, 3pm PDT (4pm Server Time) [Edited to change from Saturday to Sunday] Where: The Orphanage in the Valley of Honor in Orgrimmar (to the left of the ramp that leads up to the Battlemasters) Server: Zangarmarsh U.S., Horde side There will be Summoning for those who need it and don't worry about what level you are, because everyone is welcome. [Edited to add:] You may have to be level 10 to get the quest, so if you want to do more than just hang out with us, level up to 10 before Sunday.If you aren't in the guild yet, just send a whisper to Robiness or someone else in IcftB and we'll be happy to invite you.Come join us in making a virtual orphan's day a little brighter!
WoW, Casually: Gearing up before level 60 (Reader Mail)
Each week, Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player who has 2 hours or less to play at a time.This week, I answer some Reader Mail that is only a month old. Woot!Hi Robin,I am what I consider to be a casual player on WoW. A good session for me will last about an hour or two... Usually just long enough to gain a level before I run out of time. The current character I am working on is my "main", a level 50 Orc Hunter. One thing I was hoping to find in your articles was a way for a casual to obtain equipment when they haven't yet reached the 60s and 70s. The last time I updated my gear was in the low 30s, so it is really starting to show its date. I was having trouble finding a way to equip my character for the rest of the game until I can start on some epics. It seems the only way is to dump a ton of money in mediocre items (which is basically what I did in the low 30s), or spend hours doing instances... Hours being something most of us casuals don't have.Is there something I'm missing here?Thanks,PaulMy answer and more are after the jump.
It came from the Blog: We came, we saw, we fished
We had a great time on Saturday at the Meet and Greet for It came from the Blog. We chatted, we debated, we leveled and some of us fished. Mike Schramm, Elizabeth Harper, Barb Dybwad, Mark Crump, Matthew Rossi and I were all there to mingle. And many of us thought that some jokes are a little mean.I'd like to thank Ceylene for summoning fellow guildies to our fishfest at Stillwhisper Pond. It's a long run to Blood Elf territory for our young Tauren friends to make.Though we did have fun raising our Fishing skills together, we have more exciting things planned for the future. We will definitely be getting together for Children's Week and maybe even something before. Look for events to be scheduled monthly or more often. While this is a casual, event oriented guild, we do have some members who are leveling up. Many of the members can invite to the guild, so if you are interested in joining us on Zangarmarsh, ask an online guild member for an invite. I am often on as well and am happy to have any readers join us. Look for me as Robiness or Robinelle or Robinara or Robinella or Robinique. Yes, my altitis has altitis.Join us next time!
It Came from the Blog: LFM
It Came from the Blog is now recruiting. We are a fun guild that is looking for casual members. We are always happy to help... when we're not on our mains on our regular servers. If you are interested, PST. I always feel bad for the guilds who are so hungry for members, they will invite anyone who sends them a tell. Yet, here I am making the same offer. If you are interested in hanging out on Zangarmarsh (U.S.) with WoW Insider writers, participating in monthly events and wearing a prize-winning tabard, then you are cordially invited to join us in the Horde guild: It Came from the Blog.Some of us will be on from time to time, but if you want to be assured of a guild invite, please join us this weekend (Edited for accuracy): When: 3pm PDT, Saturday, April 19th Where: Zangarmarsh (U.S.) Faction: Horde How: Send Robiness a tell for invites Check out the good times we had last year. While we have even more fun planned for our re-emergence, we would love to hear your suggestions and requests. Leave them in the comments here or email them to me at Robin.Torres AT weblogsinc DOT com. I hope to see you Saturday!
How to use the Lunar Festival for easy lowbie travel
Are you new to the game and would like to visit all the major cities of your faction? Or do you have a bunch of lowbie alts (like me) that are stranded near their starting area? If so, make use of the Lunar Festival to get your lowbies out and about.One of the great things about the Lunar Festival is that you get a free trip to Moonglade and then you can teleport to all of the major old world cities in your faction. (No, they won't let you travel to the major cities of the opposite faction. Sorry.) I found this particularly useful with my Draenei and Blood Elf noobs so that they can go out and see the world.Why would you want to get your lowbie out and about so young?Weapon skills: You can use the teleports to go to the Weapons Masters in each city and get all of your missing weapons skills. Don't forget training weapons skills costs 10 silver each, so if you are new to the game or just the server, you may need to make some money before you take the trip.
It Came from the Blog: Stampede to Stormwind!
Are you facing the full 48-hour downtime this week and not looking forward to spending quite that much quality time with your laundry? Don't worry, WoW Insider is here for you! This Tuesday evening, at 10:00 pm EST (8:00pm server time for Zangarmarsh) we will be running our own Stampede to Stormwind event! For those who would like to join us, all you need to do is to roll a level 1 Tauren of any flavor and log into Zangarmarsh US (sorry EU folks!) between now and 9:30pm EST tomorrow night. Once you're on, just /whisper any of the It Came from the Blog Officers for a /ginvite and let them know you're one of the racers. When time comes, you will collect your [Blue Linen Shirt] marking you as one of the Stampede participants and at 9:30pm EST, we will begin invites to the Stampede raid. At 10:00pm Eastern (8:00pm Server time), the race begins! Since this is purely a silly race, the primary "prize" will be a featured spot as winner in the next ICftB column, an in-game item of dubious usefulness, and the ability to say that you were there when the thunder of our hooves roared across Azeroth. So if this sounds like your type of fun, be sure to get over to Zangarmarsh and reserve your L1 Tauren (and name) now! We'll see you tomorrow night. And may the best cow win!
Breakfast Topic: Items that make you go "what?"
In all my time in Azeroth, I've seen some pretty strange things. The above "Priest's" mace that has a bonus to Nature damage was pointed out by Obron from the ICftB guild. (And we all had a pretty good laugh about it.) Some -- like the above item -- happen to have truly unfortunate item names, while the item itself still isn't that bad. Other items like the Triumphant Shield of Shadow Wrath and several other shields with random enchants that have the option of adding shadow damage struck me as just really poor planning. After all, what Class really needs a shield with a bonus to shadow damage? Worse still, the drop percentages of the +shadow damage versions are often better than the +shadow resist ones...Have you found any items with random enchants that made you stop and say "what?" Or how about items with oddball names that really don't fit the stats, or the point of the weapon? Somewhat related, how about weapons with graphics that just make you stop and stare wondering where the design for that came from!? (My current favorite for weird graphics is definitely the Squid on a Stick.)
It Came from the Blog: Running the fire festival
The Midsummer Fire Festival has come and gone -- but a group of enthusiastic readers in our It Came from the Blog guild got together celebrate the last night of the festival by running the Eastern Kingdoms festival quest. Our trip to the Eastern Plaguelands, the Hinterlands, Searing Gorge, and Blasted Lands was an absolute deathfest at our levels (ranging from 7 to the 30s) -- but I think everyone had fun, learned a bit about Azeroth's geography, and netted some swanky looking shoulders in the end. And, hey, even if you missed out, you can enjoy our adventure vicariously, through screenshots!Our journey, for those of you who wish to re-create it for your own amusement, started in the Undercity. From there we went through Western Plaguelands and into Eastern Plaguelands to pick up the first flame. (Most of us travelled on to pick up the flight path at Light's Hope Chapel.) Then we went back through Western Plaguelands and cut down to the Hinterlands (yes, there's a path near the bridge to Scholomance that sends you out right near Aerie Peak.) After picking up the Hinterlands flame, we continued on to the Horde flight path at Revantusk Village and then jumped into the water and swam south, down to the Wetlands. From there we ran through Loch Modan (meeting a friendly Gnome near the Thelsamar graveyard), through the Badlands (picking up the flight path at Kargath), and into Searing Gorge for the third flame. From here, we ran through Blackrock Mountain, into Redridge, through Duskwood, Deadwind Pass, and Swamp of Sorrows, finally winding up in the Blasted Lands for the forth flame. Finally, success!%Gallery-4565%
It Came from the Blog: Midsummer Fire Festival
There are only a few days remaining for Blizzard's Midsummer Fire Festival, so over in our It Came from the Blog guild on Zangarmarsh, we're going to take full advantage of the final days of the festival with a last minute run through high-level areas to collect our quest reward shoulders. You'll have to be at least level 7 to pick the quest up, and while the quest is going to be dangerous for the level of most of our players, we're going to make the run to the Blasted Lands, the Plaguelands, the Hinterlands, and Searing Gorge as a group. My advice: come expecting a few deaths and leave your armor in the bank.If this sounds like fun to you (or if those shoulders just look too cool to turn down), meet up with us in the throne room above Undercity at 6:00 PM server time (that's 8:00 PM EST) on this Wednesday, July 4th. Look forward to seeing you all there!
ICFTB: Scavenging Azeroth!
This week's adventures with <It came from the Blog> took our adventurers to the four corners of Azeroth -- something I think that surprised some of them! But never let it be said that our folks shrink from a true challenge that tests their mettle! This week's game was a Scavenger Hunt involving 25 occasionally bizarre items that they were required to screen shot and send in. Depending on how creative you were, and how familiar you were with Horde territory, this could have been easy, or involve a lot of travel all over heck and back. For those of you curious for news of the happenings, and just how our adventurers fared against the fairly strange list I thought up, check out the details of this week's <It came from the Blog> shenanigans after the jump!
Tabard design contest winners!
I'm sure you've all been dying with curiosity while waiting to hear the winners of last week's tabard design contest -- and to find out which tabard would become the official guild tabard of WoW Insider's It Came from the Blog guild on Zangarmarsh. so, fortunately, I'm here to announce the winners! In first place, and showing off the tabard you see to the right, is Hellbena, whose eyes tabard snagged first place. Yep, this is the tabard you will soon see on ICftB members all over Zangarmarsh!In second place, we had Zungaba with this lovely bunny tabard and in third place we have Sylvina's excellent octopus design. (To see the rest of our entries, check out our tabard gallery!) All of our winners are taking home an I'm Only Here Because My Server Is Down t-shirt from J!NX (think of them as a RL version of your tabard), so if you meet any of them in-game, be sure to congratulate them!
Adventures in Azeroth: Collecting unique pets
Welcome to another episode of Adventures in Azeroth, where I document my misadventures as a new Hunter on a new server. (Want to check up on my progress? You're welcome to join me and a whole group of readers in the It Came from the Blog guild on Zangarmarsh!) But this week I'm not really talking about playing (I haven't leveled much since the last episode of Adventures in Azeroth) -- instead, I'm talking about the crazy lure of hard to find Hunter pets, and my new-found pokemon-esque desire to catch-em-all.However, practical concerns have limited my collecting. After all, one pet is quite enough work to keep leveled on its own -- much less if I had a pair. But, after noticing that every last Blood Elf hunter with an Eversong Woods cat identical to my pet Mittens, I decided I had to do something about it. I didn't want to be just-another-Blood-Elf-Hunter -- I wanted to be... well... unique! So I went searching for a new pet, one that every run-of-the-mill Hunter wouldn't have.
It came from the Blog: Vote for your favorite tabard!
First off, I'd like to thank everyone who participated in our tabard design contest! We have some excellent entries, which the WoW Insider staff has combed through for the best of the best -- and now it's your turn! I know we had a tough time narrowing things down to ten finalists -- every entry would have made a lovely tabard. (If you don't believe me, check out our gallery of entries, including commentary from some of the designers.)Take a look at our finalists and pick the one you'd like to see as the official It came from the Blog tabard! Polls will be open for 48 hours, so you have until Monday at 9:00 AM EST to get your vote in. And remember, the top three winners get to take home a "I'm Only Here Because My Server Is Down" t-shirt! Voting, after the jump!
