Reflections From The Pond

Posts Tagged ‘fishing’

Now some people wished upon a silver coin instead of a copper coin in the Eventide fountain in Dalaran.

I don’t know if the wish’s chance of being granted is in any way related to the value of the coin, but if it is these pepole should have a slightly larger chance of getting their dream come true. But did they? Let’s find out…

A long time ago, a little human girl named Aegwynn was trained in the arts of magic. She was talented and skilled and was eventually named a Guardian of Tirisfal, a single mortal champion given vast magical powers by the Council of Tirisfal (an order formed by mages to protect Azeroth from the demonic corruption of magic) to fight the Burning Legion and other demons whenever they appeared.

Aegwynn battled and defeated the Lord of the Legion, the Dark Titan Sargeras. This next to impossible success made her grow arrogant and cocky, and she felt she did not need to heed the wishes of the council but instead chose to defend Azeroth as she saw fit and also chose her own successor as a Guardian. What she did not know was that Sargeras, as his physical form was destroyed, had let his spirit find a way into her mind and hide there.

Aegwynn chose Nielas Aran, a powerful mage, to father a child with her, and she named her child Medivh. Medivh succedeed Aegwynn as Guardian. However, the hitherto dormant spirit of Sargeras had passed into Medivh at his birth and slowly began to possess him, eventually opening the Dark Portal in the Black Morass (nowadays known as the Blasted Lands) to let invading orc armies through.

Aegwynn warned King Llane and the Alliance about Medivh and his orc invasions, and as a result of this warning she had to watch her son (or what was left of him) die as the Alliance succeded in driving the orcs away.

Allegedly, Aegwyn is still alive under an assumed name (those anti-aging spells she got as a Guardian apparently works wonders), and serves as chamberlain and advisor to  Lady Jaina, the ruler of Theramore. I can only assume she is at another location at the moment, because the only people accompanying Jaina in her tower in Theramore are Pained, a night elf, and Archmage Tervosh, a human male.

Anyways, sometimes during her more than 500 years of life and frequent visits to Dalaran she wished upon a coin in the fountain there. Somehow I doubt “books” was the word she originally intended to say there…

Wish granted? Do mages ever get their heads out from their…books? Guess not.

Antonidas was a former leader of the Kirin Tor.

When the Scourge, led by Kel’thuzad, the necromancer, and Prince Arthas came to Dalaran to claim the Book of Medivh, the last surviving spellbook of Medivh, Antonidas defended the city. After a long and heinous battle the city was defeated and Prince Arthas led his undead troops into Dalaran and the Violet Hold.

The spellbook was used to summon the demon lord Archimonde and Dalaran was destroyed shortly after Antonidas’ death.

When the city was rebuilt the Kirin Tor put up a memorial to him in the northwest corner.

Antonidas was also one of those who wished upon a coin in his home city, a wish very resemblant to the Serenity Prayer. Wish granted? Well, I think he stood a good chance of that.

Arch Druid Fandral Staghelm is a nightelf druid currently residing in Darnassus. He is more than 9000 years old and was leading the night elf armies in the so-called War of the Shifting Sands, the fight against the invasion of Silitus by the Qiraji, the children of C’Thun, one of the Old Gods. Despite overwhelming odds against him, he held fast against the Qiraji and thus they devised a cunning plan.

Fandral’s son, Valstann Staghelm, was captured and taken by the Qiraji General to the front line of the battle, where he was brutally executed, directly in front of Fandral. Fandral’s spirit was broken and Silithus was soon overrun by the Qirajii.

In one of Fandral’s visits to Dalaran he made a wish upon a coin. I can really feel his desire to forget that war and everything that it entailed, but I think it is one war he will never be able to leave behind.

Khadgar was the apprentice of Medivh and a commander of the Alliance Expedition to the orc homeworld of Draenor (Outland). High General Turalyon, a human paladin, and Ranger-Captain Alleria Windrunner, were also part of this expedition, as were their son Arator.

On Draenor, the demonic shaman Ner’zhul was planning to open more Dark Portals to find other worlds to invade and plunder. The magic energies that were unleashed by these portals ripped Draenor apart and the destruction threatened to spread to Azeroth. The Alliance Expedition managed to close the Dark Portal and shield Azeroth when Draenor exploded, but the Expedition members were trapped on the Draenor side.

Khadgar is now residing in Shattrah City, and Arator in Honor Hold, but the whereabouts of Turalyon and Alleria are unknown. Rumour has it they were last seen entering a portal to escape the destruction of Draenor, which seems to have a grain of truth in it given what Khadgar wished for on his coin. Wish granted? I sure hope so.

Terenas Menethil II was the last king of Lordaeron and the father of Arthas. Terenas was one of the greatest monarch in human history and had great hopes of uniting all Alliance races, hopes that his son Arthas was to carry to even greater heights. But things did not turn out the way Terenas had hoped for, and his death at his own son’s hands ended the Menethil Dynasty and ushered in Arthas as the Lich King. Terenas ashes lie interred in the throne room of Lordaeron, the old capital above what is now known as Undercity.

This is one coin wish that I definitely know did not come true.

Maiev Shadowsong was a young priestess of Elune who rose in the ranks of the Sisterhood and became second only to Tyrande Whisperwind, High Priestess of the Moon. She was present when the night elf survivors of the War of the Ancients found a second Well of Eternity, an immense source of arcane magic, upon Mount Hyjal’s summit. The Well was created by Illidan Stormrage, a night elf by birth, a demon by association.

The elves dared not destroy this Well, since their destroying the first Well at the end of the War of the Ancients had resulted in the sundering of the vast original landmass of the world into two seprate continents, Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. However, knowing that this Well would be the source of unfathomable power, the elves captured and sealed Illidan in a vast underground prison and Maiev was appointed Illidan’s eternal jailor.

Despite this, Tyrande was the one to set Illidan free many thousands of years later, thinking him to be the perfect weapon against the invasion of Ashenvale by the Burning Legion.

Illidan helped defeat the Burning Legion but was banished from the elven lands after that. Maiev tracked him across the lands of Kalimdor and through many adventures and misfortunes and eventually ended up in Draenor, where she finally managed to catch and imprison Illidan again. I am guessing this happened just after the time when she visited Dalaran and made a wish upon a coin there.

However, as her party was travelling back to their base an ambush by naga and blood elves set Illidan free once more.

Maiev is now found imprisoned herself, in a cage Shadowmoon Valley.

Coin wish granted? Yes, at least she knows where Illidan is now…

Muradin Bronzebeard is the brother of the Magni Bronzebeard, king of Ironforge, and of Brann Bronzebeard, renowned explorer. Muradin served as liaison between Lordaeron and Khaz Modan in the Second War. During this time he became friends with Prince Arthas and the two of them had many adventures together.

Muradin often went to Northrend as he was a founding member of the dwarven Explorer’s Guild, and he was searching Northrend for the fated runeblade Frostmourne. During his last expedition to Northrend Muradin met Arthas again, who tricked him into leading him to Frostmourne. When the ice imprisoning the blade shattered it impaled Muradin, and Arthas left him for dead.

However, Muradin survived but suffered from amnesia. He was found by the Frostborn clan in Storm Peaks, and when he saved them from a giant frostwyrm they made him their king and gave him the name Yorg Stormheart.

In one of his many travels to Northrend he visited Dalaran and made a coin wish in the fountain. Now, the Holy Light is a philosophy, the followers of which seek to make the world a better place by being true to their own emotions, but sadly enough did not Muradin’s wish come true.

Tossing silver coins into the Eventide fountain is not a pastime for nobility alone, even peasants find the time and opportunity to wish upon a coin, and again, and again, and again… Wish granted? The answer is in the wish itself, isn’t it, and it’s no.

To be continued…

The last penny in the achievement a Penny For Your Thoughts is Vareesa’s Copper Coin.

Now, there is no character named Vareesa in the entire WoW universe as far as I’ve been able to ascertain. There is, however, an elf named Vereesa Windrunner.

I am guessing they are the same person, and that the confusion in spelling is similar to that of King Arthur’s wife Guinevere for example , whose name I have seen spelled Gwenhyfar or some other variety with about the same pronounciation.

So, Vereesa tossed that coin into the fountain and made her wish. “Asto’re da shan’re. Turus Fulo Il’amare. A’Talah Adore. Isera’duna…”

Do you understand what she says and what she wished for? I didn’t, I don’t speak elf, but a little detectiving and trial and erroring has made me come up with a far-flung and rather tentative guess.

Some background information on Vereesa first:

Vereesa Windrunner is a High Elf who used to live with her prominent family at the Windrunner Spire in the beautiful forests of Ouel’thalas in northern Eastern Kingdoms. Nearly all of her family were killed by orcs in the Second War or in Prince Artha’s invasion of Quel’thalas.

Her sister Sylvanas was the Ranger-General of Silvermoon, military leader of all high elven forces. She was murdered by Arthas and as a petty revenge raised as an undead to serve him. Sylvanas eventually rebelled against Arthas and managed to tear free of his control. She gathered other undeads  and powerful allies around her and named her new force the Forsaken.

Vereesa had another sister, Alleria, who was the head scout of the Alliance Expedition to Draenor (Outland) and she was believed to be dead when the portal was destroyed. She was not found when the Dark Portal was opened again and her whereabouts are still unknown.

 Vereesa herself was also a ranger, and she was assigned a simple mission to escort a human mage called Rhonin safely to his ship. The mission soon turned astray and eventually they ended up in Grim Batol, where they defeated the orcs and the Black Dragonflight and freed the Red Dragon Queen Alexstrasza.

Vereesa was appointed Alliance Ambassador by King Terenas Menethil II, last king of Lordaeron and father of Arthas. Vereesa and Rhonin toured the Alliance forces, reminding them that there were many dangerous forces still at large in the world and  that they would have to face these threats sooner or later.

During this time, Vereesa and Rhonin fell in love. They were married and had twins, Galdarin and Giramar.

Vereesa is now the leader of the Silver Covenant, a militant faction of the Kirin Tor.  

So what did Vereesa say, when she tossed that coin into the fountain?

Well, although her native High Elf tongue is Thalassian, I doubt she still speaks that as it is the language of the Blood Elves now, enemies of the Alliance and the Kirin Tor. I think she spoke the words in Darnassian, the tongue of the Night Elves.

At WoWwiki.com there was a suggestion that her wish was “I wish for my honor. I will make peace, and the people will survive. Orcs are…” , and on WoWhead there were some suggestions as to what certain words meant in the comments.

Now, if you are a Night Elf you can turn on your Darnassian language filter and everything you say will be turned into Darnassian. Other Night Elves will understand you but people who don’t know Darnassian (ie, every other race) won’t. The in-game translator is not a real translator, it merely makes words look like Darnassian based upon the number of letters in the word, so the translated words are not really translated.

But since I don’t know any Darnassian-speaking people out of game, the in-game translator was all I had to work with. I logged onto my druid Joaquime and turned on her Darnassian translator, partied up with a borrowed a human from my husband’s account and started talking. Too bad I couldn’t do it the easy way, speak Vereesa’s wish with the human and listen in my druids Darnassian, I had to have my druid speak the words and see how they looked to the human.

“Asto’re da shan’re. Turus Fulo Il’amare. A’Talah Adore. Isera’duna…”

Using the in-game translator, honor did actually come out as adore, but so did elven and grace.  Peace was translated into turus, and I guess it is close enough to turos. People, however, came out as ethala and survive as mush’al. Orc got turned into ash and green (as in greenskins) became thera.

I tried other words and quickly found a match, love came out as fulo, but a few tries later I found that so did ever, free and pain.

I found that goodbye was turned into asto’re, and so was restful.

On wowwiki you can find that adore is assumed to mean be with you, as in Elune adore – Elune watch over you, or Elune be with you, and on the same page you can find that talah means survival and shan means honor.

Now, the translator also translates name, and I found the following matches:

Sylvanas – Il’amare

Terenas – Shan’re

Silvermoon – Isera’duna

(Translate names? Well, many names have diminutives and comes in different versions in different languages, and if you have read the Appendices to Tolkien’s work you know he translated all the names as well, so I thought why not here in WoW as well?)

So, from this complete mish-mash of known translations and in-game guessworks and odd forms of the words I tried, I came up with a wish that rang true to me.

Vereesa has has been through hell and back, almost all of her family and close ones have died horribly or painfully. Her old way of living is gone and her homelands are wasted. Still, she has dared to love again and has a husband and children, and even though she is a fighter, living in perilous times, I think she wishes for peace , both for herself and for those who have died.

Asto’re da shan’re. Goodbye/rest well honoured Terenas.

Turos Fulo Il’amare. Peace for my beloved Sylvanas.

A’Talah Adore. Let us all live [through these times].  (survival be with us)

Isera’duna. Silvermoon… (I guess words failed her here as sadness and sorrow and horror overcome her)

 
I probably don’t have a single word right here, but that’s ok, and as long as noone proves me wrong I am gonna keep believing that she wished for peace.

with a plaque commemorating  Archbishop Alonsus Faol.

Apparently he is not buried in the cathedral though but rather in Tirisfal Glades, in the cemetery called Faol’s Rest outside Scarlet Monastery.
 
Sometime during his busy days he found himself in Dalaran tossing a coin into the Eventide Fountain and making a wish.  The Three Virtues he wished for were respect, tenacity and compassion.

Wish granted? I’d like to think so.

Attumen the Huntsman was also in Dalaran once and made a  coin wish. Anyone who has ever done Karazhan and seen his skeletal undead steed Midnight can surely understand his wish for the bliss of a well-padded saddle.

Wish granted? Well if Attumen was too cheap to buy himself a softer saddle for his tender behind, he can only blame himself.
 

Dornaa is a Draenei orphan who turns up during Childrens Week, when she is dragged all over Azeroth and Outland by Alliance players doing the childrens week quests. Apparently she sometime even got into Dalaran, where she tossed a coin into the fountain and made a truly heartfelt wish!
 
It has been suggested that she actually got her wish granted in a way because a pile of magnataur doody may have been the secret weapon used by Grand Apothecary Putress in the battle at Wrathgate, almost choking Arthas with the stench.

Nowadays, Elling Trias, Master of Cheese,

is the owner of the Trias cheese shop in Stormwind which he runs with his wife Elaine (Mistress of Cheese) and son Ben (Apprentice of Cheese), but besides his cheesy business he appears to have many contacts still with his former employers as he is involved in many alliance questlines,  for alliance rogues in particular.

Sometime in his early career he was in Dalaran tossing a coin into the fountain and making a wish.

Wish granted? If his life’s true passion involves cheese in any way, I’d say he got it.
 

Genn Greymane was the leader of Gilneas, a human nation south of Silverpine. He believed in the true superiority of Gilneas and was not interested in taking part in the affairs of the Alliance nor the Horde. Thus he built the Greymane Wall to keep Gilneas isolated.

Damn the orcs, damn the Alliance, and damn you! The last thing Gilneas needs is sponges from other nations drawing from our resources, Dalaran wizards meddling with our affairs, and someone else’s enemies killing our soldiers! Gilneas is its own nation and it always will be.

Despite this he found himself in Dalaran at one point, but even though he popped a coin into the fountain he didn’t deign to make a wish.

Krasus is the name the red dragon Korialstrasz  uses when in his high elven guise, and nowadays he resides on top of Wyrmrest Temple with his queen Alexstrasza.

Once upon a time he made a wish at the Eventide Fountain and chucked a coin into it.

Grim Batol is a fortress located in the mountains in eastern Wetlands. During one of the wars, it was the main center for the Horde’s dragon breeding program and Alexstrasza (Krasus wife) was held captive here and forced to breed Red Dragons that the orcs used as mounts. Eventually she was freed by and band of heroes led by the mage Rhonin and destroyed every orc she could find.

Apparently there is still something sinister at Grim Batol, the place is guarded by dragons and there is a huge iron door that is locked.

So did Krasus get his wish granted? I’d say yes, no more are red dragons being held captive there.

Although Landro Longshot was passing through Dalaran once in his life and  wished upon a coin in the fountain there, he can now be found in Booty Bay where he redeems loot from the trading card game. He is also a playable card in that very same game, and apparently one of the few cards whose outcome depends on a coin flip or dice roll.

Wish granted? No, he obviously didn’t get his coin back since I just fished it out of the fountain! (But maybe I can get a wish granted if I bring him his coin back, maybe he would give me the coveted Fishing Chair!)

 
Murky is both an achievement and a pet. The Murky murloc is usually standing around in Ironforge but, like so many others, he has apparently been in Dalaran sometime before, where he too made a wish upon a coin. I suppose that the Northrend icy seas is a real cold shock to a little murloc used to the mellow waters of California, but usually cold water makes people the opposite of sleepy…

Wish granted? Not yet, but in time maybe the increasing population of Northrend and the increase in air pollution etc that comes with it will cause some greenhouse effect and raise the temperature of the waters. Not sure  if a murloc would live long enough to notice this though.

Once upon a time a young soldier named Private Marcus Jonathan happened to be in Dalaran and he took the opportunity to make a wish and toss a coin in the beautiful marbled Eventide fountain, with a  wish that seems to have come straight from the heart. Now, many years later, the young soldier is a scarred veteran known as General Marcus Jonathan, High Commander of Stormwind Defense.

And I’d say that’s a definite yes, he got his wish granted.

Squire Rowe is also part of the illustrious crowd that has wished upon a coin in the Dalaran fountain. Back before the King came back to Stormwind you talked to Squire Rowe on the quest Stormwind Rendezvous to get Marshal Windsor to come forward so you could escort him to the Stormwind Keep, where he exposed Lady Katrana Prestor for the black scheming dragon she was, namely Onyxia.

Well, if that is the kind of action he wants no wonder he feels Stormwind is a bit dull at the moment.

Cersei Dusksinger whom he wishes to meet again is a Blood Elf  in Stonard, the Swamp of Sorrows, who seems to be pretty full of herself and the other residents of Stonard seems to be rather scared of her and whispers behind her back. She is perfecting a weapon to use against the Draenai and she offers a quest for Horde players to assist her in this. In this quest she specifically refers to feeding a stupid human caged by the Lost Ones in the swamp as “a waste”.

So is the Squire’s wish granted? Not yet, he is still in Stormwind and judging by what I have seen of the Cersei he wants to meet up with, he might be better off staying put.

The last copper coin found in the fountain is a rather special one, and it merits a post of its own, so

To be continued…

So who were all these people tossing coins into the Dalaran Fountain that we fish up nowadays? What did they wish for? Did they get their wishes granted? And how is it possible to catch a coin with a fishing hook?

There is an anonymous Footman who sacrifices a coin and hopes he gets to lug around wood like his cousin instead of fighting in the wars.

Well, footmen fight and peasants lumber. Wish granted? No idea.

Archmage Ansirem Runeweaver, the former leader of the Kirin Tor is found outside the crater where Dalaran used to be in Soutshore, chucks a copper coin in the fountain and wishes for happiness and acceptance for his daughter, who feels so out of place there.

Now, his daughter is Catelyn, who ran off to be a pirate in Booty Bay. She is involved in a quest chain there ending with the perpetually bugged Curse of the Tides, and in one of these quests she says:

“My FATHER sent you? I’d have thought that old codger would have given up on me by now. It wasn’t really his fault I ran off, he just shouldn’t have expected I’d be willing to live a boring life, reading over musty books and associating with grey-haired, stiff-backed, stuffy mages!”

She seems happy and accepted in Booty Bay, so I’d say his wish seems to have been granted, although maybe not really in the way he hoped for. Bet he is wishing he used a silver coin instead! ;P

Danath Trollbane, Militia Commander of Stromgarde, Tactical Advisor to General Turalyon, Force Commander of the Alliance Expedition that marched into the orc homeworld of Draenor (also known as Outland).

He has a statue in the Valley of Heroes in Stormwind, still saying he is presumably deceased, although he was found to be very much alive when the Dark Portal was opened again.

Apparently he was in Dalaran at some point of his life, tossing in a coin and hoping for a troll to die, right… NOW! Well, trolls get killed and die a lot in this game don’t they, and judging by his last name alone I’d say he got his wish granted.

Eitrigg used to be an old hermit orc. Once upon a time, long ago, he encountered and battled Tirion Fordring, one of the Alliance top honchos, but after Tirion had been knocked senseless by a collapsing tower, Eitrigg tied him to his horse’s saddle and sent him on home, thus saving his life. After some lenghty and convoluted turns of events this resulted in Tirion being stripped of his titles and exiled when he returned the favor.

Tirion is nowadays Supreme Commander of the Argent Crusade and Eitrigg is working for him and can be found in Zul’Drak.

Eitrigg’s wish as he tossed his coin was that Tirion’s quest here in Northrend should end with success, or failing that he may die honorably in battle. Given that Tirion’s quest is to defeat the Lich King, he seems to have his work cut out for him.

Falstad Wildhammer (also known as Falstad Dragonreaver), High Thane of the Wildhammer Clan which he presides over in Aerie Peak tossed a coin and wished that he would end up in another book eventually.

This is a bit of an odd wish, since the only book he seems to have been in so far is The Day of the Dragon, a book about World of Warcraft, and I wonder how Falstad knew he was in that. Is he comfortable knowing he is just a figment of someone’s imagination.

So will his wish be granted? Only time will tell…

Father Inigo Montoya’s wish for his coin is to have his father back…

Straigtforward wish it may seem but apparently Inigo was involved with the Argent Dawn, and when Kel’Thuzad was defeated in Naxxramas, his phylactery was given to Inigo who was supposed to give it to the Argent Dawn. However, the AD never got the phylactery and it thus seems that Inigo was working for someone else.

In Northrend, in the quest An End and A Beginning, Highlord Bolvar Fordragon says to the lich you are fighting:

You dedicated your whole life to fighting the Scourge. You saw what they did to our beloved Lordaeron. The Lich King took everything from you!

So how, then, did Father Inigo Montoy, bastion of virtue for the Argent Dawn, become the embodiment of that which he hated most?

This would seem to indicate that Arthas himself raised Father Inigo Montoya and turned him into a lich. The quest item you use seems to verify this.

So no wonder the poor man wishes he had his “father” back. (But how did he manage to sneak into Dalaran and get that coin into the fountain after he was raised as a lich?). Will he get his wish granted? Don’t think so.

Kryll is a goblin in the same book Falstad Wildhammer was in but it seems Kryll is not a game NPC. Somehow he still managed to get into Dalaran and toss a coin. In the book, the Day of the Dragon, he is portrayed as a skilled alchemist and engineer, whose main interestes were experimentation and mayhem, preferably both at the same time. Wish granted? No.

Molok is another character from that book, a gryphon rider under the command of Falstad. I am guessing the lass he wants to ride with in his coin wish is Vereesa Windrunner. Falstad took Rhonin, the current leader of the Kirin Tor, and his wife Vereesa from Aerie Peak to Khaz Modan and Molok was riding with Rhonin. They were attacked by dragon riders from the Dragonmaw clan, and after a long and heroic fight Molok died when he got knocked off his gryphon. Wish granted? No.

There is actually a rare ogre in Arathi Higlands known as Molok the Crusher but I don’t think it was him tossing that coin.

Princess Calia Menethil is the sister of Arthas, and she was betrothed and then married to Lord Daval Prestor, who really is the evil dragon Deathwing, formerly known as Neltharion. The coin of hers must have been tossed before their betrothal. Wish granted? Yes, but probably not with the results she was hoping for as her handsome fiancee turned out to be an old scheming dragon.

Salandria is a Blood Elf orphan who gets to see daylight only during Children’s Week. She lives in the orphanage in Shattrah but somehow during her excursions that week she has managed to toss a coin into the Eventide Fountain.

She seems to be a determined young belf, when she gets a Toy Dragon she tells us that she plans to own one someday. The guards at the Caverns of Time initially attack her but ceases when Zaladormo says she will not be punished for things she might do or fail to do in the future.

Wish granted? I’d be willing to bet a lot on that she gets what she wants (for a time at least).

Stalvan Mistmantle is familiar for anyone whe has levelled an alliance char from the long quest chain The Legend of Stalvan. Stalvan was a school teacher in Moonbrook, Westfall, who fell in love with one of his students. The object of his desire was betrothed to another man, and she seems to have flaunted for him and compared him to an old uncle. Stalvan massacred her and her entire family for this, and then fled to his house outside Darkshire.

I am guessing he went to Dalaran before he went all mad and butchered those people, as his coin wish seems to have been meant for someone alive. Wish granted? Well, he obviously didn’t get whatever he wanted to “hasten the unevitable fate of two people in love”, but he might have gotten his wish of ruin to everyone as the city was destroyed.

Archmage Vargoth was one of the mages who founded the village of Kirin’Var in Netherstorm, and anyone who have been questing there must have encountered the long quest chain he is involved in.

Vargoth was locked up in the tower in Kirin’Var for a long time where he had lots of time to paraphrase, as is noticed by him saying things like “Plenty of room at the cursed Violet Tower”, “Any time of year, you can find me here” “Some scried to remember, some scried to forget”, “And still their voices are calling from far away, waking me up in the middle of the night” (Hotel Netherstorm, anyone?), and now he’s in a secret chamber in Dalaran, accessible only for those that have mastered the Higher Learning achievement and read the Schools of Arcane Magic – Mastery.

I do hope he gets his coin wish granted, but its not looking too good atm because Captain Sanders is still in the tavern in Old Hillsbrad Foothills, where it appears he has been sampling a lot of wine himself.

To be continued…

There is a fountain in Dalaran that is perfect for idling away those hours waiting for instance groups to form, before raid starts, or just to feel a little useful while chatting away in gchat.

Usually a few people fishing there all the time, and the occasional misclick happens when you hear the splash only its one of your fellow fishermen/women who catches something. Ah well, just throw it in again and hope for a Big One.

And of course, once in a while there will be someone who thinks its fun to obstruct others in their game play. Aerie Peak being a pve server does not mean its free from asshats and morons and people who think its their god-given right to have fun on other people’s behalf.

Parking your mammoth in the fountain and go afk would be a prime example of this.

When your fishing bobber lands too close or inside that fat mofo you can’t click it to catch your fish and you will lose your catch.

Ah well, maybe he was just being absentminded and didn’t notice the smell of wet mammoth…

Fishing in this fountain provides you with a never-ending supply of Fountain Goldfish, a few Sewer Carp and a whole lotta different coins. Seems people have been throwing coins into this wishing well for a long time.

You can fish upp copper coins, silver coins or gold coins. The first two can be sold for a handful of copper coins (why do you get 62 copper each for both copper and silver coins? Would have thought the metal value of the silver coins would be worth at least one silver).

If you check the above picture you see I have three buffs on me.

The little flower icon that looks like a goldclover is a 2 minute buff you get from throwing one of your fished-up gold coins back into the fountain, which increases your chance of fishing up more coins. Incidentally, having a big fat mammoth in the way for my casts is slightly vexing when trying to make the most of this buff.

(The other buffs are me having a fantastic day by eating a Tasty Cupcake and a fishing skill boost applied to my fishing rod.)

Tessye is currently at 392/450 fishing at I am (again!) seriously considering getting her that comfy fishing chair for her city fishing trips.

Anyways, the coins you fish up are all part of an achievement, A Penny for your Thoughts, Silver in the City and There’s Gold in that Fountain, which together make the Coin Master achievement. The reward for that last one is a Titanium Seal of Dalaran, which of course is a must have for anyone as indecisive as me!

Only wish I had the time to get that Seal on all my girls!

These new Achievements really are my cup of tea – what better way to spend the last weeks before Wrath than revisiting all of the old world and do all those dungeons and raids once again so you’ll get credit for them.

Tessye, my rogue, my master fisherman and master cook, is of course doing all the achievements related to those professions.

Last night I was flying around in Outland fishing and killing stuff to complete the Outland Angler and the Outland Gourmet achievements, when I saw that there was a nice little mission called the Lurker Above.

Never been raiding with Tessye but so what, these days you don’t need an attunement to enter SSC and she is a rogue with Master of Deception and Camouflage, she can sneak past most mobs.

(And by “sneak past”, I mean keeping to the side of the gangways, bypassing mobs, cause looking away for a split second and running right into a bog giant will get you spotted and killed, no matter how good a sneaker you are – this I discovered the hard way.)

So, I got a sweet guildie who were exploring the world and thus not unwilling to be in a raid group with me to make just such a group. Enter SSC and stealth up. I thought for sure some on the mobs would be able to see through stealth, but none did – they were all unable to see me! Well, except that bog giant I had that unfortunate close encounter with.

I stealthed along to the gangway support strut that makes a handy ramp down into the water and went down. Sadly, the fishies in the water could see me so I went down for real as well :-(

Since I am such an avid fisherman and do the daily fishing quest, I have a lot of Elixir of Water Walking in my bags, so for next try I popped one of these before I dared venture out over the water. For some reason I did submerge once I left the ramp, and the fishies were onto me pretty fast, so try #2 was a fail as well :-(

Well, not like I was gonna give up that easily! I had engaged all the guild in my tries through gchat and I couldn’t just back down now, could I? They even almost started a bet poll on my chances of one-womanning the Lurker if I ever got to his little isle.

So, next try, on the platform closest to the isle, standing just above the water, I drank an Elixir, went into Stealth again and then I popped my Sprint.

But it was still the same, as soon as I went into the water I sank down! Luckily, this time I jumped up asap, managed to get up on the water surface and started sprinting over the water to the isle.

And I got there! Not a single fish attacked me!

Could fish the Lurker up in peace and quiet in the little isle…

Took me a fair few tries before the old cunning fish finally took the bait and came up for me, but I am now a proud accomplisher of The Lurker Above!

And no, I didn’t one-woman the old smelly bucket of dead carp, he took one hit at me for 17 k and I went down like a very dead rogue :/

So, tomorrow it will be patch day, and loads of new stuff will be available, among it all a new profession, Inscriptions, and the rest of the professions have been polished up with new fun and/or cool features and recipes.

I know for sure I will get this new profession on one of my girls, but which one? Being the levelling freak that I am, all of my girl are capped in their primary professions, so it is not just a question of ditching any old profession and start levelling the new one.

Tessye, my first, my precious, has been a skinner and leatherworker since day one. Those trainers were the first ones I encountered in Goldshire so I picked that up, not knowing that there was anything else, and it’s been a good choice for a rogue so far and it seems to be a good choice in WotLK too.

Since skinners see a lot of dead animals without their clothes on they can become Masters of Anatomy, by which they will know that exact spot where to out the dagger to wreak maximum havoc on a poor mob of any kind. Good knowledge for a rogue :-)

There will alse be nice gear available to leatherworkers and some bracers and leg patches that are LW only, like different Fur Linings and leg armors.

Joaquime, my druid, is an herbalist and alchemist, transmute master. The herbalists get some extra love with the Lifeblood HoT. Not that she really needs another HoT, being a druid, BUT this one is useable while shapeshifted! This will be very handy when soloing in cat form or tanking in bear. Also, I really don’t want to lose herbalism on her, since picking flowers in epic flight form must be the fastest, simplest way ever of farming herbs.

Alchemists get some sweet loving too. They can already make and use Mad Alchemist’s Potion, which is a really cheap alternative to Super Mana/Healing Potions, and now they will also be able to learn Mixology. Increased effect and twice the duration of every flask and elixir, yes thank you!

Paynne, my little warlock, is a tailor and a miner. Being a clothie, her tailoring will provide her with something new to wear every now and then, which is important for the fashionable warlock. For some reason, tailors will also be able to get more cloth drops than non-tailors.

She already has a cool epic flyer but will probably make herself a flying carpet as well,

Mining is actually a nice boost to a warlock with the Toughness spell, and she is capped and has an epic flyer, which makes farming ores rather fast and not much of a hassle. Daissy, her fellow gnome warrior, is a miner too but she still has a slow-ass copter and mining with that takes forever! (Yeye, I will get her an epic flyer too, but I am not that rich yet!)

I don’t want to drop Daissy’s mining since as a warrior she also benefits from Toughness. She is also an engineer, which needs lots and lots of ores and bars to make her cool fun trinkets and weapons. Now engineers will get a whole lotta new fun recipes, like new goggles, a portable mailbox and the very handy Army Knife. They will also learn how to make a chopper, but like Paynne she already has a cool mount, her pretty pink tiger.

Jools, my priest, is a jewelcrafter and an enchanter and there is no way in hell I’ll drop any of those painfully levelled professions.

The enchanters will get some new enchanter-only ring enchants and also be able to create some soulbound wands with spellpower, crit and some stats on them. The JC’s will be able to make some BoP trinkets like the Sapphire Owl and cut some nice BoP gems, so all in all I am happy with keeping those professions for Jools.

Larue, my shaman, is like Joaq an herbalist and alchemist, potion master. The potion mastery is very handy and often procs a few extra free pots. This mastery may be slightly less useful now since the use of pots will probably diminish since the Potion Sickness means you can only use one potion per fight – no more selling a stack of Super Mana Potions for 30 gold, but it’s still nice to get some free pots so I don’t want to drop her Alchemy.

Again like Joaq, Larue does not really need the herbalism HoT since she can heal herself, and this is one profession that won’t hurt very much to drop on Larue since she’ll get her Alchemy needs satisfied by Joaq’s herbing anyways.

So, one possible free spot out of all 12 professions in total on my six lvl 70 girls…

There is another choice though, my lowbie hunter Cuddling is currently skinning and herbing her way through the 30’s and I could drop the skinning for inscriptions. There are a few quests associated with Inscriptions and I might as well get some lvling xp out of them a well.

Ah well, I’ll see what happens tomorrow :-)

Now this is how fishing unites people from different factions:

Me and a tauren fishing side by side, no ganking!

It’s moments like this that makes me keep my faith in humanity :-)

Muahahaha today’s fishing trip was a good one! I just flew off to Allerian Stronghold to go fishing in the Terokkar rivers for the Blackfin darter required for the Bait Bandits. A few casts later I caught myself one and headed back to Old Man Barlo to turn it in and received the usual Bag of Fishing Treasures.

This time, however, the bag contained the recipe for Captain Rumsey’s Lager! Now I can go fishing the proper way, with a few cans of lager to help me get in the correct meditative mood ;P

In addition, the bag also contained a Mariner’s Log, telling the story of a sailor named Cedric who seems to enjoy his rum a lot (or being disciplined).

First Watch. Seven Bells. Cedric found in rum closet again. Disciplined.

First Watch. Eight Bells. Watches changed. All is well.

Middle Watch. One Bell. Cedric found attempting to break into the Captain’s wine cabinet. Disciplined.

Middle Watch. Two Bells. Cedric climbed rigging. Became tangled and fell. Attended by Ship’s surgeon. Sent below to sober up.

Middle Watch. Four Bells. Bottle of rum found in Cedric’s pants. Disciplined.

Middle Watch. Five Bells. Cedrics clothes found. Cedric found separately. Cedric disciplined.

Middle Watch. Six Bells. Cedric singing lovely. Woke Captain. Cedric disciplined by Captain.

Middle Watch. Eight Bells. Watches changed. All quiet. Two men sent to locate Cedric.

Morning Watch. One Bell. Fire in Captain’s quarters. All hands roused. Throwing powder overboard.

The log ends rather abruptly here, so I wonder if they really had time to throw all powder overboard and put out the fire.

And I wonder what happened to Cedric.

Never been that much of a fan of outdoor angling, but I enjoy fishing in WoW. (Yes, I know there probably is something wrong with me, having without too much pain skilled up fishing to 375 even before the recent nerfs to the fishing profession).

So after the latest patch (2.4) I am taking my precious rogue Tessy out for daily fishing trips, catching all kinds of new and interesting fish.

Daily Fishing Quests
The quest giver, Old Man Barlo, stands in the shallow waters at the shore of Lake Silmyr just north of Shattrah, surrounded by basilisks, spiders and nasty things in the water, so it is advisable to fly there unless you want to have to kill some of the encroaching wildlife.

The first quest I got was Bait Bandits, in which Old Man Barlow asked for a Blackfin Darter from the rivers of Terokkar. I flew around in the woods with my Fish Finding on (the Weather-Beaten Journal was probably the best catch ever in my fishing career) and stopped at every darter pool I could find, fishing them dry of Golden Darters but not a single Blackfin Darter caught the line =(

After half an hour, a lot of darter pools fished out and a stack of Golden Darters in my bag, I decided to try angling out of pools, and I got a Blackfin Darter on the third catch!

The next day, a new quest, The One That Got Away, this time sending me to Nagrand to catch the World’s Largest Mudfish. Sloppy reading of the quest text made me go fishing in the rivers first, both in and out of Mudfish Pools, but the only Mudfish I got there was the ordinary Figluster’s variety.

A more careful study of the quest text revealed that it actually said “lakes of Nagrand” and after a few throws in the Sunspring Lake I caught myself the World’s Largest Mudfish!

Third day, new quest again, Shrimpin’ Ain’t Easy. The lakes of Zangarmarsh hold not only an abundance of Barbed Gill Trout, but Bloated ones as well. These fish have gobbled themselves fat on Seaweed and stuff, and on Giant Freshwater Shrimp, so you just gut them like you would any other fish and extract the shrimp from their innards. Old Man Barlow wanted 10 of these shrimps, and it took me about 15 minutes to get them, throwing my line from the shores of Umbrafen Lake.

Fourth day, fourth quest, Felblood Fillet. This one sent me to my choice of Shadowmoon Valley or Hellfire Peninsula to catch a Monstrous Felblood Snapper. I was like, hmm, where are there waters in these areas? but then I remembered the nagas and their water pools in the north of SMV. So off I went, but nowhere did I find water deep enough to fish in. All the pools were too shallow!

Quick check of the map, but there was no lake or river I had forgotten to be seen there, just a lot of green lava ones… hmm let’s try fishing in the lava then! Said and done, I flew to the closest green bubbling lava stream and cast my line in. And it worked! First catch was an ordinary Felblood Snapper, second was the Monstrous variety!

Now I am just trying to remember – where are there water or lava or whatever pools of any kind deep enough to fish in in Hellfire Peninsula? There are the pools of Aggonar ofc, but they are shallow enough to ride through, don’t think its possible to fish there.

Reportedly there is another quest to be had, where you go chasing crocolisks in the canals of Stormwind, but I haven’t encountered that one yet. There is a crocolisk-fishing quest, the Crocolisks in the City, where some nasty merchant has sold a flock of baby crocolisks to some kids and you have to fish one out of the waterways. I took the portal from Shattrah to Stormwind and started fishing in the canals. After about 15 tries I got a Baby Crocolisk and hs’ed back to Shatt to turn it in to Old Man Barlo.

The quest reward for each daily Fishing quest is a Bag of Fishing Treasures, which contains 6-7 gold, on occasion some Jaggal Pearls, some grey fish/water-related items like Giant Shark Tooth, or Salvaged Scrap Metal, and some things that can be useful while fishing. So far I have gotten a lot of Sharpened Fish Hooks and some Elixir of Water Walking.

A note though, don’t throw out the grey stuff you get in the bag, go to a vendor and sell it. I once got an Ancient Coin and the vendor payed me 25 gold for that!

Other reported loot from the Bag of Fishing Treasures includes a recipe to make Captain Rumsey’s Lager, a Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat, and of course…*drum roll*….The 2 Ring.

A long long time ago, when I was just a little lowbie, I was fishing in Stormwind City and I caught myself The 1 ring. The ring has long been gone from my possession, missed by noone, least of all me.

New Fish
The Isle of Quel’Danas offer opportunities to fish from the boat in the harbour or the piers, with the bonus option of trying to use your Fishing Rod as a weapon if some hordies get offended by my peacefulness.

A fishing bout of 10 minutes yielded

1 Bloated Giant Sunfish which when cut open was found to contain 3 Darkclaw Lobsters, which can be used to make some Lobster Stew, with the help of a recipe from a vendor in Feralas (Feathermoon Stronghold if you are Alliance, Camp Mojache if you are Horde),

Some Jaggal Clams with the usual Jaggal Clam Meat inside,

A few tufts of Seaweed,

4 Luminous Bluetails, which seem to be some kind of fishy mana-pot,

and a lot of Giant Sunfish.