Top Three Most Loved Items

For this week’s Blog Azeroth Shared Topic, Cymre from Bubbles of Mischief suggested:

What are the top three items on your main that you just love for sentimental, fun or silly reasons and would hate to lose? Tell us a story, what makes them so special and as always illustrate with screenshots.

My characters generally don’t have too much in their bags, aside having MS/OS/PvP gear already takes up most of the space. But with what room is left, I have a terrible habit of hoarding all sorts of trinkets (see: Rainbow Generator and Gus’ First Aid Kit to even old raid trinkets that I have a hard time tossing out like Grim Toll.) along with all the miscellaneous artifacts I’ve solved from Archaeology. (I like all the little toys in the game…it’s a growing problem!)

Here are the top three things that I’d hate to ever lose:

Landslide makes them even shinier…!

1. Fang of Oblivion – Yes, I know. The shiniest, sparkliest dagger of all. The first time I got to do the Algalon the Observer fight was during a PuG transmog run, and I swear by it when I say my rogue is my luckiest toon. The dagger dropped, and I won with a 94, beating out about 4-5 others. Offers were made to trade for it, but I wouldn’t trade them for anything! What’s strange is that I kept having it in my head that it was the spell dagger, Starshard Edge, but on closer glance at the stats, it was indeed the Agi one. Not that the stats mattered at that point, but it made me feel even more tingly with joy! Aside from me probably using this dagger model for a long while or until I tire of the shininess, I think the Algalon fight is one of my favorites in the game, and I only wish I could revisit it again. Reading this post from WoW Insider’s Know Your Lore really had me in even more awe.

Chalice of the Mountain Kings

2. Archaeology Toys – Okay, okay, I know this isn’t just one item. But it’s so hard for me to choose, and at times I’ll pop all of their cooldowns while standing around in a raid or dungeon, or even just waiting around. I’m not sure what’s more fun — having people ask where the sword-dancing dwarven ladies came from, or having another Archaeologist pop their Bones of Transformation at the same time! There was even once when I was in a random Hour of Twilight dungeon where a shaman and I would pop random artifacts in a kind of “go-fish” fashion while waiting for the RP events. Ancient Amber? Nope, go fish! Fun times, fun times.

Maybe one too many…

3. Hallowed Wands – Halloween is my favorite holiday, and my love for it stems in-game to Hallow’s End. I’m not sure when I decided it was a good idea, but I have a good assortment of all of the wands available (Bat, Leper Gnome, Ghost, Ninja, Pirate, Skeleton, Wisp) across my characters. It’s kind of embarassing. While my bank doesn’t look exactly like the screenshot over there, I’m sure it’d be similar if I combined the bank slots from all my alts. I have a few that have a couple charges used, so I really should take them out and use them. But I’m too sentimental and just don’t want to use them up…!

So there you have it! Now if only we had additional Void Storage or toy chest that would accommodate all of my trinkets and toys…

Professor Caprice and The Last Relic of Argus

Beam me up, Scotty…!

In continuing my searches for WoW-related blogging communities, I discovered Blog Azeroth this week — a fantastic hub for bloggers of all backgrounds to dive into various topics, blogging tips, and much more. One of their features is Shared Topics, where people can suggest weekly subject ideas. This week’s Shared Topic was proposed by Cymre, which opens up discussion for my favorite secondary profession — Archaeology!

My first “Professor” was my paladin, for whom I farmed on end for Night Elf fragments until I got the desirable Tyrande’s Favorite Doll, which I later put to good use with a good many various characters! After deciding to make a rogue alt (Caprice) to try out Worgen, I knew Archaeology would be a fun boost for XP gain. Little did I know I’d be hooked again and level her all the way to become another Professor! During the course of maxing the profession as well as getting all the Archaeology achievements possible, Caprice ended up solving many duplicate rare artifacts already finished on my paladin, including Queen Azshara’s Dressing Gown and Staff of Ammunae. I even leveled Alchemy on her in hopes of finding just the right Canopic Jar for the Vial of the Sands recipe, but no such luck yet!

Upon use, the casting bar reads as “Teleport with Error.”

“It Belongs in a Museum!”

Of all the rares found thus far, the favorite would most definitely have to be The Last Relic of Argus. Although Caprice hasn’t gotten much play time as of late, she still tries to hit the 12-hour cooldown whenever she logs on, just to see where it’ll teleport her “with error.” Wowpedia has a list of known teleport locations, but I’ve yet to see all of them, as the relic has repeatedly teleported to Felwood on multiple occasions.

What’s the story behind it?

I’m quite new to a lot of the more detailed lore besides what we learn in-game and have yet to read much of the literature, so it was fascinating to read a little more about Argus and the draenei’s escape from Sargeras and the Burning Legion.

Before they lived on Azeroth or Draenor, the draenei, who still called themselves the eredar at the time, lived on Argus. When Sargeras took notice of Argus, Prophet Velen fled with some of his people, who became the draenei. The remaining eredar were absorbed into the Burning Legion. This simple crystal was taken from Argus when Velen fled. The inscription on the bottom reads, ‘I long for Mac’Aree.’                  
                                                                            — (Text upon solving the artifact, taken from Wowpedia.)

After refusing to align with Sargeras, Velen fled with his people, and they were thus renamed draenei, or “the exiled ones,” who we now see in-game as the inhabitants of Azuremyst Isles in Azeroth. The last portion describes the inscriptions on the relic. Mac’Aree was the capital of Argus, which was revered as the most sacred and respected city, prior to corruption from the Burning Legion. I wonder if any of the teleport locations have any significance in relation to the history, but I doubt so as most of the spots are located in Azeroth (and only one in Outlands, which is near the Dark Portal.)

And finally, a short tour of some of the travels through screenshots…