“Hello, I’m Bigbearbutt, and I’m addicted to killing trees.”

[chorus]”Hi Bigbearbutt!”

Well, Merry aftermath to you, my fine friends.

I hope you had a great time!

Yes, yes, I’m sure you’re bored hearing about it. It’s over now, you’re bored at work or at home, yadda yadda, get back to the cranky. Well, here we go. Let’s get back to wasting your time reading more of my idiocy.

Now, way, way long ago, back in the early days of this blog, I wrote about some of the incredible crankiness that the commenters on articles in WoW Insider or at blogs can spew out, particularly at that time to our good friends Kirk and Big Red Kitty.

Most of the bitchiness at the time seemed to be from readers over there that didn’t appreciate BRK’s writing in his fun, irreverent style.

Now, I’m not going to pretend to understand what goes on in some of those folks’ heads, but it seemed like the most outraged were pissed that he dared to interject his own personality, sense of fun, and opinions into an article written by… brace yourselves!… Big Red Kitty!

I had no idea who BRK was before I started getting into blogging. I was enjoying my hunter alt, and reading WoW Insider, and I came across an article about Hunters, written by someone referred to as Big Red Kitty. And it mentioned a blog. So I went out there looking, and found BRK’s blog. Lo and behold, here was a veritable treasure trove of Hunter stuff.

Now, these days I myself write a Druid column for WoW Insider. So let me clue you, my good friends, in on a little secret… they encourage you, in the FAQ they give you access to when you start writing for them, to continue writing in your own style and voice. They specifically say that you shouldn’t turn into a little soulless robot, because you aren’t writing for a daily newspaper like the Times or the Post. (See what I did there?)

No… we’re bloggers, writing columns containing news and facts and opinions, from our own unique, often crazy, perspectives. Hopefully, the folks reading enjoy it at least a little. Part of how you can tell it’s a blog experience, is the way there are comments. You know, so if you disagree with an opinion expressed in an article or column, you can say so. Your opinions can be heard.

Well, this is my blog. Unpaid, free range open forum for me to say whatever the hell I want. And there are comments. How about that? Ain’t we upscale?

What I want to say is, if you don’t like an article on WoW Insider, then please stop reading it. If you disagree with any of the points raised, then please comment on why they are wrong and teach us.

But if you read it, and see that it does not personally apply to where you are currently at in the game, and it doesn’t interest you… please just shut the fuck up and move on. Read about something else. There are tons of articles to peruse. Knock yourself out.

If you don’t like the article because I make mistakes and will lead readers astray, well shit. I need to know, so I can at least try to do more better.

If the reason it offends you is that you feel it is beneath you, and thus by definition, the rest of the known galaxy, then frankly my dear Scarlett, I don’t give a damn.

If you are so l33tsauce that every article you read must be aimed strictly at you and you alone, and to hell with anyone that may be picking up the game for the first time, or trying a class for the first time, then go to the Elitist Jerks forums and wallow in your superiority. It’s cool. They kick ass over there. Really, go ahead.

But again… if it sucks so bad… here is my challenge to you. Start your own blog (it’s free btw) and prove it. Write. Be brilliant. Show us how awesome you are and how crappy we are by comparison. Don’t just say it, DO IT.

Put up, or shut the hell up.

Oh, and if you do choose to write a blog, please make sure you let us know. Maybe you are great, and we get the joy of a new, informative, brilliantly written blog. God knows you won’t find one here.

If you’re not all that brilliant… well, at least you’ll be so busy writing that maybe you won’t have time to critique everybody else, and maybe you’ll chill the hell out a little.

Either way, pure win.

I know that many of my readers don’t celebrate Christmas, and that’s cool. I do celebrate Christmas, and so in the spirit of giving and receiving, I give to you all my thanks for coming along and having fun with me, and I thank you for the happiness you give to me by sharing your advice and your thoughts on anything under the sun.

I’ve had a wonderful time playing WoW and blogging away this year. The game was pretty fun before… but being a part of this community of long winded yakkers really has increased the fun level… because it feels like I’m now part of a large, cross-server group of friends to talk about the game with… and that ‘takes it up a notch’.

Yeah, I think I’ve said it before… I love watching the Food Network shows, like Emeril. Bam!

Anyway, I am an insane grumpy bear, and it is flat out amazing how much just being able to chat with you guys has chilled me out. I could wish that my blog could have a full size Forum so you could start your own topics in it, but for now, this is all I could hope for. You all are wonderful folks, and I hope that the coming year brings to each of you happiness, challenge, comfort and joy. And phat lewtz.

As my holiday present to you all, I offer this tip that I have just learned this last weekend.

In order to help Cassieann in her Alchemy, I dropped Mining on Windshadow to take Herbalism. Why? Epic flight form herbing at Mach V!

Tip #1: You can gather herbs in forms, you just can’t gather ore. I imagine it’s because you handle the mining pick for ore. You have to get right down on the ground to gather herbs, but you can do it. And boy, when the bad guys aggro, it’s fun to zoom straight up out of reach.

Tip #2, for my level 68+ flying druid Herbalism brethren… in Skettis, where the Sha’tari Skyguard have their base in the high mountains, there are wandering giant trees… level 71 Elite trees.

I have discovered two things about them that make them the best present EVAH!!!

First, they can be EASILY soloed by a feral bear tank wearing bear gear. In fact, in my current gear, I end up the fight with MORE health than I started with, thanks to the Improved Leader of the Pack buff. Seriously. They are crazy weak punk wimps.

Second… when you gather Herbs from them, they drop CRAZY mad herbs! Like, 4 of one high level kind, 4 or 5 of ANOTHER high level kind, PLUS 4 or 5 Motes of Life!

Again… have a Happy Holiday season, and I can’t wait to see you all again tomorrow!

Hey! My article goes live again today 11:30 AM Eastern Time on WoW Insider! Don’t miss it!

I wanted to sneak this post in quick before BBB wakes up and catches me. Today, our beloved BBB is a year older and likely a tad grouchier (after all, he wouldn’t be our BBB if he wasn’t grumpy about something each day, now would he?).

But in all seriousness, happy birthday and I hope the next year brings wonderful things to you!

Cassieann

PS - I’ll leave it to you guys to drag out of BBB just how OLD he is now (but I’ll give you a hint and say that next year he’ll have a milestone birthday where he’ll truly be a bear whose best years are behind him and the hill he’s gone over is fading into the distance) LOL, love you dear!

Okay, as you might have noticed from yesterday, I have handed Mrs BBB the keys to my little kingdom… she has full power to post whenever she might wish.

This was purely altruistic on my part - having someone else post when I’m busy had no impact on my decision at all, at all.

A little update, since it’s been a while since I’ve mentioned Cassie’s progress through the game.

Cassieann has reached 57th level. She continues to solo her way through, not so much not asking for help as in forcibly refusing to allow anyone to help as she plays through the quests in various zones.

More after the break…

A long time back, she had taken to asking where she should go next for challenges appropriate to her level.

Now, I have a host of addons that are installed on all our computers, and she has never really played without them. It’s not really fair, since she has never had the opportunity to know what fun it is to play WoW without any addons at all. She’s had access to coordinates, maps, Gatherer, Auctioneer, and most importantly Fubar and an assortment of Fubar plugins for her entire gaming experience.

Among the Fubar modules I have installed is LocationFu and ExperienceFu.

Now, if you haven’t used Fubar before, it’s one of a set of addons that serve as a common framework for plug and play modules. You install Fubar, and then you choose from literally hundreds of other addons that you can drag and drop anywhere you’d like on Fubars’ top or bottom bars. Totally configurable and takes up only a small amount of on-screen real estate.

ExperienceFu is very handy for leveling a character, as it’ll show you how many more mobs just like the one you last killed you need to kill to reach the next level, what percentage of the way to the next level you are, exactly what percentage of ‘rested’ you are… and how much XP per hour you’ve been earning during the current gaming session. It’s a pretty useful little info addon for leveling. Cassieann has really gotten into being able to see how rested she is, and where she is in her level, and how much more she needs to do.

LocationFu displays info about the current zone you are in, and also shows you all the other zones that are around your level. And it also recommends dungeons (instances) for you to try at your level.

Now, I tried to encourage her to use LocationFu to guide her on where to go next.. but with the changes in leveling speed, it seems to be a bit haywire… not to mention, she levels so fast that the pre-reqs for almost any given zone are gray before she gets to them.

So I gave her the links to that most infamous and cherished guide to leveling for Alliance, James’ Leveling Guides at World of Warcraft Pro.

Having used it to speed my leveling when playing my hunter, I figured that, at least she would have a better idea of where to go, and what to collect as pre-reqs along the way.

Little did I know that I was going to be sabotaging her play experience. She certainly has a mind of her own, and doesn’t slavishly follow the guide… but she does try to do every quest the guide indicates, even when it is already gray, or is in a zone she has come to hate. I find myself encouraging her to blow off the quests or zones she doesn’t like, and she doesn’t want to let them go. Mind you, she’s at level 57, and over 20% of the way to 58, so it’s not like she needs to actually CLEAR anything in Azeroth.

On the subject of clearing zones… she just finished up Un’goro Crater, and has never set foot in Felwood or Winterspring or Burning Steppes or Eastern or Western Plaguelands at all. Things certainly have changed with the new accelerated leveling.

Back to the topic at hand… the guide is, in a few days, going to be irrelevant as she moves on into Outlands…

But we have a few interesting stories to tell about her progress along the way.

First, ho ho ho, Papa Bear gifted Cassie with two blades back when she hit level 40… Gut Ripper and Speedsteel Rapier. And I also had them enchanted with the +20 Agility to one handers.

Problem? There have been lots of great weapons she could have upgraded to in the last 17 levels… but none of them great enough to overcome the benefits of a multiple hundred gold +20 Agility enchant.

Can any of our awesome experienced Rogue players recommend what weapons she should be shooting for as she hits 58/59, whether in Auction House or Outlands, that would be worth upgrading to? I’ll put the +20 Agility enchant on ‘em, but I’d like to know they’ll be worth holding on to for at least 2 or 3 levels.

Second, and this is the funniest one… Cassie is my sugar momma. She chose Alchemy and Herbalism as her professions way back, and I decided to take Herbalism as a gathering profession to help out.

Well, at level 55 Cassieann maxed out Alchemy to 375… and right now, still only in Azeroth, her Herbalism is around 330.

So she makes high level potions, flasks, and Primal Might transmutes all the time from the amts I funnel to her. And sells ‘em on the AH…

I have already mentioned in the past her sharp mastery of the Auction house game… she has made over 1500 gold already. At level 57.

I still find myself thinking of that and laughing… a 375 Alchemist with 1500 gold at level 57. With three Primal Mights and various other things she doesn’t want to sell right now because of undercut prices in the AH during the holidays.

But wait, it gets better. I’ve been trying to gather Herbs like crazy, so she can make stuff and get a chance for Discoveries. She did get one Discovery, the Super Rejuvenation potion. Which, for the mat cost, does not sell well at all.

But she got one recipe she has been making that is a BIG money maker. it’s a Flask that she can make, and she had done a little study of the recipes she learned while leveling up and prices on the Auction house, and had found this one Flask she could do would sell for about 40 gold… each.

So she gave me some Herbs to go look for, and I checked which zones they were in, and I’d go get ‘em on my slow ass mount. And she’s been selling ‘em, and making lots o’ money.

Well, I’m chatting with my guild friends, and one of them is a new 70 Shaman, and another, the guild leader, has a 375 Alchemist himself. The guild alchemist at that.

And Nawat asks, “Can Cassieann make the Flask of Relentless Assault?”

And I say, “Well, I think so. I think that’s the one she makes.

And Nawat asks, “Where did she get the recipe for that?”

“Well”, I say, “I’m pretty sure from the trainer, she got it as she was leveling.”

And Whirlish and Nawat both say, about the same time, out of breath, “No she didn’t, you only get that from Discoveries. None of the guild Alchemists can make them. If we send her some mats, will she make some for us?”

O.o

You know, I admit, I was wondering how a trainer-provided recipe for a Flask with reasonable material cost was selling for 40 gold each… but hey, maybe Alchemists on my server are just lazy or something.

Whoops!

“Hey Cassie? We need to ramp up production on the Flasks, dear.”