Adventures of the Hex Machine

How I spent Legion

2018-06-25T05:34:00.000+03:00

Since I haven't updated this blog at all during Legion, I thought I'd make a round up post about what has happened to me in this expansion - WoW wise.

I returned to the game from a long break when the Legion pre-patch came out. I enjoyed playing after a good while. Legion hit, and I leveled up to 110 together with my partner, which was unusual, as I have previously always quested alone, as that's the way I prefer it. I get to read all the quests and take my time to think about what's actually going on and even stop to RP with myself if I so desire. Does anyone else do that, by the way? Luckily my partner was okay with me taking my time to read the quests properly, but still I found myself a little distracted and often not sure about why we were doing what we were doing.

Raiding was never a part of my plans for Legion. I considered myself a retired raider. Well, I ended up raiding anyway. We left the guild we had been in since mid-Warlords and after some bouncing around, we found a really nice guild whose progression speed was great and there was actually no one in the team that annoyed me. I very much enjoyed my time raiding in the guild, but unfortunately it was short lived, as the raid leader quit the game shortly after we joined.

He had, however, found another guild of similar values and progression for the whole raid team to join. I joined, but the raid team was too big for my taste. In addition, they raided three times a week four hours at a time, which was not something I was willing to commit to. My maximum was twice a week three hours at a time. My partner and I did, however, form a mythic+ group with some old guildmates and ran mythic dungeons for a good while, which was fun, too.

Eventually I took a break, which ended up lasting over a year.

That break ended about a month ago, when I resubscribed to the game for half a year and purchased Battle for Azeroth soon after.

I had a lot to do, so I got started with the Broken Shore. Once I was finished with the Broken Shore storyline, I headed to Argus. Every now and then I got around to finishing up some old stuff as well as leveling my professions etc.

I created a new demon hunter, Renwyn, as it had been over a year since I had done the demon hunter starting quests and I had no memory of them. I didn't feel particularly inspired about my first demon hunter, either. I geared up Renwyn pretty fast, and soon after I made another new alt, a nightborne mage called Andaryn. I've leveled her super fast. She sits at level 101 as we speak, higher up when this post sees the light of day. I've also made the decision to finish my Loremaster achievements while leveling some new alts. It makes the leveling experience a lot more interesting, as I can pick a few fitting zones for each alt to quest through.

I have no idea what my plans are for Battle for Azeroth, but I will take it as it comes and just try to enjoy myself.

Meet my level 2 feral druid

2018-06-22T20:05:00.000+03:00

Something strange had happened to an alt unplayed for over a year during my break from the game. Everything was normal when I created the character and stretched the xp up to level 2, but since then, she's become a level 2 character of the feral spec and no abilities what so ever - other than racials and auto attack. I'm naturally unable to change the specialisation, as the feature doesn't become available until level 10. Normally, these days, you start as a balance druid with the Wrath ability.

For now, I've just settled with the strangeness that has taken place and skipped opening a ticket about it. I've no plans to level this character for now, anyway, and it's something a bit unusual, like a souvenir of sorts.

Has anything of this manner happened to you?

Loving You Sunday Morning

2018-06-20T03:05:00.002+03:00

I haven't got the slightest clue why this was unpublished. It wasn't even the final version, but I was sure I had already published this on the blog... Luckily I found the finished version on my backup drive. Oh yeah, I found my blog again, after three years. Three years seems to be the thing for me and this blog.

Heavy plate armour slamming against the paving made a mighty clang - one that was sure to wake up anyone who still slept in the purple, floating city of Dalaran. Raleigh had stepped into a couple of mage-made portals before, but since then his knowledge of the nether travels had indubitably rusted. Despite the rocky start, he got up, and after wiping his armour for any hints of dust, he made his way to A Hero's Welcome.

The tavern was still sleepy at the early hour. Nevertheless, its warm atmosphere had always been dear to Raleigh Croft - something that continued to face him with open arms - with a hero's welcome. Another warm welcome awaited him behind the shiny, freshly wiped counter. A young waitress turned to look at the still somewhat groggy paladin.
”Good morning, sir!” The waitress yelled joyfully. Her voice was of very high pitch, nearly child-like.
”A very fine morning to you as well, my fair lady,” the man said with a soft tone in his voice and a warm smile on his face, reaching all the way up to the corners of his eyes.
”How may I serve you today?” She chuckled with curved lips.
Raleigh had always been rather fond of her. It wasn't merely the extraordinarily voluptuous coffee that kept bringing him to the tavern over and over.
”I would take great pleasure in a cup or two of your special coffee. That, of course, should you have time for such trivial matters so early in the morning.”
The fair-haired, long-eared waitress began to conjure the drink with haste. Her graceful figure danced to the spell as her long fingers brushed through the air in peculiar motions. It almost appeared as if she was indulging the paladin in some sort of special treatment, but alas, it was probably just Raleigh's wishful thinking.

She slowly handed over a cup of coffee to him, following the mug with her gaze and thus ensuring the white ceramic mug would get keep its white colouring. As a sign of thankfulness, Raleigh leaned forward to bow at the waitress; yet the gesture came out rather clumsy as he spilled a sip-worth of coffee to the tavern floor. The half-elven waitress giggled at him, then made a minuscule roundish motion with her hand, one that wasn't visible to Raleigh as her hands were hidden beneath the counter.

As Raleigh climbed up the stairs leading to the balcony, he stopped at a mirror for a short moment. Within the golden lining stood a man with green eyes and red hair that didn't quite reach his shoulders. His nose and cheekbones were covered by freckles that could be spotted all over his face, but in greatly smaller amounts. The wrinkles around his eyes spoke of worries, which the emerald twinkle however seemed to not care about. His lips curved on a minor smile as he turned away from the mirror and continued to walk up the stairs.

. . .

A pair of glasses rested lazily on the bridge of his nose. Rough hands held a book, allowing the emerald eyes to devour it word by word. The book's red-ish cover was mildly stained – it had indubitably been soaked in drops of coffee more than once in its lifetime. But Sunday morning doesn't care about a stained book. It doesn't care about the dirt on your boots, nor is it bothered by ghosts of the past. Sunday morning knows no fear of loneliness or death. It laughs at the face of evil like an impertinent child. If a soul has no Sunday morning, it becomes an orphan.

Flipping the page, Raleigh allowed his hand to slide ever so slightly too far, nudging the coffee cup a tad too violently.
”Son of a...”
His cursing was interrupted by surprise, as the coffee didn't spill out of the cup. He playfully flipped the cup around. The coffee stuck to the bottom of the mug, refusing to leave it under any circumstances he could provide. Those mages really knew how to twist the laws of nature. Raleigh chuckled to himself as he resumed to read his book.

. . .

”Would you like more coffee, sir?” A chirpy voice appeared next to him, its host holding a warm can above his coffee mug.
Raleigh raised his gaze from the inky words, already smiling at the request.
”Certainly.”

The Story of Vlad: Chapter VI, Familiar Faces

2015-06-20T06:29:00.001+03:00

Chapter I, The Assault
Chapter II, He who resists
Chapter III, Rotten to the core
Chapter IV, The Resurrection
Chapter V, The Return to New Avalon

Jesus fuck. I finished it. It's only been three years since I last wrote a word about Vlad.

Amid the mist, a figure formed against the grey canvas at a slow pace. Its features became more accurate, its outline sharper as it moved closer, eventually contouring an image of a hooded woman. Her dark brown gown was wrapped loosely around her, hiding a curvy figure. Her face was partially covered by a scarf, yet leaving her green eyes, thick, dark eyebrows and a part of her forehead exposed to the humid air.

Despite the years and the shattering, the place was still tormented by the plague of undeath, holding the restless souls as prisoners in the cursed ghost town. The woman peered around as she walked as if looking for something, yet knowing where she would find it. The look in her eyes became more focused as she walked up to a small house. It lay in ruins: the chimney had collapsed through the roof, flames had coloured most of the wooden parts black years ago. She walked around it, dragging her hand along its scorched walls, until she suddenly stopped on the southeastern side of the little house. Next to the wall rested a mound; the final reminder of the nightmare, a waygate to the past. The woman crouched and peered at it. The unkempt barrow grew weed, which was an unusual sight in the long deserted township. While it showed no signs of tending, it emanated something comforting. The woman's face softened and her eyes got damp, finally allowing a teardrop to descend along her cheek.

A dried bough cracked under the pressure of a heavy boot. It startled the woman and caused her to cast a rapid gaze over her shoulder. A dark figure approached her slowly and calmly, stopping a few feet away from her. She pulled down the scarf that covered her mouth, stood up tardily and turned towards the figure that seemingly awaited her response to its presence. As the black saronite plate gave away his former alignment with ease, she spoke coldly, but with caution.
- I'm not sure how your kind has the backbone to step on these grounds anymore. I think it would be wise of you to turn around and walk away.
The figure gave the woman an echoing, nearly instant reply.
- Hello, Birgitta.
Her face was pale, her eyes wide open as she stared straight at the masculine figure. She followed him with her shocked gaze as he walked to her side. His sorrowful eyes descended upon the barrow - the barrow that so faithfully contained the remains of what was once the dearest thing to him. And as it succumbed to the chill of the grave, a part of him was buried as well.
- I thought... I... thought... you died, Birgitta stuttered.
- I did die, he murmured between his rotting teeth, granting Birgitta a grim glare. The woman swallowed, quickly realising the clumsiness of her remark. - Just if the light-forsaken bastards had left it there.
- They reanimated you into a monster... Where you behind th--, Birgitta took an abrupt breath, as if she had forgotten to breathe. - Did you kill Isa?!
Vladan narrowed his eyes visibly, still looking at the grave. He grabbed onto the hilt of his runeblade and pierced the ground with it, which caused Birgitta to gasp and take a step back in fear. Vladan turned towards her, still holding on to the tip of the hilt.
- How dare you even consider that?
- Since you still have your life, it must've cost that of others!
The words seemed to strike Vladan somehow. He pulled the sword out of the soil and peered at the glowing blade, turning the edge towards himself and away again.
- I should have ended it myself long ago, but I was afraid. Too cowardly to take my own life! he yelled and seemed increasingly riled for a moment. - I fear what awaits me, Birgitta, as foolish as I am to believe those holy rollers when they speak of the purgatory.
Birgitta remained silent, merely examining him, the expression on her face becoming less judgmental by the second.
- I must be in a dream, she whispered in disbelief.
- This, Vladan began, - This is as real as it gets. I've run away from it long enough. My life cost that of many, and most of all, that of my wife and my daughter. I'm ready for what comes.
As teardrops slowly descended along Birgitta's cheeks, a feeling he thought long forgotten awakened somewhere deep inside. A faint glimmer of clemency. Compassion.
- Vladan..., Birgitta's voice turned into a fragile shade of what it was just a moment ago, as if she had suddenly become scared of him. She slowly turned towards him, her mahogany hair covering most of her face. - I'm sorry.

- Birgitta? a yell reached the two from a distance.
- I'll be right there, honey! she replied fast, shamelessly disguising her voice chirpier.
Although she seemed doubtful for a short moment, Birgitta hastily scrabbled inside the neckline of her gown. She pulled out a small locket that appearead golden. It was attached to a tarnished necklace of different material, perhaps copper. She handed - no - threw it over to Vladan, expressing slight disgust at the thought of touching him.
Vladan, taken by surprise, caught the locket and gently embraced it against his palm. Upon raising his eyes from his hand, Birgitta had left. She walked hastily towards a horse carriage in the mist ahead. Vladan lowered his leer back to the small locket in his hand. Secured by the tiniest of locks, it snapped open with ease, revealing a daguerreotype of a girl no older than 15 years of age.

Her hair was dark brown, her eyebrows strong and her gaze steadfast. Her face carried familiar features, very familiar indeed. His eyes. Her nose. Definitely her bone structure, apart from the girl's jaw. His jaw.
- It couldn't be..., Vladan whispered.
Distant echos reached Vladan, who remained silent and frozen still at the grave.
- Is everything okay? Was that someone you knew?
- Just a familiar face from the past, that's all.

Find your way, my brave darklands' son

Wizards, kings, elves and trolls

Thank you, angels

I am now reborn

(Rhapsody of Fire - Son of Pain)

New UI

2015-02-20T08:45:00.002+02:00

What do you think? I'm not quite sure what I think. It's certainly tidier than the old one. I've begun to record raids again and I noticed how crappy my UI looked on the videos, so I had to do something about it.

Connecting - You have been disconnected from the server

2014-11-14T09:22:00.003+02:00

This was definitely the least smooth launch I've ever had, simply because I wasn't even able to log on. After finishing my daily errands, I logged on at about 11 pm my time, two hours prior to launch. At lauch I lagged like mad, just like everyone else, got stuck on a loading screen, was teleported to Shrine, had no portals, flew to the Stormwind portal in Paw'don, was stuck on a loading screen and got disconnected. After that I spent about an hour trying to log on to no avail, while the friends I was on Skype were managed to get a good amount of quests done in Draenor. So not everyone had a rough launch. I'm perfectly fine with lagging in game at launch, it's just a part of it... But it was a little disappointing I didn't get to experience so much of that rush this time, the madness of trying to tag mobs before anyone else's finger could tap their key. Or being stuck in a huge swarm of helicopters, like in Pandaria, which seemed like a very smooth launch at first.

I'm not complaining, though. So far Warlords of Draenor seems like a very good expansion, and the questing was made perfect. No question about that - from me anyway. I love that you don't spend ages questing in the same place in an area, but do a couple of quests here and then move there. It is the perfect style of questing for me, and I love it, as well as the "events." I am not level 100 yet, although I stayed up for over 24 hours on the day of the launch. Or maybe that is why, since my leveling efficiency wasn't very high a few hours into the expansion.

Well, what kind of a launch did you have? Have you been present at any other WoW launch?

Well, well, well - look who we have here

2014-10-29T05:16:00.000+02:00

I did the inevitable. I took a break from WoW. My last blog update, and the only blog update of 2014, until this one of course, was in January; but no, that's not when I started my break. That's perhaps when I should have started my break. Should I have had my break then, things might be quite different from now. But no, I did the worst thing I could do - went mysteriously inactive for a time too long, and announced my break to what was left of my guild sometime during the summer. Kinsey was on a break, Lanfranco was on a break and not even certain if he'd play in Warlords of Draenor or not. I made the decision to put down the mantle of the Hex Machine for the time of my break, and made a trusted guildy the guild master. But that didn't work out, and the guild remained rather inactive until my return in the midst of this month. I made my return the night before the Warlords patch went live. The following day, there I was again, on World of Warcraft, alongside my good friends and co-guild masters Lanfranco and Kinsey, feeling excited about the game after so long. Lanfranco's face looked bloody awesome.

I returned to be a part of no raid team. I returned burdened with feelings of sadness, guilt and regret - feelings I'll probably never be able to shake off completely. I returned to a dying guild - yes, it is about time I admit Menagerie is a dying guild. Our Menagerie. The least I can do is lay the guild to rest honorably, just once I can gather my bones together to be the guild master I should have been all along. It's not impossible that Menagerie would one day rise to raid again, but for now I don't possess the motivation, energy or time to do it. And, I secretly admit that I'd like to be just a regular raider for a while. Imagine me saying that! I, who once said I could never imagine not being a guild master anymore. But now, as I've been that for over three years now, I could swear I'd never take that position again. It is an exhausting job, and I truly give my respects to anyone who can do that actively for years.

Finally - after four years and over 200 attempts.

To be honest, I made a terrible guild master in the first place. I am too proud and too stubborn for a position like that. And too kind, as well. I never really understood why anyone would like to be in a guild with Nicasia as the holder of the highest rank. Must have been because of Kinsey and Frank. I enjoy being very hard on myself emotionally, and carrying the weight of a guild on my shoulders just isn't a good addition to that.

But yet, to have been the guild master of Menagerie is one of the greatest honors I have received in my life, and an experience I have learnt much from. Each and every member of the guild, current and past, has my heartfelt thanks for being a part of that crazy ride. Menagerie achieved a lot, not only in the way of raiding. While guilds are known have lived longer than that, not many do in the end. And not many mean as much to their founders as my guild does to me. No other guild will ever be referred to as my guild, for there is no guild I can feel as proud of as I do of my Menagerie.

Level 100 shaman talents

2014-01-31T11:42:00.002+02:00

As I first saw the level 100 talents for shaman on Wowhead, it didn't take long 'till I had found my favorite.

Yep. Storm Elemental Totem definitely sounds like the best choice for raiding, particularly when we're talking about single-target oriented fights. It also sounds like the best one for Brawler's Guild style soloing - and I do hope we get new Brawler's bosses for level 100, since that was definitely one of my favorite features in Mists of Pandaria. And of course I'll welcome any new elemental companion. What will this one be called, air or storm idiot? Gusting idiot? I do wonder, though, if it will either replace one of the existing elementals, or if it can be summoned simultaneously with either of the two.

At the moment I don't play enhancement on any shaman of mine, but I don't get the "I'm definitely not going to get that one" feeling from any of the talents considering that specialization. I have to say that none of the talents sound particularly exciting for restoration, at least from my point of view. So far it looks like I'll be going for either Storm Elemental Totem or Rainstorm on my resto shaman Damjan, who I've really enjoyed later in Mists of Pandaria.

For elemental, Rainstorm sounds like the average passive talent. Very simple, no need to worry about it or think about it. One that I might consider going for if I was new to the class, or if I didn't play it as main.

If Reach of the Elements was passive for elemental, I would probably go for it in most situations, even if they nerfed its AoE effect. Exceptions would be those where I need extra burst and the Storm Elemental would come in handy. With my current talents I've tried to maximize sustained DPS over burst, which is a decision I've been rather happy with. I'd like to continue doing so with a passive talent like this one.

Naturally some, or all of the talents will be changed somehow before they go live. For now, you can view all the current talents here. If we leave the shaman subject for a moment, some talents for other classes that I really like include Defile for death knights, With or Without You for hunters and Death from Above for rogues.

Community blog topic: What would you buy from the in-game store?

2013-12-31T00:21:00.003+02:00

Here are my thoughts regarding WoW Insider's old community blog topic of the week. What would you buy from the in-game store?

I was one of those people who always swore they'd never buy anything from the Blizzard store. That they already pay enough for the game itself. Then came a time when I wanted to revamp my rogue, my second ever top level character. I ended up paying 20€ for appearance change. Later on I paid 40€ for server changes when their prices were reduced.

I would consider buying mounts or pets if they were ones I wanted really, really badly. Same with cosmetic items, but I guess the barrier for those would be higher. I've received two 20€ mounts as gifts: the heart of the aspects and the enchanted fey dragon, whom I wanted from the moment I first saw it, and named her Tiki Tiki. The golden dragon joined my squad early this year, and Tiki Tiki was an early Christmas gift.

I made no pro-alliance gingerbread this year, but nevertheless, I wish you all a merry late Christmas and a very happy new year!

Warlords of Draenor

2013-11-13T19:31:00.002+02:00

I am shamefully uninformed about the subject, but I am sure the reason to that won't stay hidden for long.

I was afraid to be excited about the next expansion to begin with. For long it's been obvious that it would be something Burning Legion related. Now, it seems that the Burning Crusade is overall considered the most missed time period of WoW, as well as the best expansion. The mere thought of Blizzard trying to please the older players by bringing back Outland-ish locations and characters makes me grimace.

As I mentioned, I am uninformed. Very much so indeed. Regardless, I think it's rather worrying that the feature I am most excited about is the item level squish. I am not overly worried about it, though. As with Mists of Pandaria, my excitement for the features grew over time, so I'm definitely giving myself more time to acquire information about Warlords of Draenor before my final judgement.

I have to say, however, that having kind of missed out on the whole draenei scene in Outland, I'm excited to really dive into the world and heritage of my main character Nicasia. I think it will bring a lot of depth to her character, as well as make the leveling (and playing overall) experience enjoyable, in-depth and interesting.

But still:

What I had time to Fraps before my PC broke - again!

2013-10-10T06:22:00.000+03:00

The title says it. Here are the most recent Menagerie raid videos from Siege of Orgrimmar. I would most certainly record more, as Menagerie is nearly at Garrosh, but Saturday morning my PC showed no signs of life. Therefore it's leaving home yet again to be fixed, if it can be fixed that is. It may be that they will just give me a new individual. In fact I hope they finally would.

Either way, I am working on building a supermachine of my own. My budget is around 1500 euros and I'll probably get around to buying stuff around the change of year. If you have any suggestions for what pieces I should consider, I'd love to know! I'll just say that I'd like to go for nVidia this time, instead of AMD Radeon.

Eleenha Newbury, how I have enjoyed leveling you

2013-09-30T22:13:00.000+03:00

As I had run a good number of heroic dungeons on one of my 90s on Argent Dawn, I ended up with a silly amount of justice points. I had nothing to spend them on, so I thought I'd buy some heirlooms. Why wouldn't I expand my loomed empire to that server, too, after all? I bought cloth shoulders and later a chest, since I have two or three clothies to be leveled sooner or later. When Eleenha, the holy/shadow priest received those looms in mail, I felt very hesitant about equipping them.

Recently I've put a lot of value on not taking the easiest way up to the top level. Leveling with heirlooms is faster, for sure, and things die a lot quicker than with those quest greens... but I find that I become much better at a class, when I have to use a wider variety of my abilities to survive; when I don't just one-shot every mob I come across. After leveling so many characters, I feel like I want the leveling process itself to be more rewarding and more of a training, instead of a necessary evil. As usual, I've got a bit bored of the character after hitting 90, but I expect I will feel more inspired about gearing up after a while.

Her transmog is currently one item away from complete. I've been rather lazy with my Hillsbrad runs, but the awesomeness of Lordaeron Medical Guide keeps making me go back there until she gets it. Eleenha was also my fourth character to get her own Tabard of the Scarlet Crusade.

Breakfast Topic: How many characters do you actively play?

2013-08-24T19:23:00.001+03:00

Lisa Poisso of WoW Insider asked how many characters one actively plays. My answer to this would of course include my main, who however suffers in the amount of attention when her only activity is weekly guild raids. As I am now able to work on my missing achievements on any character, the necessity to do it with Nicasia is no longer there, and some of my alts, such as Vladan, are much more suitable for soloing things. This I allow myself, because it helps me not get bored with elemental shaman after playing it as main since late Wrath of the Lich King.

In addition to Nica, I'd say I play 2-3 alts actively, one of them being Horde at the moment. But this varies greatly from day to day and week to week.

Breakfast Topic: Which playable race would you like to see come to WoW?

2013-07-31T00:06:00.002+03:00

Here I present you with my thoughts regarding the WoW Insider breakfast topic "Which playable race would you like to see come to WoW?", asked by Elizabeth Harper. Recently I have felt like I haven't had all that much to say, so this'll probably end up being a short post, too.

Since I'm from the north, I've always felt that Northrend was my place on Azeroth. I'm very much at home there, and the Storm Peaks chose itself as my favorite zone in the game by giving me the Time-Lost Proto-Drake whilst I was digging, and the polar bear mount the first time I did the daily quest. Due to my nordic identity, I would really like to see vrykul as playable race. Whether it's been in Skyrim or Tyria, I've always chosen the nordic race. Another nordic race I could be happy with would be the tuskarr.

Ever since I met the Klaxxi for the first time, I've loved mantid. The mantid and I share a very good taste in music. I would totally make a mantid warrior if I was able to.

One of my favorite items ever

2013-07-22T18:13:00.003+03:00

I've got Valor of the Ancients on Argent Dawn. For once. I don't think I've had it more than three times since Mists of Pandaria came out, and definitely not on AD. All thanks to the dream I had the other night: I was gearing up my rogue and got all sort of awesome loot on him. Well, the loot hasn't been exactly as it was in the dream, but I'm not complaining. Anyhoo...

Dragomirov was a couple of hundred valor away from his 522 tanking ring, so I thought I'd run a couple of heroics. While the healer was "getting bored with healing" and killing his boredom by running ahead whilst I was tanking the previous pack, and pulling the next one, sometimes dying doing so, I was close to leaving when we reached Armsmaster Harlan in the Scarlet Halls. I however stayed, unaware of the fact that I'd experience some of my biggest W00T moments ever in the game.

The item I have cried after the most since the pre-Pandaria patch, one of my favorite items ever, has made a comeback. Tabard of the Scarlet Crusade dropped and I won it. There it is, resting peacefully in my monk's inventory. Granted, Jester has nothing to do with the Crusade, but this makes me incredibly happy, for I thought the tabard was gone for good. The item holds incredible RP value for me, because many of my characters are somehow related to the Scarlet Crusade.

Despite the drop chance being as low as 0.08%, and the fact that you no longer have multiple mobs dropping it in the same dungeon, knowing that the tabard is back makes me incredibly happy. That is all I have ever asked. It is completely enough for me. Thank you, Blizzard, thank you!

Vlad, Eleenha and Angelus, you'll get your tabards now!

Aimless

2013-06-30T01:37:00.000+03:00

Aimless is the best word I can come up with to describe the way I feel in the game at the moment, and have felt for a few months now. I thought I was just getting bored with the game, but as I've pondered my situation the past few days, I've come to the conclusion that I'm a bit lost and uncertain about my purpose in the game.

Raiding has always been my main end-game activity. I don't know how I should say this, but our raid group has changed a lot and after my three month break due to technical difficulties, I no longer feel at home in raids, despite the fact that I love raiding just like before. I've always been a lone wolf online and offline, and I find it difficult to integrate into groups. It's almost like I don't even want to. I think coming up with a new storyline with characters that I could play and level might help during these kind of times, but inspiration for that is also hard to find. I'm also relatively fed up with Moonglade, as I even transfered four characters over to Argent Dawn, but that's a whole different issue again. I can't leave Moonglade, period. Nor do I want to, since all the people I enjoy playing the game with are there. It's complicated.

With nothing better to update this time, I'll end the post with a couple of screenshots from Twilight Highlands. BioShock Infinite has been a huge deal in this house recently, and seeing those zeppelins and industrial pipes made me want to do something like this:

Happy news

2013-06-15T23:29:00.000+03:00

I have finally got my good PC back. And that's not all! After getting a new fan, it runs WoW and other games a lot more smoothly than it did before - the same way as it did when I got it. No driver update or registry cleaning could match that, and it really made me understand how much effect the fan has on PC performance. I've been quite busy playing WoW and other games, namely Dishonored and D&D Neverwinter beta, so I haven't got back into blogging yet, but I was happy to sign up for next week's raids.

I also took advantage of the battle.net service sale that ended on the 10th of June. I threw my warrior Aleksej, my monk Dragomirov, my hunter Milkajelen and my rogue Desrosiers over to Argent Dawn. I had been considering such for a good while, and the sale was just what I needed to make the move, which really had two major factors behind it. For one, I wanted to roleplay those characters more and did not get the chance to do that on Moonglade. Second, I had run out of character slots on Moonglade, so I can now level more alts there. My main and guild still reside on Moonglade, so it's definitely my home realm, but I'm also getting used to dividing my time between the two servers. Life on Argent Dawn is a lot to get used to: high population and (E!)RP everywhere.

20 Days of WoW blogging #11

2013-05-30T05:18:00.001+03:00

Check out Spellbound to learn more about the challenge!

Day 11 – Bad habits and flaws

Jealousy in more than one way. I can be quite jealous of various things - mounts, achievements, loot, status - and it's something I can't seem to get rid of even with time. What I can, though, is try to hide it the best I can, and keep it out of the way. Of course there's also the classic jealousy of one's attention, particularly if it's that special person, or someone else that I unjustly claim as my own somehow.

Then there's competitiveness. I always used to say I wasn't competitive, but the truth is that I am not competitive for as long as I don't feel threatened. It only applies to things I care about, but it can get really annoying to people who are close to me, as they might feel like I am always racing them in something.I suppose behind this lies my need to be noted for things and fear of being left behind or considered incompetent.

My pride is both a good and a bad thing. It's become an inevitable part of what I consider myself to be like, but often prevents me from solving arguments involving myself. I find it difficult to apologise, and try to come up with reasons why there's no need for me to do so. Thinking about it, I'm surprisingly narcissistic for someone that's actually lived under the tyranny of one very much like that.

I don't want to mention this, but I must. I'm horribly lazy. Whether it's on WoW or in real life, I rarely come to complete unpleasant tasks. You know, those that I should do, but just can't be arsed. This is a prime example of how I don't learn from my mistakes. Those uncompleted dailies or messy tables always find a way to come back to haunt me in some form.

A whole new spark

2013-05-23T19:06:00.003+03:00

Good evening! After a long while, I come bearing good news.

In the absense of things to do, I've found an entirely new spark for WoW. I never would have admitted this while it was the present feeling, but I almost got bored of the game during the spring. I didn't particularly feel like logging in and I only really did so for the purpose of raiding. I had no projects regarding leveling or gearing up. But now, as I am unable to raid with my guild, unable to run dungeons, unable to explore the new heroic scenarios, I've been doing LFR on most of my maximum level characters. Nicasia and Vladan are quite nicely geared and well able to do Throne of Thunder, but in addition I am working on Raleigh's (holy paladin) and Jester's (brewmaster/windwalker monk) gear to get them into ToT as well. Raleigh is currently lacking three points. Jester's situation still looks a bit grim with an item level of around 465. Oh, and by "doing LFR" I mean relying entirely on the performance of the 24 other people - but hey, three, two and even one FPS is better than no FPS at all. Positive thinking all the way!

I do miss raiding a lot and I hope to get my primary PC back soon. I have given full raid leadership to a very trusted officer with whom I've been raiding since early Firelands, so there should be no more raid burnouts for me. I'm actually really looking forward to being "just a raider" without so much responsibility. Of course I'll still be doing the usual yelling of things and whatnot, but I'll be doing it because I like to do it, not because I must do it. What I am most of all looking forward to is not having to look after others so much, and being able to look after myself more when it comes to raid performance.

Something interesting I've noticed for the first time in my WoW life is that I feel ever so slightly bored of elemental shaman - which I find completely normal, considering I've had an elemental shaman as my main since late Wrath of the Lich King. I sure have respect for our offtank, who has had the same character as his main since he started playing in vanilla. I still intend to raid with Nicasia as I am able to, but I may look into the possibility of raiding with Vlad, for example, when possible. I had a ton of fun tanking and DPSing Dragon Soul with him in late Cataclysm. My gear lacks behind severely compared to the rest of the raid group, anyway, so it won't make much difference which character I am on. Nicasia will continue to be my main character, regardless of who I end up raiding with, though. We've got such a long history.

I am absolutely loving the 5.3 fact that you can choose to get loot for a different specialization! It's enabled me to work on Raleigh's gear through LFR. I wouldn't dare attempt to heal with craptop. I also think it'll be a good help when getting Vlad some new tanking gear, as I don't enjoy tanking LFR. So, yay for 5.3, yay for gearing up, yay for WoW.

One year of Adventures special: Nica IRL

2013-05-06T18:46:00.000+03:00

It's been exactly one year since the first post on Adventures of the Hex Machine saw daylight. Happy birthday, blog! In honor of my first year of WoW blogging, I decided to introduce the person behind Nicasia the Hex Machine, or should I say, her partner in crime.

Although on WoW, my primary game, I've been an elemental shaman since the summer of 2010, I am a rogue in real life. A human subtlety/assassination rogue named Olivia to be exact, or as the URL of my personal blog indicates, "that rogue Liv." I'm from southwestern Finland, which makes Finnish my mother tongue. I became a rogue at the age of 13, when I found that stealthing around was a great way to avoid unwanted attention and remain unseen. Yet there were moments I couldn't hide, perhaps the work of Nefarian (BWL), which resulted in me getting ganked a lot. So I've been a rogue for pretty much seven years now, as I will turn 20 next month. When did I get that old, seriously?

Which of my characters do I resemble the most? Elias Desrosiers is what I would be like if I were male. Nicasia carries my passion, Raleigh and I share a lot of personality traits, Vladan's burden is partially my own. Every character of mine represents something of me, which is why they sometimes feel like my virtual children, or creations the same way a child would.

Some of my favorite blog moments/posts from the past year include Ress please!, my MoP beta memories, the wedding of Sol & Lykke and the launch of Pandaria.

Although I've been quite an inactive blogger the past few months due to real life things and my primary PC letting me down, I'm very thankful for my first year of WoW blogging and I'm eager to see what the rest of those years are like. Thank you all for reading and visiting the Adventures, and stay tuned for my future shenanigans.

Just as I thought I was finally back for good...

2013-04-28T02:01:00.000+03:00

...I decided to run Dishonored and realised that the same memory circuit shutdown issue is still there. It no longer occurs with WoW (apart from one time), but it does with Dishonored, so I will have to take my computer back to the store yet again, hopefully to receive a whole new machine, since the Acer people don't seem to be able to fix this one. I am only slightly fed up with the endless (re)installation of Windows, driver updates and software installations.

Before that happens, I do have some time to enjoy a bit of raiding (hopefully!) and work on my gear that is lagging behind so very horribly after the WoW break that I never planned. The guys and girls in Menagerie, my right and left hands and ribs and spines have done such a brilliant job running the guild and organising raids without me. I couldn't do it without you anyway, but I'm very proud of each person that has participated in running the guild during my absence and I owe much to those people. Meanwhile I had a brilliant time in England and will likely start planning my next trip soon. Should you find this interesting in the slightest, there is a post in my personal blog that contains some photos from my trip.

Sadly Adventures will not be updated often at all while I'm not able to play WoW properly, but I should get semi-back into my normal blogging habits once all the technical issues are fixed.

Back, not quite in business though

2013-04-07T20:55:00.000+03:00

Turns out I was able to reinstall and run WoW on my terribly bad old laptop, "craptop", after updating as many of its drivers as I was able to. As expected, the play experience is far from desirable with less than 10 FPS standing still in an empty room. As you have probably already figured, raiding is not an option for me before I get my primary PC back. Until then, I may redirect you to my attempt to maintain a personal blog number infinite+1, called That Rogue's Broken Keyboard and Other Lame Excuses. Despite the name, it's pretty much Finland-exclusive.

Lanfranco and I were responsible for this year's April fool's guild message of the day in Menagerie. A Menagerie ghost roleplay event was to be arranged in Hearthglen, Western Plaguelands (a very strategic location for Menagerie). Everyone taking part would be required to remain dead throughout the event. The idea of ghost RP first came up in a humorous recruitment advertisement we posted in the Moonglade trade chat once. Last year's April fool's message asked everyone to add 'lol' in the end of each message they posted in guild chat, or they would get a warning.

It's likely I won't be posting anything to Adventures while in England (9th - 24th of April), but when I return, I will have my good computer back. Below is yet another video that gets posted late.

I wasn't sure if I would ever post the next one, but decided to do so anyway. It's my first ever, and due to technical difficulties, also my only experience in the solo dungeon loot scenario...whateverthedevil thingy. I'm looking forward to doing smoother loot runs in the future!

¤$%"@#£&#¤!! PERKELE!!1

2013-03-29T12:25:00.001+02:00

Siiiiiiiiiiigggggghhh.

No. Windows reinstallation did not help. Emptying the PC of everything did not help. Updating all drivers did not help. I am still unable to play WoW; the machine keeps shutting down after a minute or a few. Guildies and friends have offered me help in our Facebook group, which is much, much appreciated. However, it looks like I will have to take the machine back to where I bought it, as it is likely an issue with memory circuitry. And that means I will not be playing WoW for some weeks, probably not for another month, since I will be abroad from the 9th of April till the 24th.

Although the machine runs WoW and other games well, I am certain I will never buy a laptop again. I wouldn't have bought one last time if I hadn't had the need. I had to change my location every now and then, and a laptop was the obvious choice. However, my next computer, which will likely come around in late-ish 2014 or early 2015, will be a proper gaming computer.

So, this is just a little update about my situation regarding gaming equipment. I will pop around with more news and WoW-related posts even during my absence in the game. Have a fabulous spring if you are in the northern hemisphere. For people in the southern hemisphere I wish a fantastic autumn. If you only experience two seasons, I wish you an excellent either of the two, probably the rainy one.

20 Days of WoW blogging #10

2013-03-28T13:55:00.001+02:00

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Day 10 – Blog/website favourites

Some of the first WoW blogs that I visited were It's for My RP Spec! and The WoW Debutante. It's a real shame that the former is no longer active, and the latter one's author stopped playing WoW. Both inspired me greatly to create a WoW blog of my own. Before coming across them, the thought of blogging about WoW felt nearly absurd, but once I read them more it began to feel like something I'd love to do myself.

Although guides and other informative stuff is useful and handy, as a blog follower I prefer humane blogs over "professional" ones. Don't get me wrong, I read both types regularly, but I love to read blogs for the people behind them. The more the blog represents the author themselves, the more personality it has, and the more interesting it to me. This I've certainly adopted as my personal blogging style as well, but that is mainly because I have no potential to write a more professional blog. I can only guide you towards listening to heavy metal!

Some WoW-related websites that I visit regularly or for certain purposes include Icy Veins, my number one helper when learning a new class or spec. Icy Veins is also my personal favorite when it comes to class guide sites; WoW Professions that I couldn't do without when leveling most professions; Wowhead for news and information regarding items, titles, events in particular, and Wowpedia for lore.

20 Days of WoW blogging #9

2013-03-26T00:10:00.000+02:00

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Day 09 – Your first blog post

In case this means my first blog post ever, I must say that is too far in the past for me to remember. My guess, however, is that it was a blog on the Finnish blog hosting site Vuodatus and likely contained boring things regarding my uneventful life. I was a kid back then anyway, what else could you expect?

Nicasia and Lanfranco in the first background image.

On Adventures my first post saw daylight on the 6th of May 2012 looked like this. The blog had a different layout then and went by its working title Gloria, gloria Nicasia. The name changed to Adventures of the Hex Machine a couple of months later. The first post introduced me and made an attempt to describe what I am like as a blogger. Mainly it was just rambling that I tried to keep together somehow. Overall it was a pretty good first post, considering it was written by me, heh. Since then I have also learnt to remember to name posts!

The blog's first background was the result of a great idea and bad editing. I made a kind of a promise to myself in the first post:

My goals for this blog include not posting anything empty, which to me means something without even the slightest meaning or story behind it.

And I have kept that promise. WoW is far from being just a game to me, and that is all this blog is about: my experience in the World of Warcraft.