Breakfast Topic: A tiger-rific New Year to all
by Zach Yonzon 
Feb 14th 2010 at 8:00AM
Blizzard will be ushering in new babies this year, too -- two, in fact. StarCraft 2 and Cataclysm are scheduled to come out in 2010. Overall, I think it's going to be pretty exciting. We can also consider this another fresh start, and folks who missed out on completing the whole Long Strange Strip last year can start completing it again this year. What are your plans for the Lunar Festival? I personally think it's one of the coolest in-game holidays and I usually amass enough stacks of Festival Dumplings to open up my own dimsum bar by the time it ends. Are there any achievements you still need? Any elders you still need to visit? Allison's written up an excellent guide to help you complete anything you might have missed.
I personally love going around Azeroth to visit all the elders because I enjoy receiving those red envelopes in the mail. Sure, it'll contain some some shiny stone or a bunch of fireworks, but it still reminds me of the real thing. A little later tonight we'll all be lining up in front of our A Ma to get similar red envelopes which contain, well, gold IRL. It's pretty cool. The year is shaping up really well, and I hope everyone else is having a ferocious, tiger-like start to their 2010, too. A lot of things to look forward to, a lot of things to be thankful for. How about you? Anything you're looking forward to or wish to be thankful for in the Year of the Tiger, whether in-game or out?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Nemuraan Feb 14th 2010 8:18AM
I wish we could edit comment's on WoW.com.
I wish Blizzard gave some new info's about Cataclysm (or some new walpapers).
I wish CC will be a important part of Cataclysm raids and dungeons.
Wulfkin Feb 14th 2010 8:22AM
This.
This year is all about Cataclysm. Sure ICC is fun, and Wrath as a whole has been an awesome expansion, but the potential for Cataclysm to really rewrite our whole WoW experience and give us something new is too exciting for words. Even a bit more information to whet the appetite would be welcome!
That other Blizz-baby Starcraft 2 is a pretty exciting prospect as well. Ah well... nothing to do but be patient. *twiddles thumbs*
thebarrenschat.wordpress.com
Darky Feb 14th 2010 8:20AM
last year kinda sucked, i went through the bushfires in australia and my parents divourced but this year is the last year of highschool, so going to try to do well in that, also cata and sc2 coming out!
Knob Feb 14th 2010 8:25AM
Risin' up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive
So many times, it happens too fast
You change your passion for glory
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive
It's the eye of the tiger, it's the cream of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger
Face to face, out in the heat
Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry
They stack the odds 'til we take to the street
For we kill with the skill to survive
Clydtsdk-Rivendare Feb 14th 2010 9:34AM
NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP---/shot
Noah Feb 14th 2010 12:37PM
Isn't it "The thrill of the fight"? Cream? What?
Superthrust Feb 14th 2010 1:02PM
AY YO SURVIVOR! I'M REALLY HAPPY FO' YOU AND IMMA LET YOU FINISH,
BUT THE HURRICANE WAS THE BEST BOXING MOVIE OF ALL TIME!
OF ALL TIME!
Magnum Feb 14th 2010 8:42AM
We have found no sign of the Lunar Festival in Khadgar. Time for start is 8am right?
Gamer am I Feb 14th 2010 8:53AM
It's 9 AM on my realm.
MusedMoose Feb 14th 2010 9:11AM
In-game, I think it's going to be a good year for my characters. My mage is going to get the "Elder" title, as it seems appropriate for an arcanist, and she lacks a title anyway. And thanks to the Blood 101 post last week, my DK is doing much better. Definitely looking forward to Cataclysm, as I have six different alt names reserved for new race-class combo characters. Yeah, I'm going to be doing a lot of leveling. @_@
Out-of-game, the year's going pretty well for me so far. I've been writing more and am hoping to get more short stories published, I got a raise at work, and so on. And I get to go see Henry Rollins do spoken word on Friday. ^_^
Here's to the Year of the Tiger, everyone. w00t.
Tomatketchup Feb 14th 2010 9:16AM
My wish is just to get good grades in school, get into the high school I want in, and Cataclysm.
Oh yeah, and outdoor raids. I just did Omen today on a PvP server and DAAAAMN, that's like the best raid since BC ever! And yes, I did find Wrath kind of lacking. 33% of the expansion was what, 1 boss raids and 45 minute heroics? Does not impress me, that's for sure.
Drunken_wookie Feb 14th 2010 9:13AM
My Chinese New Year has started of pretty bad, woke up to a water leak on my water heater, and I'm about to leave town for 3 days.........yay.
Doki-Chan Feb 14th 2010 9:37AM
Talking of Water Leaks..... mine just broke an hour ago....
Just waiting for the in-laws to show up so I can get to the hospital and have geekling no.2...
Healabit Feb 14th 2010 9:50AM
Best of luck :D
ROB13 Feb 14th 2010 9:39AM
Looking forward to coming back to the game after a 3 Month Break!
As for the New Year, it's Grrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeat!
Swifteye Feb 14th 2010 9:54AM
Warning: long and rambly; only read if you're bored, heh.
I have found something to be VERY thankful for in-game!
Despite playing WoW for nearly a full year now and having two 80s, I've still never been able to group effectively because I couldn't find anyone willing to group with a n00b who needed to be carried, and thus I couldn't gear up very well and couldn't get the experience I needed to transition from an okay soloist to a decent team player.
I posted a message on the WoW forums a few days ago asking for a guild for my DK that would be willing to teach me how to tank, starting out with normal instances just to get a feel for it and learn some boss mechanics, then gradually moving on to heroics as I geared and became more comfortable with group play.
Not a soul posted in response, I felt unwanted but just sighed internally and went back to my lonely, solo WoW world. As I was doing some dailies, I got a whisper from a guy who'd made a brand spankin' new DK on my server just to talk to me; his 80s were on other servers but he wanted to at least talk me through some tanking pointers.
I appreciated this very kind gesture, we talked in whispers for a long time, and he gave me a TON of great advice about playing a DK more effectively in general, and about tanking specifically.
Suddently this guy tells me "brb", I wait a few minutes, and he groups me with the same toon name... but I suddenly see it's an 80 DK, not the 55 baby DK I'd been chatting with! It turns out he deleted the toon I was talking with and immediately *paid real money* to realm-transfer his "real" 80 DK to my server, just so he could show me stuff rather than just telling me about it!
I was floored. He talked me through getting Curse and installing essential addons, and even through setting up Ventrilo! I'd never used any of this stuff before, and he was super-patient with me.
Finally we were able to get around to actually running stuff together, with him tanking... my DPS was dismal, but he announced before every run that I was new, he was there to help me and that if anyone in the group gave me grief about being a failsauce n00b, he would drop group immediately. Not wanting to lose a good tank when they tend to be the difference between a ten second queue time and a thirty minute one, everyone put up with me, and they were actually really nice to me!
We ran several heroics, I got some really good gear upgrades, my DPS got better with every run, and he explained the mechanics of every boss fight on Ventrilo really well before we got to them, so I didn't make any really stupid n00b moves. I even got several compliments from the healers for being way easy to heal, actually making an effort to avoid things that I was supposed to.
I'm sorry this is babbly. I'm just... in shock. No one on WoW's ever been this nice to me, and I feel like I've been missing out on a LOT with never doing groups. I'm getting more comfortable with each run, I'll get to group with this guy again in the future, I got to talk to some of his guildies on Vent and they're really friendly and funny, and soon I'll have enough gear and confidence to use the Dungeon Finder all on my own! And, as my screwy work schedule allows, I'll even get to do a real raid someday! WoW is like a whole new game to me now, and I am VERY thankful I met someone so kind and patient who could make it fun for me again! :)
ROB13 Feb 14th 2010 10:08AM
Awwwwwwwwwwwww, that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! =)
RedGuard Feb 14th 2010 10:49AM
It's good to know that there are more than just trolls and kids in this World of Warcraft. That's a really amazing story.
MusedMoose Feb 14th 2010 11:41AM
That's an absolutely awesome story, man. Thank you for sharing. ^_^
trefpoid Feb 14th 2010 1:04PM
Aw man, that's so friggin cool! A very nice story. I hope you become real awesome and your friend deserves a statue in Dalaran, next to the heroes monument :D