With the release of Wrath of the Lich King looming on the “soon” horizon, many players find themselves looking for ways to keep themselves busy. Here are 12 steps to ensure you’re as prepared as possible for stepping foot on the shores of Northrend. (Hint: buy warm boots)
Happy Arbor Day to all! All told, I received more than 30 excellent submissions! Thank you to everyone who participated and shared their Trees! Now go hug a tree in celebration of Arbor Day! Click on the thumbnails below to open the full-sized submissions!
 Andrige wants YOU (“you” being Blizzard) to update Druids in Wrath of the Lich King so that we aren’t relegated to gaping-mouthed, googly-eyed kitty cats; low polygoned, big bottomed bears; slightly ridiculous-looking space chickens; or stalks of rotten broccoli. Otherwise, many players are likely to continue improvisation via the gorgeous skins Andrige has created and shared. |
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 In his second submission, Andrige shares a scene straight out of another epic tale with oversized Ents taking down a “horde” of bad guys! Is that a ginger-haired hobbit I see tucked in the boughs of that Ancient? |
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 Decked out in nearly a full set of PvP gear, Awarthu of Lothar (US) takes a break from Alterac Valley (no doubt avoiding any action that would result in the death of his Night Elf Druid brethren) to lend a helping tree branch to the Shattered Sun Offensive on Quel’Danas. |
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The above three snapshots were sent in by Bellwether of Dark Iron (US), author of 4 Haelz! I don’t even want to consider what’s being done to her poor Tree of Life in the first picture. Maybe that’s where Trees who let their triple Lifebloom stacks expire go when they die. The second image is a much happier one. Maybe that’s where Trees who keep Thorns on their tanks, remove poisons promptly, and |
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 Brinden of Kalecgos (US) takes a break from beating evil Hordies to a pulp with his leafy branches to scold an unfortunate lumberjack for his conceit at trying to harvest wood. One would think that the fact that said tree flourishes on one of the floating islands in Nagrand would have been sufficient deterrent! |
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Eglador of Forscherliga (EU) sent in one of the few raid-based sets of images, the above three of his guild Liga Aventurica making attempts at Lady Vashj! The second tree shown is his raidmate, Kyría from another guild, Caballus Ridare. |
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  Gidget of Bloodhoof (US) waves from atop her weekly Flintweed Seed and Wild Quillvine fund and shows us what happens when a [Basic Campfire] building attempt goes seriously awry! |
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 This pair of pictures was sent in by Jivethelle of Kul’Tiras (US). The first picture is a good example of Tree form’s terrible dental work. We can only assume she’s cooking some sugar-coated, chocolate-dipped honeycomb in the second, which would perhaps explain the state of her teeth. |
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 “I managed to snap this picture of me and the other Trees of Life in Darnassus. I’m the one with the Green Winter Hat and the Enormous Barbed Gill Trout in my off-hand. Though looking again, I’m not even sure I’m in the picture.” — Korryna of Scarlet Crusade (US) |
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 Leafshine of Steamwheedle Cartel (EU), author of the self-entitled blog, Leafshine.net is something of a music lover. While not quite as distracted by silver bells as her cousin Miss Leafrunner, who can be found in Feralas, Leaf does like a good tinkle. However, by far her favorite instrument is the gong, and her guildmates have persuaded her that the best gong in Azeroth can be found in Zul’Aman. Sadly, practicing on this fine instrument involves donning her best leather gear, and keeping nine of her closest friends alive while they discuss different musical paradigms with some forest trolls, and this big guy with the temerity to turn into a bear without being a Druid. |
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 Lunarblossom of Lightbringer (US), author of A Druid’s Journey, cleans up after a long night of raiding with her guildmates in “Go Big or Go Gnome” by giving herself a refreshing rain shower of Tranquility in a Moonwell in Moonglade. |
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 Nebelmond of Die Silberne Hand (EU) is the envy of fishermen (and fisherwomen) everywhere with his stylish [Weather-Beaten Fishing Hat]. In fact, the Trollish partygoers couldn’t help but exclaim over his haute couture ensemble! No wonder he got an express invitation to this ordinarily very exclusive party. |
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 Here Oio of Dragonblight (US) receives the punishment meted out by his guild Gênesis for his failure to properly root Amani’Shi Scouts in place on their way to the Dragonhawk boss, Jan’alai. (For those who aren’t aware, a Druid is a near-necessity for this corridor of trash, each pull of which includes an Amani’Shi Scout. Unless rooted in place, a Scout will bang on nearby drums to summon 2-3 elite companions.) |
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 Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert! For a sneak preview of one of the new Druid class skills slated for Wrath of the Lich King — and specific to the Restoration spec — click the picture taken at right! This is my contribution to the Arbor Day Challenge, but try not to ruin the surprise for anyone else! |
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 You may know Pummra of Whisperwind (US) as the author of Part Time Druid. What you may not know is that he originally got his start as a tough for Hogger of Elwynn Forest infamy. To this day, Pummra’s Riverpaw-given epithet is “Tree of Death.” Hogger raids are advised that, should Hogger spawn with Pummra in tow, they must bring a Warlock along whose sole purpose it is to keep him banished! |
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 This contribution comes from my guildmate and friend, Satella of Scarlet Crusade (US) (who often posts here under his Mage’s name Crythia) and features his Tree of Life taking part in the Shattrath version of Darkmoon Faire festivities! Am I the only one completely incapable of landing on that stupid target? |
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 Tiagantar of Durotan (US) takes our role as a proponents of positive carbon footprints to a whole new level by adding a solar-powered panel to the formerly high-emissions [Turbo-Charged Flying Machine]. No one tell Big Steam (of the Steamwheedle Cartel) about this innovation or he’ll be so much mulch! |
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 Here Timbr of Skywall (US) engages in a popular Arbor Day tradition, planting a tree, high above the Scryer tier in Shattrath. Unbeknownst to most, the Scryers are actually pretty ecologically conscious, perhaps as a throwback to their earlier association with the Night Elf culture. Of course, maybe that’s a giant planter of Blood Thistle … Can anyone say, “potted” plant? |
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I received the following contribution from Tone who sacrificed a lot to get into the … Spirit of the Celebration! |
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 “Who says you need to be in cat form to stealth? Westfall is uniquely suited for practice of the long-forgotten art of Treejutsu, the Way of the Tree. This poor Coyote does not even notice I am there! Hey…why is he lifting his leg?” — Tinil of Silvermoon (US) |
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  Wynn and Hibiscus of the Trinity Exiles guild on Terrokar (US) sent in these two pictures from Darnassus. I don’t know about you, but I’m having trouble seeing the forest for the Trees … |
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  Yogi of Staghelm (US) submitted two beautifully contrasting images, the first taken in the solitude of Feralas with sunbeams piercing the veil of branches above and the second in front of the burning wall of fire found in the Sunwell Plateau. |
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 Zackoria of Eredar (US) shows his “angry face” to the Kael’thas Sunstriders, against whom she’s waged a successful enough battle to have earned Exalted with the Shattered Sun Offensive. Surrounded by the red and orange and gold trees of Quel’Danas, he very much looks to be both in his element and season. |
Leafy Learnings from Arbor Day 2008:
- Tauren and Night Elf Restoration Druids look the same. While I would ordinarily consider this a bad thing and a sign of laziness on the part of Blizzard’s design team, it does have the benefit of bringing us closer together.
- My readers are very creative! Someone even managed to include a don’t-pee-on-the-tree joke.
- Of the images submitted, I’m only aware of three being at least partial photo manipulations (which includes mine).
- My readers are masochists. There were four images of Trees on, in, or near FIRE. What’s wrong with you people?
- There were 15 pictures taken in the Old World and 13 taken in Outlands, 3 of which were taken in Shattrath. Surprisingly, there was only one picture taken in Moonglade, perhaps because of it’s odd lighting.
- There were 7 images related to raiding and 2 taken in Quel’Danas.
- My readers like to toy with their emotions. In the pictures above there are two Trees pointing, three Trees waving, six Trees dancing, one Tree cheering, and one Tree crying. Additionally, there are two “flying” Trees.
- My readers are procrastinators! I received 20 submissions within 3 days of the deadline (including my own). I had to set an earlier deadline (2 days before the images were released) because I’m out going to be out of town this week.
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I am excited that BRK is back, though!
/cry I love you, ty for everything.
Hooray for trees!
Here’s hoping Blizzard finally give Druids some kind of customisation for their forms; leafy, furry and feathery alike.
Two notes: the link to Muffinator’s image is broken, and it’s “Quel’Danas,” not “Duel’Danas.”
Heh, love the 3 trees (:o) holding hands in IF
Happy Arbor’s day!
Waaah! I wrote in my first mail that I’m from EU-Forscherliga, not from US-Agrammar!!!
I hope you can correct that Phae
I’m glad I just got in! Evil internet going down during submission times.
Love all these tree pictures.
Man, I should’ve saved my image as .bmp…
I couldn’t stop smiling while going through the gallery.
/cast Tree of Life form
/dance
Phaelia–
I just want to say you did a great job with this. Thanks for your continued voice in the Forest of Druid Trees! Now, about that OOC Rez…
I should point out that Eglador is probably the one from EU-Forscherliga. Our Eglador from Anduin’s Legacy is Feral
What made it freakier is that we’ve also been attempting Vashj recently
Phaelia’s on vacation for a few days. She asked me to help out. Eglador’s information should be fixed. Sorry about that. ^_^
No problem =)
And Shalii: I’m mostly feral, too, we just lacked some healers on that particular raid =)
Ive always been some what of a procrastinator. ;P I love how you got in an LoTR reference.
I actually picked Quel’Danas because the landscape fits so well with our autumn looking branches. Part of my apparent frustration on my barky face is also in waiting for the gem vendor to finish collecting her damn roots! (never trust a PvP server >.<) Ima chargin my lifebloom!
Edit: also on my submission it says she. I think that should be a he.
All those trees look great! I love the one in the Moonwell.
Happy Arbor Day!
Yarr! The LotR reference was doable on a private server, totally fun ^^
(okay it’s cheating but what the heck)
Love the Arbor Day though, nice initiative Phaelia ^^
Ahh wow some really nice images here! I really love Yogi’s one with the ray-of-sunlight and, of course, Bel’s iconic tree-inna-generator picture :3 Andrige’s skinned tree, as always, looks awesome ^_^
(One small correction – I’m not a Paladin! I am a dorf of the rogue-ish variety ^^)
/hug
/vanish
Loving Mharai and Khorryna’s efforts, but they’re all pretty good. Hooray for trees!
@Friendly Feral Druid: Just on the offchance you’re not being ironic, that would be “harbour”
@Itsnoteasy: Oh, thank you. I found the name as “Duel’Danas” somewhere else and, not knowing the lore, assumed that it was correct.
@Eglador: Sorry about that! Korryna corrected it for me while I was gone.
@Zackoria: Doh … corrected!
@Aurik: Corrected also!
@Everyone: Thanks again for your particpation. I loved every submission and hope to do something similar again next year (although I’m hoping there will be at least *some* diversity available to us at that point).