In honor of June 1 as Arbor Day … in Cambodia (I missed this year’s U.S. observance), I am issuing a challenge to readers! It will test both skill and dedication! I want PICTURES of your TREE OF LIFE with the following:

• A [Cenarion Expedition Tabard], demonstrating your worthiness to be hugged by that hippiest of factions
• One or more of the following: [Enormous Barbed Gill Trout], [Red Winter Hat] or [Green Winter Hat], [Grayson's Torch] or [Elune's Lantern], [Farmer's Broom] or [Pitchfork], [Crown of the Fire Festival]
• The 2-piece T4, T5, or T6 set bonus OR, alternatively, the chest, helm, and legs from Wildheart, Cenarion, Stormrage, or Dreamwalker sets! Show us your old-school pride!
• 2 stacks of [Heavy Netherweave Bandage] for handing out to those people who still use the annoying “Heal Me!” emote
• A stack of [Lesser Mana Potion] for giving to people who ask for your Innervate
• A pair of gloves enchanted with [Enchant Gloves - Fishing]
• The [Violet Signet of the Grand Restorer], demonstrating unwavering commitment to fixing whatever the heck is wrong in Karazhan
• A [Shiny Red Apple] with which to taunt hungry Ferals
• A [Swashbuckler Shirt] of any color; ‘ARRRRGG!! YE BE A PIRATE TREE!’
• The ability to build a [Basic Campfire] without setting yourself ablaze (actually including the bonfire in your picture is purely optional)
• 20 x [Maple Seed] to use when casting Rebirth out of combat or for planting baby versions of yourself

Submission Requirements

To participate in this challenge, you must send me a screenshot of your Druid meeting the above requirements. In honor of Arbor Day, pictures should be taken while in Tree of Life and should meet the following criteria:

• Nothing should obstruct the full and glorious view of your character you’ve (no inventory screens or character sheets; we just want to see your Tree).
• Include a description of your surroundings or really any sort of flavor text you like.
• Feel free to include your favorite non-combat pet in the picture, particularly if you feel it complements your roleplay backstory.
• Be creative with your backdrops, and feel free to combine entries with your friends. A forest of trees would be great!
• Note that if your Tree of Life is of the … purple variety, I will not include your character server name.

I’ll be compiling all the appropriate entries into a gallery of images for the site and showcasing a few of my favorites. Entries should be in TGA or JPG format and can be sent to me at . Entries must be submitted no later than Friday, May 30th.

Advertising the Arbor Day Challenge

For other blog authors interested in encouraging participation in this contest, Valenna has created the following *.PNG banners (feel free to create your own):

I hope that many authors from the Restoration branch of the World Tree will opt to play along themselves!

Taking TGA Screenshots in World of Warcraft

If you prefer to take your screenshots in TGA format, use Notepad or another plain text editor to open the config.wtf file found in your WTF directory. Find and change the lines that look like this:

SET screenshotFormat “JPG”
SET screenshotQuality “3″

So that they look like this:

SET screenshotFormat “TGA”
SET screenshotQuality “10″

Save the file and close it. Note that you’ll need to restart WoW for your changes to be effective.

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Cake from the Post-Battleground Alliance Pity Party

Reader Nilianil of Silver Hand (US) recently posted a hilarious parody of the song from the end credits of Portal. For those of you living under a rock (or just raiding 24-7), you can listen to the original via YouTube: Still Alive by GLaD0S

This was a letdown.
I’m making a note here:
HUGE FAILURE.
It’s hard to overstate
My disappointment.
PvP Warriors.
We Mortal Strike you because we can.
For the good of all of us,
Except the ones who aren’t friends.
But there’s just one cunning class I simply can’t beat.
You just keep on running it’s almost like you cheat.
And the 2v2 gets done,
And I realize there’s a ton
Of these druids who just
Never die.

I’m not even angry.
I’m being so sincere right now.
Even through you broke my snare
And bashed me.
And danced around pillars,
And threw all your HoTs, onto, yourself.
As they ticked it hurt because
I simply could not kill you.
Now these PTR notes give some peace to my mind,
And we’re out of 2.3 they’re patching on time.
Though we had to get burned,
Think of all the things Blizz learned
‘Bout the druids who just
Never die.

Go ahead and root me.
I wish that Arena was inside.
Maybe I’ll find someone that can free me.
Maybe the Pallies.
That was a joke, HA HA, CYCLONE.
Anyway their tears are great;
They’re so delicious and moist.
Look at me still typing when there’s Arena to do.
When I check the ratings I get sad I’m not you.
I’ve some matches to be run,
There is screaming to be done
At the Druids who just
Never die.

And believe me they’ll just never die.
They’re always drinking so they’ll never die.
They’re pillar humping and they’ll never die.
With their Lifebloom they’ll just never die.
And when you’re Cycloned they’ll just never die.
Never die.
Never die.

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While switching from Druid to Rogue is a seldom-made choice (why play a Rogue when you can already play a Cat?), I thought I’d share with you a few tips on playing a Rogue from my extensive experience playing with Valenna over the years:

1. Stab things. Or slash them. But don’t smash them. People who smash are PEE-VEE-PEEers, are considered inferior, and are not really cut out for raiding.
2. Damage meters are your life and are almost as important as loot.
3. Exclude Beastmaster Hunters from your damage meter output. They’re so easy to play, they should be considered hired NPCs. And exclude Mages who have the unfair advantage of AOE. Exclude Warlocks for being … Warlocks. If you ever find yourself not at the top of the damage meters, it is because Blizzard hates you and has designed the encounter to screw over Rogues. On the other hand, when you do top the damage meters, it is clearly due to your superior skill.
4. Watch your threat. Watch it go higher and higher. Whee!!
5. Never use Feint. If you absolutely have to, make sure everyone knows (a raid-wide announcement is appropriate). If, after using Feint, you end up below #1 on the damage meters, blame it on the tanks’ lack of aggro forcing you to waste valuable energy to Feint.
6. If you die, it’s because Vanish is broken. If you pull aggro, it is because Vanish is broken. If you aren’t #1 on the damage meters … you guessed it. It’s because Vanish is broken.
7. Running out of AOEs is for pansies and people who aren’t #1 on the damage meters.
8. Don’t use poisons. They’re expensive and time-consuming to create. Just press your stabbing/slashing buttons harder; it’s almost the same thing.
9. Complain about how Blind is an inferior crowd control to Cyclone. Ignore all other forms of crowd control at your disposal. Fervently insist that Gouge, Sap, Kidney Shot, and Cheap Shot are not forms of crowd control but merely roleplaying features appropriate to your class.
10. Never, under any circumstances, use bandages, healthstones, or — Elune forbid — healing potions. Give a healer any room to slack off and you’ll be expected to maintain your own health indefinitely and waste valuable seconds and global cooldowns that could instead be used to DPS.
11. If you ever must violate #10, make sure everyone knows. Keep a running tally of how much money the healer owes you in expensive, life-saving consumables.
12. YOU should get the battle rez. No one else. Not the MT healer, not the Mage responsible for crowd controlling the Square who’s about to break. Not even the other Druid who still has a battle rez. And if you know your Druid has a battle rez available, be sure to die before the DPS Warrior.
13. Gloat over your ability to destroy X, Y, and/or Z class in PvP. Ignore the fact that it is merely a current design quirk of your spec/class/gear that allows you to do so. Bemoan the nerfing of this clearly (unadmittedly) overpowered ability.
14. Playing DPS is HARD. Don’t let anyone tell you different. You are important! You are a beautiful and unique snowflake! Along the same lines, frequent AFKs are acceptable as long as you leave yourself on auto-attack and within range of the mob you’re stabbing (or on auto-follow).
15. Never get rid of anything. You never know when you might need that level 65 quest reward with 4 more attack power (but otherwise vastly inferior stats) than what you’re currently wearing. Who says Druids need to be the only ones with four sets of armor in their banks?
16. Your racial abilities are vastly inferior to those provided to Rogues of other races.
17. It is acceptable for you to always be the person who aggros additional mobs when your group is moving through a dangerous area. This makes up for all the times you don’t aggro things while sapping.
18. "I thought I was stealthed" is a perfectly valid excuse … for anything. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise; they aren’t Rogues and wouldn’t understand.
19. Mana Tide doesn’t increase your standing on the damage meters. Windfury does. Therefore, a Shaman in your group is worth two in the raid.
20. Lament every new Rogue that joins your raids, be they newly-leveled alternates of guildmates or an applicant to your guild. Simultaneously complain that your class is much less desirable than it was at release.
21. If, in an upcoming Patch, changes are made to all other classes that would be considered nerfs, bemoan the fact that Blizzard just doesn’t care about Rogues.
22. It is completely unfair that there is only one set of gear for you to roll on. You should at least be allowed to roll on Ret-Pally and Enhancement Shaman gear to make up for the fact you only get to roll on DPS-Rogue leather — of which there is none.
23. Along those same lines, there is not, nor will there ever be, an upgrade for you wherever you go. In fact, all your current items are probably just sidegrades from the gear you had at level 60.
24. DPS Warriors should never have priority on weapons, rings, necklaces, trinkets, etc. because they can also tank. All you have is DPS! This goes double triple for Druids!
25. Opening lockboxes is hardly a class-defining skill. The skill should either be made self-only, or the boxes that you unlock should become soulbound.
26. Blog … but only occasionally. And only when you’re guilted into doing so by your best friend, Phaelia.

In parallel to this guide, Valenna has written a guide for Druiding (he refers to it as "Druidity").

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Amidst the excitement surrounding the release of Patch 2.4, I think it important that we Druids not lose sight of an issue that has plagued our class almost since its inception. While Bears, Cats, Moonkin, and Trees lament the sameness of their forms, they take for granted the immense personality granted to them by one simple feature: /dance. Alas, the poor, neglected Aquatic Form has no such emote. We swim to the left and swim to the right but can’t even put a flipper in and take it out in some semblance of an underwater hokey-pokey. I know that some will argue that the awkward Sea Lion form doesn’t lend itself well to dancing, that Sea Lions simply can’t dance! Therefore, I submit the following for your consideration:

Special thanks to Bellwether from 4 Haelz for sharing this with me!

As part of this community-driven effort, I hope to convince Andrige, creator of the gorgeous skins for all of our other forms to modify our Aquatic Form as shown above. ^^

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I love to fish. Perhaps not as much as Keredria — who has successfully made it a source of livelihood for her character — but I definitely enjoy sitting down with a good book and listening for splashy sounds. Oh, and occasionally the "AHH!! EEE!!" of a monster requesting that I /flex the 14 "randomly chosen" Balance talent points I have. Because of my love for fishing, I have tried to win the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza on a few occasions. "Tried" being the operative word. I haven’t had much success and took a hiatus from attempts after I had to hold myself back from letting loose a stream of expletives at Trolls and Orcs putting their bobbers in my Tastyfish nodes! Really, I think if you say a bunch of stuff either in caps or with exclamation points at the end, it should at least appear as "Phaelia jumps up and down and flaps her arms angrily at you" to the opposite faction.

Being Easter Sunday, I thought I might have a better than normal chance of winning the fishing contest, so I made the trek out to Booty Bay, set my hearthstone to the inn there, and alt-tabbed out to read two recently published — and bookmarked — articles: Keredria’s Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza and The Game Dame’s How I Won the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza. Both contained some helpful information, including a tip from Keredria about ensuring that your bobber lands squarely within the pool. I’d like to share a little bit of what else I learned, though obviously I didn’t win so you may want to take my advice with a grain of (sea) salt.

1. (No) more dots! Until Patch 2.4, Fish tracking won’t work for pools of Tastyfish, so don’t make the mistake of riding along the shore on your epic mount, distressed at a lack of yellow dots. You’ll actually have to look for Tastyfish pools by panning your camera out as you travel. Because these pools don’t show up on your map, it can be really helpful to use an addon like Cartographer: Fishing that automatically adds the locations of previously-fished pools to your map. I also recommend FishingAce for fast, right click casting.
2. Bring Set up a cooler. Keep your Tastyfish from turning into Smellyfish while easily keeping track of your current count by setting up a macro like this one:
   

   #showtooltip Speckled Tastyfish

   This will create a button with a picture of the Speckled Tastyfish and a count of how many you have in your inventory. No more time wasted opening your inventory and "fishing around" to get an idea of how you’re doing!

3. Dress appropriately. It’s very hot in Stranglethorn Vale, so I advise against wearing heavy plate armor. (baked Gnome Warrior, anyone?) At the same time, the vegetation along the shore is pretty sparse so plan to cover up. This is especially important for preserving a delicate Night Elf complexion. I personally opted for a well-made [Crochet Hat], a pair of [Knitted Sandals], and a locality-appropriate [Sundress]. You might have mistaken me for a native if not for the pale, pink skin and the fact that all my teeth are inside my mouth.
4. Drink lots of fluids. Along the same lines, be sure to stay hydrated. I prefer something with fruit juice and Rumsey Rum Black Label, electrolytes be damned!
5. Remember Nagle’s Law. If anything can aggro, it will aggro. Don’t waste precious time crossing your fingers that something won’t attack you before you’re able to completely fish out a pool. Kill it with a Moonfire and a Wrath, and you won’t have to worry about it. The mobs are only level 40 and take minimal time to dispatch.
6. Use Aquatic Form. There are several stretches of shore where an inlet makes for an inconvenient and time-consuming trek around to continue looking for pools. Don’t be shy about riding right into the water, shapeshifting into Aquatic Form, and swimming across to the other side as a shortcut.
7. Don’t rile the natives. At least not the guards of Grom’gol. You can travel along the shore between the water and spiked, wooden fence looking for pools, but don’t try peeking inside. Stick close to the shore or you’ll find yourself pursued by a "welcoming committee" of level 65 Orcs who very much do not observe the peace of Moonglade.

I actually got very close to winning this time, having collected thirty-seven fish by the time the winner was announced. Despite this, I’m not sure if I’m going to keep trying. The level of competition is really high, and people aren’t shy about stepping on each other’s toes (this hurts when you’re wearing sandals) — even when they’re the same faction. And unfortunately, the rewards for rare catches are pretty meager, each affording +5 to Fishing skill. I think I’d be better off fishing for fun and profit in Terokkar, Nagrand, or Zangarmarsh.

For more exciting fishing goodness than you can shake a (fish)stick at, be sure to check out the compilation of 2.4 changes over at El’s Extreme Anglin’! And if you’re a sad Night Elf at missing out on the fishing fun but find the idea of levelling the skill too daunting, read Amanna’s in-depth Alliance Fishing/Cooking levelling guide!

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