If you haven’t heard yet, the WoW developers released a preview of the Druid class in Cataclysm today. Among the changes was a plan to remove Tree of Life form and turn it into a cooldown much like warlocks’ Metamorphosis. No other druid spec would be losing their form. The reason? The developers want people to be able to see their armor. :-/

So here’s the plan of action some of us on the Cataclysm forums came up with before the post was deleted (not moved to the druid forums or elsewhere, just removed).

1. Find a small piece of bark.
2. Write a short, civil note asking to save Tree of Life as a form.
3. Drop both in an envelope, stamp it up, and mail to: Blizzard Entertainment, PO Box 18979, Irvine, CA 92623-8979.

Suggestions for the note: Write about why you like tree form (the unique feel, the druid-ness of shapeshifting, the dance, whatever); offer suggestions (make ToL cosmetic and tie it to a minor glyph, so people can choose to have it or not).

Be polite: Blizzard is likely to chuck any letter that is full of bad language or nastiness, and it makes us all look bad.

QQing on the forums is easy. Actually writing and posting a letter shows more commitment. Maybe if they get enough bark-filled letters, they will reconsider the change.

If you like being a tree and want to keep Tree of Life as a form, please pass this on. The more people who see it and send letters, the more likely this change can be avoided for Cataclysm — the changes currently suggested are just a preview, and can be changed/rolled back still.

One of the things I am feeling guilty about is letting this blog go silent. But I really don’t have a lot of time to write.

Solution? Addicted to Heals will be a screenshot blog for the foreseeable future, at least until the expansion. If it goes well and I’m still busy, it’ll probably stay that way after the expansion, too. I may occasionally write, but I’m not promising anything.

There are many reasons, but the chief of them (and the most exciting to me) is that my job has offered a me and a co-worker a joint gaming blog. In addition to writing about WoW, I’d be covering stuff to do with MMOs as well as mini-reviews of casual games (Facebook/Pogo/etc.) and DS games. This is going to cut down on the time I have for Addicted to Heals a lot, but it will also be really fun for me! … Once the repetitive stress injury I inflicted on my shoulder from too much computer use heals, anyway. >.> It’s getting there.

I also picked up a second job, so my gaming time is becoming more limited, and will need to be more carefully split between WoW and other stuff. I don’t at all plan to give up WoW. I still love this game, and I’m still INCREDIBLY excited for Cataclysm. But I will need to spend some time on other MMOs and other games to be able to keep up, so I won’t be on quite as much as I was even before the Death Shoulder.

I’m calling it a hiatus because I WILL be back when Cataclysm hits. In the meantime, I’m going to focus on finishing up some stuff in current Azeroth (the classic loremaster and dungeonmaster achievements for my shaman, and then reps for her and my druid) and maybe finally get around to playing my alts on Dath’Remar a bit, as well as focus on the writing I am about to be paid to do.

I will see you all around!

1. I hold it upside down far too often. And that’s more an error with me.

2. I cannot beat that damn frostwyrm when logging in anymore. I hate that thing. So much.

The timing is ironic, because I booted up my computer and hit message boards this morning to find that a Grunts officer was hacked and basically wiped out the guild bank. This officer was extremely careful with her computer and account information, and is not computer stupid at all, so I have no doubt in my mind that she did absolutely nothing “risky” that led to her being hacked. And I’ve heard of several similar cases lately. Taking the standard precautions is not enough anymore, and it’s not just gold buyers getting hit.

While several tickets have been opened and I have a folder full of screenshots that makes getting our stuff back pretty likely, it’ll probably take several weeks, because the Blizzard staff is currently overworked. Why? Because so many people have been hacked recently.

If you live in the U.S., authenticators are about $7, and that pays mostly for shipping. You can buy one at the Blizzard store. If you have an iPhone, you can head right onto iTunes, go to the App Store, and download the Battle.net Mobile Authenticator for free, and you can get it free for other cell phones on their mobile site.

Really, if you have any kind of access to your guild bank at all, it’s a really good idea to get an authenticator.

But for now, it’s kind of a mess over there, which is why I am pointing out a new link over here: World of Wallpapers, a.k.a. the cause of my jealousy. I can’t even make a banner for this blog I don’t despise before finishing it, and Branwyn is making some of the most gorgeous WoW wallpapers I’ve ever seen. I’m currently rocking “Sky at Night” at work, and fully intend to drop the Orgrimmar entrance one on the laptop once I get home and the cats get bored.

There are only a handful of wallpapers up now, but it seems like there’s a new one every week, so go check her out and stuff. Because I want her to be successful so she’ll make more wallpapers.

The theory is that this will also discourage AFKers, because you don’t gain rating when you lose. I have my own doubts about that — PVP leveling was also supposed to encourage participation, but led to even more AFKers, especially at 80 — but it’s still a very good start.

But why stop at rated BGs? You know what else would encourage battleground participation? Weekly quests similar to those in Wintergrasp.

You rarely see anyone AFK in Wintergrasp. Why? Because there are quests that require participation to complete. You (in theory) cannot get “Defend the Siege” or “Slay Them All!” without being involved in active combat. The quests also encourage people to complete certain objectives that make the battle more competitive.

What if there were dailies for all of the battlegrounds, rather than just the single “win” daily?

PROPOSAL: Create four dailies for each battleground. Rotate through them like the cooking quests — one offered for each battleground, chosen at random each day.

Rewards would include A CHOICE of three marks from that battleground, 620 bonus honor (equal to original honor reward from Slay Them All! when it was offered daily), 25 arena points OR 75 reputation with the battleground faction of the player’s choice. No matter which reward the player chose, they would also receive 7g40s (the monetary reward for the Call To Arms quests).

Players could complete one daily quest for each battleground each day, for a total of seven battleground daily quests (one for each battleground plus the Call To Arms quest).

QUEST IDEAS: Each battleground would have a Slay Them All! type quest, and a quest to break 300,000 damage or healing (scaled down as appropriate for lower levels). They would each also have two unique quests. One quest would be offered for each battleground each day, chosen at random from that battleground’s four options.

For example, Arathi Basin: Defend or capture two flags (which, like the Wintergrasp quests to defend siege weapons and topple towers, would count if the flag was defended or captured while the player was in range); win while controlling the lumber mill (or any of the nodes).

Alterac Valley: Summon Lok’Holar/Ivus; win while both mines are under your faction’s control.

Isle of Conquest: Win while controlling the docks and the workshop; plant a seaforium bomb that goes off successfully.

Strand of the Ancients: Stop siege engines/defend the siege (like Wintergrasp, defending would count for every siege within range when a gate falls; players would need to defend or destroy three); kill three players with a wall cannon.

Warsong Gulch: Kill an enemy flag carrier before they leave your flag room. (Any ideas for a second one?)

Eye of the Storm: Win while three towers are under your control; kill an enemy flag carrier.

I think this would add to the in-game opportunities for PVP-focused players (most of the current dailies are for PVE instances or world PVE, such as the Argent Tournament quests). Additionally, this would not only encourage people to queue for battlegrounds, but encourage active participation over AFKing once in the battlegrounds.

EDIT: If you like this idea, please support it on the WoW Suggestions forum or pass it on.

Some people are worried about e-stalkers. Well … I think I am in the second category (e-stalkers who don’t care about people knowing my latest gear upgrades). Why?

While many of the PVPers I know (except druids) hide their helms and cloaks to avoid giving away extra info, quite a few of the people I know on VeCo don’t. And many of them are Alliance, so I only see them when on the field of battle … meaning I don’t see them at all, because things are going crazy and I’m three-quarters focused on health bars.

I finally know what people’s characters look like! It’s exciting!

… No, really. These are the kinds of things I get excited about in this game. Sad, right?

So I am taking this time to create a to-do list, much as I did back in Burning Crusade:

AHAMI
1. Complete Loremaster of Kalimdor, Loremaster of Eastern Kingdoms, and Classic Dungeonmaster. Yeah, I know, I don’t PVE, but I can solo the classic dungeons pretty easy, and I got most of them back before T. the DK Who Was My Pocket Tank quit, so I don’t have far to go. And I have about 210 quests in Old Azeroth to do for both the classic Loremaster achievements, so that’s no problem.

2. Conqueror. This isn’t going to get done before Cataclysm hits, but I’d like to make more progress. I’m currently Friendly (!) with the Warsong Outriders, and I’d like to be at least Honored by Cataclysm. And maybe Revered with the Defilers; I’m Friendly with them right now, but that’s because I’m saving my favorite of the three old school battlegrounds for last.

3. RP clothes. I want the D1 shaman set. So far, I have the boots. I don’t need all of it, but the chest, skirt, helm and gloves would be good. I can get the shoulders via heirloom gear.

… Yeah, that’s it for Ahami. I am happy with where she is right now.

OTHER VECO CHARACTERS
1. Guardian of Cenarius for Onashne, and finish gearing her up. Maybe get RP clothes for her, too; the druid D1 set is also nice.

2. Max out Leatherworking on Onashne, and get a good bunch of the patterns.

3. Get Ideale exalted with the Argent Dawn. I’ll worry about Argent Crusade later, but she absolutely needs Argent Dawn rep.

4. Get as many heirlooms as possible for still-unnamed Future!Goblin. I currently have the PVP shoulders and mace, but I might actually suck it up and do a couple PUGs for badges so I can get other stuff.

DATH’REMAR CHARACTERS
I don’t really have any major goals for these characters, per se, but I’d like to make it through Thousand Needles one more time on my shaman over here, and get my priest to the Plaguelands, at least. I also fully intend to roll a troll druid over here when Cataclysm hits.

And last, but not least: BLOG MOAR. Seriously. I keep intending to blog here, but it seems like I never have time. But this is both a pre-Cataclysm resolution and a sort of New Year’s one. I will try to blog at least once a week.

Every morning, right around 10 a.m., I feel something touching my face. Tap, tap.

Now if I’m smart, I don’t open my eyes, and then I can get another couple hours of sleep (or … five, on Wednesday. Whoops). But most of the time, I’m three-quarters asleep and open my eyes before I think, to see a patchwork kitty face an inch from my nose. And then I get, “Mew!” Wake up!

I ignore the cuteness, roll over and go back to sleep (I work nights, and usually head to bed around 4 a.m.). Or, more accurately, TRY to go back to sleep.

At this point, Sparrow comes around to the other side of the bed, and I get tapped again. Tap, tap. … TAPTAPTAP.

I open my eyes. “Mew!” Get up! Usually around now, I will reach one hand out of the covers and scratch behind the fluffball’s ears, and if I’m lucky, she’ll curl up on my pillow and take a nap.

Most mornings, I’m not lucky.

I roll BACK over to the other side, and try to go back to sleep. TAPTAPTAPTAPTAP “MEW! MEEOOOOW!” The tapping and mewing takes on a frantic quality, and it becomes harder to ignore, especially when Klio comes over to see what’s going on. I try to ignore it, but at this point, I know I’m doomed.

If I’m smart, that’s when I get up, but if I’m really, really sleepy, I’ll scrunch down under the covers and try to ignore it again. And this is where Sparrow gets annoyed, and once Sparrow gets annoyed, the hair-pulling begins. And that HURTS.

Once I’ve lost a couple strands, I yell, “Fine! I’m getting up!” and get out of bed. Even if I can get her to knock off the hair-pulling, I won’t be able to fall asleep, and since the only successful way of doing that is letter her under the covers, where she bites my fingers or toes …

So I get up. And Sparrow jumps onto the bed, curls up in the spot I just vacated, and goes right to sleep, purring and kneading the pillow.

Every. Morning.

Hopefully I will have some battleground leveling stuff coming up in the next week or two.