Not With a Bang, but a Whimper

That's how my WoW subscription ended.

With a 12 hour server downtime.

I thought it was going to end today, but apparently it ended yesterday. So much for those last few items I threw on the auction house.*

I also had hoped to drop in on Ancient, to get a snapshot of Cat and I hanging out in DB North in Alterac Valley, but that wasn't to be.**

The night before, I came across the same Night Elf warrior from Moonrunner in multiple AV runs, and since the two of us were on the backcap team, we got to chatting. I'm now kicking myself that I didn't mention that I knew some people from Moonrunner, in Business Time. Another moment of pure serendipity lost.

However, I did manage to cross a couple of items off of my list, things I wanted to solo before I no longer had the chance to.  Like all of the Vanilla and BC raid instances. Or how far could I get in a Mists 5-man instance solo as a rogue?  (Answer, not very.)

I don't miss the Trade Chat, however.  In the couple of weeks since Durotan-US merged with Ysera-US, the Trade Chat has exploded with both factions being complete and total asses to each other. It hadn't reached Area-52 levels yet, but it was certainly trending in that direction.

If there was any indicator that the (don't call them) server merges were needed to keep major gathering places relevant, the merge between Durotan and Ysera were Exhibit A. I would have counted on two hands the number of people in Ysera at Shrine of Seven Stars on most days, and after the merger the place looks filled and active again.

Anyway, the stress and frustration is now behind me. New challenges are ahead.




*Which makes me wonder, if my account is suspended, do any auctions that are still open disappear too? And does the mail from any (un)successful auction disappear after 30 days as well?

**We could have hid throughout the entire battleground and nobody would have noticed, Ancient. The Alliance steamrolls that often enough that you could go AFK.

You Could, You Know.... Ask...

The MMO music podcast Battle Bards had two listener request shows recently.  When they put out a call for requests, I forwarded along my pick to Battle Bard Syl of MMO Gypsy:

The Theme for Rohan, composed by Chance Thomas*, and featuring Taylor Davis on violin, encapsulates what I like the most about the Riders of Rohan soundtrack for LOTRO.  It's very straightforward, yet the playing is very emotional. The Celtic overtones, with the bodhran and tin whistle, add to the emotional impact of the music.

In addition to the pick, I'd also griped to Syl about my inability to find any MMO sheet music out there other than WoW's.**  Syl took my commentary and added it to the feedback section of the second podcast. Battle Bard Syp, also of Bio Break, suggested a couple of things, but the one which was a classic 'Doh! moment was to simply contact the composer(s) and ask if sheet music was available.

Of course, I'd been operating under the assumption that the game companies owned the soundtrack (and the sheet music), but hey, it was worth a shot.

I contacted Chance Thomas, composer of LOTRO's more recent soundtracks, and asked him if sheet music was available for purchase for any of the pieces.  He wrote back to let me know that while most of the music was owned by Warner Brothers, he was able to give me the solo violin part for Theme for Rohan.

The mini-Reds were excited.

My oldest informed me that a few notes in the piece go too low for her oboe to reach, but I don't think that'd deter her from making an attempt at it.





*Congrats to Chance for his invitation to conduct Theme for Rohan at the Utah Symphony!

**I've since discovered an arrangement of some Age of Conan pieces in a suite for wind ensemble, but the cost is over $395 EUR, which is a wee bit out of my price range.


EtA: Got my commentary order messed up.

Wednesday Humor

Dorkly - How Every Awful Video Game Thing Was Born

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