How to get to H HoR in 17 not so easy steps.

Sohma has been taking all of my free time. I've been running Heroics like crazy to get her Emblems and gear her up. I have no idea if I'll raid with her, but it just feels like it would be nice to be able to, if I so choose.

On my way to getting geared, I've been keeping a eye on the elusive new trio of 5 man dungeons (and it's precursor ToC). Now, I know that they have gear requirements, so as I've been getting new gear from Heroics, I've been keeping an eye on the list to see when said dungeons unlock.

On that page, I'd heard that H Halls of Reflection had it's difficulty setting set to a higher degree, after a lot of people were complaining that undergeared people were being let in by the random dungeon generator. Boy, was I taken for a loop when I saw just how much it had been raised.

As soon as ToC was unlocked, Forge of Souls was also available to me. So I did both of those, and the following Pit of Saron was open as soon as I finished the quest that took me there (with no additional Gear Check), but I knew that I wasn't ready to heal in HoR so I intentionally didn't finish the PoS quest, so that way HoR wouldn't pop up on my queue. Little did I know that I had nothing to fear about that. It would be a lot of gear later, before the generator said I was good enough to enter.

This is the gear I had when I finally finished the quest, thinking that I was good enough to enter:

With a GearScore of 4329 (not that I put that much stake in the addon, but I give you the number for a point of reference)

Malfurion's Headpiece of Conquest 232
Acrane Loops of Anger 232
Malfuirion's Spaulders of Conquest 232
Wispcloak 200
Malfurion's Robe of Conquest 232
Plague-infested Bracers 200
Malfurion's Handguards of Conquest 232
Sash of the Servent 200
Leggings of the Snowy Bramble 219
Earthgiving Boots 200
Band of the Invoker 245
Heartmender Circle 245
Spark of Life 200
Winged Talisman 200
War Mace of Unrequited Love 200
Temple Crystal Fragment 200
Idol of Flaring Growth 245

So that's 3 iLvL 245s, 4 iLvL 232s (T9, so I had both set bonuses), 1 iLvL 219, and 8 iLvL 200s. Not one piece, below a drop that you would get in a Heroic Northrend Dungeon. All of the items Epic, except the two trinkets and my off-hand, which were Rare.

After I switched out my belt for: (bringing me to a GearScore of 4385)

Belt of the Living Thicket 226

It finally unlocked for me. Not that I don't think H HoR should have hard requirements. I DO. I've been there on my mage, and it's not a cakewalk, but it seems the requirements are very high. There is no way that someone not spending emblems (and lots of them), or doing raids will be able to get into this instance. Odd since, it is a 5-man, and you would think that just getting gear from all the previous Heroics would be enough... you would think...

Three Wolf Moon Shirt

What's with that title? This is a WoW blog! So it is. So it is. So why the 3 Wolf Moon Shirt? My husband and I were eating out earlier in the week and sitting just behind us were two older couples. My husband leans in and says, "Hey, check it out. They are wearing the 3 wolf moon shirt." So I get up to get a refill on my drink, and to check em out. He was right! Two of the four elderly people there were wearing the now infamous on the internet shirt. This couple was probably in their late 50's to late 60's. I said to my husband that it was probably one of several reasons that they had the shirts. 1) They were hip, with it older people who were internet savvy. 2) They have children or grand children who got them for them. 3) They just happened to come across them at the mall and were like, we like wolves!

It got me to thinking. When it comes to WoW, what is the age range of people that play the game. There are so many people who play WoW. It is the most popular MMO, pretty much ever. So I did a little research and found this interesting website: The Daedalus Project It talks about the statistics of those who play MMOs. The chart I show is from their site and discusses the age of playes. It only shows "older" players as Over 35, but I find it to be very interesting nonetheless. Computer games, MMOs in particular, tend to attract older players than console games. This isn't surprising to me, especially about WoW. Blizzard has made a game that reaches out to all ages. I think this is a good thing. Games are meant for all, not just kids or children. I like the idea knowing that the people I play with might be older than me. At 33, I'm no spring chicken either, but I enjoy having all sorts of people in the game with me. What about you?