I haven’t talked about it here at all, but in October, I was diagnosed with cancer.
On Christmas Eve (of all days!) I had surgery to remove the cancerous tumor.
And in the middle of last month, I started radiation, taking place every weekday. I finish up with those treatments the middle of next week.
I thought my inability to work much (I’m a self-employed content marketer specializing in content strategy) would mean I’d be able to spend some time promoting the content governance book I’d finished before my diagnosis, and have lots of time to play WoW both in the Beta abd in the live.
The reality of the situation has been I’m freaking exhausted. I have pain from the radiation site’s skin irritation and from the nerves surrounding my lumpectomy. I come home every afternoon from my treatment and take a long nap with my cats and dogs.
I have levelled one character to 90, thanks to my horde guild revelling in playing together and bringing me along on all the things.
But other than that, I’m mostly logging in to work on my alts’ crafting leveling, and doing a couple of world quests before I log off, exhausted.
In short, it’s been really shitty!
That’s why I was over the moon on Saturday when my gnome guild master asked me to take on the role of Craft leader, in addition to my bank manager duties.
It inspired me to do some creative writing for the first time in weeks. Here’s what I wrote and posted in our RP channel:
Hi friends!
During our recent guild meeting, I accepted the role of C.R.A.F.T. Lead for the guild. Since I was encouraged by the voices in my head to sacrifice my previously prepared meeting notes to the Void, I will summarize the important bits here for the sake of clarity and future accountability.
What My Role As C.R.A.F.T. Leader Means for the Guild
I will serve as the guild’s central resource for all things crafting and professions—recipes, materials, what is useful, what is nonsense, and how to turn piles of ingredients into things that actually help us.
My goal is to help members use crafted gear, consumables, and items so that everyone can be raid-ready without unnecessary suffering or gold procurement.
I will organize occasional crafting nights, where we gather, pool materials, and produce useful items for guild members.
From time to time, I will also host fishing events, because certain recipes require fish and also because group fishing is strangely relaxing, except when you are attacked by a blood thirsty fish out for revenge.
I will also happily advise on housing and decorative projects, because I understand that whilst Gnomish victory in battle is important, having the most adorable homes possible is a close second.
Guild Bank: A Gentle Reminder
The guild bank exists so that resources can circulate and be put to good use rather than languish forgotten in dusty storage bins.
If you have extra crafting materials, please donate them to the guild bank.
If you need materials, check the bank before buying them yourself.
If you withdraw materials, please use them to craft something useful for yourself or the guild.
Think of the guild bank as a living crafting ecosystem, not a dragon hoard.
My Crafty Goals, Summarized
With a little coordination, we can make sure:
Members have access to crafting support and useful items
Materials are shared and used efficiently
Our raid group is outfitted and supplied properly
Our homes are ridiculously charming
If you need help crafting something, figuring out what profession items are useful, or determining whether that stack of materials in your bags is valuable or cursed—just ask.
Embrace the Shadow!
— Anexxia Sparklebutton Shadow Priest
C.R.A.F.T. Lead & Keeper of the Guild Bank
Hello, New Blog Content!
I’ve been threatening to write all sorts of blog posts about housing and crafting things, and now, I finally feel like I have a renewed reason to do so! SO, stay tuned. And thank you in advance for all your good vibes as I go through the rest of this journey.
Ever since my first exploration of the decommissioned Scholomance library, I’d dreamed of having my own library to share with my community.
Today, I’ve realized that dream by opening my Library of Void Science to the public. Well, to the fellow denizens of our little pocket of Azeroth, at least.
In our bookcases, you will find all manner of obscure and informative reading materials to help you as you make your own journey into—or out of—the Void.
For your reading pleasure, the library includes a number of study areas, including some community room spaces that are amenable to enjoyment of your reading materials over a cup of tea.
Personally, a great book always makes me ravenous, so we also provide snacks and a place to share them with your fellow knowledge seekers.
I’m also exceptionally excited about our nascent Library of Things shelves which allow budding alchemists, Blacksmiths, and artists the ability to borrow some tools of the trade as it were, to follow the pursuits that strike a chord.
Once the weather improves, you’ll also see our library grounds transform to hold monthly pet adoption events, picnics, swap meets, and farmers markets to bring the community together.
Plan your visit to the library today! We will be open for extended hours over the holidays to ensure everyone who needs one will have a cheerful place to embrace the shadows on their own terms.
I can’t wait to welcome you in! Just remember, there’s no escaping from the Suramar Containment Units, so be sure not to wander out of the public areas.
I can’t wait to see you!
We are located at 17 Mimiron Point. Hope to see you soon!
I spent many, many years living in apartments, or sharing a house with roommates, which explains why—as soon as I got on the WoW housinghype train for the Midnight expansion—my thoughts also immediately turned to The Rules.
Because without rules, your roommate’s significant other moves in, eats all your ice cream, and leaves their moldy coffee cups on the windowsills.
And one thing led to another to me poking at my GPT and asking it lots of questions about homeowners association rules and neighborhood community charters.
What kinds of rules should WoW neighborhoods have?
IRL, housing covenants typically:
Restrict or require specific uses of a property, such as no running a commercial appliance repair business in residential homes (the worst neighbor I’ve ever had)
Dictate design standards like approved paint colors, roof types, fence heights, etc. Not something I particularly care about.
Preserve neighborhood aesthetics or values like not allowing air conditioners or satellite dishes on roofs, or requiring lawns to be mowed every other week.
Limit occupancy or ownership such as 55+ age-restricted communities, owner-occupancy requirements, banning AirB&B rentals, not allowing pets, etc.
They are combined with bylaws, which govern residents’ behavior while on the community property.
So what would this sort of stuff look like for a WoW guild’s neighborhood? I came up with what this could look like for an all-gnome guild like the one I’m the bank officer in.
DISCLAIMER: This is not a real guild’s HOA documents. It’s merely one cackling shadow priest gnome’s creativity upon this screen.
Gnomish Housing Covenants
“A Home for Every Gnome—No Lotteries, No Lockouts” All housing plots within the District are permanently zoned for open access and may not be subject to scarcity-based assignment systems.
“Void-Zoned for Eternity: Cemetery Plots Reserved for Shadowy Occupants Only” Gravesites and crypt housing lots are reserved for Shadow Priests, Warlocks, and other certified embracers of the shadow; violation voids the lease (and may invoke actual void spirits).
“No Structures Taller than the High Tinker’s Weather Balloon” All exterior expansions must remain below the district’s vertical magical containment field — to prevent atmospheric tears or gnome-launching incidents.
“Workshop Zones Must Be Fire-Suppressed and Rune-Sealed” All crafting-focused domiciles must include emergency shutdown glyphs, anti-contamination charms, and fel-neutralized vents to maintain neighborhood safety standards.
“Advanced Mode Residency Required in Tinker District” Any plot zoned within the official Tinker District must be maintained using Advanced Housing Mode tools; Basic Mode installations are not permitted in these parcels.
“Bioluminescent Landscaping Only — No Incandescent Flora” All yard designs must conform to the Mechagon BioGlow Directive; traditional lanterns, torch plants, or daylight-based photosynthetic species are prohibited.
Neighborhood Bylaws
A bylaw is a rule adopted by a community or organization—like a guild or HOA—that governs the behavior, responsibilities, and shared expectations of its members.
Bylaw #001: “Summon Responsibly—No Demons in Shared Spaces”
Warlocks must conduct all summonings using personal altars or pocket dimensions; the HOA is not responsible for soulstone mix-ups in communal courtyards.
Bylaw #002: “Stable, Rune, or Bust—All Mounts Must Be Parked Properly”
Flying, crawling, or steam-powered mounts must be secured in designated stables or active rune circles; unauthorized hoofprints in biosensitive zones will incur cleanup fines.
Bylaw #003: “One Banner, One Guild—Exterior Banner Displays Must Be HOA-Approved”
Only pre-registered guild banners may be displayed on home exteriors; rogue faction insignias will be removed by the Banner Recalibration Committee (BRC).
Bylaw #004: “No Fishing in the Ornamental Koi Ponds—Even If They Look Edible”
The HOA koi are companions, not cuisine. Offenders will be required to attend empathy training with the Pet Battlers’ Union.
Bylaw #005: “Necromantic Activities Must Conclude Before Dusk”
Raising the dead, communing with shadows, or conducting bone-based rituals must occur between sunrise and 5:59 p.m.; violators will be assigned dusk-watch cleanup duty.
Dues & Fees
$200 Gold per month HOA dues (discounts for crafters who donate materials to communal projects)
Late payments result in:
Having to take notes at the next guild meeting
Public shaming via notice board and enchanted town crier alerts
Monthly HOA Meetings
Held at the local inn (with mandatory coffee and biscuits). Agenda items include:
Complaints about Death Knights leaving icy footprints, druids trailing leaves, etc.
Voting on holiday decor themes for community spaces
Bidding wars over prime herb garden plots
Planning for upcoming community events
Once you start thinking about housing bureacracy, the mind truly can run wild!
Which is why I also drafted an HOW charter. Mwahahaha.
The Unofficial Gnomish HOA Charter Scroll
Ratified Year 35,523 C.E. (Common Engineering) Preserving Order, Encouraging Whimsy, and Preventing Unscheduled Detonations Since Tuesday
Article I – Purpose
The Gnomish Homeowners Association (GHOA) exists to:
Maintain a harmonious, spark-resistant living environment for all Gnomish residents.
Foster a shared commitment to engineering excellence and aesthetic eccentricity.
Prevent chaotic neighborhood destabilization due to rogue inventions or unsupervised mana leaks.
Article II – Housing Covenants
These binding rules are tied to property plots and remain in effect regardless of ownership transfer.
Section 2.1 – Zoning & Design Restrictions
All homes must feature at least one (1) whimsical exterior element (e.g., spinning gears, inflatable chickens, musical doorbells).
No structure may exceed the height of High Tinkertown’s Weather Control Balloon without written approval from the Zoning Zeppelin.
Cemetery plots are permanently reserved for Shadow Priests, Warlocks, and similarly shadowy, void-aligned residents.
Section 2.2 – Functionality & Safety
All tinkering zones must be rune-sealed, spark-suppressed, and include labeled storage and emergency venting.
Homes in the Tinker District must be maintained using Advanced Housing Mode tools only.
Only bioluminescent flora may be planted in public-facing garden plots; incandescent landscaping is prohibited.
Each residence may display up to three (3) raid boss trophies of significant size. Oversized heads require shadow containment protocols.
Article III – Resident Bylaws
These rules apply to all individuals residing or visiting the GHOA district.
Section 3.1 – Shared Space Behavior
Bylaw #001: No demons may be summoned in communal areas. Warlocks must use personal altars or approved containment zones.
Bylaw #002: All mounts must be parked in stables or within marked rune circles. Floating creatures must not obstruct walkways.
Bylaw #003: Only approved banners may be displayed externally. Unauthorized flags will be reflagged by the Banner Recalibration Committee.
Bylaw #004: Fishing in ornamental koi ponds is strictly prohibited. The koi are sentient. Probably.
Bylaw #005: Necromantic energies are permitted only during daylight hours. Sunset reanimation is discouraged for the sake of neighbor morale.
Bylaw #006: Absolutely no asking shadow priests to emerge from their shadow form. It is encouraged to use artful ighting and placement when including shadow priests in group portraits instead, for everyone’s safety. Especially yours.
Article IV – Conduct & Courtesy
Section 4.1 – Noise Ordinance
No gadget testing, fel-bubbling, mana flaring, or summon chanting may occur between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
Exception granted for emergencies involving rogue AI toasters, active doomsday clocks, or gelatin-based threats.
Section 4.2 – Visitor Protocol
All non-Gnome visitors must be greeted warmly and may not be immediately teleported into traps, cubes, or gelatin.
Visitors must sign the“I Waive My Right to Blame Gnomes for Their Genius”waiver upon entry to the district.
⚖️ Article V – Violations & Enforcement
Section 5.1 – Violation Notices
First Offense: A warning scroll delivered via pneumatic tube.
Second Offense: Placement of a blinking “Out of Order” sign on the residence.
Third Offense: Mandatory attendance at“Responsible Invention and You”— a workshop led by Mimiron, featuring hands-on boomstick restraint drills.
Article VI – Amendments
Section 6.1 – Suggestions Welcome
All District residents may propose bylaw amendments or covenant revisions by submitting a triple-carbon-copied Suggestion Scroll to the HOA Suggest-o-Tron, located between the mailboxes and the glitter fountain.
WoW HOA Suggestions and Examples Wanted!
OK, thank you for indulging me in this spurt of creative nonsense.
While the above was…a lot… I am absolutely certain we will all want to think through our own HOA charters to add to our guild charters before the expansion launches to avoid the sudden but inevitable drama that will break out when one guild member copies another’s totally original design or whatever the day may bring.
I could not mash the pre-purchase button fast enough for Midnight just so I will be able to get more time with the neighborhood controls and the housing functionality before launch since it includes BETA access. I’ve had the privilege of being part of the friends and family Alpha a few times, and many of the BETA tests but did NOT want to leave this one to chance!
And now, I ask you, Citizens of Azeroth, to share your thoguhts on what the ideal HOA shoud look like. I’d especially love to see some that reflect the uniqueness your guild brings to the game. And let me know if I have permission to share them in these pages!
I got the Classic WoW burnout, and went back to retail. But that’s not why I’m posting today.
After more than a decade on the platform, I deleted all of my Twitter accounts, including @Anexxia, which many subscribers to this blog followed.
I deactivated my account in light of the many recent changes to the platform, leading up to the current news that the ability to block other users is being removed.
I had people on my block list for good reasons. Without that feature, it’s no longer a platform I’m interested in remaining on (I also don’t want to receive notifications about content I abhor from people I don’t follow).
For now, that’s it for me on social. If you have a social platform you love these days that has a strong WoW community, let me know! Until then, see you in-game.
When it comes to crafting in the early years of WoW, I was pretty serious about it. I made lists of my enchanting recipes, checklists of my Glyphs, and wish lists for rare patterns. As a completionist, I kept up my pursuit of those recipes until I got them, or the expansion came and went (oh hai there +4 Stats to Chest enchant that I STILL don’t have!)
That carried over to WoW Classic, where I made my initial guild a rare recipes and reputations tracker. With the official leak announcement of WoW Classic: TBC on Friday, I set to work to create a spreadsheet we could use to track Triumvirate‘s master crafters and the recipes we can make for the guild.
I’ll be using it as the basis of future content here, and wanted to share my work with the greater WoW Classic community as well.
My ask is that you share the link to this post to ensure folks are directed to the most current version of the spreadsheet, as it is likely to change over time, as the extent of “some changes” becomes known.
I’ve got a secret to let you in on: Just because you *can* go all the way through to the bottom of Classic talent trees for any given spec doesn’t mean you *should*!
Over the years, talents and builds have become increasingly simplified. But during Vanilla, players regularly customized their builds based on how they planned to spend their time, with a goal of not having to pay their hard-earned gold to respec constantly.
That’s why even though I raid healed, my druid never put more than 31 points in her restoration build. Never. Ever. Yet I was pretty much always at the top of the druid healing charts, and never ran out of mana. And I was a menace in PvP too. And that was all thanks to the way I spent my talent points.
Find and Enhance Your Classic Play Style
While there are some healers who loved the challenge of keeping their tanks alive, I wanted to keep *everyone* alive. That meant I needed a quickly replenished mana pool, and to downrank and heavily rely upon my HoTs. And that’s where the Balance talent tree came in.
In addition to buffing druid pew pew pew lazers, the Balance talent tree also provides crits for your healing spells and buffs your mana regen. Because all that moonfire spam comes at a high mana price.
My preferred talent build for early on in Vanilla was a variation on the “Moonglow” build. As my gear improves, I’ll shift things around and put more points into buffing my regrowth in the restoration tree. But at absolutely no time will you ever see me filling out one of the talent trees all the way down.
While it may take you some time to get into the groove with your Classic build, I encourage you to spend some time theorycrafting and trying out different talent builds until you find one that helps you get into the zone with how *you* want to play your class.
Now that we are in the home stretch for the Classic WoW launch, it’s time to start thinking about what you want to do in-game, and to find a guild that will be the right fit in which to do whatever that is.
That’s where I found myself a few weeks ago, when Blizzard announced the timing for the Classic WoW name reservations. Because if you only have three names you can reserve, well, you need to know *where* you’d like to reserve them.
In expansions past, when I’ve looked for a new guild, I’ve always started my search through my @Anexxia Twitter account. I tried that for Classic but didn’t find what I was looking for. I’m sure many others are in that same boat, so here is how I found my Classic guild.
TL&DR
You can play Alliance-side with me on Pagle by joining up with the Grievance Gaming guild. Read the call for members on the Battlenet forums, then submit your application on the Grievance Forums, and note that I sent you. And don’t forget to let me know you submitted your app!)
What’s Your Ideal Classic Guild?
In Vanilla WoW, I was in a raiding guild that was the 3rd progressed Alliance-side on our server. And it was a huge time sink. I know that raiding is still a priority, but I can’t commit to the same perfect attendance record. That’s why I went looking for a casual raiding guild.
To figure out the right guild for your Classic adventures, ask yourself these questions:
How much time do I have to play Classic WoW each week?
Do you have a big blog of time one day per week? A few hours each day?
What kinds of activities do you most enjoy in-game?
Do you like World PvP? RP? Raiding? Dungeons? Crafting?
What will your most likely play days and times be?
Does a Pacific or Eastern server and its typical playtimes work best for your availability?
What is the class and role you want to play?
And make sure it’s actually a thing. For instance, I’d blocked out that my first shadow priest wasn’t actually a gnome…because that was not possible!
Finding a WoW Classic Guild With the Right Fit
I’ve written many times in these pages about the importance of finding a guild that’s the right fit. In Classic, like Vanilla, you’re going to be spending a lot of time playing with people on your server—rather than Group Finder’ing it up with randoms from other servers. This makes finding a server with a good server population and community equally important to finding a guild you love.
Here are the Americas and Oceanic realm names and types:
In Vanilla, we had server-specific WoW forums. Today, we have Discord servers and WoW Classic realm subreddits to unite the Classic server communities. Here are the ones I’ve come across:
(A HUGE thank you to folks behind Classic Discord for making it easier to share Discord realm links. B/C I would not want to be updating the above list with expiring Discord invite links every few weeks!)
I highly recommend joining the realm subreddit and Discord to get a feel for who is playing on the server. If the conversation feels like a good fit, then check out the recruitment posts to see which guilds are a match for what you want to accomplish in game, and when you will be looking to play.
How to Make Your Classic WoW Guild App Shine
It’s likely that whatever guild you are applying to for Classic WoW will have their standard application that will be asking who you are, what you want to do in WoW Classic, when you are available to play, and what your gaming history is.
Some applicants shoot for getting through the app as quickly as possible. While you can still get an invite with a brief and to the point application, I always look at a guild app as a way to find your niche within the guild. Share a little bit of color about who you are IRL and what you consider to be some of the best times to be had in-game. give the guild members reading your app a reason to smile, laugh, or reply to your app!
Shameless Plug for Joining Grievance for WoW Classic
If you’re looking for a casual Alliance raiding guild for Classic, I encourage you to consider joining Grievance Gaming’s Classic guild on Pagel. Grievance is a family-oriented online gaming community with a very rich and honorable heritage that spans numerous online games over the past 19 years, during which Grievance has proven that one can have a very rewarding gaming experience, yet have a life as well. The concepts of family, honor, and loyalty are hallmarks of Grievance and are expected to be upheld and respected by all members. Read our official recruitment post on the WoW forums, then head on over to the Grievance Forums and submit your app, especially if you are a healer who wants to raid in Classic.
See you in (Classic) Azeroth!
P.S. If you’re a gnome and playing WoW retail, check out Gnomeregan Forever—it’s a guild that’s just your size!
It was lovely to have so many players take time out of their day to share a few words about Forbs, or to simply join in the cheers of “Forbidra Forever!”
Ironwolf Clan paid its respects tonight at Forbidra’s memorial. Tonight we weren’t Horde or Alliance, just friends. It reminded me of @mikemorhaime’s Blizzcon keynote “be kind and respectful for one another, and let’s remind the world what the game community is really all about.” pic.twitter.com/uRAWv4RbOZ
This show of support for Forbs—and for the gnomes—greatly touched me and my fellow guildmates.
Know that I am Preaching to the audience on this one. But if ever anyone says to you in game relationships aren’t real. I think that we can all agree that this was real. Sad but real. pic.twitter.com/BUv3CTMjFj
In the crowd, I saw former members, Twitter friends, and Warcraft community leaders—especially the WRA guilds—all coming together to celebrate one gnome’s life’s work.
Never joined Gnomeregan Forever myself, but as someone who’s played on WRA since its inception, Forbs & G4 always brought a smile to my face. It’s a shame Forbs never saw Gelbin’s 8.1 Hero moment or what’s to come later but I’m sure they would’ve loved it. #ForbidraForever ⚙️ pic.twitter.com/3wJT30YBNc
I was a member of @G4WrA during WoD as a Monk named Pipzen, today I attended an amazing memorial to a wonderful person, Forbidra. Thank you for putting this on, was beautiful to be apart of. #ForbidraForeverpic.twitter.com/vHTznPsopS
We would like thank everyone who took part in last nights memorial service for our Fearless Founder Forbidra. Seeing you all there just proves the legacy that he created will live on thru all of us forever!!#ForbidraForever
For more info pls visit:https://t.co/zR63H1jiv2pic.twitter.com/r9VnY5khAc
