Til' the cows come home: 9 tips for farming with the Tillers

Oh, the Tillers. I loved the grind. Absolutely loved it. If on a given day I didn't have the drive to do Golden Lotus dailies or a Shado-Pan Monastery run for a small chance at the fist, chances are I still visited the market and my little farm just outside of Halfhill. The Tiller's storyline unfolds at a good pace. Tangible rewards are available almost immediately in the form of veggies you can cook with or sell on the auction house. On reaching exalted, the farm continues to be useful for your main character or alts.

As painless as gaining reputation with the Tillers might seem, there are still some things players can do to make the grind go even more smoothly. For that, I've put together a short list.

Quests

• Each day, Farmer Yoon offers a quest to plant something, i.e. White Turnip Treatment. Credit for the quest is given after planting the requested veggie---you don't need to let it grow. This means you can dig up that plot and plant something more useful. Very helpful when developing a second farm on an alt.
  
• For the quest Chasing the Chicken: when you pick up a chicken, instead of doing what the yellow text tells you to do (return to coop, dunk in water), right-click the buff you received after picking up the chicken. Voila! Continue to seek Hillpaw's chicken. Note: If you have chickens on your farm from being best friends with Hillpaw, you can use those for this quest.
• When tasked to stomp on marmots for Pest Problems, AoE attacks will also provide credit.
  
• If you're doing the cooking quest Cindergut Peppers, look for the packs of Kunzen Rockflingers. They're extremely weak mobs, and in my experience, killing one pack will often yield four peppers.
• Though I'm not sure it's possible to miss: at roughly 2/3 of the way to Exalted, a dog just to the west of your farm will offer the quest Lost and Lonely. Complete the quest and the dog will join you on your farm. Though you don't get to name him, he does respond to /pet!
• Make sure to keep an eye out for Dark Soil for friendship rep no matter which Pandaria zone you are in. The stuff is everywhere. Seriously.
  

Farming

• Treat your farm as four plots of four when planting or harvesting. If you stand in the middle of each "square", you should be able to plant/harvest four plants from that position without moving. Time is money, friend!
• When what you've planted becomes "tangled", hop on a flying mount before right-clicking the plant. You can fly straight up and the vine will break significantly faster than if you were running away. A commenter at WoW Insider mentioned a warrior's Heroic Leap will also work for this. Curious to know if a mage's Blink achieves the same results.
• If you receive "alluring" or "wiggling" crops after planting, most classes should be able to handle three or more of these mobs at a time. The plainshawk takes a few extra seconds to reach you after right-clicking the alluring crop. Use this time to disturb additional alluring or wiggling crops.
  

Looking for a comprehensive list like the above, but for all things Pandaria? Head over to WoW Insider where they've published an article with the best of their readers' tips.

I can haz lootz : epic hoodie edition

Over the last few years, my partner Emily has regularly offered me an epic personal quest: quit smoking cigarettes. For anyone who smokes, there's no shortage of reasons to stop, and the reasons themselves function as rewards: there's the financial aspect, and of course the improvement to immediate and long-term quality of life. Oh, and you don't constantly smell like a zombie rabbit took a shit in your mouth. But then there's that addiction thing.

Yeaahhhh.

For better pics of the monk
hoodie, visit Jinx.

After ten years of smoking, I said SCREW YOU CIGARETTES for the last time this past July. I smoked the last stick in the pack, crumpled the carton and dropped it into the trash. Then, I made a silent promise to myself: from then onward I'd simply not venture into a convenience store to buy them. And that's how I quit.

A couple of weeks ago, Emily and I took a little road trip to see two awesome bands. I hadn't realized it at the time, but the weekend marked four months smoke-free. Quest accepted and completed, though I didn't expect a reward (pictured at right). But that's Emily.

So, free advice kiddos: quit smoking. You'll feel better. You'll smell better. Food will taste better. Your wallet with thank you. Your friends and family will support you and be proud of you. Don't hand me that line that you need it to relieve stress or to be creative. I often used that line myself. I needed it to write words, to write music, to think, to be calm. Right.

It's bullshit, and there's living proof everywhere you look. 

Good luck.

In Azeroth: Weekly To-dos

All hail Google docs.

Some people attribute the creation of lists as the reason behind being able to get anything done at all. I'm not so great with lists and most often opt for organized chaos, though I'll admit that lists can be quite helpful for organization's sake. What about a list as it relates to tasks in Azeroth?

Recently, Cosmic Geek posted a list of personal goals she has for her characters. The Gold Queen has a list of tasks you can complete daily to maximize your profit in gold. Now, I've been inspired to create my own!

My first list---yes, look at me all grown up and planning on more lists---is titled "Weekly WoW." It consists of all of the tasks I'd like to accomplish within a given week. Clever, I know.

This list grew naturally around the tasks I could easily identify along with their associated rewards: LFR runs, world bosses, old raids for xmog gear, etc. It's not pretty, but it gets the job done.

Know of anything I should add?

(Click to enlarge)

Feck • less

/'feklis/

Adjective
1.  (of a person) Lacking in efficiency or vitality.
2. Unthinking and irresponsible.

Synonyms
powerless - ineffective - helpless 

Last Sunday started out very much like most Sundays have since the end of October. Well, other than the fact I awoke to a soft covering of snow on the ground and rooftops. I left the snow for the sun to melt, a task to which Sol quietly obliged. 

The small, casual guild I'm in---a group of people who've been playing together for several years---has always held a weekend daytime raid. A raid tailored to my personal schedule was what I sought out, and was how I found them more than three years ago.