Today we explore the magical world of Dalaran in World of Warcraft and unveil the reason why our poor squirrel friend standing alone on his perch is so often the victim of abuse. For those who are not familiar with the game, Dalaran is the capital city for the continent of Northrend that was introduced in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. The city is quite a sight to see and as you go through the town, you can’t help but notice right outside of the south bank is a large statue with a lone squirrel on it. The city is floating and the streets are relatively free of critters, so one has to wonder what sort of business the squirrel must be up to?

In other WoW news, the latest expansion pack, Cataclysm, has a set release date of December 7th, and hopes to shake the world to its core. The expansion is almost like a renewal for the game as it goes back and changes much of the original content as well as does some pretty major class and mechanic changes on top of adding a wealth of other things. The $40 price tag makes me blush a little though; since I am a newcomer to the game, I’ve had to buy the game, and now 3 expansion packs within the course of a single year. For long term players who have had roughly 18-24 months between expansions, this isn’t too bad but I do think it is a slight barrier of entry for new players to dish out $120 to get caught up – especially considering how easy it is to level in the game. Regardless, I would say that the price is well worth the price of admission as Pie and I still thoroughly enjoy the game.

As for last thoughts for the week, I must say that this week’s comic was rather tough to get in on time! This is by far our most complicated comic so far – 13 packed panels and a lot of intricate coloring. Pie and I had intended to finish it early Thursday morning (we’re trying to beat the week timeline to increase our speed), but we ended up falling behind by somewhere between 12-18 hours. I am happy with the way it came out, and we still made decent time considering its complexity. It is also very humbling looking at manga creators in Japan who do a chapter a week. A FULL manga chapter EVERY week!! That is 18 PAGES of work – granted black and white with shading, but still… it is humbling and sobering to think how far Pie and I have to go to get to a professional level.

Hope you all enjoy this week’s entry!