He was just voted the hottest fire mage in Stormwind by Humanoid Magazine, and once killed Stitches with a sharpened letter opener and a 12-pound grouper. Necco, the favorite son of the Left Foot of Darkness, confidante of Jaina Proudmore, and designer of a fashionable line of mageweave bags that can be found in shops from Booty Bay to Exodar, is one of Azeroth’s most famous faces. I caught up with him after an ethercast of Good Morning Kalimdor, where he talked about his new cookbook, Grilling with Your Bare Hands.
Thanks for taking time to sit down with me, Necco.
No problem, Marakus, but I do have to keep it short. I’m having sushi with High Tinker Mekkatorque in half an hour.
Necco, you’ve seen a lot of fantastic things on Azeroth. Can you recall a moment where you looked around and thought, wow this is just awesome?
Yes, on many occasions. There are so many incredible things to see and do in Azeroth. One of the most memorable sights was my first “Pirate Party in BWL”. It’s one of those things that just has to be experienced. Other memorable “WOW” type sights would be fighting Ragnorose and Onyxia, both are forever etched in my mind.
Can you say a bit more about the Pirate Party in Blackwing Lair? What is that? How does that happen?
These pirate parties are never planned they just seem to happen, everyone shows up and someone starts passing out savory delight and then the next thing you know everyone is saying “Yarr!” and dancing like ther is no tommorow. And when you think it can’t get any better, the treasure lust takes over and 40 pirates start killing dragons and the loot is absolutely incredible.
You’re quite a celebrity around Azeroth. How do you deal with the fame? Does it make it difficult to just go out and grab a Curiously Tasty Omelet at a local eatery?
Oh my yes! Fame has it’s drawbacks. You can’t just go out for a night on the town, like regular folks. When your as well known and revered the world over, like Me, you have to be careful. There are so many people that want to make a reputation by dueling, or guilds that want to accomplish more and would like me to join, or people that want discounts on my very popular line of bags, that I am constantly pestered when I am out and about in the cities and towns. Some times I just have to use my special abilities and hide from all the autograph seekers and guild recruiters. One of my favorite ways is to just ride on the walls. In a busy place like Ironforge, people rarely look up so you can ride around on the walls and get things done with very little trouble. I have also collected a set of dilapidated armor that I wear when I don’t want to be recognized. It also doubles as my fishing outfit (which makes it tax deductible, since I opened my restaurant).
Can you talk a bit more about your restaurant? I hear your greater sagefish is to die for. Is it true that you sheeped a dishwasher one night when you ran out of lamb?
Well we’ve been in business for a while now and it’s doing better than expected, I call it the Mage Fire Grill. Our selection of seafood is unrivaled in Azeroth, with dishes like Spicy Crawdad, Golden Fish Sticks, Poached Bluefish, a lovely Blackened Sporefish and of course our signature dishes Sagefish delight and Grilled Squid. But we have many meat dishes to numerous to list, But our Spiced Wolf Meat is still a favorite among all the races of Azeroth, Even though the Night Elves say they are vegetarians, our sales in Darnassus would seem to contradict this. I am currently working on a deal to open up locations in Outland. As to sheeping a dishwasher, this is not an acurate rumor. (I actually turned him into a turtle, he made a delicious Soothing turtle Bisque.)
How many times do you think you’ve respec’d? How much gold would it cost you to respec if you did it right now?
I’ve respected about 10 times now, I tend not to do it very often. I like to really give a spec a good try before I make any changes. I find that I usually spec my talents pretty well. I like to do a lot of research before I decide on a spec. 25 gold is the most I have ever paid for a respec. I recently speced as a full on fire mage so right now it would cost me 20 gold.
You moved on to a huge guild for a while. How was that experience? Do you miss it?
It was a fantastic experience. There were times when I would get a bit tired of all the raiding, especially when I was obliged to attend, being the mage class officer. But on the whole it was a very positive thing, I have many more contacts in Azeroth and Outland because of my time in a large guild. And of course there were so many places that you can only go with a large group, i.e. Molten Core, AQ 20 & 40, Naxx, Karazahn, Onyxia’s Lair, and I wouldn’t have missed out on that for anything. But there is a great feeling with small guilds that I missed, so here I am back with the Left Foot of Darkness, where it all started. I may return to a large guild someday, if I feel the need to return to active combat duty, but for now I am where I want to be.
What was the most difficult raid or instance you ever did?
The most difficult raid I have been on was probably Naxxramas. It is a very difficult instance, and caused many deaths for many guilds. As for instances, must be the time Noremacved and I tried to 2 man Maraudon, It was beyond painful, and bordered on comical, I must have been about level 50 at the time, I still have bruises from that one.
You’ve been seen helping Noremacved with quests and have reportedly given him huge amounts of gold over the years. What’s up with that?
Well, I probably shouldn’t say anything, but since it is going to be in print and Noremacved doesn’t bother reading anything I guess I can answer the question. The story is that we grew up in the same neighborhood, and played together much of the time, I guess you could call us Best Friends. The short of it is that I promised his mother that I would look after him (don’t tell him, he has enough trouble with reality as it is). As for the huge amounts of gold, it was so I could keep an eye on him, It’s hard to keep watch on someone when he is running 2 leagues behind your horse, so I did buy him his first horse and lots of armor and weapons just to try to keep him up to date and alive.
How did you feel when you heard he made 70?
Extremely proud. I sent him a fruit basket and a signed copy of my new book. Well, I suppose I should get going. Even teleporting somewhere takes time when you have to sign autographs. Make sure to get a copy of my new book. You can buy pages 8, 10, 20, 21, and 24 in the auction house. *Laughs* just kidding. You can pick it up at any expert level cooking trainer. Talk to you later, Marakus!
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