I took Ahami back to the Borean Tundra — in the interests of being able to afford things when I hit 80 and during Ideale's leveling process, I've been trying to stick to the first three zones (Howling Fjord, Borean Tundra, and Dragonblight) until I've done all or nearly all of the quests there. I had managed about 50 quests in the Borean Tundra before I fled screaming, and I'm about halfway through Dragonblight and three-quarters through Howling Fjord (have I mentioned I love this zone?).
Borean Tundra has been much more fun the second time around, perhaps because I finished all of the Warsong Hold quests and have not had to deal with swarming, quickly-spawning insectthings this time. I really hated those stupid things. My favorite quests in the zone are most definitely the murloc quests near Bor'gorok Outpost. There's one where you run around freeing baby murlocs, and oh my god, the cuteness. They're fairly quick and easy and you feel like you accomplish a lot doing them.
I'm also really enjoying the D.E.H.T.A. questline. I have had trouble with Kaw the Mammoth Destroyer — the server lagspiked and crashed right in the middle of my first attempt, and it's been bugged ever since (yes, that was me, VeCo. I'm so sorry). His mammoth is now stuck on permanent evade — she doesn't attack but you can't kill her, so even if you kill Kaw (and I have, twice), you cannot pick up the halberd. I'll try again next Tuesday — server maintenance should reset it. I put in a ticket but got some crazy e-mail response about PVP the next day and it's still bugged, so ... yeah.
I loved the Hearthglen quests in Dragonblight, and my favorite quest in Howling Fjord was the one where you have to fight yourself. My favorite quests, though, are the ones to help the Kaluak. I'm still patiently working through the ones in Howling Fjord, having finished both Borean Tundra and Dragonblight.
So what I do each day, right now, is log on, do the Dalaran cooking quest (having finally hit Dalaran a couple days ago), do the two Kaluak dailies (the one where you kidnap wolvar pups kind of makes me cringe, but I think that's just because I did a lot of research and paper-writing on the Carlisle Industrial Schools in college), and then pick a zone and start questing.
I'm not shooting for the loremaster title at all — and would have a lot of work in the Old World and Outland to do if I were — but I would like to save as many quests as I can for later gold. (And I plan on heading back to Outland and doing the Cenarion Expedition quests in Blade's Edge Mountains and Hellfire Peninsula, since I haven't yet — I'm gonna get that damn hippogryph).
Halfway there. I'm hoping to ding 80 before or on Dec. 13 (my next day off).
Friday, November 28, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Dear PVE thing
Dear PVE thing,
WTF
Love,
Ahami
***
So I've been leveling Ahami veryvery slowly. Fortunately, I have so far managed to almost keep up (haha, that'll change by tomorrow) with some of the guild, and managed to get in on two instances this week: Nexus and Drak'Tharon Keep.
For Nexus, I was right smack in the middle of the suggested level and the lowest-level player there. Everyone else was at the high end or above. We wiped 4-5 times in two and a half hours, only making it to the third boss. It was SO frustrating, and I really feel like my healing was part of the problem; any time a DPSer pulled aggro, they went down before I could heal. They said I did okay, but I freak out when I let people die, so yeah. Anyway, it was ridiculously hard, and I hid from instances for the rest of the week because of it (although I really do want to go back in before I'm over-leveled, because I think it would be good practice — if I can get my guildies to go again).
So some of my best buds in the guild wanted to do Drak'Tharon Keep, and needed a healer. I ended up letting them talk me into going, even though I'm way below the suggested level and allegedly below the minimum level. To be honest, I didn't argue that hard — they're a lot of fun to run with. I was just worried I'd have to go before we were done (ended up having to go RIGHT after so I could frantically write this before my family gets here).
We blew through it in under an hour, with one almost-wipe on a bad pull that the awesome death knight off-tank and I ended up two-manning through. It was SO EASY. I went oom once during a chain pull, and that was it. Three deaths total, whole instance, on that one bad pull. SO EASY. Although I still don't know WTF was going on with this dude.
In my opinion, Blizz needs to switch these instances. For real.
WTF
Love,
Ahami
***
So I've been leveling Ahami veryvery slowly. Fortunately, I have so far managed to almost keep up (haha, that'll change by tomorrow) with some of the guild, and managed to get in on two instances this week: Nexus and Drak'Tharon Keep.
For Nexus, I was right smack in the middle of the suggested level and the lowest-level player there. Everyone else was at the high end or above. We wiped 4-5 times in two and a half hours, only making it to the third boss. It was SO frustrating, and I really feel like my healing was part of the problem; any time a DPSer pulled aggro, they went down before I could heal. They said I did okay, but I freak out when I let people die, so yeah. Anyway, it was ridiculously hard, and I hid from instances for the rest of the week because of it (although I really do want to go back in before I'm over-leveled, because I think it would be good practice — if I can get my guildies to go again).
So some of my best buds in the guild wanted to do Drak'Tharon Keep, and needed a healer. I ended up letting them talk me into going, even though I'm way below the suggested level and allegedly below the minimum level. To be honest, I didn't argue that hard — they're a lot of fun to run with. I was just worried I'd have to go before we were done (ended up having to go RIGHT after so I could frantically write this before my family gets here).
We blew through it in under an hour, with one almost-wipe on a bad pull that the awesome death knight off-tank and I ended up two-manning through. It was SO EASY. I went oom once during a chain pull, and that was it. Three deaths total, whole instance, on that one bad pull. SO EASY. Although I still don't know WTF was going on with this dude.
In my opinion, Blizz needs to switch these instances. For real.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Class review
So I spent a good portion of my time prior to Wrath (and a little weensy bit of my post-Wrath time, though I'm mostly playing Ahami and Ideale to level and Silang to work on her professions) making lots of alts and playing around with them.
Once I had Ideale to 70 and Ahami to the mid-60s, I thought it was time to go back and retest the other classes I'd thought I hated, just to see if that had changed since I learned to play. Sort of like Pike's Alt Project, but not as organized. (Okay, to be honest, I just got addicted to the character creation screen for a while and just tried new stuff since "nothing much matters these last two weeks anyway").
The only class I haven't retried is paladin, and that's mostly because I do really not want an Alliance pally, but I also do not really want another blood elf. Dilemma.
Anyway, here are my thoughts:
1. Mage: I talked a little bit about my experimental Feathermoon magey and how fun she was. She was so fun, in fact, that I now have a troll mage on VeCo, my main server, with plans to level her to 39 and twink for a while while I work on my mains, with the possibility of eventually either leveling her to end game or transferring her to my level 60 account and playing in AV to my heart's content. I especially like the fire tree. My favorite thing so far has been to ice nova mobs, then either pyroblast or arcane missiles.
2. Warrior: If you play a warrior and enjoy it, you have my respect. Especially if you play one well. I can't figure these out and I hate them hate them hate them. I hate every tree, I hate every talent except intercept, I hate melee, I hate warriors so much (unless they are keeping my healer alive, then they are my favorite class ever).
3. Warlock: I tried something different. After all of the undead warlocks I've rolled, I rolled a human 'lock over on my Alliance server, Blackhand. I like the whole secretive storyline, though it kind of falls apart when you see people roaming around Stormwind with their minions out and their skully helms and whatnot. It's more fun this time around, but I still don't think I'll make it much farther; it's just not proactive enough for me to DoT stuff and then sit and wait for it to die. I am very hands-on. I like to kill things directly with pewpew.
4. Druid: I've talked about Onashne here, and she's my highest-level non-shamunter alt (not counting the death knight). I'm torn. I really like healing as a druid, and I really like some aspects of moonkin. That said, I'm not fond of feral (aside from charging things), I'm frustrated at how quickly I go out of mana as balance (this is coming from a shaman, too), and there's really no need for a healer when grouping with a priest. Onashne will be making it at least a bit farther, because she is fun to play and I do like her character, but she's temporarily on hold while I do other stuff. Right now she's sitting at 30 and kodo-fied, so maybe I'll get a guildie to help me twink her as a healer for the 30-39 bracket for a while.
5. Priest: Meh.
6. Rogue: Stealthing and pickpocketing are fun. Too bad the rest of the class abilities are boring as hell.
7-8. You know my opinions on hunters and shamans. And yes, I rolled more. And then deleted them because crazy can only go so far and I spend most of mine on kitties. The truth is, I really don't like elemental as much as I thought I would (trying in on Mangaragan while I get leveled to resto) — I just like to chain heal — and I really want to work on Daj, but she's on hold because I only play her with my 'locky pal, and she and my other RL friends have been speed-leveling my Alliance shaman during our few hours of play time each week, so yeah.
I want to play with more pets (*gasp* I KNOW). I'm thinking I might wait and tame the spirit kitty on Tshaya (since she already has a ghost saber, so ghost pets could be her theme) and tame either a dragonhawk or a windserpent on Ideale. I'm really wanting to try out more pets now that we have the stable slots to do so, but I can't bring myself to give up Gutripper or Saffron, I'm keeping my wasp forever, and I would delete Ideale before I would abandon Cinnamon. And if I tame the spirit kitty, I will not be able to give him up either.
But on the other hand, MOAR KITTEHS. So I dunno yet.
9. Death knight: I think I mentioned how awesome fun these are, right? I really, really like the unholy tree, like, a LOT. I would probably like the frost tree, too, if I could stop playing unholy long enough to try it. They're like a super-fun cross between a mage, a warlock, and a paladin. I LOVE them.
10. Paladin: Haven't tried again yet.
Once I had Ideale to 70 and Ahami to the mid-60s, I thought it was time to go back and retest the other classes I'd thought I hated, just to see if that had changed since I learned to play. Sort of like Pike's Alt Project, but not as organized. (Okay, to be honest, I just got addicted to the character creation screen for a while and just tried new stuff since "nothing much matters these last two weeks anyway").
The only class I haven't retried is paladin, and that's mostly because I do really not want an Alliance pally, but I also do not really want another blood elf. Dilemma.
Anyway, here are my thoughts:
1. Mage: I talked a little bit about my experimental Feathermoon magey and how fun she was. She was so fun, in fact, that I now have a troll mage on VeCo, my main server, with plans to level her to 39 and twink for a while while I work on my mains, with the possibility of eventually either leveling her to end game or transferring her to my level 60 account and playing in AV to my heart's content. I especially like the fire tree. My favorite thing so far has been to ice nova mobs, then either pyroblast or arcane missiles.
2. Warrior: If you play a warrior and enjoy it, you have my respect. Especially if you play one well. I can't figure these out and I hate them hate them hate them. I hate every tree, I hate every talent except intercept, I hate melee, I hate warriors so much (unless they are keeping my healer alive, then they are my favorite class ever).
3. Warlock: I tried something different. After all of the undead warlocks I've rolled, I rolled a human 'lock over on my Alliance server, Blackhand. I like the whole secretive storyline, though it kind of falls apart when you see people roaming around Stormwind with their minions out and their skully helms and whatnot. It's more fun this time around, but I still don't think I'll make it much farther; it's just not proactive enough for me to DoT stuff and then sit and wait for it to die. I am very hands-on. I like to kill things directly with pewpew.
4. Druid: I've talked about Onashne here, and she's my highest-level non-shamunter alt (not counting the death knight). I'm torn. I really like healing as a druid, and I really like some aspects of moonkin. That said, I'm not fond of feral (aside from charging things), I'm frustrated at how quickly I go out of mana as balance (this is coming from a shaman, too), and there's really no need for a healer when grouping with a priest. Onashne will be making it at least a bit farther, because she is fun to play and I do like her character, but she's temporarily on hold while I do other stuff. Right now she's sitting at 30 and kodo-fied, so maybe I'll get a guildie to help me twink her as a healer for the 30-39 bracket for a while.
5. Priest: Meh.
6. Rogue: Stealthing and pickpocketing are fun. Too bad the rest of the class abilities are boring as hell.
7-8. You know my opinions on hunters and shamans. And yes, I rolled more. And then deleted them because crazy can only go so far and I spend most of mine on kitties. The truth is, I really don't like elemental as much as I thought I would (trying in on Mangaragan while I get leveled to resto) — I just like to chain heal — and I really want to work on Daj, but she's on hold because I only play her with my 'locky pal, and she and my other RL friends have been speed-leveling my Alliance shaman during our few hours of play time each week, so yeah.
I want to play with more pets (*gasp* I KNOW). I'm thinking I might wait and tame the spirit kitty on Tshaya (since she already has a ghost saber, so ghost pets could be her theme) and tame either a dragonhawk or a windserpent on Ideale. I'm really wanting to try out more pets now that we have the stable slots to do so, but I can't bring myself to give up Gutripper or Saffron, I'm keeping my wasp forever, and I would delete Ideale before I would abandon Cinnamon. And if I tame the spirit kitty, I will not be able to give him up either.
But on the other hand, MOAR KITTEHS. So I dunno yet.
9. Death knight: I think I mentioned how awesome fun these are, right? I really, really like the unholy tree, like, a LOT. I would probably like the frost tree, too, if I could stop playing unholy long enough to try it. They're like a super-fun cross between a mage, a warlock, and a paladin. I LOVE them.
10. Paladin: Haven't tried again yet.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Fail is also ...
... being less than one bubble from 71 and having to go to work. Why didn't I schedule days off?
(And yes, 71. I was starting from 68, and I haven't been playing Ahami exclusively. ... Okay, I just fail hardcore at leveling and am the lowest-level non-death knight in my guild. /cry)
(And yes, 71. I was starting from 68, and I haven't been playing Ahami exclusively. ... Okay, I just fail hardcore at leveling and am the lowest-level non-death knight in my guild. /cry)
Fail is ...
1. Night elf rogues who camped the Isle of QQ and picked off all of the freshly-minted 70s in quest greens, but only if they had two mobs on them and didn't fight back. And then camped.
2. Level 75 night elf hunters who camp Skorn in Howling Fjord and pick off level 70-71s, but only when they have two mobs on them and don't fight back. And then camp.
Are these the same person? YOU DECIDE.
Seriously, the one time his stupid gorilla missed and I fought back, he ran off, only to come back as soon as I was drinking and finish me off. I am a level 70 resto shaman, did he really think I was gonna kill him? (Although he did get killed by a 71 warlock twice, so maybe.)
I actually asked the rogue on the realm forum if that was his hunter, but I'm almost positive it is the same person, since the rogue hasn't been touched in weeks and they have the same modus operandi. Totally has to be the same guy. A 71 druid ended up camping him. I sent him golds. :-D
I love to PVP, but when the odds are already stacked way in your favor and you still need to camp in the most cowardly way possible? Well, when another player sees you at half health and assassinates you after I bitch in General, I will pay them.
2. Level 75 night elf hunters who camp Skorn in Howling Fjord and pick off level 70-71s, but only when they have two mobs on them and don't fight back. And then camp.
Are these the same person? YOU DECIDE.
Seriously, the one time his stupid gorilla missed and I fought back, he ran off, only to come back as soon as I was drinking and finish me off. I am a level 70 resto shaman, did he really think I was gonna kill him? (Although he did get killed by a 71 warlock twice, so maybe.)
I actually asked the rogue on the realm forum if that was his hunter, but I'm almost positive it is the same person, since the rogue hasn't been touched in weeks and they have the same modus operandi. Totally has to be the same guy. A 71 druid ended up camping him. I sent him golds. :-D
I love to PVP, but when the odds are already stacked way in your favor and you still need to camp in the most cowardly way possible? Well, when another player sees you at half health and assassinates you after I bitch in General, I will pay them.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Shoveltusk-mania
Ahami has journeyed from the Borean Tundra to the Howling Fjord to join Ideale. Yes, the Not-Fundra got better, but it still sucked — I plan to go back and finish a few quests when I'm done with Howling Fjord, but the rest can wait until I'm 80 and poor and looking to finish achievements.
Anyway, I have discovered my new favorite thing in this expansion, and that is killing entire herds of shoveltusks. There are a ton of them on the western road from New Agamand to Grizzly Hills, and if you aggro one, the whole herd comes after you. So, as a resto shaman, I drop my fire elemental totem, earth shield it, then spam lightning bolt and chain lightning until the whole herd goes down. Keep an eye on his health, but those shoveltusk go down so fast it usually isn't a problem. Then heal him, mana up and pull the next herd.
I can manage two herds before the totem runs out, sometimes three.
Then I run a bit down the road, wait for the cooldown, drop my earth elemental, and do the same thing. With the earth elemental, I can only manage one herd because it takes longer, and you have to focus more on healing him, but keeping earth shield and riptide up seems to do just fine, with the occasional lesser healing wave thrown in (I never really used LHW before, but it crits like crazy now, so half the time it's like using HW with less mana).
You suck down a lot of water (well, seal whey or whatever) doing this, but just one rotation last night (after round two, you have the much longer cooldown), I made a bubble and a half of XP at level 70, plus I had a crapton of shoveltusk flanks and meat for cooking with.
I imagine you could do the same as a hunter with volley, as long as you had a pet that could AOE aggro. Probably with less downtime. I don't plan on getting an AOE'r pet on Ideale, so I can't test this out, unfortunately.
Anyway, I have discovered my new favorite thing in this expansion, and that is killing entire herds of shoveltusks. There are a ton of them on the western road from New Agamand to Grizzly Hills, and if you aggro one, the whole herd comes after you. So, as a resto shaman, I drop my fire elemental totem, earth shield it, then spam lightning bolt and chain lightning until the whole herd goes down. Keep an eye on his health, but those shoveltusk go down so fast it usually isn't a problem. Then heal him, mana up and pull the next herd.
I can manage two herds before the totem runs out, sometimes three.
Then I run a bit down the road, wait for the cooldown, drop my earth elemental, and do the same thing. With the earth elemental, I can only manage one herd because it takes longer, and you have to focus more on healing him, but keeping earth shield and riptide up seems to do just fine, with the occasional lesser healing wave thrown in (I never really used LHW before, but it crits like crazy now, so half the time it's like using HW with less mana).
You suck down a lot of water (well, seal whey or whatever) doing this, but just one rotation last night (after round two, you have the much longer cooldown), I made a bubble and a half of XP at level 70, plus I had a crapton of shoveltusk flanks and meat for cooking with.
I imagine you could do the same as a hunter with volley, as long as you had a pet that could AOE aggro. Probably with less downtime. I don't plan on getting an AOE'r pet on Ideale, so I can't test this out, unfortunately.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Starting out in Wrath
So, with two toons over 68, I had the luxury of being able to test the waters in both start zones, Horde-side.
Sadly, I think Ideale will hit 71 before Ahami hits 70, even though Ahami is now supposedly my main. This is because the Borean Tundra may be the "Boring Tundra" to the Alliance, but to the Horde (or me at least), it's the "OH GOD WHY ARE ALL THESE BUG THINGS SWARMING ME EVERY TIME I LEAVE WARSONG HOLD!?!?! OH CRAP I DIED" Tundra. Seriously, it's a little terrifying. I finished up with the bug things and ran away to the taunka village, and now I'm afraid to leave.
Plus, Howling Fjord is both way prettier and has a giant wandering elite akin to the Fel Reaver for me to dodge, and this makes things much more interesting. And I got my turkey-killin' achievement.
As far as quests, there are a lot more Horde quests in Borean Tundra than Howling Fjord, but the Howling Fjord ones are way more fun. The Borean Tundra ones are more standard — go kill some bugs and destroy their egg sacks, go kill some boars and bring back their meat, go kill blah blah kill blah. It's all running around and killing and then more running around and more killing (so far, anyway). Howling Fjord, on the other hand, has a bunch of "go kill stuff" quests, but it also has some cool Forsaken-related quests, like the one where you go get the ingredients to make a plague, then bomb some ships with it, then go do some research, then run the research to New Agamand, then go get more ingredients to make another plague, etc.
Gear-wise, both zones seem great for a fresh-70 hunter; Borean Tundra seems better for enhancement shamans, while Howling Fjord seems to offer more upgrades for elemental and resto shamans. This is, of course, for 68 to fresh, green-geared 70; even the crappy blues I have on Ide are mostly about the same as any "sidegrades" I'm getting here. For example, I got a nifty axe with +61 agility and stuff on it, but the hit in, well, +hit and +stamina I took by switching has me second-guessing. If I was currently specced survival, it'd be no contest, but as a BM hunter with crappy +hit to start with, I'm not sure it's worth trading yet. I did get some boots that are much better than my old ones, and actually match my current gear, though!
I'm thinking that what I will do, because Ahami is killing things quite excruciatingly slowly compared to Nagrand, is play pocket-healer to willing guildies or others in both starting zones (and beyond once I'm a higher level) whenever I can; I should really do the quests in both to catch up and gear up a little before moving on, and this will make it a bit more fun. I am a healer, I want to heal things! It would be less frustrating, I think, had I had a month or so at 70 to heal in the battlegrounds and maybe some instances, but without a break in the leveling grind, it's a bit frustrating. And if I want to be able to do that PVE thing with her, I need to keep up at least a little with the wave of death knights in my guild who are about to hit Northrend (having already missed the first wave of people sticking with their current toons). Because I hate most PUGs veryvery much.
The best start zone in Wrath, hands down, though, is the Death Knight zone. :-D Even if you don't plan to play or keep a DK, roll one just to get to level 58 and do the quests. The lore is fantastic, the feel of the quests are pretty epic (though I do think that Blizz could have played up the redemption quests a bit more, as they were very borderline anti-climactic), and then when I saw the little scene play out between Keseleth and Anselm at Vengeance Landing, I was like, "HEY! I KNOW HIM!"
In conclusion:
Borean Tundra: Not totally horrible, but definitely not fun
Howling Fjord: Awesome
Ebon Whatever-it-is in EPL: Even more awesome
Grizzly Hills: Pretty, though the border with Howling Fjord is distinctly lacking in grizzlies
Death knight: Fun, keeping her, leveling her to 80. Been playing meat shield to my roomie's shadow priest in STV while I figure out rotations and what everything does, and to help my roomie catch up (she has another priest to solo with and solos quite a bit on her main during the week, and has the hang of the class down fairly well, so our weekend strategy is now to try and speed her through about 4-6 levels each time we play together, so she can spend her solo time playing with new abilities and rotations and exploring whatever zone I left her in; we're hoping to hit Outland by Christmas).
Professions: Taking herbalism and alchemy on Silang. Might take engineering on Ahami once I get Silang to Northrend — maxing out her inscription, Ide's jewelcrafting, and Silang's alchemy should keep me busy until then, and selling mats for mad gold could be helpful with my mount and gear situations. I need an alchemist, though, so I can stop dumping money into mana pots for Ahami all the time. And alchemy is just such a perfect fit for an undead death knight, isn't it?
EDIT: The OMG I'M GONNA DIE Tundra gets better after you get out of Warsong Hold, luckily. I would have given it a C- yesterday, but I was playing Ahami last night a bit and I think I'd raise it to a B-/B range. It's pretty and the quests are not bad, but it's still way less fun than Howling Fjord.
Sadly, I think Ideale will hit 71 before Ahami hits 70, even though Ahami is now supposedly my main. This is because the Borean Tundra may be the "Boring Tundra" to the Alliance, but to the Horde (or me at least), it's the "OH GOD WHY ARE ALL THESE BUG THINGS SWARMING ME EVERY TIME I LEAVE WARSONG HOLD!?!?! OH CRAP I DIED" Tundra. Seriously, it's a little terrifying. I finished up with the bug things and ran away to the taunka village, and now I'm afraid to leave.
Plus, Howling Fjord is both way prettier and has a giant wandering elite akin to the Fel Reaver for me to dodge, and this makes things much more interesting. And I got my turkey-killin' achievement.
As far as quests, there are a lot more Horde quests in Borean Tundra than Howling Fjord, but the Howling Fjord ones are way more fun. The Borean Tundra ones are more standard — go kill some bugs and destroy their egg sacks, go kill some boars and bring back their meat, go kill blah blah kill blah. It's all running around and killing and then more running around and more killing (so far, anyway). Howling Fjord, on the other hand, has a bunch of "go kill stuff" quests, but it also has some cool Forsaken-related quests, like the one where you go get the ingredients to make a plague, then bomb some ships with it, then go do some research, then run the research to New Agamand, then go get more ingredients to make another plague, etc.
Gear-wise, both zones seem great for a fresh-70 hunter; Borean Tundra seems better for enhancement shamans, while Howling Fjord seems to offer more upgrades for elemental and resto shamans. This is, of course, for 68 to fresh, green-geared 70; even the crappy blues I have on Ide are mostly about the same as any "sidegrades" I'm getting here. For example, I got a nifty axe with +61 agility and stuff on it, but the hit in, well, +hit and +stamina I took by switching has me second-guessing. If I was currently specced survival, it'd be no contest, but as a BM hunter with crappy +hit to start with, I'm not sure it's worth trading yet. I did get some boots that are much better than my old ones, and actually match my current gear, though!
I'm thinking that what I will do, because Ahami is killing things quite excruciatingly slowly compared to Nagrand, is play pocket-healer to willing guildies or others in both starting zones (and beyond once I'm a higher level) whenever I can; I should really do the quests in both to catch up and gear up a little before moving on, and this will make it a bit more fun. I am a healer, I want to heal things! It would be less frustrating, I think, had I had a month or so at 70 to heal in the battlegrounds and maybe some instances, but without a break in the leveling grind, it's a bit frustrating. And if I want to be able to do that PVE thing with her, I need to keep up at least a little with the wave of death knights in my guild who are about to hit Northrend (having already missed the first wave of people sticking with their current toons). Because I hate most PUGs veryvery much.
The best start zone in Wrath, hands down, though, is the Death Knight zone. :-D Even if you don't plan to play or keep a DK, roll one just to get to level 58 and do the quests. The lore is fantastic, the feel of the quests are pretty epic (though I do think that Blizz could have played up the redemption quests a bit more, as they were very borderline anti-climactic), and then when I saw the little scene play out between Keseleth and Anselm at Vengeance Landing, I was like, "HEY! I KNOW HIM!"
In conclusion:
Borean Tundra: Not totally horrible, but definitely not fun
Howling Fjord: Awesome
Ebon Whatever-it-is in EPL: Even more awesome
Grizzly Hills: Pretty, though the border with Howling Fjord is distinctly lacking in grizzlies
Death knight: Fun, keeping her, leveling her to 80. Been playing meat shield to my roomie's shadow priest in STV while I figure out rotations and what everything does, and to help my roomie catch up (she has another priest to solo with and solos quite a bit on her main during the week, and has the hang of the class down fairly well, so our weekend strategy is now to try and speed her through about 4-6 levels each time we play together, so she can spend her solo time playing with new abilities and rotations and exploring whatever zone I left her in; we're hoping to hit Outland by Christmas).
Professions: Taking herbalism and alchemy on Silang. Might take engineering on Ahami once I get Silang to Northrend — maxing out her inscription, Ide's jewelcrafting, and Silang's alchemy should keep me busy until then, and selling mats for mad gold could be helpful with my mount and gear situations. I need an alchemist, though, so I can stop dumping money into mana pots for Ahami all the time. And alchemy is just such a perfect fit for an undead death knight, isn't it?
EDIT: The OMG I'M GONNA DIE Tundra gets better after you get out of Warsong Hold, luckily. I would have given it a C- yesterday, but I was playing Ahami last night a bit and I think I'd raise it to a B-/B range. It's pretty and the quests are not bad, but it's still way less fun than Howling Fjord.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
I have no self-control
No less than an hour after my copy of Wrath was delivered, not only had I parked Ideale in Howling Fjord and reset her hearthstone, I'd also dragged Ahami off to the Borean Tundra (with her hearth still set to Garadar in Nagrand, in case said Tundra ends up being too difficult/tedious for her to tackle alone, though I'm hoping various guildies will want a pocket healer to chill with — haha, chill, get it?).
Oh, but my lack of willpower does not end there. It does not end there at all.
For I spent the remainder of my time before work leveling Silang, my death knight, partway into 56.
At first impression, death knights are ... different. I really dislike melee in general. I leveled a rogue to the mid-twenties once and loved the lockpicking and stealthing but despised the melee. I currently bounce between feral and balance on a druid. I like feral, but like the option of range. My highest warrior got to level 3; my paladin mostly healed or AOE'd (I realize now that I spent most of my time on my pally trying to play a mage ...).
The classes I've enjoyed the most have been hunters and healers (though I am growing mildly fond of mages as well, and in fact spent my frustration this morning leveling a troll mage to ... 8? I think?). I like standing in the back. I'm good at standing in the back. You can tell I suck at melee when I do better in PVP on a hunter than a rogue.
I was not planning on even rolling a death knight, let alone enjoying it. I mostly did it out of a perverse curiosity — I followed two guildies around for about half an hour last night, and then listened to people talking about hearing voices and so on, and it sounded kind of new and neat. And the quests looked fun. I rolled Silang for the same reason I rolled Ideale — to check out the start zone.
So I was really surprised to find that I'm really, really liking it. I put her points into the Unholy tree so far, but I will probably switch to Frost, since that seems to have a few more options as far as getting away from pure melee. It's a very interesting change both in playstyle and mindset. I tend to be obsessive over my health bar — it rarely budges on my hunters or baby mages (yay range!) and is constantly being refilled on my shamans and druid (yay healers!), so actually watching it go down is freaking weird. Meanwhile, my playstyle is currently running around like a spaz spamming whatever I am in range to spam, though I'm getting the hang of not panicking and almost dying. But how does one stay behind a mob when you are soloing?
The storyline in the starting area is pretty damn cool, too, though I feel kind of mean. Here's what I mean about mindset — with the exception of Daj, who is a bit "roguelike" in her point of view, all of my toons are kind of carebears at heart. Ideale likes a good fight, but will help out enemy youngsters if she runs across them in the wild. Ahami is a healer — I think she's actually earned maybe 100 HKs from offensive action (and many of those in defense), versus about 1400 from healing people who were doing the killing. She kills when it's necessary and isn't wishy-washy about it, but is more focused on keeping things alive than making them dead. Onashne is a druid who will someday be a tree. 'Nuff said. None of my Alliance toons PVP (I did two battlegrounds on Tshaya before giving up with a huge sense of guilt — killing Horde is just wrong).
So having this character who voluntarily chose to join Arthas and is now running about killing farmers begging for their lives is a bit creepy, even knowing that she will be going good eventually. But coming up with a backstory and motivations to explain why she's doing what she's doing was really kind of fun.
I'm pretty sure I will be keeping her and actually leveling her, even if I end up not caring much for the class. If I like it (and I think it's different enough that it'd be a nice "downtime" class to play around with when I'm not in the mood to work on my mains), I'll pick up engineering and herbalism on her (Ide has mining), and then drop herbalism for alchemy on Ahami. If I dislike it, well, she's still 25 levels closer to 80 than my druid or survivalist, and I only play them with friends anyway, so she can be a gatherer and badass bank alt, and I'll pick up engineering on Ide and alchemy on Ahami. It's win-win.
Now I have the sad duty of cleaning out my log-in screen — I have a lot of trouble deleting characters, but with three upcoming twinks, I can at least transfer funds and randomcrap and get rid of my bank alts, as well as the priest Silang started out as. I want to keep at least a couple of slots free for future hero classes or experimental alts, and right now, I'm using all 10. I'll probably transfer Kresha to Feathermoon eventually, after Christmas maybe — I want to check out the Horde side over there, have no need for three hunters on one realm, and can't bear to delete her.
EDIT: *pokes at Blizz* C'mon, update the armory already. And also let us rearrange our toons on our log-in screen — it bugs me that mine are not in order by level.
Oh, but my lack of willpower does not end there. It does not end there at all.
For I spent the remainder of my time before work leveling Silang, my death knight, partway into 56.
At first impression, death knights are ... different. I really dislike melee in general. I leveled a rogue to the mid-twenties once and loved the lockpicking and stealthing but despised the melee. I currently bounce between feral and balance on a druid. I like feral, but like the option of range. My highest warrior got to level 3; my paladin mostly healed or AOE'd (I realize now that I spent most of my time on my pally trying to play a mage ...).
The classes I've enjoyed the most have been hunters and healers (though I am growing mildly fond of mages as well, and in fact spent my frustration this morning leveling a troll mage to ... 8? I think?). I like standing in the back. I'm good at standing in the back. You can tell I suck at melee when I do better in PVP on a hunter than a rogue.
I was not planning on even rolling a death knight, let alone enjoying it. I mostly did it out of a perverse curiosity — I followed two guildies around for about half an hour last night, and then listened to people talking about hearing voices and so on, and it sounded kind of new and neat. And the quests looked fun. I rolled Silang for the same reason I rolled Ideale — to check out the start zone.
So I was really surprised to find that I'm really, really liking it. I put her points into the Unholy tree so far, but I will probably switch to Frost, since that seems to have a few more options as far as getting away from pure melee. It's a very interesting change both in playstyle and mindset. I tend to be obsessive over my health bar — it rarely budges on my hunters or baby mages (yay range!) and is constantly being refilled on my shamans and druid (yay healers!), so actually watching it go down is freaking weird. Meanwhile, my playstyle is currently running around like a spaz spamming whatever I am in range to spam, though I'm getting the hang of not panicking and almost dying. But how does one stay behind a mob when you are soloing?
The storyline in the starting area is pretty damn cool, too, though I feel kind of mean. Here's what I mean about mindset — with the exception of Daj, who is a bit "roguelike" in her point of view, all of my toons are kind of carebears at heart. Ideale likes a good fight, but will help out enemy youngsters if she runs across them in the wild. Ahami is a healer — I think she's actually earned maybe 100 HKs from offensive action (and many of those in defense), versus about 1400 from healing people who were doing the killing. She kills when it's necessary and isn't wishy-washy about it, but is more focused on keeping things alive than making them dead. Onashne is a druid who will someday be a tree. 'Nuff said. None of my Alliance toons PVP (I did two battlegrounds on Tshaya before giving up with a huge sense of guilt — killing Horde is just wrong).
So having this character who voluntarily chose to join Arthas and is now running about killing farmers begging for their lives is a bit creepy, even knowing that she will be going good eventually. But coming up with a backstory and motivations to explain why she's doing what she's doing was really kind of fun.
I'm pretty sure I will be keeping her and actually leveling her, even if I end up not caring much for the class. If I like it (and I think it's different enough that it'd be a nice "downtime" class to play around with when I'm not in the mood to work on my mains), I'll pick up engineering and herbalism on her (Ide has mining), and then drop herbalism for alchemy on Ahami. If I dislike it, well, she's still 25 levels closer to 80 than my druid or survivalist, and I only play them with friends anyway, so she can be a gatherer and badass bank alt, and I'll pick up engineering on Ide and alchemy on Ahami. It's win-win.
Now I have the sad duty of cleaning out my log-in screen — I have a lot of trouble deleting characters, but with three upcoming twinks, I can at least transfer funds and randomcrap and get rid of my bank alts, as well as the priest Silang started out as. I want to keep at least a couple of slots free for future hero classes or experimental alts, and right now, I'm using all 10. I'll probably transfer Kresha to Feathermoon eventually, after Christmas maybe — I want to check out the Horde side over there, have no need for three hunters on one realm, and can't bear to delete her.
EDIT: *pokes at Blizz* C'mon, update the armory already. And also let us rearrange our toons on our log-in screen — it bugs me that mine are not in order by level.
HURRY UPS PERSON HURRY
OH GOD I SEE THE ORDER IT'S BEEN IN TOWN SINCE 4:25 AM WHY ARE YOU NOT HERE YET?
So maybe I'm a bit more anxious for WotLK than I thought ...
EDIT: I rolled a mage on VeCo out of entertainment — a guildie made a 30-39 twink guild and I think a mage would be fun in PVP, so why not? I'm literally the lowest-level person on the server right now at level five. Aside from a level 9 hunter, there is no one under level 45 on. It's bizarre.
So maybe I'm a bit more anxious for WotLK than I thought ...
EDIT: I rolled a mage on VeCo out of entertainment — a guildie made a 30-39 twink guild and I think a mage would be fun in PVP, so why not? I'm literally the lowest-level person on the server right now at level five. Aside from a level 9 hunter, there is no one under level 45 on. It's bizarre.
*clings to Nagrand*
No midnight release for me (closest was about 30 miles away and I'd have had to ditch work), but honestly, I'm not really that upset. Getting to hear my guildies' impressions of the expansion was cool, and it'll come soon enough.
I am rethinking my whole anti-death knight stance, after running about with two of my awesomest guildies and their DKs for a couple minutes, and then listening to them over Vent. But really, it gave me some time to get a bit closer to 69 on Ahami (four bars to go!), which reminded me that I needed to get my Consortium payoff still this month, which reminded me that I need to pay the electric bill.
So it works out.
And honestly, I love Azeroth and love parts of Outland, and probably won't be back to either for a while, so it was nice to kind of cruise around, check a few places out, wrap up some unfinished business (like Ambassador Ideale's exploration — oh, and ambassador title), etc.
So hopefully my copy of Wrath will come tomorrow, but if it doesn't? I'm not too worried.
I am sleeping on the couch tonight, though, so as to actually hear the postman/postwoman when s/he comes. Just because I won't be upset to miss it doesn't mean I'm going to risk it!
I am rethinking my whole anti-death knight stance, after running about with two of my awesomest guildies and their DKs for a couple minutes, and then listening to them over Vent. But really, it gave me some time to get a bit closer to 69 on Ahami (four bars to go!), which reminded me that I needed to get my Consortium payoff still this month, which reminded me that I need to pay the electric bill.
So it works out.
And honestly, I love Azeroth and love parts of Outland, and probably won't be back to either for a while, so it was nice to kind of cruise around, check a few places out, wrap up some unfinished business (like Ambassador Ideale's exploration — oh, and ambassador title), etc.
So hopefully my copy of Wrath will come tomorrow, but if it doesn't? I'm not too worried.
I am sleeping on the couch tonight, though, so as to actually hear the postman/postwoman when s/he comes. Just because I won't be upset to miss it doesn't mean I'm going to risk it!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Expansion plans
Thursday: Ha, like the servers will even be up. Will probably head to the movies and see "High School Musical 3."
Friday: Morning, see above. Evening, none, because I have to be up and ready to leave at 8:30 a.m. and my normal bedtime is 4-5 a.m. Already working on resetting myself.
Saturday: None; family reunion of pure awesome, followed by sleep the moment I get home.
Sunday: Hit Blade's Edge Mountains with Ahami. Maybe do some Skettis dailies with Ideale FOR XP NOW WOOT. Or the Sporregar Naga-genocide quest. Or just work on Consortium rep — I'm getting close to Exalted with them!
Monday: Venture into one of the Northrend start zones to train professions. Work on leveling my Alliance shaman/Daj with BFF, and Onashne with roomie. Check Honor Hold for Operation: Death to Death Knights.
Tuesday: Ha, like maintenance will be over before 8 p.m. Might hit the movies again, but it's unlikely, since nothing else I want to see opens until Thanksgiving week, and probably won't play in this craptown anyway.
Wednesday: More BEM/Skettis.
Thursday following: Venture forth into Northrend. Return to Outland if it is too crowded and start working on Shadowmoon Valley.
Now, where to go in Northrend first? Since I have a short attention span and two characters of a level to go in, I will send one to the Borean Tundra and one to the Howling Fjord. Lore-wise, Ideale would be more likely to hit up the Howling Fjord while Ahami could go either way — Ide's more likely to head out with the Forsaken than the orcs when it comes to fighting the Scourge.
And at this point, I'd like to note that druids have the joy of earning rep for two druid-centric factions and will now have the D.E.H.T.A. questline. Well, I want to be able to earn rep with the Farstriders and the Earthen Ring! Why can't there be more class-related factions? That would be kind of awesome.
Friday: Morning, see above. Evening, none, because I have to be up and ready to leave at 8:30 a.m. and my normal bedtime is 4-5 a.m. Already working on resetting myself.
Saturday: None; family reunion of pure awesome, followed by sleep the moment I get home.
Sunday: Hit Blade's Edge Mountains with Ahami. Maybe do some Skettis dailies with Ideale FOR XP NOW WOOT. Or the Sporregar Naga-genocide quest. Or just work on Consortium rep — I'm getting close to Exalted with them!
Monday: Venture into one of the Northrend start zones to train professions. Work on leveling my Alliance shaman/Daj with BFF, and Onashne with roomie. Check Honor Hold for Operation: Death to Death Knights.
Tuesday: Ha, like maintenance will be over before 8 p.m. Might hit the movies again, but it's unlikely, since nothing else I want to see opens until Thanksgiving week, and probably won't play in this craptown anyway.
Wednesday: More BEM/Skettis.
Thursday following: Venture forth into Northrend. Return to Outland if it is too crowded and start working on Shadowmoon Valley.
Now, where to go in Northrend first? Since I have a short attention span and two characters of a level to go in, I will send one to the Borean Tundra and one to the Howling Fjord. Lore-wise, Ideale would be more likely to hit up the Howling Fjord while Ahami could go either way — Ide's more likely to head out with the Forsaken than the orcs when it comes to fighting the Scourge.
And at this point, I'd like to note that druids have the joy of earning rep for two druid-centric factions and will now have the D.E.H.T.A. questline. Well, I want to be able to earn rep with the Farstriders and the Earthen Ring! Why can't there be more class-related factions? That would be kind of awesome.
Professions blogs?
Just out of sheer curiosity, are there any profession blogs out there? I can't imagine that there'd be that much to write about, I guess, but I'm curious.
One of the reasons I can't roll on a server without several alts is that I like to have professions that complement each other on all my toons. For example, when Daj gets to end-game, someday, I'm going to drop skinning for herbalism so that I can drop herbalism on Ahami and pick up alchemy. That way, I can transmute gems for myself, create vellums for myself (Daj is also an enchanter), and take care of all my inscription, enchanting and jewelcrafting needs as well as stock up on potions and flasks and whatnot.
Onashne will probably beat Daj to 80, since the BFF and I have been playing our Alliance alts rather than our Horde ones (by which I mean we frantically loot whatever her fiance and our other friend kill in whatever instance they are running us through repeatedly, and occasionally she sheeps a stray mob while I keep her healed until one of them can come kill it). This was unplanned — I didn't know if I'd like her or keep her, and would have picked up engineering and mining instead of leatherworking if I had — although now I can max out her skill when I get some spare cash and make PVP gear for my other two.
And the Alliance alt I mentioned? The guild needs an alchemist and that goes nicely with her eventual healing role, so I'm picking that up. But wait, if I have a healer, I'm going to need a toon to do dailies and farm with, because doing that stuff on a healer is an exercise in frustration. So I transferred Tshaya to Blackhand — she will be my miner — and rolled a warlock. If the warlock can make it to a decent level, she'll be my eventual herbalist, and M. will pick up engineering. If not, we'll see how far along Tshaya is with enchanting — the guild has an enchanter, so I could drop that and pick up herbalism with her instead.
I don't have altitis, exactly, so much as professionitis and a dislike of shelling out gold on the AH for mats I could easily gather myself.
EDIT: Oh, and I now have five mounted characters, and am really close to having a sixth. :-O
One of the reasons I can't roll on a server without several alts is that I like to have professions that complement each other on all my toons. For example, when Daj gets to end-game, someday, I'm going to drop skinning for herbalism so that I can drop herbalism on Ahami and pick up alchemy. That way, I can transmute gems for myself, create vellums for myself (Daj is also an enchanter), and take care of all my inscription, enchanting and jewelcrafting needs as well as stock up on potions and flasks and whatnot.
Onashne will probably beat Daj to 80, since the BFF and I have been playing our Alliance alts rather than our Horde ones (by which I mean we frantically loot whatever her fiance and our other friend kill in whatever instance they are running us through repeatedly, and occasionally she sheeps a stray mob while I keep her healed until one of them can come kill it). This was unplanned — I didn't know if I'd like her or keep her, and would have picked up engineering and mining instead of leatherworking if I had — although now I can max out her skill when I get some spare cash and make PVP gear for my other two.
And the Alliance alt I mentioned? The guild needs an alchemist and that goes nicely with her eventual healing role, so I'm picking that up. But wait, if I have a healer, I'm going to need a toon to do dailies and farm with, because doing that stuff on a healer is an exercise in frustration. So I transferred Tshaya to Blackhand — she will be my miner — and rolled a warlock. If the warlock can make it to a decent level, she'll be my eventual herbalist, and M. will pick up engineering. If not, we'll see how far along Tshaya is with enchanting — the guild has an enchanter, so I could drop that and pick up herbalism with her instead.
I don't have altitis, exactly, so much as professionitis and a dislike of shelling out gold on the AH for mats I could easily gather myself.
EDIT: Oh, and I now have five mounted characters, and am really close to having a sixth. :-O
Monday, November 10, 2008
FOR THE HORDE!
If you are not in the Valley of Honor in Orgrimmar right now, you are missing out. The Scourge is attacking and that fool Garrosh Hellscream is going to get himself killed.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Six days to go and vengeance will be mine
And I hit 68. So I can happily go into Northrend with my guild, even if I do not manage to get another level before Thursday. This makes me superhappy.
Not that I couldn't have gone in on Ideale, of course — and I will be DPSing for the guild as well as healing, I'm sure. But Ideale I can solo to 80 with without many problems — having mostly (but not entirely!) soloed to 68 as resto, I'd really, REALLY like to group up as much as possible with Ahami.
However, I forgot how ganktastic Nagrand was to non-70s, and I am glad that I was reminded, because my first act in the expansion will not be to head straight to Northrend or to pick up the leveling game again. No, my first act in the expansion will be to chill outside Honor Hold, where I will wave and salute all of the new 60s and then gank every death knight who comes out of the doors.
My reasoning? A 60 hunter or shaman or priest or druid might be someone's first toon, and I don't want to ruin it for them. But death knights can't be made without having a high-level character already — and I don't discriminate, so I'll have to just kill them all.
Not that I couldn't have gone in on Ideale, of course — and I will be DPSing for the guild as well as healing, I'm sure. But Ideale I can solo to 80 with without many problems — having mostly (but not entirely!) soloed to 68 as resto, I'd really, REALLY like to group up as much as possible with Ahami.
However, I forgot how ganktastic Nagrand was to non-70s, and I am glad that I was reminded, because my first act in the expansion will not be to head straight to Northrend or to pick up the leveling game again. No, my first act in the expansion will be to chill outside Honor Hold, where I will wave and salute all of the new 60s and then gank every death knight who comes out of the doors.
My reasoning? A 60 hunter or shaman or priest or druid might be someone's first toon, and I don't want to ruin it for them. But death knights can't be made without having a high-level character already — and I don't discriminate, so I'll have to just kill them all.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Why I have not blogged this week
1. I'm about halfway through 67 on Ahami, and think I might hit 68 by Saturday. So instead of writing about WoW, I've mostly been playing WoW.
1a. Also, achievements are horrible, addictive things that should be removed (oh God please ignore that I will cry if they go away).
2. For some asinine reason, I decided to inflict NaNoWriMo on myself during U.S. election season/Wrath of the Lich King release month. OH GOD WHY
3. Those of you in the U.S. know that this week is election week. Because of my job in the evil elite liberal media (only so totally not), this means that this week has been CRAZY ASS BUSY WEEK FROM HELL WEEK OF DOOM ELECTION WEEK '08 for me. And as I am a masochist (I play a hunter in PVP, like you didn't already know that), I am clinging to it, sobbing "Please never leave me, CRAZY ASS BUSY WEEK FROM HELL WEEK OF DOOM ELECTION WEEK '08, please please please PLEASE."
3a. The 5 a.m. Wednesday no-sleep-yet, adrenaline-fueled Denny's run o' joint elation-and-despair kind of tuckered me out, too.
4. My cat has felt neglected due to NaNo and CRAZY ASS BUSY WEEK FROM HELL WEEK OF DOOM ELECTION WEEK '08 and has made it quite known by doing things such as playing on top of me or eating my fingers/toes/face to wake me up after I've had no more than four hours of sleep, sitting by the door and yowling for 20-minute stretches, and laying down on top of my hands and keyboard and staring at me with the expression of a child in a World Vision commercial while I'm in the middle of AV. She needs love a bit more than both the blog and the pixel-cats — and can punish me more effectively if I don't give her attention.
5. There is no spoon.
1a. Also, achievements are horrible, addictive things that should be removed (oh God please ignore that I will cry if they go away).
2. For some asinine reason, I decided to inflict NaNoWriMo on myself during U.S. election season/Wrath of the Lich King release month. OH GOD WHY
3. Those of you in the U.S. know that this week is election week. Because of my job in the evil elite liberal media (only so totally not), this means that this week has been CRAZY ASS BUSY WEEK FROM HELL WEEK OF DOOM ELECTION WEEK '08 for me. And as I am a masochist (I play a hunter in PVP, like you didn't already know that), I am clinging to it, sobbing "Please never leave me, CRAZY ASS BUSY WEEK FROM HELL WEEK OF DOOM ELECTION WEEK '08, please please please PLEASE."
3a. The 5 a.m. Wednesday no-sleep-yet, adrenaline-fueled Denny's run o' joint elation-and-despair kind of tuckered me out, too.
4. My cat has felt neglected due to NaNo and CRAZY ASS BUSY WEEK FROM HELL WEEK OF DOOM ELECTION WEEK '08 and has made it quite known by doing things such as playing on top of me or eating my fingers/toes/face to wake me up after I've had no more than four hours of sleep, sitting by the door and yowling for 20-minute stretches, and laying down on top of my hands and keyboard and staring at me with the expression of a child in a World Vision commercial while I'm in the middle of AV. She needs love a bit more than both the blog and the pixel-cats — and can punish me more effectively if I don't give her attention.
5. There is no spoon.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
And here I go!
I have finally, finally made it past the low-60s slump. When Ide hit 62-ish, I didn't play her more than a bubble or so of XP at a time for weeks while I leveled all of my lowbie alts (including my priest!). Around the time she hit 64, I was spending most of my playing time running Ahami all over Azeroth to put out fires.
But when she hit 66, end-game was within reach, and even grinding mobs instead of questing (and I was, because I wanted that damn talbuk!) I was hooked and could not stop playing. I think part of it is that I went to Nagrand at 66 and the quests there are just a blast.
Poor Ahami was 63 when the patch hit, and even though I was unable to play for nearly a week, she was still only 65 yesterday.
And last night, at 65, I did not want to play Ahami at all. At all. I ended up running my roommate through the Scarlet Monastery and Gnomeregan on Ideale instead (we both wanted to play but were sick of killing skull-less Hillsbrad farmers and bloodless and tongueless bears and mountain lions, and I'd not gotten the achievement for SM or ever been in Gnomer). And then I went and killed scourge for a while, even though there is nothing I particularly want from this but Argent Dawn rep, and if I get Ahami a little higher in time, I could get her a couple of decent pieces of gear.
This morning, I logged on her intending to do nothing but inscription research. But I was three bubbles from 66 and sick of Terokkar, so I told myself that I would do a few more quests to get there, then abandon the rest and head for Nagrand.
And the second I dinged, I swear, I couldn't bear to log and switch to Ideale again. I kept questing in Terokkar for five or six more quests, then went to Nagrand, picked up everything, and did several of those quests. Now I'm halfway to 67 and ready to come home and buckle down tonight and get there. And since tomorrow is my day off, maybe I can bribe some guildies to go kill the Scourge with me — that'd get me to 68 pretty quick, I bet. I'd like the tabard, but I'd REALLY like the shoulders and gloves, since I'm not going to have time to gear up at 70, probably. And maybe I'll even get lucky and a couple of useful leather or mail purples will drop in the process. *crosses fingers*
Please tell me I'm not the only one who stalls out badly between Winterspring and Nagrand?
But when she hit 66, end-game was within reach, and even grinding mobs instead of questing (and I was, because I wanted that damn talbuk!) I was hooked and could not stop playing. I think part of it is that I went to Nagrand at 66 and the quests there are just a blast.
Poor Ahami was 63 when the patch hit, and even though I was unable to play for nearly a week, she was still only 65 yesterday.
And last night, at 65, I did not want to play Ahami at all. At all. I ended up running my roommate through the Scarlet Monastery and Gnomeregan on Ideale instead (we both wanted to play but were sick of killing skull-less Hillsbrad farmers and bloodless and tongueless bears and mountain lions, and I'd not gotten the achievement for SM or ever been in Gnomer). And then I went and killed scourge for a while, even though there is nothing I particularly want from this but Argent Dawn rep, and if I get Ahami a little higher in time, I could get her a couple of decent pieces of gear.
This morning, I logged on her intending to do nothing but inscription research. But I was three bubbles from 66 and sick of Terokkar, so I told myself that I would do a few more quests to get there, then abandon the rest and head for Nagrand.
And the second I dinged, I swear, I couldn't bear to log and switch to Ideale again. I kept questing in Terokkar for five or six more quests, then went to Nagrand, picked up everything, and did several of those quests. Now I'm halfway to 67 and ready to come home and buckle down tonight and get there. And since tomorrow is my day off, maybe I can bribe some guildies to go kill the Scourge with me — that'd get me to 68 pretty quick, I bet. I'd like the tabard, but I'd REALLY like the shoulders and gloves, since I'm not going to have time to gear up at 70, probably. And maybe I'll even get lucky and a couple of useful leather or mail purples will drop in the process. *crosses fingers*
Please tell me I'm not the only one who stalls out badly between Winterspring and Nagrand?
Saturday, November 1, 2008
I raided!
Sort of. My guild was in SSC today and downed either Tidewalker or Lurker, I don't know, and someone had to go right before Vashj. So one of the guild leaders whispers if I want to come.
Now, I am not at all geared for that on Ide. Hell, I'm barely geared for HEROICS on Ide — I am half in greens and rep blues and half in PVP gear. I don't even HAVE a PVE set. And I said so, but he was like, "We don't care, come on."
So we got Vashj to phase two, apparently, but wiped on all the adds. It was still pretty cool up until then, though!
So ... yeah. Sheer madness. And despite only being in for the last 20 minutes or so, it was a blast; not at all what I expected based on the sheer painfulness of five-mans. Definitely something I'd like to try again.
Now, I am not at all geared for that on Ide. Hell, I'm barely geared for HEROICS on Ide — I am half in greens and rep blues and half in PVP gear. I don't even HAVE a PVE set. And I said so, but he was like, "We don't care, come on."
So we got Vashj to phase two, apparently, but wiped on all the adds. It was still pretty cool up until then, though!
So ... yeah. Sheer madness. And despite only being in for the last 20 minutes or so, it was a blast; not at all what I expected based on the sheer painfulness of five-mans. Definitely something I'd like to try again.
Alliance finally scores a point with me
I have to say, the draenei Call of Elements quests are WAY cooler than the Horde ones.
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