Went back to Hellfire Peninsula without upping my skills or hitting 59 via Alterac Valley. *shame* I am halfway to a Frostwolf tabard, though, and I do hope to actually get there before I hit 61. (I know there are more useful things to blow AV marks on — a black war kodo, for example — but I am kind of obsessed with getting that tabard.) And my honor is coming along nicely. I'll worry about my skills later.
I finished my very first Outland quest ever and got a shiny new helm. And I had slapped Hunter's Mark on one of the Bloodchewer Mutants, my first Outland kill ever (the boar things don't feel like they should count to me, even if they are harder), when I heard this horrible sound like a train whistle and grinding gears and stomping. And I turned around and got smacked in the face by the Fel Reaver faster than you can spit, and then I'm sitting in the graveyard going, "Whoa, wtf was that!?"
I think I'd spent a total of 3.5 minutes on Hellfire Peninsula at that point. Did I set a record?
Managed to avoid getting curb-stomped after that, though, and Saffron even gained a level (she'd been stabled through Winterspring — she looked so cold! — and was four levels behind).
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
PVPing as Alliance and Horde
In both of my battlegroups (and, when I still had a couple of level 19s on Whisperwind, on my third battlegroup), Horde tends to dominate everything except the 10-19 bracket of Warsong Gulch (and, to a lesser extent, the 20-29 bracket of WSG, but not to Arathi Basin). I've never made it beyond the 20-29 bracket myself, Alliance-side, but I've heard people complain about the upper levels.
Some of the Alliance-side folks on my battlegroups complain that it is because the Horde side has better racials, or because they are all twinks. This is, for lack of a better way to say it, complete bullshit. I've played both sides, and seriously? Gift of the Naaru and Stoneform, at least, are just as good as any Horde racial. Escape Artist might be, too. And for any Alliance hunters out there, Shadowmeld + Prowl has gotten Ideale pwned a few times. As for the twink argument, one of the main reason Alliance dominates so heavily in the 10-19 bracket of WSG is, in my experience, because there are a LOT of twinks (there are Horde-side, too, but they tend to be in pugs with non-twinks instead of premades).
Again, this is based only on my experience, and these observations may not apply to other battlegroups, or even to my battlegroups at normal playing hours — I'm usually in the BGs around 2 a.m. PST.
So why do I think Horde dominates? Well, last time I went into Arathi Basin on Ideale, the pre-game conversation involved which nodes to take and hold at all costs, which ones to take but let go if needed, and which ones to let Alliance take but disrupt whenever necessary. Some people put themselves on defense at this point. Once the battle started, we followed the plan, and communicated when it wasn't working. When a node was defended, the bg chat was full of "Nice defense! Good job!" Yeah, there were a couple of a-holes who just complained about how we all sucked — there always are — but we ignored them, communicated, and won 2000-1190. Oh, and we were outnumbered.
Last time I was in Arathi Basin with Tshaya, there was no pre-battle communication. Once in battle, the only people talking were the ones complaining that Horde always wins. They complained that there were more hunters and locks Horde-side, even though our numbers were the same. A few people (myself included) would speak up with "nice defense" and they'd deride us. They complained that non-twinks shouldn't even be there. A little way through the battle, me and another guy suggested rushing the blacksmith and taking that, then staging a combo assault-defense from there (because really, it's the key position; nearly every battle I've been in for AB has been won because we took the blacksmith and held it). That idea was "stupid" and we "couldn't do it anyway" so we held the mine and stable and tried to take the farm. We lost big. And then the complainers were saying, "Oh, Horde racials are better, they're all twinks, blah blah blah."
Now obviously not all Alliance players feel that way. There were people in my battle trying to shut up the complainers and come up with a plan. The problem is not whining or a couple of bad players.
The key to winning battlegrounds is, in my experience: a.) Have a plan. b.) COMMUNICATE. This is the most important. c.) Offer suggestions and encouragement even when things go wrong.
This worked Monday night when Ideale was in Alterac Valley, even. We were up against a very good Alliance team, and nine of us had made a rush for the Frostwolf banner for "Proving Grounds" rather than joining in the assault. But the whole time we were there, the rest of the team updated us on where they were, let us know what the other team was like, etc., and we let them know when we were done and on our way. We barely, barely managed to scrape out a win — the other team was excellent, and actually managed to take out most of our resources and hit Drek'Thar before we burned down Stormpike — but we did, and it was because we communicated, and because we didn't waste time complaining when we could be fighting.
I think if the Alliance side communicated as effectively as the Horde side seems to, the wins would be far more even (and I'm sure that on some battlegroups they do, and they are).
That said, unless I decide to transfer Tshaya to another realm (and I might; I really kind of hate Laughing Skull and I'm never on when my friends are, anyway), I probably won't PVP much with her. Which makes me sad, because I really do like her, and I just don't see myself as a regular raider or even a PUGer.
Some of the Alliance-side folks on my battlegroups complain that it is because the Horde side has better racials, or because they are all twinks. This is, for lack of a better way to say it, complete bullshit. I've played both sides, and seriously? Gift of the Naaru and Stoneform, at least, are just as good as any Horde racial. Escape Artist might be, too. And for any Alliance hunters out there, Shadowmeld + Prowl has gotten Ideale pwned a few times. As for the twink argument, one of the main reason Alliance dominates so heavily in the 10-19 bracket of WSG is, in my experience, because there are a LOT of twinks (there are Horde-side, too, but they tend to be in pugs with non-twinks instead of premades).
Again, this is based only on my experience, and these observations may not apply to other battlegroups, or even to my battlegroups at normal playing hours — I'm usually in the BGs around 2 a.m. PST.
So why do I think Horde dominates? Well, last time I went into Arathi Basin on Ideale, the pre-game conversation involved which nodes to take and hold at all costs, which ones to take but let go if needed, and which ones to let Alliance take but disrupt whenever necessary. Some people put themselves on defense at this point. Once the battle started, we followed the plan, and communicated when it wasn't working. When a node was defended, the bg chat was full of "Nice defense! Good job!" Yeah, there were a couple of a-holes who just complained about how we all sucked — there always are — but we ignored them, communicated, and won 2000-1190. Oh, and we were outnumbered.
Last time I was in Arathi Basin with Tshaya, there was no pre-battle communication. Once in battle, the only people talking were the ones complaining that Horde always wins. They complained that there were more hunters and locks Horde-side, even though our numbers were the same. A few people (myself included) would speak up with "nice defense" and they'd deride us. They complained that non-twinks shouldn't even be there. A little way through the battle, me and another guy suggested rushing the blacksmith and taking that, then staging a combo assault-defense from there (because really, it's the key position; nearly every battle I've been in for AB has been won because we took the blacksmith and held it). That idea was "stupid" and we "couldn't do it anyway" so we held the mine and stable and tried to take the farm. We lost big. And then the complainers were saying, "Oh, Horde racials are better, they're all twinks, blah blah blah."
Now obviously not all Alliance players feel that way. There were people in my battle trying to shut up the complainers and come up with a plan. The problem is not whining or a couple of bad players.
The key to winning battlegrounds is, in my experience: a.) Have a plan. b.) COMMUNICATE. This is the most important. c.) Offer suggestions and encouragement even when things go wrong.
This worked Monday night when Ideale was in Alterac Valley, even. We were up against a very good Alliance team, and nine of us had made a rush for the Frostwolf banner for "Proving Grounds" rather than joining in the assault. But the whole time we were there, the rest of the team updated us on where they were, let us know what the other team was like, etc., and we let them know when we were done and on our way. We barely, barely managed to scrape out a win — the other team was excellent, and actually managed to take out most of our resources and hit Drek'Thar before we burned down Stormpike — but we did, and it was because we communicated, and because we didn't waste time complaining when we could be fighting.
I think if the Alliance side communicated as effectively as the Horde side seems to, the wins would be far more even (and I'm sure that on some battlegroups they do, and they are).
That said, unless I decide to transfer Tshaya to another realm (and I might; I really kind of hate Laughing Skull and I'm never on when my friends are, anyway), I probably won't PVP much with her. Which makes me sad, because I really do like her, and I just don't see myself as a regular raider or even a PUGer.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Trying out another non-cat
Without going into too much detail, since I haven't done the write-ups yet, Project Infiltration is complete and Dayea is my new experimental hunters. Dayea has Peach, a Prairie Wolf, as a pet (not a cat omg!). ... Of course, she also has Apple, a Springpaw Stalker (the red and yellow ones) in the stable should Peach not work out.
Something about elves in general just makes me think food names are appropriate.
So far, Peach seems to be able to take more damage than Kresha's Tack or Daj's Serai. She started out at level six and was taking three or four level 6 and 7 grells at a time without losing health super fast. Plus she barks when I click on her. So maybe I'll keep her.
Still don't like the snarling face or the way she runs, though. But maybe she'll grow on me.
Kresha and Daj were also supposed to be experimental hunters — I was leveling Daj with MM and Kresha with Survival, but hated both in the lower levels. My kitties lost health too fast and didn't take damage well. So I think I will switch back to BM until the mid-to-late 20s, and try again then to see if they're better specs for me in slightly higher levels.
Something about elves in general just makes me think food names are appropriate.
So far, Peach seems to be able to take more damage than Kresha's Tack or Daj's Serai. She started out at level six and was taking three or four level 6 and 7 grells at a time without losing health super fast. Plus she barks when I click on her. So maybe I'll keep her.
Still don't like the snarling face or the way she runs, though. But maybe she'll grow on me.
Kresha and Daj were also supposed to be experimental hunters — I was leveling Daj with MM and Kresha with Survival, but hated both in the lower levels. My kitties lost health too fast and didn't take damage well. So I think I will switch back to BM until the mid-to-late 20s, and try again then to see if they're better specs for me in slightly higher levels.
Project Infiltration: Tirisfal Glades
Hunter: Dayea
Level: 10
Destination: Tirisfal Glades
Route Taken: Starting in Auberdine, I took the boat to Menethil Harbor, jumped off the dock, turned on Track Humanoids, and swan right on the edge of the fatigue zone (the dark water in your minimap) to avoid the murlocs. I swam east, then north until I was in the Arathi Highlands (still in the water), then west back to Southshore in Hillsbrad. I suffered death by murloc once right outside of Southshore. From there, I ran west on the road, then north through Silverpine Forest into Tirisfal Glades.
Dangers: Murlocs and naga. If you leave Track Humanoids up, then you can avoid them until you get to Southshore. You will aggro at least one heading to shore; they're just too thick to avoid it. On the road in Hillsbrad, there are the bears and spiders that get close and pick up your aggro radius. Once you get into Silverpine, stick to the road. Your only dangers are Horde players at this point, so you can have possible death on the road, if you run into one and they decide to gank, or certain death off the road with bears and stuff.
Difficulty level: Dead easy. Even with a mage ganking and bear deaths, this was by far the easiest run into enemy territory ever. Now I know why Alliance are always attacking Undercity on The Venture Co. Between the easy access to the zone and the sewers, it's the easiest one to attack.
If you choose to stay on land for this one, it'd be a lot harder, though.
And seriously, Laughing Skull sucks for PVP. I tamed my bat, wandered over to watch a tauren and a blood elf duel, and went and explored the Ruins of Lordaeron, and no one even cared. Probably because I was level 10, but come on. Even I would break my "Don't gank players way lower levels than you" rule if I saw a night elf wandering around in my city.
There's really not much to say here. It was a super easy run. I'll have screen shots later.
Level: 10
Destination: Tirisfal Glades
Route Taken: Starting in Auberdine, I took the boat to Menethil Harbor, jumped off the dock, turned on Track Humanoids, and swan right on the edge of the fatigue zone (the dark water in your minimap) to avoid the murlocs. I swam east, then north until I was in the Arathi Highlands (still in the water), then west back to Southshore in Hillsbrad. I suffered death by murloc once right outside of Southshore. From there, I ran west on the road, then north through Silverpine Forest into Tirisfal Glades.
Dangers: Murlocs and naga. If you leave Track Humanoids up, then you can avoid them until you get to Southshore. You will aggro at least one heading to shore; they're just too thick to avoid it. On the road in Hillsbrad, there are the bears and spiders that get close and pick up your aggro radius. Once you get into Silverpine, stick to the road. Your only dangers are Horde players at this point, so you can have possible death on the road, if you run into one and they decide to gank, or certain death off the road with bears and stuff.
Difficulty level: Dead easy. Even with a mage ganking and bear deaths, this was by far the easiest run into enemy territory ever. Now I know why Alliance are always attacking Undercity on The Venture Co. Between the easy access to the zone and the sewers, it's the easiest one to attack.
If you choose to stay on land for this one, it'd be a lot harder, though.
And seriously, Laughing Skull sucks for PVP. I tamed my bat, wandered over to watch a tauren and a blood elf duel, and went and explored the Ruins of Lordaeron, and no one even cared. Probably because I was level 10, but come on. Even I would break my "Don't gank players way lower levels than you" rule if I saw a night elf wandering around in my city.
There's really not much to say here. It was a super easy run. I'll have screen shots later.
Horde at heart
So I figured I should spend a little time on Dayea and get her to 10 so I could finish up Project Infiltration (she's just barely 8), and when I signed into Darnassus, what do I see? An orc shaman and a blood elf pally running around attacking. (And as I got the "Darnassus is under attack!" message while they weren't attacking, I assume they were not alone.)
So what did I do?
Cheered at them, of course. Laughing Skull isn't an RP realm.
And then I mentioned they were there on trade, since I was quite literally the only Alliance person in the city. Shoot, if I went to the trouble of hauling my ass to Darnassus and attacking it, I'd be seriously disappointed if no one showed up to defend.
Sadly, Laughing Skull sucks for World PVP and only one lone level 40 showed and was immediately dead. And as a level 8, it's not like I could do anything against people who were at least 60 (epic mounts).
This is why I rarely play my Alliance alts. Laughing Skull is BORING.
(Also, and I do feel bad about this, but I secretly cheer a little inside whenever I'm on Tshaya and one of my guildies complains about getting ganked by Horde in Stranglethorn or Desolace. Not because I dislike Alliance players that much — I really don't, and depending on my mood and which character I'm on, I'm as likely to wave and move on as I am to gank someone — but because YEY HORDE.)
So what did I do?
Cheered at them, of course. Laughing Skull isn't an RP realm.
And then I mentioned they were there on trade, since I was quite literally the only Alliance person in the city. Shoot, if I went to the trouble of hauling my ass to Darnassus and attacking it, I'd be seriously disappointed if no one showed up to defend.
Sadly, Laughing Skull sucks for World PVP and only one lone level 40 showed and was immediately dead. And as a level 8, it's not like I could do anything against people who were at least 60 (epic mounts).
This is why I rarely play my Alliance alts. Laughing Skull is BORING.
(Also, and I do feel bad about this, but I secretly cheer a little inside whenever I'm on Tshaya and one of my guildies complains about getting ganked by Horde in Stranglethorn or Desolace. Not because I dislike Alliance players that much — I really don't, and depending on my mood and which character I'm on, I'm as likely to wave and move on as I am to gank someone — but because YEY HORDE.)
Monday, May 26, 2008
Slowing down
Last night (she said, "Oh, baby, I feel so down" ... yes, this is how my brain works, and it's not even true. Let's start again.)
Last night, Ideale made her very first trip into the Blasted Lands, and, as I sat and squeed and took lots of screen shots (will post those later), she crossed through the Dark Portal into Outland. And then she picked up the Thrallmar flight path and a handful of quests, killed two of those demon pigs, salvaged a piece of wood, nearly suffered death at the hands of mutants, and headed back to Orgrimmar, because Hellfire Peninsula is scary and I was supposed to have at least 60 AV marks before I was going to cross anyway, and I rushed the last several levels.
In fact, I feel like I rushed everywhere on Ideale, but since she was the first character I had to break 30, I wanted to see EVERYTHING. Which is why my mining, engineering and fishing are in the low hundreds. So my goal now is to get my AV tabard (I know there are much more useful things to spend marks on, but I want it!) and get my mining and fishing to 225, and maybe my engineering too, before I get out of Hellfire Peninsula. That means slowing down. And it probably won't happen, but if I can get a little bit of a jumpstart, it'd be less to grind at 70.
And as I finished up the Horde half of Project Infiltration, I took Kresha over to the Echo Isles and tamed a Durotar Tiger for her. His name is Tack. It's weird, though; when I was leveling Ideale (and I did hit up the Barrens and Mulgore because I wanted a kodo instead of achocobohawkstrider), it seemed like no one had tigers. Same with Daj (I really like the Barrens and I really like kodos). But the second I tamed one with Kresha, I ran into about six hunters who also had tigers.
I'm on the cutting edge of fashion!
Actually, my semi-goal right now is to level to 59 just in Alterac Valley. I noticed last night that you get miniscule amounts of XP every time things die near you, and I've gone up almost two bars in five games, so ... And goal two is to get Kresha out of the Barrens and up to Ashenvale, where I will not rush through. Even if I am impatient and easily bored. And I will do instances (with Ideale, I ran Shadowfang Keep, Scarlet Monastery Library, Uldaman, Maraudan, Sunken Temple and Zul'Farrak ... and Maraudan and Zul'Farrak are unfinished to this day). Some people want to see Karazhan, I want to see Ragefire Chasm and the Wailing Caverns.
BUT I GOT TO GO THROUGH THE PORTAL YEY!
Last night, Ideale made her very first trip into the Blasted Lands, and, as I sat and squeed and took lots of screen shots (will post those later), she crossed through the Dark Portal into Outland. And then she picked up the Thrallmar flight path and a handful of quests, killed two of those demon pigs, salvaged a piece of wood, nearly suffered death at the hands of mutants, and headed back to Orgrimmar, because Hellfire Peninsula is scary and I was supposed to have at least 60 AV marks before I was going to cross anyway, and I rushed the last several levels.
In fact, I feel like I rushed everywhere on Ideale, but since she was the first character I had to break 30, I wanted to see EVERYTHING. Which is why my mining, engineering and fishing are in the low hundreds. So my goal now is to get my AV tabard (I know there are much more useful things to spend marks on, but I want it!) and get my mining and fishing to 225, and maybe my engineering too, before I get out of Hellfire Peninsula. That means slowing down. And it probably won't happen, but if I can get a little bit of a jumpstart, it'd be less to grind at 70.
And as I finished up the Horde half of Project Infiltration, I took Kresha over to the Echo Isles and tamed a Durotar Tiger for her. His name is Tack. It's weird, though; when I was leveling Ideale (and I did hit up the Barrens and Mulgore because I wanted a kodo instead of a
I'm on the cutting edge of fashion!
Actually, my semi-goal right now is to level to 59 just in Alterac Valley. I noticed last night that you get miniscule amounts of XP every time things die near you, and I've gone up almost two bars in five games, so ... And goal two is to get Kresha out of the Barrens and up to Ashenvale, where I will not rush through. Even if I am impatient and easily bored. And I will do instances (with Ideale, I ran Shadowfang Keep, Scarlet Monastery Library, Uldaman, Maraudan, Sunken Temple and Zul'Farrak ... and Maraudan and Zul'Farrak are unfinished to this day). Some people want to see Karazhan, I want to see Ragefire Chasm and the Wailing Caverns.
BUT I GOT TO GO THROUGH THE PORTAL YEY!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Hunter personalities
The main reason I have five hunters is, of course, to collect cats around Azeroth. Yes, I'm a dork, but if Blizzard is only going to give us two viable stable slots, so be it.
But another reason is because I am, at heart, a role-player, and I play very much in character. My hunters (and my other, non-hunter alts) all have distinct backstories and personalities, and I get very into character when I'm playing them. While I usually have a backstory in mind, this often changes as I get a better sense of a character's personality (something I've found is the case in other RPGs I've played, both online and off).
Ideale, for example, is very driven, but is a bit of a carebear at heart. If you're a similar-level Alliance and you run across her path, she'll attack (unless you're a hunter, too). Lower levels get ignored. Why not attack other hunters? For some reason, on Ideale, it just feels wrong; I think because the Farstriders were basically her family, and so she extends that to hunters in general. She's more likely to emote-communicate with an Alliance hunter, whereas anything else, especially paladins, are fair game. She's very much trying to prove herself a useful member of the Horde.
Tshaya is super serious and a bit of a loner. She chooses whether to fight or not on a whim (or when I remember I'm Alliance and the taurens aren't on my side anymore), but is much more interested in exploring Azeroth and finding out of the way corners to hide out and hunt, just her and Cat. She doesn't have anything to prove, and likes to take her own time exploring areas, learning new skills, and completing tasks.
Daj thinks a little like a rogue. If she has a task, she gets in, does it, and gets out. Because she grew up around taurens, she is not very fond of violence, but will turn to it when necessary. She's unlikely to attack opposing faction not so much because she's opposed to fighting, but because it's a waste of time and unnecessary. She'll defend herself as needed. She has a sense of humor, though, and does enjoy spending time just hunting out in the Barrens or somewhere else sunny and nice and full of fun game. And she likes to take bets, which is how Project Infiltration got started.
Kresha is a fighter. She'll do her duties to the Horde, but if she can fight Alliance on the way, then she's up for it. She knows no fear (which is why she spent half an hour attacking a ?? warrior who came to defend Eastvale this morning ... at level 10) and is likely to laugh while losing as well as while winning. When she's not fighting, she likes a good party. She basically lives in the moment, and loves to have fun. I'm still getting a bit of a sense of her personality, but she is very intense and very fun to play.
I haven't played Dayea enough to get a sense of her personality, really, but I do like her. She seems fairly upbeat and cheerful. Also like more of a defender; I think she'd be the alt who will would take time out of questing or other tasks to come to the defense of Eastvale when level 10 orcs start taking out peasants, but wouldn't especially go looking for a fight. I'm not sure yet.
My non-hunters also have personalities — I like my mage, Branna, and priest, Gabi, best Horde-side, and my paladin, Mangaragan, and rogue, Dihas, Alliance-side. None of them get a lot of play time, though, because while I love the characters, I don't care much for the play styles of any of them long enough to play for more than an hour here and there, and since I work weird hours and spend most of my time soloing, hunters are the most fun, even if they are supposedly "EZ Mode." (I could see it being easy with macros, but I don't and likely won't use them. And nothing is easy mode on a laptop!)
And the game is about fun, right?
But another reason is because I am, at heart, a role-player, and I play very much in character. My hunters (and my other, non-hunter alts) all have distinct backstories and personalities, and I get very into character when I'm playing them. While I usually have a backstory in mind, this often changes as I get a better sense of a character's personality (something I've found is the case in other RPGs I've played, both online and off).
Ideale, for example, is very driven, but is a bit of a carebear at heart. If you're a similar-level Alliance and you run across her path, she'll attack (unless you're a hunter, too). Lower levels get ignored. Why not attack other hunters? For some reason, on Ideale, it just feels wrong; I think because the Farstriders were basically her family, and so she extends that to hunters in general. She's more likely to emote-communicate with an Alliance hunter, whereas anything else, especially paladins, are fair game. She's very much trying to prove herself a useful member of the Horde.
Tshaya is super serious and a bit of a loner. She chooses whether to fight or not on a whim (or when I remember I'm Alliance and the taurens aren't on my side anymore), but is much more interested in exploring Azeroth and finding out of the way corners to hide out and hunt, just her and Cat. She doesn't have anything to prove, and likes to take her own time exploring areas, learning new skills, and completing tasks.
Daj thinks a little like a rogue. If she has a task, she gets in, does it, and gets out. Because she grew up around taurens, she is not very fond of violence, but will turn to it when necessary. She's unlikely to attack opposing faction not so much because she's opposed to fighting, but because it's a waste of time and unnecessary. She'll defend herself as needed. She has a sense of humor, though, and does enjoy spending time just hunting out in the Barrens or somewhere else sunny and nice and full of fun game. And she likes to take bets, which is how Project Infiltration got started.
Kresha is a fighter. She'll do her duties to the Horde, but if she can fight Alliance on the way, then she's up for it. She knows no fear (which is why she spent half an hour attacking a ?? warrior who came to defend Eastvale this morning ... at level 10) and is likely to laugh while losing as well as while winning. When she's not fighting, she likes a good party. She basically lives in the moment, and loves to have fun. I'm still getting a bit of a sense of her personality, but she is very intense and very fun to play.
I haven't played Dayea enough to get a sense of her personality, really, but I do like her. She seems fairly upbeat and cheerful. Also like more of a defender; I think she'd be the alt who will would take time out of questing or other tasks to come to the defense of Eastvale when level 10 orcs start taking out peasants, but wouldn't especially go looking for a fight. I'm not sure yet.
My non-hunters also have personalities — I like my mage, Branna, and priest, Gabi, best Horde-side, and my paladin, Mangaragan, and rogue, Dihas, Alliance-side. None of them get a lot of play time, though, because while I love the characters, I don't care much for the play styles of any of them long enough to play for more than an hour here and there, and since I work weird hours and spend most of my time soloing, hunters are the most fun, even if they are supposedly "EZ Mode." (I could see it being easy with macros, but I don't and likely won't use them. And nothing is easy mode on a laptop!)
And the game is about fun, right?
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Today's lesson: Train your pets
So I was cruising around on Petopia this morning, trying to decide whether I should try a new pet for Kresha or snag a Durotar tiger (tiger won — I tried the boar out during the Training the Beast quest and I just cannot handle the squealing, and the only carrion birds I'm interested in are too high a level. There's something wrong with me re: kitty obsession), when I thought to myself, "Hmm. It's been a while since I trained Cinnamon. So I hopped on WOW and check, and he was rocking Claw 3 and Bite 4 ... at level 52.
Bad hunter! No cookies!
No worries. He is now sporting more appropriate ranks of both.
(It really bothers me how many people think Cinny is a girl cat. He's like, super-masculine looking. Perhaps I should have chosen a more male name than Cinnamon? Oops.)
Still no name for Tshaya's ghost saber. I'm submitting to Mania's Arcania because if I don't, I might get too used to calling him Cat and then it'll stick. I don't know why I can't think of a name for him when I already know that Kresha's tiger will be named Tack, and she hasn't even tamed him yet. And no, I don't know why Tack, it just fits, okay?
Bad hunter! No cookies!
No worries. He is now sporting more appropriate ranks of both.
(It really bothers me how many people think Cinny is a girl cat. He's like, super-masculine looking. Perhaps I should have chosen a more male name than Cinnamon? Oops.)
Still no name for Tshaya's ghost saber. I'm submitting to Mania's Arcania because if I don't, I might get too used to calling him Cat and then it'll stick. I don't know why I can't think of a name for him when I already know that Kresha's tiger will be named Tack, and she hasn't even tamed him yet. And no, I don't know why Tack, it just fits, okay?
Milestones
Ideale dinged 53 today (just five levels from Outland!), and in the process hit friendly with the Argent Dawn and Frostwolf. My new nightly routine is no longer "Work on an alt, level Ideale, work on a profession, sleep." It's now "GET IN QUEUE FOR AV OMG OMG OMG LET ME IN, play one round, level Ideale, sleep."
Okay, so it's been two days. I really, really want the AV tabard and I really, really want to be able to snag at least a couple of welfare purples the second I hit 70, and I am getting there. 51 AV tokens to go for the tabard, and I figure I'll shoot to replace my lowest-level items and my bow at 70 ... or just get whatever I have the honor for, since everything will eventually get replaced, I assume.
Also dragged Kresha up to ten and did Taming the Beast, so I will try and do the Elwynn Forest and Azuremyst Isle entries for Project: Infiltration by Friday. Not that it matters, since no one reads this anyway! :-D
Okay, so it's been two days. I really, really want the AV tabard and I really, really want to be able to snag at least a couple of welfare purples the second I hit 70, and I am getting there. 51 AV tokens to go for the tabard, and I figure I'll shoot to replace my lowest-level items and my bow at 70 ... or just get whatever I have the honor for, since everything will eventually get replaced, I assume.
Also dragged Kresha up to ten and did Taming the Beast, so I will try and do the Elwynn Forest and Azuremyst Isle entries for Project: Infiltration by Friday. Not that it matters, since no one reads this anyway! :-D
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Alterac Valley!
So right after I wrote my last entry, Ideale dinged 51 and then some, and I ran my ass back to Ogrimmar and got that spear quest, and then headed over to the battleground.
I don't know what I was expecting. I had read up on Alterac Valley, but it seemed like most of the threads about it on the WOW forums said it was pretty much a race to see who could take out the other side's general the fastest. Well, maybe I got lucky or something, but the round I went in was actually, of all things, a battle. With PVP and everything!
Now I like Warsong Gulch okay, although the flag-capturing stuff is a little much. I want to say unrealistic, but I play an elf who can magically tame animals and rides around on giant bats, so ... yeah. But it just doesn't seem very epic or battle-ish, if you know what I mean. I do like Arathi Basin a lot, since there's actually PVP involved, but again, it doesn't seem all that epic.
AV does. It's wonderful and I love it and I'm waiting in the queue to go again even though we won and I have my shiny spear. Especially since we completed all but one of the quests given outside the AV cave, so Ide dinged 52 already!
(And Saffron? Is an awesome PVP kitty. She's not as easy to level with as Cinnamon, since she's a little more fragile armor-wise, but in PVP, where she gets basically ignored aside from AOE and DOT stuff, she does really well, since I trained the heck out of her resistances. I died more than she did, and she's two levels behind me and spent the whole time in the middle of things. Yay for good advice on the hunter forums!)
Also, snow!
I don't know what I was expecting. I had read up on Alterac Valley, but it seemed like most of the threads about it on the WOW forums said it was pretty much a race to see who could take out the other side's general the fastest. Well, maybe I got lucky or something, but the round I went in was actually, of all things, a battle. With PVP and everything!
Now I like Warsong Gulch okay, although the flag-capturing stuff is a little much. I want to say unrealistic, but I play an elf who can magically tame animals and rides around on giant bats, so ... yeah. But it just doesn't seem very epic or battle-ish, if you know what I mean. I do like Arathi Basin a lot, since there's actually PVP involved, but again, it doesn't seem all that epic.
AV does. It's wonderful and I love it and I'm waiting in the queue to go again even though we won and I have my shiny spear. Especially since we completed all but one of the quests given outside the AV cave, so Ide dinged 52 already!
(And Saffron? Is an awesome PVP kitty. She's not as easy to level with as Cinnamon, since she's a little more fragile armor-wise, but in PVP, where she gets basically ignored aside from AOE and DOT stuff, she does really well, since I trained the heck out of her resistances. I died more than she did, and she's two levels behind me and spent the whole time in the middle of things. Yay for good advice on the hunter forums!)
Also, snow!
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