Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Rank 6. Nice. Never been an officer before.

"And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to." - Col Jessup, A Few Good Men.

So I got into the Officer's Hall finally. Bought myself a nice Officer's Tabard. Next week I hope I'm rank 7 and I can pick up some of the officer gear. It's late nights, but a 15% increase in my Ghostwolf run speed might be worth something.

And all the while my faction rep grind is steady. Over 1/3 of the way to Exalted with Frostwolf. Half way or so to Revered with Warsong and the Defilers. All of these factions offer nice rewards. My goal, if it's even possible at my casual pace, is "Champion".

It's not all wins and wins.

Alterac Valley we lost 3 times in a row. Twice as we were working on Vanndar. The first we got bogged down on the road to Stormpike Graveyard. I can't imagine the hours long battles that used to be waged. But I got 3 tokens out the effort here.

Arathi Basin I entered in with some trepidation. This is the toughest one of the battlegrounds for me and the battles seem most personal. It was pug-vs-pug and we five-capped it. Woot. 3 tokens from this.

Warsong Gulch, and it's gotten late. I only needed 1 more token to make 3. Initial rush out the gates. I see Alliance running down west side of the Gulch and we running up the east side. I'm epic mount, carrot on a stick, mithril spurs, and I always dismount outside so they can't hear the dismount. I'm alone and I run to the balcony. There's a fight going on below and someone bubbles me. "God? Is that you?" No matter, I grab the flag, drop an earthbind, a searing totem, and run for the door. Ghostwolf and start running. Back down to our base along the west side. Our flag is taken and is going north mid-field. I have company with me. Troll. Friend. I go up the ramp. Our flag is still gone. I tuck myself into a corner and wait. I see a Night Elf ride up and approach. I jump down and land on a gnome. (Heh.) Earthbind and I run down the tunnel towards the speed boots. Gone. And 3 more red names coming up at me. Hmm. I turn and run out the side tunnel. Up to the roof. I cross the area, jump down, drop an earthbind, and then go out the door I first exited at the game start. I ghostwolf and make myself scarce behind some clutter in a corner. I see that I've been targeted, by a hunter. Dwarf. Grrr. Well, I can't stay put. So I take off, moving to the east, and then north, off the cliff. But I don't want to go too far, so I cut hard to the left and simply run west along the bottom of the cliff. Not sure I want to try the tunnel, since most flag deliveries are handled via the tunnel I expect there'd be a mob in there, so I keep running west. Then up the ramp, back around to the left, and then up into the base at the balcony. Bang, our flag is returned and I jump off the balcony and cap it. 1/0.

Well, that's a lot of running so I try a little defense now. I'm keeping totems down by the flag. It's kind of quiet. There's a priest there with me, from my own server it turns out. Two rogues too, Night Elf and Gnome. As soon as I come out of gouge I'm gouged again. Mooo! When I come out of this gouge I just start jumping around, I'm spamming shocks, the priest is bubbling and healing, both of us, and first the Night Elf dies and then the gnome is gone. Dead? Doesn't matter because here comes a mage, with the Alliance flag, and she caps it. 2/0. Nice. /cheer!

Rinse and repeat. Except this time no rogues show up. Guess the leetness of me and the priest have kept them scared away? Good. "I AM SHAMAN! HEAR ME ROAR!" Believe it! Please? (We are seriously so nerfed vs. the pally's. Whatever shall we do?) Anyway, here comes the Alliance flag. Our base is a sleepy haven waiting for it. I drop an earthbind at our flag and then head down the tunnel. What's that I see? A blue flag. Yay! Surrounded by red names. Ruh roh! I run down and drop an earthbind. I'm trying to target the closest attacker. The mage is out in front. A Warrior. Frostshock! But, alas, the mage falls. Oh noes! I remember reading there is a delay between the flag dropping and reappearing. And it reappears ahead of the drop in the direction of travel. I am surrounded by Alliance now. They're worried about getting their flag back. "Oh. This Flag?" I grab it. I've got Alliance on me like they were ticks and I was some backwoods 'coon hound. The priest is keeping me alive. I'm concussed and poisoned and slowed and I walk the flag to our flag. Capping it as the rogues are busy trying to kill me. "HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN?! I AM SHAMAN!" Heh. 3/0

Ah. It's late and I turn in For Great Honor (3 tokens from each of the battlefields). Rank 7: I'm coming for you.

Blackhoof - Kirin Tor.

3 comments:

Tim Warren said...

I got to rank 9 with my shaman, the gear is nice but I mostly did it because shaman WTF PWN in BGs. It's a fun time killer.

Now that replaced my shaman with a hunter I'm on the grind with BG rep. It's fun but not like I remember it as a shaman. These are the best times of your gaming life bro, eat it up.

Kinless said...

After putting all my points in Elemental & Resto (NS) I put all my "enhancement" gear into the bank. If you can't use a two-hand, and you can't dual wield, why are you meleeing?

But then, curious, I pulled it back out and made a "buffed" set. (I use Item Rack.)

My Elemental Set gets me +111 Spell Damage, still +260 Healing, over +200 Int, and 31 mana/5s mana regen. It works. Using Frostwolf Advisor's Necklace and Cloak. And the Zandalar Augur's Bracers.

(Everyone keeps saying "Wow, almost the full set." That's when I equip my Earthfury Set.)

My Buffed Set gets me like +260 AP. Most every piece has some +AP on it. Frostwolf Legionnaire's Pendant and Cloak for this set.

And last night in AV when the fighting got close and dirty, it's time to break out the hooked axe and get medieval. Worked well. Moonkin = steaks.

And then, curious, I went to WPL and tried my hand at undead slaying. Not a single point in Enhancement and I was doing pretty good. (Granted, this was no "Hand of Rag" action happening.)

Shamans really are pretty versatile.

I've got an Alliance Hunter at level 48. I really wish I had the time to take him in and see how that side/class goes in AB and WSG.

E said...

What I remember from my own honor grinds is it starts to take longer past rank 8 or so. Champion is still doable but not at the 'rank a week' pace I was doing from four or five until eight.

Of course this was a function of how my time I was able to put in and how much time other people were putting in, but its how it seemed to me.

Regardless, best of luck on your ranking journey. Just remember to keep it fun, try not to let it become a grind.