Schedule. Sheep! Looking good. Pushing up Mushrooms in Zangarmarsh.

The wife and I've actually got a little schedule going with who we play. Kind of like a DJ's playlist. I've figured it'd be best to stick to a schedule of sorts so we've got some order in our multitudinous lives. So, Monday and Wednesday we play our new Draenei, Exilarch and Zimraphel. And Tuesday and Thursday our new Blood Elves, Sunstriker and Halcyon. Friday and Saturday we play Msaker and Droonda. Sunday is a free night. Now the Draenei we'll stop playing twice a week once they complete their new zone and then start playing our Humans, Effilda and Honorus, again, on Wednesdays, to get them to 40. And the Blood Elves we'll also stop playing twice a week when they're finished with their new area as well and spend Thursdays getting our Forsaken, Darbanville, Zauberin, and Zauber to 40 as well. And if we have all those characters at 40... by then Msaker and Droonda could be 70 and we'll go from there! :)

Anyway, last night Sunstriker and Halcyon returned to the Ghostlands. We made short work of the Rangers and Acolytes at Windrunner Spire. Sheeping the Alcolytes and pulling the Rangers for Halcyon to dispatch worked great. And the heals, my god, the healing. Love the heals. We ran a few more quests and Sunstriker reached Revered with Tranquillen. That got him a real spiffy looking set of red and black robes. He also got the mage robes with slightly more intellect on them, but, dammit, I'm a Blood Elf, and the Tranquillen Robes, particularly with the Bandit Mask, just makes me look good. Halcyon too was delighted that a quest reward earned her chest armor that matched her leggings. We're vain, and proud of it! And she dinged 16 and trained and then journeyed to the Undercity for her audience with another High Elf Ranger, the Banshee Queen, the Dark Lady Sylvanas.

Now when my wife begins nodding off my schedule includes "solo time" afterwards. Blackhoof and Arcarius are using that time now to level up as well.

Blackhoof filled up his quest log with Zangarmarsh quests and set out. His first stop, with his goal being a nice shield to replace The Immoveable Object, was to visit the Sporeggars and gain their trust. That found him locating Fahssn and helping him (her? it?) out. That was by rescuing Mature Spore Sacs from amid the roving, and rather murderous, Bog Giants. And being an herbalist, and bovine, I was kind of in cow heaven there. Level 62, taking on the level 64 Bog Giants, was fine. I put all my totems to use (Searing+Strength+Disease Cleansing+Grace of Air), fired up the Unstoppable Force with Windfury and went to town. It involved healing. Taking on two... involved a bit more healing and a potion. So I rescued 10 Sacs and returned to Fahssn. And seeing it was repeatable, and needing a few more tendrils, it was back into the area. Having rescued 16 more Sacs, and getting the last tendril I needed, I managed to get an add while I was fighting a Bog Lord, and next thing you know this Shaman is part of the natural cycle of life and death, pushing up mushrooms in a cold swamp. (Fitting, midnight and time to log.)

From forty to greased lightning. What a difference a color makes.

There's been a fire sale of sorts going on at Casa Kinless. Both in the Horde and the Alliance departments.

Everything must go!

I'm selling stacks of 20 of anything and everything. Leather? Herbs? You got it. Ore? That too. Magic items? You betcha! Bags? Are ya kidding me?!

CRAZY KINLESS IS GOING NUTS, CRAAAZY!, AND PASSING THE SAVINGS ON TO YOU!

Savings? Well, not really. I use auctioneer and have been putting stuff up for sale at the prices that it suggests. Undercutting the competion slightly. And if there is no item there to scan, i.e. Thorium, I'm not selling it yet. (Yah. I'm an auction noob. Probably losing hundreds through naivete. Take advantage of it! :)

I've got skinners, miners, and herbalists gathering natural resources for sale while they quest. And I'm not wearing the blue drops (plate helm and now cloth leggings) and am selling it all.

I've literally made several hundred in the last couple days, and Msaker got the 540g together and bought the epic riding skill. He'd gotten the reins of the Frostwolf a long time ago, for 8g, and he's now riding at a 215% speed. (Carrot on a stick + Mithril Spurs.) Going from 160% to 215%? Yowza. I'm on rails!

But the sales will go on. Droonda, the Orc Shaman Princess, needs her epic riding skill, and a faster mount. And I've got pages of auctions still running on two characters that'll bring that goal closer.

And Arcarius, he's got a road ahead of him too. (And he's got an epic sheep in the bank, 8g, waiting for his day to come too.)

Folks said gold would come fast in the Outlands. Well, it hasn't been bad frankly. Not as bad as I thought it'd be.

And riding a fast mount, as fast as I can make it, well it feels like the porsche alternative to flying. Really nice. Recommended. :)

Hellfire Peninsula. Some thoughts. Zangarmarsh bound! Emerald dreaming.

I’ve just “completed” Hellfire Peninsula. Kind of. I intend to go and do a couple more quests for the quest rewards still. I say “completed” because you’ll see my 60’s have now all dinged 62. And that coincided, pretty much, with wrapping up the quests in Hellfire Peninsula.

How “solo friendly” was reaching level 62? Very. I accomplished the quests with a Night Elf Hunter, which is solo+, a Shaman, and then teamed up my Warrior with my wife’s Shaman. Carefully played a great many quests can be done alone. Which is a boon to the casual player. My Hunter did the PvP quest there, because being Alliance on an Alliance dominated server that’s too easy. Neither Horde character bothered. And none of my characters ventured into the Hellfire Citadel because I’m guildless with my Hunter, and my Horde guildies are all 70 now, and the quest reward didn’t seem compelling.

I’d like to commend the Maghar Orcs, in conjunction with Thrall’s embassy to them, for offering Paladin Plate as a quest reward. Kudos to the Orcs. Now where are all the Orc Paladins? See, I’m an Orc Warrior…

Speaking of which, gear.

Armor. I’m still wearing my rare PvP set (the blues). I’ve gotten, as quest rewards, a helm (from Foreman Razelcraz who runs the mine under Thrallmar), gauntlets from the Blood Elves at Falcon Watch, chest and/or leggings from Thrallmar, and … that’s it. Some drops, including a blue plate helm with +49 stamina, and a killer blue set of cloth pants for casting, but they are going towards the “Epic Mounts for Msaker and Droonda fund.” The quest reward armor gear did not replace my Warrior’s pvp gear.

Different story, slightly, for my Shaman. Armorwise,he still has the best synergy with a lot of Earthfury, and so he was taking the “melee” mail gear when he had a choice. But still, shoulders out of Blackwing Lair, he picked up a Bonechewer mail chest to replace the Bloodstained Hauberk from ZG and otherwise it’s been slim pickings. My Night Elf hunter replaced nothing, keeping his mostly BG gear (rares + the shiny epic shoulders) and picking up a helmet I believe.

Weaponry. My Hunter got a nice crossbow as a quest reward. And an axe that replaced my Ice Barbed Spear, and also a quest reward. My Orc Warrior picked up a nice Outland obtained two-hander axe in the Auction House, got a Demon Slaying enchant on it, and had not gotten a replacement for it yet. No weapon drops to speak of, and the one-hander “tanking” weapons, quest rewards, are lacking in … buzz. My Shaman could have picked up a lot of nice staves, except he already had the Staff of Dominance (Molten Core) with a +55 Healing enchant on it. He sold all the staves for cash. He had a blue axe gotten as a drop off some Baron in Silithus, and he added to that a nice, fast, pick axe from Foreman Razelcraz. Both axes have +AP on them so nice for the dual wiedling Shaman.

There have otherwise been nice cloak rewards, for melee and caster, some nice neck pieces, and some nice rings. The last was Corrinda’s Wedding Ring, a quest which winds up finding you flagged for PvP on the road to Zangarmarsh. This ring provides some decent +Healing, and some good stats. The stats are better than my old Seal of the Archmagus, and he almost sold the seal, but the seal adds a lot of resistances and +mana regen so he held on to it. (But it’s probably time for me to bank the Seal of Ascension for future UBRS (where???) runs.)

How were the quests here in Hellfire? Great. The Unyielding one was interesting. Messing with the folks in Zeth’gor was fun. Hell, following one of Razelcraz’s dogs around was … stanky. I found some Voidwalkers easy (the Warp Fields) and others a real pain (Void Ridge, where they hit real hard, and fear). The aerial bombing runs, both Alliance and Horde were fun, and I’m really looking forward to flying mounts and/or flight form to enjoy that feeling some more. And the Ruins of Sha’Naar quests with the Broken. I liked that one.

Bottom line: For my Warrior, he comes out of Hellfire Peninsula with two more levels. For my Shaman, he’s really added to his attack power and has improved both his fighting, and healing gear. My Hunter got a nice crossbow, and a new pet. And, of course, everyone had a blast. (Don’t let Droonda’s comments about Msaker’s vocal frustration about the endless adds we got fighting Fel Orcs trying to free some goblins let you think otherwise.) Next stop: Zangarmarsh!










P.S. The former header graphic (seen here). Arcarius was getting ready to take some R&R at the inn at the Temple of Telhamat. He noticed a wall painting which appeared to be a sunset over an Azeroth coastline. And he got to thinking about how much he missed the comfortable and familiar surroundings of home. That sun had set on an ocean. Open waters. There was not all this endless red dust all over the place, and we weren't on a broken collection of rocks hanging in space. And what business does a Night Elf have in the Outlands anyway?! He dreams of green. Emerald green and forests in the night. But this is where he's wound up. Hellfire. But it was a quiet, cozy, corner he found there in the inn. A hookah smoking away on the nearby table, new habits to enjoy, a big couch with big pillows, this march has been a long one, memories of home around him, and his new pet, a Ravager named Outlandish, providing the bond Hunters learn to live with, die without. This would be a good rest before moving on, further into the Outlands.

P.P.S. When you think you’re resting in an Inn, at least in Hellfire, make sure you see the Zzzz’s before you log out. At the inn at the Temple of Telhamat I noticed that even though I was inside the inn, I did not see Zzzz’s until I stood on the carpet. If you’re after rested xp that’s something you’ll want to pay attention to.

What am I now?

Back in December of 2005 (see the Archives) I took a little quiz and determined that I was suited to be a Human Paladin. Pretty much in game, as in life, I like to make sure folks are safe and sound. I play healers, or the Tank, or have an animal tanking for me. (And recently in real life I was always following the ski groups I was with, knowing I could keep up with the fastest, and ski the technical stuff, but I still lingered in the back to better keep an eye on the entire "flock" ... because I can.) I don't feel compelled to be a point man. I do feel compelled to do what I can to make the group a success.

Over a year later, what am I suited for? Has playing this game changed me? Changed my outlook on things? Have I become ... selfish? Self serving? So I found that old test and retook it.

Human Paladin

Humans tend to be the ones in the middle. Not as sexy as the Night Elves; not as stumpy as the dwarves or gnomes. As a human, you pretty much go with the flow of things. As a paladin, you like to see that everyone is safe - including yourself. Still an important part of any group, if you get overshadowed, you can always refuse to give them your blessing.

Find out your real-life WoW race and class at QuizGalaxy.com

Go figure. I'm still a Paladin. Yep, sounds exactly right.

What are you?

The honeymoon is over. Sniff.

Last night the wife told me she's not really sure about playing her Blood Elf.

I'm the mage, and she's the Pally. It could be the Pally just plays underpowered.

Maybe, she says. But then she adds that it's not just that. Maybe that's not it at all. The Blood Elves are just too ... good, and good looking, to be a Horde race. She knows why Blizzard did it, and she thinks it's been quite successful, these pretty horde & demonic alliance additions, BUT...

They just don't look right in the Undercity. The bowels of old Lordaeron are Hells Bells and Halloween. Silvermoon City is like Candy Cane Land. And the Blood Elves are giving up Quel'Thalas to move to the Outlands as pilgrims?

I'm hoping she becomes reinspired, because I'd like to see what a mage can do. (Or I'll need to figure out hotboxing and macros.)

Otherwise we played our Draenei. (Is there a plural form or is it like fish and fish?) Hooved and tentacled in the old lands of the rabbit eared Night Elves. We've just entered Bloodmyst Isle and have a lot to do.

Survivor.

That run was level 70.

Check out the entry under Chavanette.

Dag. A year goes by. And the power remains the same.

I was bored and looking up some site stats over on MyBlogLog. One of the ways this site was reached was a Google search for Ressan the Needler. (He's the albino bat you can occasionally find outside the zep tower in Tirisfal Glades.)

That was in a post I wrote 21 February. A year ago, yesterday. Yowza.

I'll go ahead and revisit that post now with some comments. Edited version of the year old post in blue, and today's comments in the usual black.

(This was a little like the post I made this last December about a post I'd made the December before, about Msaker reaching 30 and all.)

Anyway...

Tuesday, February 21

World of Warcrack. The game goes on. And on. I'm sure any player can appreciate what an addiction this game could be. It's not that there's been nothing going on, it just that so many different things are going on it's hard to catalog it here.

Heh. Nothing's changed. I'm still as deeply engrossed as a year ago. Just doing different things...

Darkhoof continues in the weekly raids to Molten Core. He missed last weeks Onyxia run where the guild finally took her down again.Last night we wanted to do a little World PvP.

Darkhoof became Blackhoof and transferred to Kirin Tor. There he no longer raided since there's no raids going on at noon server time, :(, and he got his PvP in the Battlegrounds, reaching exalted with Frostwolf before Msaker upstaged him, then Arcarius.

So I went to Kirin Tor to do a little business.On Kirin Tor I've already told you about Morticai, my 24 Undead Warrior, and perhaps Mortiangelo, my lvl 9 Undead Priest. (These play across from my wife's Zauberin, a level 22 Undead Mage.)

Morticai died when Msaker transferred over to Kirin Tor, and Mortiangelo died when Darbanville joined. No need for duplicate warriors or priests in the same faction on one server. This was due to my consolidating onto one server. I'm beginning to spread out again. :) Zauberin is still around, and level 37 now.

We'd already made Greenclaw and Zaniah (NE Druid and Warrior) and Freewind and Itarilde (NE Warrior and Druid) there.

Greenclaw survived and Zaniah died. My wife did not care for playing a warrior, and then created Winkydink, a gnome warrior. There's a certain ... "charm" to the class. And the race. Freewind and Itarilde have joined the ranks of the mounted.

We've now made Grimtounge and Theodora (Human Warlock and Priest), and Weisenheimer and Minkypoo (Gnome Mage and Warlock).

I kept mispelling that damn name over and over. It's Grimtongue!!!! (Isn't it?) Well, he was killed off to make room for Arcarius and Darkhand. Theodora was let go to make room for Effilda. Weisenheimer returned to his studies in Gnomeregan University, and Minkypoo faded away when no news came from him.

I've also made Ogresson, a level 20 Dward Hunter. His pets include Dottir, the white bear that ate some Dwarf Pilot, Sorrow, a rare white bat I tamed outside of Brill, and Whambam, a boar that I used in Warsong Gulch because he has a nice little charge/stun move going for him.

Hunters come, hunters go. Ogresson's gone, a Night Elf huntress. Procyona, is gone. And in their place are Iduve, Draenei Huntress, Sunhawk, Blood Hunter, and Caelik, Dwarf Hunter.

I wanted a Horde side Hunter and created a Troll Huntress, Makeda. My wife made a Troll Shaman named Nzhinga. I thought two hunters working in Tandem would be affective so she created an Orc Huntress named Amazulu. And so I created an Orc Warlock named Unkulunkulu. And, unbeknownst to me, she'd also created a Dwarf Paladin named Tapfer.

All gone. The limit of 10 characters on a server is particularly a harsh one for those suffering from Altism.

These are the twelve steps of World of Warcraft Anonymous. 1. We admit we were powerless over WoW; that our lives have become unmanageable. 2. We come to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.... Oh, wait, got to go. The guild's thinking of raiding ZG and I need to repair and get some potions made. I'll finish this later.

Last night Iduve, level 6, got her dress from Moonglade in the Lunar Festival celebration. Warcraft is the greater power.

Back from Portes du Soleil.

Skied the "Swiss Wall" aka "Wall of Death." Twice. Survived. Had a great time skiing with friends over the weekend. Warmer there in the Swiss Alps than here in the lowlands. Go figure.

And now that I'm back, to get into the swing of things, 1) Honorus (taking the teal suit) escorted Winkydink for the Lunar Festival quest, 2) Sunstriker (blue suit) escorted Halcyon, 3) Sunhawk (black suit) did the journey, and 4) Kaelstra (also the black suit) undertook the journey himself. The last trip, on a PvP server, was uneventful.

Yes, a level 22 Rogue spotted me, Forsaken, and whispered "Whoa. Level 12 you alone??" I said, "Yeah, just getting flight point and quest." As I made my selection a ?? Human Mage showed up. No worries. I was done and made my way back. Dinged 13 on this little journey as well.

5 coins = Nice pants suit or festival dress.

Horde Coins: UC+Brill+Sepulcher+Razor Hill+Orgrimmar.
Alliance Coins: Stormwind City+Ironforge+Kharanos+Auberdine+Darnassus.

(There are more coins, but you only need five to come away with your vanity gear.)

In the last city you do the fireworks quest, get your invite, and teleport to Moonglade. Very important (unless you like killing lots of Furbolgs) is to grab your faction flight point for Moonglade while you're there. The Night Haven Flightpoint is for Druids only though. Each faction has their own in addition to the in-town Druid one.

New Blood.




Kaelstra, Paladin.


On a PvP server to boot.


Kaelstra dinged 12 after playing 5 hours. (Droonda is on her way to Italy on a bus at the moment.) He ran into Bloodr and signed the charter for Bloodr's guild "Buttered Monkeys."

I wonder if I'm doing something wrong.

The wife and I play a few characters. We have a Draenei couple, Blood Elf couple, Night Elf couple, and an Orc couple. Oh, yes, a Forsaken couple, and a Human couple. (See sidebar on the left.)

Anyway, we tend to get spread out in who we're playing. So I thought a bit of a schedule might help regulate us. Monday these people, Tuesday these, and so on. I especially wanted to get the new races through their new areas, and then Msaker and Droonda through the Outlands. This way we'd even get to see all the new content.

But I've found myself kind of leading a "charge" to level. Going to Falcon Watch I'm planning out a strategy to hit the Pools of Aggonar, then the Fissure, then those bird people, ... Who's got time to read the quest givers texts if you're in a rush to get the xp flowing? I actually had to force myself to stop, pause, and read the quest texts. Why was I killing those bird people for the Blood Elf guy, for instance. I've forgotten, or never really read the quest. That's a shame!

I want to see the content, and yet I find myself rushing through it.

And after Droonda retired for the evening I took a look at the open quests. Ah ha! There was a necklace I could replace my old PvP one, and the later Frostwolf one, with, gotten by doing a quest to collect demonic essences from Taskmaster demons in the ruins in southwest Hellfire Peninsula. So I was going to do a quest for the loot. And I'm not sure why I needed those essences. Something to do with the Draenei prisoner. (Who dies upon taking the potion he's later given, and then instantly returns to life as if nothing happened. Even that pickpocket target in the Inn in Orgrimmar stays down longer. And he's a Tauren.)

Anyway, I'm in the ruins. I kill the Taskmaster, but don't use any AoE attacks (like cleave) in order to save the Broken slaves. I'll be going Aldor Faction, because in my heart of hearts I think Thrall means well, the Mag'har aren't vicious nor evil, and the Orcs aren't murderous. (Misunderstood maybe, but we aren't evil. Now Trolls and gnome warlocks, they're other stories. ;)

So here in the ruins I go into a tent and find a Broken sitting there. I speak with him. It turns out this tribe of Broken has a few leaders left and there is a high leader I should visit. I do, there is a key to find, then I free the leaders (and therefore the tribe), I kill a demon overlord type, and then I learn the high leader of the Broken was the original traitor. My actions have undone, or stopped now rather, the harm he caused his people. Hey. Cool. I'm part of a story of discovery and redemption. That's a nice change of pace. No, I'm not level 62. But doing that quick little quest, and being a part of that vignette, I really enjoyed that. Yes, I'll return there with Droonda, and free yet more of them, but that's good too.

Now back to my rhetorical question from the title. Was/am I doing something wrong? I asked that myself when I saw a level 61 Draenei ride past as Droonda and I made our way back to Falcon Watch. "Sheeyet." I tell my wife. "Level 61 Draenei. ... Level 61. 61. 61. It's like we're standing still. We're 61." I've got 20+ some days played on Msaker and I'm level 61. This person has had, what, a month to reach this level? 31 calendar days. Let's say you power through to 61 in 10 days played. That's still 8 hours a day, every single golldanged day, day in, day out, to reach 61 when we're 61. I just want to scream.

Heck, it's his $14 a month. If he wants to burn out in two months, meh, whatever. Skip over all content, his loss. Less competition for spawns when he quits to go play Vanguard. Or whatever. Aw, man, I know the wife is absolutely going to be playing LOTRO too. And where she goes, I go. I'll never reach 70. :(

:)

Oh, I'm sure I will. I keep later hours than she does.

P.S. Hmm, I still haven't gotten to my point. Oh, yeah: I want to read the quest texts, I want to enjoy the story, and yet I still want to make progress. Keeping up with the Jones's I'm going to miss out on that. Not keeping up means I "fall behind" my guild. End-game/instance runs are pretty much out because of it. (No takers in my guild for Hellfire Citadle now that a lot of the guild, the players, are level 65+ now.) How many people balance this well? How many folks can experience all the content, and yet still make progress to their degree of satisfaction. I suppose I might be wanting to much.

P.P.s. Anyway, tomorrow night it's off to Portes du Soleil for skiing! For the snow!

Retesting Old Waters.

I am taking up Gitr's call to create a Blood Elf character over on the Burning Legion server. BL is a PvP server, and while I did level up Darkhoof (now Blackhoof) to 60, and Msaker and Darkhand, to their mid 40's on one, I was preferring to join my wife on nice, safe, RP servers for the built-in parties of 2 deal with over-the-shoulder vent action.

But I'll take the plunge again, and I've created Kaelstra, a Blood Elf Paladin. The most annoying enemy to run into for me, while PvPing, has been the Paladin. So I figured I'd better return the favor to the Alliance and join the Bubble Boy Team, albeit the dark, yet light, side.

Warlock's aren't annoying. They're just outright rabidly dangerous, steer clear, PLAGUE CARRIER! RUN!!, crazy annoying and dangerous. Paladins you just gave up on and let them go their own way.

Anyway, let's see how that goes. Doesn't help that I call it a night at 12-1am and that's just prime time for ... what time zone in Burning Legion anyway? It's all good. :)

Otherwise you'll see I've added some of my wifes characters over on the side-bar, the partners of my characters. Not each of them. When she saw I hadn't added Ombria, her level 20 Night Elf Rogue, or Winkydink, her level 20-something Gnome, or Zauberin, her level 36 or so Forsaken Mage, or Hialeah, her level 14 Tauren Hunter, ... I'm thinking "That's my girl!" She's got an alt for every alt I have! :)

Not your ordinary Flight Point.



We loved the skiing, Droonda and I. We had sunshine every afternoon, and every morning but one. The last days sky was the purest sky blue you'd ever imagine. (And no Moonkin to run from!)


This is the Austrian Alps south of Salzburg in a ski area called Alpendorf.


And next weekend Nachmahd and I do a "Boys Trip" to go on a Ski Safari. Ski Heil!

Going skiing for a week.

The wife and I are going to Austria for a week, so no posts till we get back.

So, do me a favor and think snow!

P.S.

Msaker reports: Ding. (My first level 61 character.)