Archive for 2008

My new Swift Stormsaber and I chill in Darnassus. I ended up here after a quick cruise through the Search for Incendicite Ore quest with a guild member. I ran it once myself long ago, twice with guildies in my last guild (the late Champions Legion), and now once with one Scottlez in my current guild, Art of war. He was level 27 and would have been able to solo it but for one small problem: he wasn’t a miner. That’s where I came in. I recently learned to mine Fel Iron ore in the Outlands, so Incendicite ore was no big deal. I also one-hit most everything in there (a few took a sword swipe and one Retribution Aura hit, but that was rare). I also liked using my Divine Storm spell to nail a few at a time. In any case, he got his quest, a treasure chest and a piece of auctionable chest armor along with completing the quest. We had to hike to the wetlands from Ironforge because he was broke (which he didn’t tell me until we were almost there), so I gave him 40g after the quest and suggested he just fly home.

Back in the Outlands, I recently picked up the Halaani Claymore for about nine or so gold in Nagrand, which was a fraction of what a lesser weapon would have run me at the AH. I mean, 80.3 DPS? Improve critical strike? Sign me up! Much better then the Darkened Broadsword I was swinging (by almost 13 DPS!). This sword is almost cheating, it’s so easy to get. Not that I’m complaining, obviously.

It’s my Charger! After some wild adventuring in Nagrand (which I’ll expound upon in a minute) and some selling of Thorium in stacks of 20 for 60+ gold, I managed to get the 500g I needed for the riding training and my mount. Yay!

Back to my adventures in Nagrand. When I first got to the zone, I got an invite from one Durable (a human warlock) to do The Ring of Blood: Blue Brothers. I ended up in a group with Durable, a draenai hunter named Applejacks a human priest (can’t remember her name atm) and a level 80 human paladin, specced holy. We killed Brokentoe, the Blue Brothers, Rokdar the Sundered Lord (no relation to Rok’tar that I could see), Skra’gath, the Warmaul Champion and Mogor about two to four times each, until we had all completed each quest. I died about five times – not terrible when you consider I was way under-level – but I nabbed 66+ gold from it, and we then went off and completed a series of other quests together, including Applejacks and I slaying the Master Planner for a quest she had. I didn’t ding, but we got allot accomplished and it helped me en route towards my charger. Applejacks was mount-less, but still was almost faster then me, my warhorse and my Crusader Aura. I was miffed, and it was the breaking point for my desire for my faster mount. Next stop, level 68 and Northrend!

BTW, Nagrand is a very pretty place.

Well, it finally happened. After months of working, I’ve got the mount I’ve wanted for so long. No, I didn’t finally get my Charger, darn it all (still 300+ gold short), but I got something I’ve been wanted much longer: a Nightsaber. A Striped Frostsaber, to be exact. I’ve been working on my rep with Darnassus ever since I learned that I could ride other races’ mounts, and I finally hit exalted tonight, with one last shipment of Runecloth to the Night Elf capital (and while I’m at it, may I say a thanks to whomever decided to make a boat go between Ashenvale and Stormwind? It’s made this process so much easier!). I debated which Nightsaber I wanted, but finally settled on the Striped Frostsaber. I’m happier now. Not ‘happy,’ but happy-er.

In other news, I hate Sporeloks, I hate Bog monsters, I hate the Naga and I think I hate Zangarmarsh in general. This zone just sucks. I mean, the monsters are a pain to fight, and the quests are incredibly spread out. The Sporeloks are just about useless, and they got in my way so many times while I was fighting. I couldn’t use my Divine Storm spell for fear of hitting the little jerks, which limited my fighting ability when they were nearby. I’m neutral to them now, so that problem is in the past, but I still dislike them. Oh, and I fell off of Telredor twice, so that doesn’t make this place any more pleasant for me. Let me say though, that Safeguarding the Watchers is perhaps the easiest group quest in the game. I soloed it at level with no trouble at all. Seriously; shutting down those Steam Pumps was worlds tougher. Ah well.

Winter’s Vale is here, and it’s a pain in the you-know-what (almost as much as the real holiday). I couldn’t even see the goblin merchant in Ironforge due to the crowd of people around him, and I came by at four different times today.Hopefully it’ll die down soon, but knowing how the real holiday season works, I don’t have my hopes up.

In other Winter’s Vale news, I saved Metzen in Tanaris and killed the Greench. Yay. Big whoop. Metzen was no problem, but the damned Greench was a PITA to slay, mostly because of the two dozen players in the area who wanted a piece of him. It took me half an hour or more to kill this sissy because of his random spawn locations, other players and my dire lack of projectile attacks to tag him with. Gav finally got lucky and killed the coot, and y’know what I got? A crappy tailoring pattern, that’s what. I wanted the engineering schematics, but nooo. Figures.

I also did the quest to get cookies and milk for Greatfather Christmas, but whereas the quest tips I got said to go to Redridge for the small eggs, I skipped that and went to Westfall instead. I much prefer Westfall, and with most players following tips online (many of which point to Redridge), I got almost free reign over the Fleshrippers and their eggs, enabling me to complete the quest in around ten minutes, flight time included . A word to the stupid (I would say wise, but this is common sense): don’t buy your small eggs on the auction house. The prices are freaking outrageous. 3-5 gold per egg, when you can slay the birds and get them for free? Please. It costs a fraction of the price of one egg to fly to Westfall from Ironforge and back. Just do everyone a favor and don’t feed the auction house vultures.

Leaving Winter’s Vale aside, Gav got his first socketed piece of equipment, which I’ve packed with a Bold Bloodstone, an Etched Huge Citrine, and a Jagged Dark Jade. I’ve also picked up the Expedition Flare, in case of an emergency in Zangarmarsh.  So far I’ve not needed it, and I hope not to need it, but it was a cheap safety precaution.

That’s all for now, but not likely the last you’ll hear from me on the holiday season.

It’s been almost two weeks since Gav hit 58 and qualified for Outland, and I’ve been leveling him there since. He’s now level 62, which is nice, but I’m still lacking my new Charger mount. Why can’t it be like the Warhorse, which I got from my trainer for a couple silver? Instead, I’ve got the great options of a tough and expensive quest line or paying out almost 500 gold like some common class for riding training. Yes, I am a spoiled paladin. Why did Blizzard get us pallys and the warlocks spoiled like this in the first place?! Just to be mean, I think.

Back to leveling in Outland, I’ve noticed that levels are going much quicker here. I’ve also noticed that Gav is back to killing mobs higher then his level with ease again. When I got to Outland at level 58, I was killing level 61 Deranged Hellboars for kicks. Is Outland easier then Azeroth? Tough question. I’ve done most of the non-dungeon quests in Honor Hold, most of the ones from the Temple of Telhamat and a series near the Ruins of Sha’naar that were fun, especially killing Arzeth the Merciless (Arzeth the Powerless as he’s now known). Arzeth had me running for cover each time he came by, but after getting a staff at the end of a quest line, his 30k HP went down to under 5,000, meaning that I had more then him. Of course, he didn’t even eat a quarter into my health, which was fun. I enjoy quest lines that end with you beating down a formerly tough foe after squelching their source of power.

I’ve noticed that most of the quest rewards in Outland are either gold or items worth several gold. I’m also picking up a ton of great, but ultimately inferior drops, also worth several gold. This hasn’t helped my climb to 500 gold for my new mount any, though, because nothing is selling for me on the auction house. Seriously, there’s usually nothing on the AH for me to compare my item to (as in, the same or a very similar item), so I have to wing it. Usually after two 48 hour auctions I just get fed up and sell the stupid thing to a vendor. I’ve gotten a few tidbits here and there that I’ve kept (like my new Helboar Carving Blade, which replaced the letter opener that I was using), but most gear and weapons are of no use to me and get sold.

D’you remember when I was whining yesterday about not seeing any other Death Knights and how I was going to die facing Patchwerk? Well, I logged in today, expecting to die trying to kill him when I ran into a dwarven DK named Hellknowsme who I ended up teaming up with. The dude was pretty darn good and we slayed Patchwerk together. Thank goodness he was there! I was going to try and solo Patchy but after it took us several minutes to finish him, I realized I’d never have been able to do it alone. Thanks, Hellknowsme, I owe you one.

I picked up WotLK recently (as written HERE), so here’s my experience.

• Gleave is my human Death Knight, who recently finished off the battle at Light’s Hope Chapel, leaving the Litch King’s grasp. Now I’m supposed to kill Patches (bringing back bad memories from my battles with Stitches), and the questgiver said to have my ‘fellow Death Knights’ help me, because Patches is too much for me. Um, dude? I’m alone here. There’s NO ONE ELSE AROUND! I’ve not seen another non-NPC DK since logging in, so I’m not sure where I’m supposed to get this help from.
• Gavelier, after extensive questing in Winterfall and running a few errands, got within spitting distance of lvl 58, and after killing some random mobs in the Eastern Plaguelands I finally dinged, qualifying for the Outlands. I was joyous; after almost 200 hours of playtime, I was finally ready to see what the Burning Crusade expansion had to offer. However, then I remembered that after just an hour or two of play, Gleave was also level 58. This was unfair, but it brings me to my next point.
• While I appreciate not having to start from square one with my DK, I did notice that there’s a serious lack of connection when you start so deep in the game. Gav’s my favorite because I’ve been through so much with him. From slaughtering Defias bandits in Westfall to my eventful first trip into Un’Goro Crater, Gav and I have experienced most everything for the first time together. Gleave, on the other hand, just kind of exists. I have no connection with him, and could delete him tomorrow with little remorse. Getting a ton of nice gear and abilities right from the start made him seem like someone else’s character that I was just borrowing. Maybe I’ll warm up to him, but for right now, he’s not my favorite.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll post more as I delve deeper into the game. On a side note, am I the only one who reads Gav and Gleave and thinks of Gloop and Gleep from the Herculoids? Hmm…

Ok, I’m not sure I’ve got the accounts of this event straight, due to how rapid it was, but this is the best I’ve got. I was slaying a ton of undead beasts in the Ruins of Andorhal (Western Plaguelands) when I saw this level 61 elite monstrosity assaulting some poor schmuck on the road. The dude being attacked was about my level (lvl. 57), so I felt obligated to help. I took a potshot at the monster with my Exorcism spell, instantly gaining aggro. The mob turned out to be Araj the Summoner, and he was mean. I got hit by a frost bolt from him that slowed me as I turned to run, but I was quickly caught up to by two Skeletal Warlords. For whatever reason I got a sudden bolt of courage and took them both down with my Holy Wrath spell and Hammer of Wrath. By this time, Araj had caught up with his four Illusionary Wraiths, ghostly wolves that surrounded me. I fought through them and finished Araj off (he was down to under 1,500 HP thanks to whomever it was attacking originally), before felling the remaining wraiths. I felt very, very proud, but I can’t take full credit, since the original victim died in the process, but only after whittling Araj down a ton. Still, I lived, and looted 30+ silver off the foul beast’s body. Go Gav!

Ok, this Scourge attack I approve of. I may not have been clear in my earlier post about how loathsome the original scourge attack was, so let me be blunt: I hated it. If I wanted to do PvP, I’d be on a damn PvP server. This new one, however, which seems to spawn NPC undead in capital cities, is kinda cool. I was in Stormwind when I heard guards call that some Scourge had been seen at the Chapel of Light. Seeing that I was just outside of it headed to the harbor for no particular reason, I decided to see what was up. When I saw a Pallid Horror charge out of the Chapel, I hid and let it run past me. It was only three levels above me, but partly because of the recent nerfs to paladin powers (but mostly due to his 90,000 HP) I wanted nothing to do with going one-on-one with him. However, it was soon engaged with two guards outside the chapel district, so I joined in, along with a level 67 mage. We decimated him in short order, and I like to take partial credit because of my holy powers. I took a quest off of the crystal he dropped, but as I was going to the Stormwind gates to complete the quest, I found a Flameshocker attacking the Argent Dawn folks in the Trade District. I lent a hand here, as well, and finished him – as with the Pallid Horror – using my Hammer of Wrath. Two Scourge dead, but more presumed to come.

This may only be the beginning, and yet it may be the end. Of us all. Hang in there, everyone!

I personally had been chased out of WoW for a couple days by the Scourge Invasion that took place over the last week. Thankfully that’s over, so I can get back to business as usual. In this case, it involved completing a few more Hallows End achievements. What transpired has me in a fairly good mood.

I finished up the Tricks and Treats of the Eastern Kingdoms before the invasion started, and had a leg up on it’s western equivalent, Tricks and Treats of Kalimdor before I took the time off. During my tricking and treating across Kalimdor, I got the female Troll mask and the female Undead mask, which satisfied me more then a penny pouch. When I hit up the last candy bucket on my itinerary, on Bloodmyst Isle, I stopped by the innkeeper to trick-or-treat, and what do you think I got? If you voted ‘penny pouch,’ you’re thankfully wrong. No, I got the Sinister Squashling! I actually got something nice out of this whole ordeal, which makes me very, very happy. It sits right next to my Mechanical Squirrel and Wolpertinger in my inventory now. I figured I’d never see one, but I scored for once.

Hallows End isn’t that bad, after all.