Tag: WoW

Yesterday was a holiday for us here in Canada (it was Canada’s 143rd birthday – so young!) and to avoid the millions of people down town hoping to get a glimpse of the Queen I stayed home safe and sound, watching episodes of LOST (I just made it to episode 13 season one, it’s my first time watching), knitting, and generally relaxing. Evening came and I decided to make the final push for 77 so I could drop another 1,000 gold on my final flying skill. Being able to fly in Northrend is something I have really missed. Especially since all the level 80’s keep swooping out of the sky when I’m running on the ground and killing me.

I meandered my way (with the help of Manos) through a few dungeons I had never been to before in order to get those levels. I picked up as many quests as I could (they give huge amounts of experience) and did the Halls of Stone (my first time there) as well as Gundrak. I obtained a few upgrades along the way, including a new robe, two new rings, and new shoulders. The experience in the dungeons themselves was pretty poor, but combining them with the quests available made for a much easier time. I could have just quest grinded my way through the level but I’ve been feeling a little burnt out from my latest attempt.

Now that I’ve hit 77 I’d like to focus on my alts a little. I’m still trying to get both the shaman and the DK to 65 so that I can raise their crafting levels (jewelcrafting, inscription, and alchemy). The DK is only two levels away, and the shaman four, so it shouldn’t be too big of a deal to hit those goals. I’m doing my daily random so that I can eventually purchase some heirloom gear, and aside from that things are going pretty well. Once I hit 77 four more dungeons opened up to me, and I’m looking forward to learning them and exploring.

Hope everyone else is having a great day, and enjoy your 4th of July weekend! Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself.

I always wanted to reach ‘end game’ in World of Warcraft. I’ve got so many ‘max’ level characters in EQ2 that it always surprised me that I didn’t have any in the only other game I’ve played for as long as I have, which is WoW. My priest has slowly been inching her way towards 80 – and I do mean inch. From 71+ the best way to gain experience seems to be through doing quests (remember I have no heirloom gear to provide bonuses) and I’m just not a great quest person. Sure, I get in my moods where I’ll want to do nothing but quest, but for the most part I find them boring and tedious. Especially if you spend a few hours doing nothing BUT grinding quests.

By the end of the night the priest managed to clutch onto level 76 – which means just ONE more level and I can finally purchase the skill I need to fly in Northrend. Excited? YES I am. Flying makes things so much easier.

I spent most of my time questing in Dragonblight and Zul’Drak with Manos, though I was sure to pick up at least one random dungeon for the day to get my two tokens. I completed Ahn’kahet: The Old Kingdom, as well as Drak’Tharon Keep. It was my first time in each instance, and they went pretty well. I also picked up a few upgrades which is always nice. Healing is a little easier now, and instances don’t bother me quite as much as they once would have. I still don’t know what to do for every encounter but I’ll learn as I go along. That’s one of the downsides to still being relatively ‘new’ to the game. I don’t have the faintest idea about tactics for a lot of places. Thankfully I do pride myself on being a good healer, and that has gotten me by in most cases. I make sure that I’m stocked up on mana potions, food that increases my buffs, and potions that may help me out. I pay close attention to both the health bars as well as what’s going on in front of me because as I’ve been learning a lot of damage is avoidable if you simply move out of the way. Hard to know when to move if you’re not looking at the screen. This is almost refreshing, as EQ2 requires me to pay attention to little more then health bars and detriment windows. I don’t have to physically move too many places to avoid spikes jabbing me or missiles flying at me and the like.

One thing that I’ve noticed, and even WoW can not escape from it – is the running involved in every quest. Zul’Drak is HORRIBLE for this. I’m working under cover for the scourge, and it requires running from the NPC quest giver, to the scourge base, doing quests there, and running back. Basically back and forth between the two places which are a relatively good distance apart (and remember, I can’t fly) popping on a disguise and making sure it doesn’t fall off while I’m talking to the other side. The story is fun, and I’m not finding the quests themselves too annoying but the traveling between the two points is something I could do without.

I’m hoping today I can climb my way to level 77, and then it’s just three more to go. We’ll just have to see. Until later, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

Yesterday in a rare decision I wanted to actually play my ‘main’ in WoW which happens to be my priest. I had been bouncing around between the shaman and the death knight attempting to reach level 65 on each of them so that they could begin Wrath crafting, but was feeling a little burnt out from each and I was only 40% away from leveling on the priest. I headed to Nexus (and before hand picked up three quests for the dungeon) with Manos in a LFD group, one that had already cleared all of the zone except the bosses. They mentioned that they had been trying to complete the zone all day long which made me a little sad since it barely took us 15 minutes to complete the rest of it. Quests completed, upgrades obtained, and the priest easily found herself at level 73. Only four more and I can learn Northrend cold flying. Finally.

Later on in the evening Manos and I decided to attempt to duo the Nexus instance, it’s always nice to be able to claim all cloth for myself and disenchant all the greens. My enchanting is currently at 430, and my tailoring the same. In order to progress either of them I need to make incredibly complicated recipes that take a lot of rares. I have slowly been purchasing my extra enchanting recipes from Dalaran, but tailoring seems to be a little lacking in that department, unless there is something I am missing (which is more than likely).

I’m certainly not the quickest at leveling in WoW, but I seem to have more patience then I would normally have, and it’s enjoyable. The priest is able to hold her own fairly well (imo) and though I am still incredibly nervous healing when I don’t know an encounter, I imagine it will be something that I can overcome with time. We’ll just have to see.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

I absolutely love this view, it’s the inscription trainer in Dalaran, and the rows upon rows of books just appeals to me on so many levels. Of course in the center is my little (not so little) tauren shaman, who inched her way to level 59 yesterday! One level away from owning her first flying mount, and exploring Outlands in full. I’m pretty excited. Of course this is all part of my ‘I need level 65 so I can craft’ expedition, but it certainly helps that the shaman is fun to play.

Some differences I have noticed. I’ve got a dual spec on her, but tend to stick with the restoration (healer) side of things for convenience. At her level I don’t find the heals very handy. She has three heals, one is a chain heal and two are direct heals. The shaman works a lot like a support class via totems, and another huge issue I have is agro control. When the priest gets agro she has fade, and she’s also got her instant cast shield that she can put up to duck out of instantly being smushed. The shaman on the other hand has no instant cast heals, and no instant cast de-agros (or any at all for that matter) and if she’s got agro the best I can hope for is to heal myself and use my one ‘lose threat’ skill that has a long recast and is only single target. Now, maybe I’m missing something but from forum posts I’ve read this seems to be an issue that a lot of shaman have, not just myself.

I’m not sure if the restoration spec is worth it – when I already have a priest, who can heal “better”. Thoughts? If I’m running an instance and am playing a full blown healer, I’m expecting the priest to do better (although I’ve heard a lot of people using paladins to heal so of course I created one of those too).

I also discovered the most ANNOYING quest ever. No doubt a few of you have run into this one before. It’s the one where you require to be .. milked. I know, doesn’t that sound delightful? As if the traumatic experience of being milked were not enough, in order to get to that stage you have to be poisoned by a giant spider inside of an instance, and NOT cure yourself (or anyone else doing the quest). Then you have to walk back to the npc and turn the quest in while poisoned. Sounds easy? Well. This particular poison causes you to fling spider webs at anyone infected in close range, and root them to the floor. Of course since both Manos and I were doing the quest we spent almost an hour flinging spider webs at one another and sticking the the floor. Taking three steps only to be rooted to the floor again.

Thankfully once you’re outside the dungeon and mounted, the spiderwebs no longer affect you (you get a “you’re mounted!” message) and you can proceed to the npc for milking. *shudders* I’m going to have nightmares about that one for a long time.

I also managed to take the shaman to Dalaran (thank you mage who ported) and bind her to the inn there. I love Dalaran, and I’m sure Shattrah would have been a sight to see too when Burning Crusade was “end game”. There are so many people all over the place both horde and alliance. Channels are bustling and the game just feels so alive. I miss having central locations where people can get together, much like PoK in EQ1. EQ2 lacks this with guild halls taking everyone out of the world and into their own little caves.

I know a lot of people are upset about the newest round of Cataclysm announcements, and the fact that a lot of ‘features’ have been chopped, but I’m going to wait until it actually comes out (such a long wait) before making any judgment calls. There’s still so much time before it goes live that there’s no reason for me to get up in arms quite yet. I was reading over the shaman talent changes and felt my anger rising, only to realize that there’s no reason to get upset because chances are things will go through numerous changes. After playing MMOs for so long it’s something I’ve now come to expect.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

I’m trying very hard to get both my shaman and my death knight to level 65 (and hopefully the death knight to level 68 and the shaman one day to 80) so that they can begin working on getting their crafting past their current caps of 375. Yesterday along with Manos, the shaman managed to inch her way past level 56, and hit 57. Scholomance was on the schedule, and I also decided to pick up duel spec for 1,000 gold. I have only ever purchased this before for my priest who can very clearly have a heal line and a dps line. The shaman is much the same way and so I’ve got a restoration (I believe that’s the name of it) spec and also went down enhancement which I believe is what the melee spec is called. I was thinking of going down the elemental (I think that’s it) dps spec which is spell casting, but I thought it may be better to save my mana for when I do actually cast heals, and just go down the melee line. Besides, who doesn’t love the look of duel wielding!

The instances were fun and fairly quick, of course that’s to be expected when you’ve got a level 80 tanking everything for you. I find the shaman a little more complicated than the priest because I’ve got no de-agro, and no emergency ward I can stick up to prevent being attacked. Due to my lower level I’m used to “accidentally” pulling everything in a room, and I’ve had to come up with creative methods of staying alive.

I also completed Dire Maul, and it was my first time through the entire zone (to obtain the King of Dire Maul achievement). I love the story behind it, and it was fun to learn my way around. Hamal (Kasul from Shattered) also joined up in our little WoW guild, so that makes four of us. A priest, Warrior, Mage, and Hunter. Everyone got a lot of levels last night, and I’m pleased as punch that they all seem to be having a good time. Again I’m not sure how long it will last, but as long as they’re having fun for the moment that’s good.

What was everyone else up to this weekend? Explore any new lands? Let me know in comments!

Happy gaming.