I logged on last night with the intent of completing my Artisan Fishing and Cooking quests and then starting up the grind to 70 again. Instead I got sidetracked by a Penny Arcade Alliance Monday raid of The Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj.
First however I did complete both the Artisan Fishing and Cooking quests. When I have some time I’ll work on grinding Fishing to 300 and then 375, but think I may wait until after 3.0.2 is released since I read that they are reducing the number of catches required to skill up to 375. As for Cooking, I had bags full of fish and cooked to 270 before I ran out.
Then the call went out for the Ahn’Qiraj raid. A total of ten people volunteered to go, including me. I was the only person below level 70 however. This didn’t really matter since all the trash mobs were level 61 to 63 and died really quickly. Even the bosses died quickly, for example, the giant Obsidian Guardian, Moam, who has a special ability that triggers every 90 seconds, didn’t even have a chance to get to it, we killed him in less than a minute. In fact, the only time I died was when I was jumping down into a section to fight Buru the Gorger.
I walked away with Friendly reputation with the Cenarion Circle and the Qiraji Ceremonial Ring and the Qiraji Regal Drape, both redeemable for pieces of the Trappings of the Unseen Path set. Inconsequential pieces at level 70, but hopefully will count towards an Achievement.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
66, Fishing and Cooking Quests
I’ve been neglecting Powny for a little while now, focusing more on my toons on Shadow Council who are level 70 and can easily get a group for the Brewfest daily. I have been doing this for two reasons, one, to build up some rested experience to make the grind from 66 to 70 quicker and two, because I’m tired of the leveling grind. I’ll get back to it eventually, I just need a break.
That being said, I actually jumped on Powny for the majority of the day yesterday. I decided to try and get my skill in Cooking and Fishing up to at least the 225 range so I could do the Artisan quests from Nat Pagle and the goblin in Gadgetzan.
Fishing turned out to be a lot easier that I thought, as I started the day around 150 and made my way to Booty Bay. Yesterday was the Stranglethorn Vale Fishing Extravaganza which gave me incentive to skill up Fishing to a level where fish wouldn’t get away. Then the Extravaganza started. I assumed it would be a complete gank fest, but the Horde were really respectable and I didn’t get ganked once. I didn’t win, but I did get 30 Tastyfish before someone won and I did end up hooking a rare fish, Keebler’s Angelfish, which rewarded me with the Lucky Fishing Hat which gives +5 Fishing skill when worn. I also got Fishing up to 185, just by trying to win. Not too shabby.
Then I focused on Cooking, which was at a measly 120. I needed 125 to read the next Cooking book, and was able to cook a couple fish to get there. The next recipe for fish I had was only learnable at skill 175, so I headed to Astranaar to fish up some Bristle Whisker Catfish. I fished up enough to get my skill to 175 and also got my Fishing skill up to 190 in the process. At 175 Cooking I learned the Rockscale Cod recipe and cooked all the ones I had in my bags from fishing which got me to 215, just short of the 225. Then, for the Artisan Cooking quest I headed to The Hinterlands to kill Owlbeatsts for the Giant Eggs. Didn’t take long at all.
As a side note, while flying around I decided to stop off in Ratchet and see if Humar the Pridelord had spawned, and he did! I quickly abandoned my Ravager, Gorefield, and tamed Humar. When the 3.0.2 patch hits, he will auto-level to five levels below mine. Score! I also thought of a name for Humar and Sian-Rotam…they are now known as BasementCat and CeilingCat! Such perfect names, I love it!
Then I headed to Dustwallow Marsh to speak to Nat Pagle. I had to get my Fishing skill up to 225 before he would give me the Artisan Fishing quest, so I spent another 30 minutes next to him fishing. The Artisan quest sends you to Stranglethorn Vale, Swamp of Sorrows, Feralas and Desolace to fish up four rare fish. Before calling it a night I fished up the Savage Coast Blue Sailfin from Stranglethorn and the Misty Reed Mahi Mahi from Swamp of Sorrows and then headed to Gadgetzan to do the Artisan Cooking quest…because I forgot I wasn’t 225 in Cooking yet, I will need to backtrack and cook a few things before heading back and then on to Feralas.
A final note, when I was in Stranglethorn Vale fishing up the Sailfin, a call went out that the Rebel Camp was being attacked by a ?? Warlock. I offered up my services and flew over. To me, at level 66, I could see that the Warlock was a level 70 Undead one, and I sent in CeilingCat and popped Intimidation. The Warlock never knew what hit him as I popped Bestial Wrath, Rapid Fire and Bladefist’s Breadth. I then killed the 34 Blood Elf Rogue he was escorting around. It felt good to dish out some revenge for once.
That being said, I actually jumped on Powny for the majority of the day yesterday. I decided to try and get my skill in Cooking and Fishing up to at least the 225 range so I could do the Artisan quests from Nat Pagle and the goblin in Gadgetzan.
Fishing turned out to be a lot easier that I thought, as I started the day around 150 and made my way to Booty Bay. Yesterday was the Stranglethorn Vale Fishing Extravaganza which gave me incentive to skill up Fishing to a level where fish wouldn’t get away. Then the Extravaganza started. I assumed it would be a complete gank fest, but the Horde were really respectable and I didn’t get ganked once. I didn’t win, but I did get 30 Tastyfish before someone won and I did end up hooking a rare fish, Keebler’s Angelfish, which rewarded me with the Lucky Fishing Hat which gives +5 Fishing skill when worn. I also got Fishing up to 185, just by trying to win. Not too shabby.
Then I focused on Cooking, which was at a measly 120. I needed 125 to read the next Cooking book, and was able to cook a couple fish to get there. The next recipe for fish I had was only learnable at skill 175, so I headed to Astranaar to fish up some Bristle Whisker Catfish. I fished up enough to get my skill to 175 and also got my Fishing skill up to 190 in the process. At 175 Cooking I learned the Rockscale Cod recipe and cooked all the ones I had in my bags from fishing which got me to 215, just short of the 225. Then, for the Artisan Cooking quest I headed to The Hinterlands to kill Owlbeatsts for the Giant Eggs. Didn’t take long at all.
As a side note, while flying around I decided to stop off in Ratchet and see if Humar the Pridelord had spawned, and he did! I quickly abandoned my Ravager, Gorefield, and tamed Humar. When the 3.0.2 patch hits, he will auto-level to five levels below mine. Score! I also thought of a name for Humar and Sian-Rotam…they are now known as BasementCat and CeilingCat! Such perfect names, I love it!
Then I headed to Dustwallow Marsh to speak to Nat Pagle. I had to get my Fishing skill up to 225 before he would give me the Artisan Fishing quest, so I spent another 30 minutes next to him fishing. The Artisan quest sends you to Stranglethorn Vale, Swamp of Sorrows, Feralas and Desolace to fish up four rare fish. Before calling it a night I fished up the Savage Coast Blue Sailfin from Stranglethorn and the Misty Reed Mahi Mahi from Swamp of Sorrows and then headed to Gadgetzan to do the Artisan Cooking quest…because I forgot I wasn’t 225 in Cooking yet, I will need to backtrack and cook a few things before heading back and then on to Feralas.
A final note, when I was in Stranglethorn Vale fishing up the Sailfin, a call went out that the Rebel Camp was being attacked by a ?? Warlock. I offered up my services and flew over. To me, at level 66, I could see that the Warlock was a level 70 Undead one, and I sent in CeilingCat and popped Intimidation. The Warlock never knew what hit him as I popped Bestial Wrath, Rapid Fire and Bladefist’s Breadth. I then killed the 34 Blood Elf Rogue he was escorting around. It felt good to dish out some revenge for once.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
66, Terrokar Forest and The Bone Wastes
I only needed 4 ½ more bars of experience to ding 66, so decided to bang it out quickly on Saturday morning.
I started with the Cenarian outpost that had the bomb go off in it and is now taken over by evil Moths. To start that quest you first need to speak to the Tauren out front and collect samples of good Moths and samples of bad Moths. It took me over a ½ hour to get all the good Moth samples and I was getting pretty frustrated with how long it was taking. After finally finishing I went in an explored the outpost, found the bomb and killed the head Moth in the tower. After turning in these quests I had to find the wandering Broken who had information about the bomb. Found him easy enough and subdued him quickly.
Next I headed into the Bone Wastes for some quests and stopped and the broken down caravan and got all the quests available. The first sent me into a tomb to collect some lost relics and then to escort a guy out. I failed the escort the first time because some mobs spawned just as we were about to get out. I then failed it a second time when I forgot about some mobs that spawned and ran too far ahead. The third time was the charm.
I then went a freed the kidnapped children from the Arakkoa camp and disabled their dark crystal. Then I killed treants and killed the insects that spawned and headed back to the caravan to turn in a bunch of quests and dinged 66. All in all, it took me a couple hours, not too bad.
I started with the Cenarian outpost that had the bomb go off in it and is now taken over by evil Moths. To start that quest you first need to speak to the Tauren out front and collect samples of good Moths and samples of bad Moths. It took me over a ½ hour to get all the good Moth samples and I was getting pretty frustrated with how long it was taking. After finally finishing I went in an explored the outpost, found the bomb and killed the head Moth in the tower. After turning in these quests I had to find the wandering Broken who had information about the bomb. Found him easy enough and subdued him quickly.
Next I headed into the Bone Wastes for some quests and stopped and the broken down caravan and got all the quests available. The first sent me into a tomb to collect some lost relics and then to escort a guy out. I failed the escort the first time because some mobs spawned just as we were about to get out. I then failed it a second time when I forgot about some mobs that spawned and ran too far ahead. The third time was the charm.
I then went a freed the kidnapped children from the Arakkoa camp and disabled their dark crystal. Then I killed treants and killed the insects that spawned and headed back to the caravan to turn in a bunch of quests and dinged 66. All in all, it took me a couple hours, not too bad.
Friday, September 19, 2008
65 and Zangarmarsh Completed
Again, I set a goal for last night, to finish up the quests in Zangarmarsh so I can focus on moving to Terrokar Forest, Nagrand and Blade’s Edge Mountains. The way I’m powering through the levels in the early zones, I may not even get to Blade’s Edge before I ding 70.
So last night consisted of killing Marshfangs and Wasps, stealing mushrooms from Ogres and turning in a ton of quests. I began the night about ½ a bar into level 66 and ended over ½ way through the level, plus its all still rested experience too. I cleared up a bunch of questlines too, including the saving the Sporlock lines, the Bohamu ruins line and the pre-requisite to the Lost Druid quests (which I did ages ago). My favorite is the Bohamu ruins one because at the end you get to turn into a Arakkoa and talk to one of the Druids. He sees right through your disguise and chastises the Draenai for trying to fool the Broken.
When I finished in Zangarmarsh, I headed off to Shattrath to do the dreaded sightseeing quest. It just takes too long when it’s the fourth time you’ve done it is all. The first time is cool because you get a full history of how Shattrath was formed, who the Sha’tar are and why the Draenai and Blood Elves are defending the city together. At the end I chose to ally myself with the Aldor since neither choice offers much in the way of Hunter gear, except for a decent ring on the Aldor side. Unfortunately, past experience has shown that I usually have a better ring before hitting Exalted with the Aldor. I also think that Aldor is a tougher group to get reputation turn in items for.
Next up is Terrokar Forest and Arrakoa quests…I hate the Arrakoa.
So last night consisted of killing Marshfangs and Wasps, stealing mushrooms from Ogres and turning in a ton of quests. I began the night about ½ a bar into level 66 and ended over ½ way through the level, plus its all still rested experience too. I cleared up a bunch of questlines too, including the saving the Sporlock lines, the Bohamu ruins line and the pre-requisite to the Lost Druid quests (which I did ages ago). My favorite is the Bohamu ruins one because at the end you get to turn into a Arakkoa and talk to one of the Druids. He sees right through your disguise and chastises the Draenai for trying to fool the Broken.
When I finished in Zangarmarsh, I headed off to Shattrath to do the dreaded sightseeing quest. It just takes too long when it’s the fourth time you’ve done it is all. The first time is cool because you get a full history of how Shattrath was formed, who the Sha’tar are and why the Draenai and Blood Elves are defending the city together. At the end I chose to ally myself with the Aldor since neither choice offers much in the way of Hunter gear, except for a decent ring on the Aldor side. Unfortunately, past experience has shown that I usually have a better ring before hitting Exalted with the Aldor. I also think that Aldor is a tougher group to get reputation turn in items for.
Next up is Terrokar Forest and Arrakoa quests…I hate the Arrakoa.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
65 and Zangarmarsh
My only goal last night was to ding 65 and equip The Gunblade. With only 3 ½ bars to go, it turned out to be a pretty easy task and I was done in about an hours worth of questing/killing. A full 3 ½ bars of rested experience helped a lot too.
I started where I left off in Orebar Harborage and killed Ogres for mushrooms, Broken for poison vials and books and Wasps here and there for wings. When I was finished I went back to Orebar and turned them in and dinged Friendly with the Kurenai. Of course I thought I dinged 65 and was excited, until I tried to equip The Gunblade and buy level 65 food and water. So I had to go out and kill Hydras near the pipes to ding 65. Done and done.
I headed off to Shattrah to upgrade my bullets too and jumped in to a quick Alterac Valley game (it was the daily PvP quest) and surprisingly, we won! I spent the entire time defending Iceblood Tower with a Paladin. Two Horde showed up and I died but the Paladin stayed up long enough for us to destroy the tower. I had already released, but I’m sure we destroyed it within seconds of them about to capture it back.
Next is to finish up Zangarmarsh and head on to Terrokar.
I started where I left off in Orebar Harborage and killed Ogres for mushrooms, Broken for poison vials and books and Wasps here and there for wings. When I was finished I went back to Orebar and turned them in and dinged Friendly with the Kurenai. Of course I thought I dinged 65 and was excited, until I tried to equip The Gunblade and buy level 65 food and water. So I had to go out and kill Hydras near the pipes to ding 65. Done and done.
I headed off to Shattrah to upgrade my bullets too and jumped in to a quick Alterac Valley game (it was the daily PvP quest) and surprisingly, we won! I spent the entire time defending Iceblood Tower with a Paladin. Two Horde showed up and I died but the Paladin stayed up long enough for us to destroy the tower. I had already released, but I’m sure we destroyed it within seconds of them about to capture it back.
Next is to finish up Zangarmarsh and head on to Terrokar.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
64, Zangarmarsh, Sporregar and Underbog
I’ve been AWOL for a little while now, I just lost that desire to level ever since Blizzard lifted the restriction on transferring toons from PvE servers to PvP servers. I could quickly and easily move Agravane or Daggitt over to Dark Iron and have a level 70 with maxed skills and decent farming ability. I still may do it, but I haven’t totally made up my mind yet. However, with a new guild and a little motivation to level Powny again to 70, I went back to work in Zangarmarsh with the goal of hitting 65 and equipping The Gunblade that Josh gave me. I also had a full level of rested experience to boost myself along as well.
I quickly zoomed through the Blacksting, Count Ungula and Bohamu Ruins quests and made my way to Watcher Leesha’oh and began the Sporregar reputation grind. Fahsun was waiting for me outside the Spawning Glen and I tore my way through Bog Lords and got to Friendly with Sporregar by the time I was done.
Next I went to Sporregar itself and got a few of the quests there, including the one to clear Hungarfen and The Black Stalker from Underbog. At this point I queued up for an Underbog run with the hopes of dinging 65 inside.
The Underbog run didn’t start off so great. There were ten or so Horde at the summoning stone taunting the six or seven Alliance I was with. A huge fight ensued and I got a few kills, but the majority of the Horde were level 70 and really ripped through us pretty quickly. In the end we got into Underbog and did a full clear in about an hour. I didn’t get any drops, but did clear out both quests I needed.
I ended the night heading back to the Cenarion Expedition post (I was low on arrows) and almost got ganked by a 70 Troll Mage. I was too fast for him and got away, but then I saw him target a different Alliance Paladin, saw my chance, and tore him a new one. A nice, easy 25 honor. I made sure to laugh at him too.
Three and a half bars till 65, I'll finish that up tonight, along with a couple more Zangarmarsh quests before moving on to Terrokar Forest.
I quickly zoomed through the Blacksting, Count Ungula and Bohamu Ruins quests and made my way to Watcher Leesha’oh and began the Sporregar reputation grind. Fahsun was waiting for me outside the Spawning Glen and I tore my way through Bog Lords and got to Friendly with Sporregar by the time I was done.
Next I went to Sporregar itself and got a few of the quests there, including the one to clear Hungarfen and The Black Stalker from Underbog. At this point I queued up for an Underbog run with the hopes of dinging 65 inside.
The Underbog run didn’t start off so great. There were ten or so Horde at the summoning stone taunting the six or seven Alliance I was with. A huge fight ensued and I got a few kills, but the majority of the Horde were level 70 and really ripped through us pretty quickly. In the end we got into Underbog and did a full clear in about an hour. I didn’t get any drops, but did clear out both quests I needed.
I ended the night heading back to the Cenarion Expedition post (I was low on arrows) and almost got ganked by a 70 Troll Mage. I was too fast for him and got away, but then I saw him target a different Alliance Paladin, saw my chance, and tore him a new one. A nice, easy 25 honor. I made sure to laugh at him too.
Three and a half bars till 65, I'll finish that up tonight, along with a couple more Zangarmarsh quests before moving on to Terrokar Forest.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Exuberance
Last night I bid goodbye to the Traveling Wilburys and joined up with Exuberance at the recommendation of Bill. Exuberance is a member of the Penny Arcade Alliance (PAA) and will get my foot in the door for level 70 instances and raiding. They welcomed me pretty well and I think they were impressed with my knowledge since I was able to jump right in and contribute to the Wrath of the Lich King discussions that were going on.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
64, Zangarmarsh and an Odd Blood Furnace run
Being only 4 bars away from 64 took a lot of the pressure of speed leveling off of me last night. 4 bars is easy to get with all the experience you receive from turning in quests. I figure I was getting about 10,000 experience a turn in and 3 turn ins would net me a bar. Easy.
So I headed off to the dead marsh portion of Zangarmarsh and did some clearing, then headed to the lake with the eels and hydras and cleared there as well. An underwater breathing potion helped immensely here. I then headed back to the dead marsh and cleared a bit more. All in all I finished about 10 or so quests and dinged 64.
From here I went back to Ironforge to train and got my first rank of Aspect of the Viper. Combining Aspect of the Viper with the Mark of Conquest, I should have very little mana troubles while I level now.
I then decided to start gathering materials for the 20 slot Knothide Ammo Pouch and Knothide Quiver since I find myself burning through arrows pretty quickly. The toughest material is the Arakkoa Feathers and I refuse to pay 30 gold for a stack of 30 on the Auction House, so I decided to just head on over to Terrokar Forest and farm them up. I ran into Bbqgnome while I was farming, he is also level 64, and we re-affirmed out pact to sack Tarren Mill at level 70.
After I had farmed about 27 Arakkoa Feathers I received a whisper from a level 70 Paladin asking if I wanted to participate in a Blood Furnace run. There are upgrades for me from all three of the bosses so I agreed to tag along. I realized quickly I would be the main DPS for the run since everyone else was level 60, except for the Paladin. He then said he would charge me 5 gold for the run and an additional 2 gold if I got any drops. I thought this over for a second and agreed. 5 gold is nothing. At most I figured I shell out 11 gold if I got a drop off each boss. Thankfully it was a quick run because the Paladin was a pretty poor tank. He was level 70, so he never died, but I would have done things much differently. For one, he never judged Wisdom on any mobs and was constantly out of mana. I was the only person who ever came close to passing him on threat, so this just boggled my mind when he insisted on judging Vengeance on every mob. I even told him so, but he brushed it off. Less than efficient tanking aside, I did get the Warsong Howling Axe drop off of the last boss, so in the end, the run was totally worth it.
Next I’ll finish farming the ammo pouch and quiver mats, then get back to leveling in Zangarmarsh.
So I headed off to the dead marsh portion of Zangarmarsh and did some clearing, then headed to the lake with the eels and hydras and cleared there as well. An underwater breathing potion helped immensely here. I then headed back to the dead marsh and cleared a bit more. All in all I finished about 10 or so quests and dinged 64.
From here I went back to Ironforge to train and got my first rank of Aspect of the Viper. Combining Aspect of the Viper with the Mark of Conquest, I should have very little mana troubles while I level now.
I then decided to start gathering materials for the 20 slot Knothide Ammo Pouch and Knothide Quiver since I find myself burning through arrows pretty quickly. The toughest material is the Arakkoa Feathers and I refuse to pay 30 gold for a stack of 30 on the Auction House, so I decided to just head on over to Terrokar Forest and farm them up. I ran into Bbqgnome while I was farming, he is also level 64, and we re-affirmed out pact to sack Tarren Mill at level 70.
After I had farmed about 27 Arakkoa Feathers I received a whisper from a level 70 Paladin asking if I wanted to participate in a Blood Furnace run. There are upgrades for me from all three of the bosses so I agreed to tag along. I realized quickly I would be the main DPS for the run since everyone else was level 60, except for the Paladin. He then said he would charge me 5 gold for the run and an additional 2 gold if I got any drops. I thought this over for a second and agreed. 5 gold is nothing. At most I figured I shell out 11 gold if I got a drop off each boss. Thankfully it was a quick run because the Paladin was a pretty poor tank. He was level 70, so he never died, but I would have done things much differently. For one, he never judged Wisdom on any mobs and was constantly out of mana. I was the only person who ever came close to passing him on threat, so this just boggled my mind when he insisted on judging Vengeance on every mob. I even told him so, but he brushed it off. Less than efficient tanking aside, I did get the Warsong Howling Axe drop off of the last boss, so in the end, the run was totally worth it.
Next I’ll finish farming the ammo pouch and quiver mats, then get back to leveling in Zangarmarsh.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
63, Zangarmarsh and 2/3 of Underbog
The bonus of Zangarmarsh is that the quests are all lumped together and they reward a ton of experience, many 14,000 or more a turn in. And there are rumors that before Wrath of the Lich King that they are going to increase this by another 10% to help people level faster from 60 to 70.
When I first logged into Powny I saw that I had some mail. I checked it and found that Josh had sent me a Gunblade! Now I have a little extra incentive to level to 65 quicker!
My next step was to hit the Auction House on Pownybank and buy up 270 Unidentified Plant Parts to turn in for Cenarion Expedition reputation on Powny. Right when you zone into Zangarmarsh there is a quest to turn in stacks of 10 and get 250 reputation per turn in. 27 turn ins got me to Honored with Cenarion Expedition, now all the quests I do for them will work towards Revered and ultimately Exalted. In the end I dropped about 150gold for the plant parts, but I can make that back quick enough. Heck, Powny has 250gold just from questing since entering Outlands.
I then started in on questing and queued up for an Underbog run if one became available. While questing and doing one of the escort quests a 61 Undead Warlock decided he would try and gank me. It’s very rude to try and gank someone while they are on an escort quest and it really made me mad. I quickly killed him with malice. He was pretty dumb as it was, attacking me when he was only at ½ health and two levels lower. After turning in the escort a 61 Undead Priest decided it would be fun to kill me in town. He killed me twice, but in return I saw him get killed by the guards at least six or seven times. Again, not too smart.
I got a whisper for an Underbog run, they had already cleared up to the big Hydra, but all I want from Underbog is to complete the Lost Druid quest, so I was fine with going in 1/3 of the way done. I quickly found that the group was pretty inexperienced and I had to make suggestions and lead them around and give strategies for the bosses. We cleared through it all but ended up wiping the The Black Stalker. After rezzing I had the healer stand under a mushroom so he couldn’t be levitated and we killed the last boss easier. The Stalker's Fangs dropped, but I could tell the Rogue in our group really wanted it, so I passed for him. It wasn’t as big an upgrade for me as it was for him in the end. Hopefully that builds a little Good Karma for me.
I ended the night clearing out a few more quests and setting my Hearth at Telreador. I’m also 4 bars from 64.
When I first logged into Powny I saw that I had some mail. I checked it and found that Josh had sent me a Gunblade! Now I have a little extra incentive to level to 65 quicker!
My next step was to hit the Auction House on Pownybank and buy up 270 Unidentified Plant Parts to turn in for Cenarion Expedition reputation on Powny. Right when you zone into Zangarmarsh there is a quest to turn in stacks of 10 and get 250 reputation per turn in. 27 turn ins got me to Honored with Cenarion Expedition, now all the quests I do for them will work towards Revered and ultimately Exalted. In the end I dropped about 150gold for the plant parts, but I can make that back quick enough. Heck, Powny has 250gold just from questing since entering Outlands.
I then started in on questing and queued up for an Underbog run if one became available. While questing and doing one of the escort quests a 61 Undead Warlock decided he would try and gank me. It’s very rude to try and gank someone while they are on an escort quest and it really made me mad. I quickly killed him with malice. He was pretty dumb as it was, attacking me when he was only at ½ health and two levels lower. After turning in the escort a 61 Undead Priest decided it would be fun to kill me in town. He killed me twice, but in return I saw him get killed by the guards at least six or seven times. Again, not too smart.
I got a whisper for an Underbog run, they had already cleared up to the big Hydra, but all I want from Underbog is to complete the Lost Druid quest, so I was fine with going in 1/3 of the way done. I quickly found that the group was pretty inexperienced and I had to make suggestions and lead them around and give strategies for the bosses. We cleared through it all but ended up wiping the The Black Stalker. After rezzing I had the healer stand under a mushroom so he couldn’t be levitated and we killed the last boss easier. The Stalker's Fangs dropped, but I could tell the Rogue in our group really wanted it, so I passed for him. It wasn’t as big an upgrade for me as it was for him in the end. Hopefully that builds a little Good Karma for me.
I ended the night clearing out a few more quests and setting my Hearth at Telreador. I’m also 4 bars from 64.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
63, Underbog and Finishing Hellfire
Last night consisted of clearing up the last of the Hellfire quests, dodging sneaky Fel Reavers and a lot of PvP.
I started in on the Cenarion Expedition quests near the Zangarmarsh entrance, just a couple quick ones to kill Hellboars and stuff and I got the Colossal Menace quest as well, even though the end reward blue mail gloves are Shaman gear. While here a 61 Undead Warlock tried to gank me. He feared me and I was able to get away, ran off to the main raid, drank and bandaged and then went back to teach him a lesson. He now knows that Bestial Wrath breaks Fear. My Cat stunned him and then ate him up pretty quickly. It also helped that his Felguard was frozen.
I then got an invite for an Underbog run and jumped at the change to finish off the Lost Druid quest. Unfortunately the group I was with, while decent, lacked motivation and the tank quit on us after we killed the first boss. He claimed to have to go into Tempest Keep with his main, but I’m not sure I believed him. Oh well, a little bit of Cenarion Expedition rep for a little bit of work.
I then got the assistance of Josh’s Rogue to clear out some of the group quests, specifically Overlord and Drill the Drillmaster. We easily killed them both and then he switched over to his Druid and we finished Colossal Menace. From Overlord I got the Bladefist’s Breadth trinket, probably one of the best quest rewards, that will last me well into 70 and is a great Survival Hunter trinket.
Next I told Josh that I only needed 10 more Marks of Honor Hold and then I could get the Mark of Conquest. With him watching my back, we spent a good hour camping the towers in Hellfire, killing Horde, capping towers and working up to 10 marks. I didn’t die once, it was glorious. The best was a 70 Undead Warlock trying to kill me. Josh popped off a heal on me, I hit Bestial Wrath and Intimidation, stunned him, then burned him down with Josh’s help. I had to drink a pot to stay alive due to all the DoTs, but I survived and he never showed his face again.
By the end of the night I had my 30 marks and zoned into Zangarmarsh and picked up the Mark of Conquest. I now have two trinkets that, worst case scenario, will last me until 70.
Tonight I start in on Zangarmarsh and hopefully level 64.
I started in on the Cenarion Expedition quests near the Zangarmarsh entrance, just a couple quick ones to kill Hellboars and stuff and I got the Colossal Menace quest as well, even though the end reward blue mail gloves are Shaman gear. While here a 61 Undead Warlock tried to gank me. He feared me and I was able to get away, ran off to the main raid, drank and bandaged and then went back to teach him a lesson. He now knows that Bestial Wrath breaks Fear. My Cat stunned him and then ate him up pretty quickly. It also helped that his Felguard was frozen.
I then got an invite for an Underbog run and jumped at the change to finish off the Lost Druid quest. Unfortunately the group I was with, while decent, lacked motivation and the tank quit on us after we killed the first boss. He claimed to have to go into Tempest Keep with his main, but I’m not sure I believed him. Oh well, a little bit of Cenarion Expedition rep for a little bit of work.
I then got the assistance of Josh’s Rogue to clear out some of the group quests, specifically Overlord and Drill the Drillmaster. We easily killed them both and then he switched over to his Druid and we finished Colossal Menace. From Overlord I got the Bladefist’s Breadth trinket, probably one of the best quest rewards, that will last me well into 70 and is a great Survival Hunter trinket.
Next I told Josh that I only needed 10 more Marks of Honor Hold and then I could get the Mark of Conquest. With him watching my back, we spent a good hour camping the towers in Hellfire, killing Horde, capping towers and working up to 10 marks. I didn’t die once, it was glorious. The best was a 70 Undead Warlock trying to kill me. Josh popped off a heal on me, I hit Bestial Wrath and Intimidation, stunned him, then burned him down with Josh’s help. I had to drink a pot to stay alive due to all the DoTs, but I survived and he never showed his face again.
By the end of the night I had my 30 marks and zoned into Zangarmarsh and picked up the Mark of Conquest. I now have two trinkets that, worst case scenario, will last me until 70.
Tonight I start in on Zangarmarsh and hopefully level 64.
Monday, September 8, 2008
63, Hellfire and Blood Furnace
Back to questing in Hellfire, I cleared out a number of quests in my log, including gathering Ravager eggs, feathers from Carrion birds and killing the two named ghosts in the shattered Armory.
I was about ¾ of the way to 63 when I got an invite from Lziggy to go into Blood Furnace. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance. I didn’t get any drops from the instance, but managed to ding 63 while inside and completed the two quests from Honor Hold.
Dinging 63 has put me an entire level ahead of my guide. In fact, the part I’m at says that I should be level 62 before leaving Hellfire for Zangarmarsh. No problem there. I plan to see out the guide however and will keep questing in Hellfire and I imagine I should be close to ½ way through 64 by the time I enter Zangarmarsh.
I am still slowly collecting Honor Hold marks for turning when I get to Zangarmarsh. The Mark of Conquest trinket is quite good even at higher levels since it gives mana back on ranged attacks approximately 10% of the time. Anything to help me quest faster is good in my book, however the 30 mark requirement is taking longer than expected. Unfortunately I have trouble finding groups to camp the Hellfire towers with and am a pretty easy target for higher level Horde. I’m at 16 marks right now, so at least I’m more than ½ way to the Mark of Conquest.
More questing tonight and maybe I can get a Wilbury Underbog run set up.
I was about ¾ of the way to 63 when I got an invite from Lziggy to go into Blood Furnace. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance. I didn’t get any drops from the instance, but managed to ding 63 while inside and completed the two quests from Honor Hold.
Dinging 63 has put me an entire level ahead of my guide. In fact, the part I’m at says that I should be level 62 before leaving Hellfire for Zangarmarsh. No problem there. I plan to see out the guide however and will keep questing in Hellfire and I imagine I should be close to ½ way through 64 by the time I enter Zangarmarsh.
I am still slowly collecting Honor Hold marks for turning when I get to Zangarmarsh. The Mark of Conquest trinket is quite good even at higher levels since it gives mana back on ranged attacks approximately 10% of the time. Anything to help me quest faster is good in my book, however the 30 mark requirement is taking longer than expected. Unfortunately I have trouble finding groups to camp the Hellfire towers with and am a pretty easy target for higher level Horde. I’m at 16 marks right now, so at least I’m more than ½ way to the Mark of Conquest.
More questing tonight and maybe I can get a Wilbury Underbog run set up.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
62, Hellfire and Slave Pens
Unfortunately Friday night was pretty much a wash and I didn’t get a chance to log on to play much at all so I had to make up for it last night. Sadly I wasn’t able to get to 63, but I did get about half way through and got a decent upgrade.
I started off by completing the Arakkoa quests, which I generally dislike because the bird-men are so darn annoying. It took an awful long time collecting the feathers for a quest as well. It generally took 3 kills just to get one feather to drop. The only good part of this was that I started saving Light Feathers for when I hit 70 and will need someone to craft the Quiver of a Thousand Feathers.
While questing, Tanktodabank whispered me and asked if I wanted to run Slave Pens with him. I would have preferred a Blood Furnace run, but really can’t complain about Slave Pens because Cenarion Expedition reputation is what I’m after so I can eventually get the Hyppogryph Mount. To sum it all up, I got two drops, the first a belt off the first boss and finally the Scorpid Sting Mantle off the Quagmirran. I sold the belt because it really wasn’t better than the leather one I got in Ramparts, but the Mantle is a huge upgrade. I was quite happy and immediately slapped a +6 Agility and a +3 Agility/+4 Stamina gem in it. Again, a HUGE upgrade over the green of the Monkey shoulders I was wearing.
There was talk of doing the second part of the Lost Druid quest in Underbog, but some people bailed and I went back to questing in Hellfire. I didn’t quest to long however, just enough to cement myself at the half way point.
I started off by completing the Arakkoa quests, which I generally dislike because the bird-men are so darn annoying. It took an awful long time collecting the feathers for a quest as well. It generally took 3 kills just to get one feather to drop. The only good part of this was that I started saving Light Feathers for when I hit 70 and will need someone to craft the Quiver of a Thousand Feathers.
While questing, Tanktodabank whispered me and asked if I wanted to run Slave Pens with him. I would have preferred a Blood Furnace run, but really can’t complain about Slave Pens because Cenarion Expedition reputation is what I’m after so I can eventually get the Hyppogryph Mount. To sum it all up, I got two drops, the first a belt off the first boss and finally the Scorpid Sting Mantle off the Quagmirran. I sold the belt because it really wasn’t better than the leather one I got in Ramparts, but the Mantle is a huge upgrade. I was quite happy and immediately slapped a +6 Agility and a +3 Agility/+4 Stamina gem in it. Again, a HUGE upgrade over the green of the Monkey shoulders I was wearing.
There was talk of doing the second part of the Lost Druid quest in Underbog, but some people bailed and I went back to questing in Hellfire. I didn’t quest to long however, just enough to cement myself at the half way point.
Friday, September 5, 2008
62, Temple of Telhamut and Hellfire Ramparts
Last night was quite uneventful. I did the quests in and around the Temple of Telhamut, including slaughtering the Orcs in the mountains above in retaliation for killing Sedai. I then made my way down into the Pools of Aggonar to kill slimes and demons for another quest.
During this time I was in the queue for a Hellfire Ramparts run since I have the quest to collect the Hand, Hoof and Head of the three bosses which has a quest reward of a decent pair of gloves. A group queued up and after a few disconnects and replacing lost people we did a full clear and I completed the quest. I didn’t get any other loot but now need to do a run through Blood Furnace since I have all the required quests. I think I’ll bug the Wilbury’s tonight.
After Ramparts I did a few more quests around the broken city and the Arrakoa area and dinged 62. The broken city has a good quest line and another example of well thought out and interesting storylines. One of the broken apparently has made a pact with a demon and enslaved his whole city in return. Instead of escaping he has you recover a key and release the city elders and then slay the demon. The demon is an elite but the broken gives you a staff that temporarily removes the elite status so you can burn him down easily. I dinged 62 after turning in this quest.
My cat also gained a number of levels of loyalty and dinged 61. He is now at an equal stage as Caspurr was with Dash, Gore, Claw and Bite plus level 2 in every resistance. He can maintain some serious threat now, in fact, he off-tanked the majority of Ramparts successfully.
I ended the night heading to train new skills and got Steady Shot. This is the bread and butter of end-game shot rotations as it does decent damage and doesn’t reset the swing timer of auto shot. I had to move my buttons around to fit it in but it should make leveling a little bit quicker now. I also jumped into a quick Arathi Basin since it was the daily but we got rolled by the Horde so I just called it a night.
My next decision is whether I keep pushing in Hellfire or move on to Zangarmarsh. My guide still has about a days worth of grinding through Hellfire and I can probably bang out 63 here, but we’ll see.
During this time I was in the queue for a Hellfire Ramparts run since I have the quest to collect the Hand, Hoof and Head of the three bosses which has a quest reward of a decent pair of gloves. A group queued up and after a few disconnects and replacing lost people we did a full clear and I completed the quest. I didn’t get any other loot but now need to do a run through Blood Furnace since I have all the required quests. I think I’ll bug the Wilbury’s tonight.
After Ramparts I did a few more quests around the broken city and the Arrakoa area and dinged 62. The broken city has a good quest line and another example of well thought out and interesting storylines. One of the broken apparently has made a pact with a demon and enslaved his whole city in return. Instead of escaping he has you recover a key and release the city elders and then slay the demon. The demon is an elite but the broken gives you a staff that temporarily removes the elite status so you can burn him down easily. I dinged 62 after turning in this quest.
My cat also gained a number of levels of loyalty and dinged 61. He is now at an equal stage as Caspurr was with Dash, Gore, Claw and Bite plus level 2 in every resistance. He can maintain some serious threat now, in fact, he off-tanked the majority of Ramparts successfully.
I ended the night heading to train new skills and got Steady Shot. This is the bread and butter of end-game shot rotations as it does decent damage and doesn’t reset the swing timer of auto shot. I had to move my buttons around to fit it in but it should make leveling a little bit quicker now. I also jumped into a quick Arathi Basin since it was the daily but we got rolled by the Horde so I just called it a night.
My next decision is whether I keep pushing in Hellfire or move on to Zangarmarsh. My guide still has about a days worth of grinding through Hellfire and I can probably bang out 63 here, but we’ll see.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
61 and Hellfire
I leveled half way through 61 last night on the way to 62, hopefully after the second round of questing tonight I should be able to ding 62 and make my way into Zangermarsh.
Surprisingly there was no Horde aggression in Hellfire last night. I did the quests north of Thrallmar too where there are usually a few Horde running around, but last night none were to be found. I even burned the Bolt Throwers to the south of Thrallmar, while Horde were questing, but they all left me alone. I was quite surprised.
My Cat also gained a couple levels of happiness and I was able to teach it Dash, Claw and Bite and it is finally starting to hold aggro. I still need to think of a name for it, but I don’t want it to be a dumb one like Kitteh or Boar.
At the end of the night I made my way to the Temple of Telhamut and trained First Aid. With all the Runecloth I had I got to 320, still a few shy of being able to make Netherweave Bandages. The area around the Temple feels a lot more like Horde territory so we’ll see how tonight shapes up. I will also be heading over to the Longbeard’s camp, which was where things went sour when I was leveling Agravane. I was camped non-stop and got so fed up I transferred him to the Shadow Council server. I promised myself that it won’t happen again this time with Powny.
At the end of the night I dipped back into Alterac Valley and promptly got rolled by the Horde in 2 straight games. It’s a simple concept to win:
1. Capture the Snowfall Graveyard
2. Kill Galvanar
3. Capture the Iceblood Tower
4. Capture the Iceblood Graveyard
5. Capture Tower Point
6. Capture the Relief Hut
7. Capture the East and West Frostwolf Towers
8. Kill Drek’Thar
9. ???
10. Profit
So why does the Alliance get so easily rolled on this server? Simple, they don’t defend anything after they capture it. One person can’t hold off 3 or 4 Horde when they come to take it back. Hopefully it will get better when I ding 70.
Surprisingly there was no Horde aggression in Hellfire last night. I did the quests north of Thrallmar too where there are usually a few Horde running around, but last night none were to be found. I even burned the Bolt Throwers to the south of Thrallmar, while Horde were questing, but they all left me alone. I was quite surprised.
My Cat also gained a couple levels of happiness and I was able to teach it Dash, Claw and Bite and it is finally starting to hold aggro. I still need to think of a name for it, but I don’t want it to be a dumb one like Kitteh or Boar.
At the end of the night I made my way to the Temple of Telhamut and trained First Aid. With all the Runecloth I had I got to 320, still a few shy of being able to make Netherweave Bandages. The area around the Temple feels a lot more like Horde territory so we’ll see how tonight shapes up. I will also be heading over to the Longbeard’s camp, which was where things went sour when I was leveling Agravane. I was camped non-stop and got so fed up I transferred him to the Shadow Council server. I promised myself that it won’t happen again this time with Powny.
At the end of the night I dipped back into Alterac Valley and promptly got rolled by the Horde in 2 straight games. It’s a simple concept to win:
1. Capture the Snowfall Graveyard
2. Kill Galvanar
3. Capture the Iceblood Tower
4. Capture the Iceblood Graveyard
5. Capture Tower Point
6. Capture the Relief Hut
7. Capture the East and West Frostwolf Towers
8. Kill Drek’Thar
9. ???
10. Profit
So why does the Alliance get so easily rolled on this server? Simple, they don’t defend anything after they capture it. One person can’t hold off 3 or 4 Horde when they come to take it back. Hopefully it will get better when I ding 70.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
61, Honor Hold and Alterac Valley
I decided to just do it and level to 61 and see how bad the Alterac Valley queue is in the 70 bracket. I have 71 marks so even if it’s painful, I have above and beyond the 50 that I need for the Season 2 armor.
So I quickly began burning through the Honor Hold quests, getting some gear upgrades along the way. I got to do my first bombing run quest (you have to blow up two demon spawn points) and the quest Zeth’Gor Must Burn where you place exploding barrels under towers that explode and summon Gryphon Riders to bomb. All in all a couple fun quests and real easy as a Hunter too.
I also flew over to Shatter Point and dinged 61.
Instead of continuing I decided to dive right into Alterac Valley. It certainly was a change from the 60 bracket. In the 70 bracket the Horde are organized, take objectives and defend things to the death. This is what a real Alterac Valley bracket should be like and is what I am used to, a huge zerg rush to the Relief Hut. I went 3 for 4, not too shabby in all honesty and I decided to burn some Alterac Valley marks and buy the Alterac Valley Battle Standard for later use. It cost 30 marks and I had 81 pushing me back down to 51, above the goal of 50 I was looking for. I’ll be back in Alterac Valley, guaranteed, before I ding 70.
So I quickly began burning through the Honor Hold quests, getting some gear upgrades along the way. I got to do my first bombing run quest (you have to blow up two demon spawn points) and the quest Zeth’Gor Must Burn where you place exploding barrels under towers that explode and summon Gryphon Riders to bomb. All in all a couple fun quests and real easy as a Hunter too.
I also flew over to Shatter Point and dinged 61.
Instead of continuing I decided to dive right into Alterac Valley. It certainly was a change from the 60 bracket. In the 70 bracket the Horde are organized, take objectives and defend things to the death. This is what a real Alterac Valley bracket should be like and is what I am used to, a huge zerg rush to the Relief Hut. I went 3 for 4, not too shabby in all honesty and I decided to burn some Alterac Valley marks and buy the Alterac Valley Battle Standard for later use. It cost 30 marks and I had 81 pushing me back down to 51, above the goal of 50 I was looking for. I’ll be back in Alterac Valley, guaranteed, before I ding 70.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
60…Still. Cleanup and New Pet Time
I decided that I needed to stop leveling in Outlands for now and clear out my quest log and see about getting my Mining skill to 300. It stinks running across Fell Iron nodes and not being able to mine them yet. So it was off to Burning Steppes to farm Thorium nodes. It took me a couple hours but I got to 300 and can now mine Fel Iron.
Furrocious and I then begged everyone for a Ramparts run with 70s leading the way. 18 minutes later I had new Pants.
Next I decided that I want a new pet and the only pet that will do is Sian-Rotam from Winterspring. Sian-Rotam shares the same skin as Echeyakee, a white lion that is spawned in The Barrens through a Horde only quest. Sian-Rotam is the mate of Shy-Rotam who is summoned by placing some Frostsabre meat on a stone and then she appears. After burning her down to 30% she calls Sian-Rotam to defend her. It’s a tough fight to solo because they both roar which causes Fear. I tried to solo them by sending in my throw away pet (a Frostsabre Matriarch I tamed for this) and laying a Freezing Trap. When the pet gets Shy-Rotam to 30% Sian-Rotam spawns and I hit him with a Distracting Shot, he charges me and hits the trap. I then abandon my pet and start taming Sian-Rotam. Long story short, it didn’t work. Once I abandoned my throw away pet Shy-Rotam charged me and feared me while I was taming. I died. A 58 Night Elf Druid, Tanktodabank, happened to come by as I was attempting a second try and offered to help, I gladly accepted and I easily tamed Sian-Rotam the second try.
In return I helped Tanktodabank do some elite quests that he was stuck on, it was the least I could do and I got a little experience from it as well.
Also, with all the mining and stuff being sold on the Auction House, I eclipsed the 1000 gold mark again meaning that at level 60 I can already afford my basic Flying Mount at 70. Not too shabby.
Furrocious and I then begged everyone for a Ramparts run with 70s leading the way. 18 minutes later I had new Pants.
Next I decided that I want a new pet and the only pet that will do is Sian-Rotam from Winterspring. Sian-Rotam shares the same skin as Echeyakee, a white lion that is spawned in The Barrens through a Horde only quest. Sian-Rotam is the mate of Shy-Rotam who is summoned by placing some Frostsabre meat on a stone and then she appears. After burning her down to 30% she calls Sian-Rotam to defend her. It’s a tough fight to solo because they both roar which causes Fear. I tried to solo them by sending in my throw away pet (a Frostsabre Matriarch I tamed for this) and laying a Freezing Trap. When the pet gets Shy-Rotam to 30% Sian-Rotam spawns and I hit him with a Distracting Shot, he charges me and hits the trap. I then abandon my pet and start taming Sian-Rotam. Long story short, it didn’t work. Once I abandoned my throw away pet Shy-Rotam charged me and feared me while I was taming. I died. A 58 Night Elf Druid, Tanktodabank, happened to come by as I was attempting a second try and offered to help, I gladly accepted and I easily tamed Sian-Rotam the second try.
In return I helped Tanktodabank do some elite quests that he was stuck on, it was the least I could do and I got a little experience from it as well.
Also, with all the mining and stuff being sold on the Auction House, I eclipsed the 1000 gold mark again meaning that at level 60 I can already afford my basic Flying Mount at 70. Not too shabby.
Monday, September 1, 2008
60 and Hellfire Ramparts
Back from vacation number two and ready to begin the Outlands adventure. Ok, so maybe not jumping to do it since the leveling bug still hasn’t returned. I did decide that I should try and get a couple runs of Hellfire Ramparts in to get some quick gear upgrades before actually starting to do some of the quests. Plus they will give me a little bit of an edge in the 60 bracket of Alterac Valley while I can still do it.
So I decided to Pick Up Group (PUG) Ramparts and found a decent one right off the bat. We wiped a couple times here and there and the Warrior had never tanked or been in the instance before, but we prevailed and I walked out with the Hellreaver. Not a Hunter weapon per se, but an upgrade nonetheless over my Ice Barbed Spear. The dps necklace dropped off of Omar the Unscarred but unfortunately the tank won the roll. Oh well.
While waiting for another group to gather I got a couple games of Alterac Valley in and of course won them all but the 30 minute queue times are beginning to get to me however I keep hearing that Alliance really stink and lose most games in the 70 bracket.
In the second Ramparts PUG the good Hunter gloves dropped off of Omar the Unscarred but a Shaman won the roll. Afterwards he said he didn’t even need them, damn. I ended up getting a leather Bracer off of the last boss with two red sockets, it’ll do. I made sure to say I needed it.
Then it was just a matter of doing a couple of the early Honor Hold quests to get to Friendly with them and a couple more pieces of good gear.
So I decided to Pick Up Group (PUG) Ramparts and found a decent one right off the bat. We wiped a couple times here and there and the Warrior had never tanked or been in the instance before, but we prevailed and I walked out with the Hellreaver. Not a Hunter weapon per se, but an upgrade nonetheless over my Ice Barbed Spear. The dps necklace dropped off of Omar the Unscarred but unfortunately the tank won the roll. Oh well.
While waiting for another group to gather I got a couple games of Alterac Valley in and of course won them all but the 30 minute queue times are beginning to get to me however I keep hearing that Alliance really stink and lose most games in the 70 bracket.
In the second Ramparts PUG the good Hunter gloves dropped off of Omar the Unscarred but a Shaman won the roll. Afterwards he said he didn’t even need them, damn. I ended up getting a leather Bracer off of the last boss with two red sockets, it’ll do. I made sure to say I needed it.
Then it was just a matter of doing a couple of the early Honor Hold quests to get to Friendly with them and a couple more pieces of good gear.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)