If you have read this blog for several years(haha doubt that), you might know about my "Rogue Demon Hunter" that I started back in 2008(Wyndampryce). In short, I love the tv show "Angel" and thought the idea of the character of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce calling himself a "Rogue Demon Hunter" got me wanting to have one of my own. We may someday have an actual class of "Demon Hunter", but until then I decided I would make a "Rogue" who was strictly a "Demon Hunter". For his first forty some-odd levels, I only leveled him by grinding on Demon "creatures" in the world. As he got higher, finding Demons to fight has become more difficult. So I started in on quests.
The only quests I allowed him to complete were those that did not include killing anything, or killing Demons. Holiday quests have been a huge boon to his leveling all these years. As have cooking and fishing dailies that came along later.
Up until level 60, the only mobs he had killed were Demons-except for 2 humans who happened to be Warlocks(in Desolace). I figured they controlled the Demons, so it didn't hurt my count too bad.
Outland was fairly easy to get through. There are Demons all over the place. But Northrend proved a challenge. He got stuck in his 70s for quite a long time until I decided to adapt. I decided that the real enemy there, and maybe just as bad as Demons, were the Scourge. So killing Undead/Scourge became an okay thing to add to his list of ways to level.
Cataclysm and the 80s have taken quite awhile too. I finally got through it by simply gathering herbs, exploring and archaeology. I actually hit Zen Master Archaeologist at the exact same time I hit level 85. Nice Karma there.
And now to Pandaria. I am going to have to adapt again. I did the intro quest only up to flying the helicopter around and getting the first weapon reward. Since I wasn't physically killing the Horde with my hands, I deemed it passable. After that though I refuse to kill any Horde at all. Leveling up will include herbalism, archaeology, exploring and the wonderful addition of the treasures of Pandaria that give quite a bit of XP. But as to quests and killing...I've decided on what should be okay to kill and what is off-limits. Sha, Mogu and Sprites are okay; Horde, other humanoids(including Hozen), any beasts, are not okay.
Should be interesting to see if I can get him to level 90 before the next expansion comes out!
Monday, January 14, 2013
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Soloist Guide to Patch 5.0.4
Today is the big day-the release of Patch 5.0.4, the pre-release patch to Mists of Pandaria. As a soloist, this patch is looking pretty good for me. I am going to go over the most relevant changes first and then take a look at other changes.
Those are the changes I am most looking forward to today. And now for the changes I am NOT looking forward to:
Well, that is about it really. Most of the other changes don't affect me as a soloist at all. Those include Valor/Conquest point changes, BattleTag support(I don't have any friends), and PvE queue frames changed.
Overall this looks to be a very fun patch for a soloist and altoholic like me!
- ACCOUNT WIDE ACHIEVEMENTS, MOUNTS and PETS- this one is HUGE! As a soloist, that also makes me an altoholic. Having at times 20 chances to run holiday bosses or solo old dungeons or get lucky with rare drops while leveling means I have quite a few rare items spread across quite a few characters. My Blood Elf Rogue has the Hyacinth Macaw and Disgusting Oozeling, a Death Knight I rarely play has the Headless Horseman's Mount. Not to mention that buying one Horde and one Alliance Traveler's Tundra Mount means all of my many, many characters now have access to a vendor whenever and wherever they are at. And I am that much closer to the honorable kill achievement(thanks to my kid who loves to PvP on an associated account!).
- AOE LOOTING- As a soloist, I love to spend time going back and seeing which older dungeons and raids I can solo. I also spend quite a bit of time using characters on second account running lower level characters through old dungeons. This is going to cut down A) looting time as I attempt to pull as many of the mobs as possible at a time and B) make deciding what to pick up and when easier (ie, run through Wailing Caverns, pull all of raptors in front area, kill, loot one bag with 'auto loot' turned off and then only loot the greens and hopefully the Deviate Hatchling. Score!).
- CLASS & TALENT POINT CHANGES- For the most part, things are simplified. While some might look at this as the 'dumbing down' of the game, I just look at is as getting a microwave to cook your food instead of the old slow oven. Making life easier isn't necessarily 'dumbing' anything down. And as an altoholic, with so many characters, this will make choosing talents a much quicker deal. Not to mention getting all of your skills for FREE while you are out leveling up! No more visiting the trainer! My current baby Paladin hasn't learned anything for about 10 levels because I just didn't want to pay them knowing this was coming!
- DAILY QUEST LIMIT REMOVED- Okay, now I will admit, with so many characters, I don't usually do that many dailies on any one at a time. But there have been times when my main, my Druid, hit that 25 quest cap in Molten Front without even realizing I was close. And with all of the dailies coming at level 90, it is going to be non-stop questing for me for the next 2 years, heh, and I love it!
- RELICS, RANGED, WANDS, OTHER WEAPON CHANGES- Not that it makes a really big difference, it is really just one item slot less to worry about on every character. Time saver. Not to mention head enchants being removed-another item not to worry about building reputation to obtain.
- MICRO-DUNGEON MAPS- This isn't in the patch notes, but it should be in the patch. And while I am not spatially-challenged(you can't get me lost in the real world-hence the nickname Scout/Skaut!), for some reason at times those caves you come across in Azeroth can be really challenging to negotiate! They have added maps to even the smallest spaces, such as the Caverns of Time area, mines in Elwynn Forest and even more detailed maps for each 1-5 starter zone!
Those are the changes I am most looking forward to today. And now for the changes I am NOT looking forward to:
- CROSS-REALM ZONES- After my first and main realm was chosen by the friend who got us into the game, I began choosing my new realms by searching for the realms with the least population. I just prefer to not have to compete with other players for mobs and resources. I prefer to play alone and in peace. That's why I shop very early in the morning, I can't stand crowds. Too many idiots out there. That's why I solo! Not looking forward to this.
- SOME CLASS CHANGES- While not necessarily a solo thing, some of the changes are not really welcome. Such as taking away Stampede from my Druids! No more free Ravage after charging. I will miss you Stampede. /sadface
- I WANT MY CHEETAH! Okay, this isn't really solo related either, and it will be resolved over time, but I HATE HATE HATE the new Druid travel form. I have four Druids at max level plus one at 62 and one at 55. I love Druid. But I do not want to be a big ugly deer! Yes, I have scribes that will eventually be making Glyph of Cheetah so I can have my precious little cheetah back, but from what I can tell it will not be available until learned from the new Mists of Pandaria level Inscription-and then not until it is discovered by each of my scribes. That could be a long way away. And with Druid as my main, it's not going to be an easy month for me.
Well, that is about it really. Most of the other changes don't affect me as a soloist at all. Those include Valor/Conquest point changes, BattleTag support(I don't have any friends), and PvE queue frames changed.
Overall this looks to be a very fun patch for a soloist and altoholic like me!
More Transmog
I have decided to just flat out post screenshots of the rest of my characters in their transmogrification outfits. If you have any questions about any of the gear you can ask in the comments or find me on Twitter @graveskaut
In no particular order, these are most of my level 85 characters. Not all of my 85s have transmog sets, and some are not quite complete, so I did not post them. Some of these, I admit, probably could use a better shot to show the outfit. I might do another showing the outfits using the Mog-it panel.
In no particular order, these are most of my level 85 characters. Not all of my 85s have transmog sets, and some are not quite complete, so I did not post them. Some of these, I admit, probably could use a better shot to show the outfit. I might do another showing the outfits using the Mog-it panel.
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| Dwarf Hunter with Skoll |
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| Undead Death Knight |
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| Blood Elf Paladin |
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| Undead Warlock |
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| Gnome Rogue |
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| Dwarf Paladin |
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| Blood Elf Death Knight |
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| Blood Elf Rogue |
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| Worgen Druid |
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| Troll Druid |
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| Undead Warrior |
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| Gnome Goblin |
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| Tauren Shaman |
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| Orc Hunter |
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| Blood Elf Hunter |
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| Dwarf Shaman |
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Preparing for Leveling a Monk
With the coming of Mists of Pandaria are the new class Monk as well as the new race Pandaren. Nearly all races can be Monks(with the exception of Goblin and Worgen), and Pandaren can be Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior and of course, Monk. I intend to level several of each, though I haven't quite decided for sure which!
What I do know is that as soon as the expansion starts up on the morning of the 25th, I will be leveling an Undead Monk on my main realm(yeah for 11th slot!). I know that it will be impossible to get realm first, seeing as how they are allowing "raf"-"refer a friends" to level to 80 instantly to be eligible for the achievement. I didn't expect to be able to even compete with anyone else, as I have things to do like take my kid to and from school and ya know, sleep. I am going to level mine as quickly as possible though, well, just because. My Monk will not be my first level 90, but I will probably get him to at least 80-something before I start on my main Druid.
And boy have I prepared for my Monk. I went by several lists made for those who intend to race to realm first(or where going to before "raf"), and did a bit of studying different professions and items to see what else I could do for him. I am also going to be really using heirlooms for the first time. Well, I had tons of Darkmoon Faire tokens laying around and figured why the heck not-now that I have 90 levels to get through! I do not have access to the helm as my main guild is only level 12(still not bad for only 3 people!).
What follows is a rough list of the things I have gathered with some more notes at the end.
Consumables:
elixirs of agility, 1 stack of each level available(in all different versions)
elixirs of trolls blood or fort(or whichever guardian are available at each level)
healing potions(though I don't think I'll need them much)
heavy knothide armor kits
enchant minor run speed, stack
speed potions
adventurers journals(for level 75-85)
weightstones, stack for each level available
delicate bloodstones, several just in case there are any sockets along the way
Other:
Gnomish Army Knife(for +10 to gathering)
Herbalists Gloves with Gatherer enchant(my Monk will be leveling with mining/herbalism)
Heirlooms:
Venerable Mass of McGowan -mace x2 w/agility enchant
Swift Hand of Justice -trinket x2
Stained Shadowcraft Spaulders
Stained Shadowcraft Tunic -w/stats enchant
Inherited Cape of the Black Baron -cloak w/stealth enchant
I have also collected a massive collection of BoE gear, mostly rare, to be sure my Monk has basically the best available gear at each level. Farming chests in every zone from Hillsbrad to Northrend as well as the rare mobs in Blasted Lands. As you can imagine, farming them means I have several hundred extras items that don't work for my Monk that are sitting waiting for others to come back when Mists is released and buy for their new Pandas of other classes! I also used my husband's leatherworker to craft some of the better items in each level such as the Helm of Fire, Barbaric Bracers and more.
Rings and necklaces-my jewelcrafter has made any best in slot items for leveling
Niffelvar Bearded Axe x2 with Mongoose enchants-these are by far better from levels 71-80.
I've managed to find a few of the items that are available to lower levels in each expansion(ie level 57-60 gear from Burning Crusade is much better than any items of those same level from Classic). They just aren't easy to farm and our realm never had any on the auction house for less than 500g(and I will NOT pay that!). The easiest ones to actually farm were from Blackrock Caverns by sending my Paladin to farm the trash in the first room over and over.
At this time, one week from the pre-patch and about one month from the expansion, I hope I've been able to get anything I might want/need for my new Monk. I will be leveling at least one Pandaren Monk, and at least one Gnome Monk and possibly several other Pandaren, all on other realms-but I have not prepared for them at all! Not a single thing. But that's okay because I do love leveling and after the rush on the first one, I will be quietly, slowly enjoying leveling the rest of them!
What I do know is that as soon as the expansion starts up on the morning of the 25th, I will be leveling an Undead Monk on my main realm(yeah for 11th slot!). I know that it will be impossible to get realm first, seeing as how they are allowing "raf"-"refer a friends" to level to 80 instantly to be eligible for the achievement. I didn't expect to be able to even compete with anyone else, as I have things to do like take my kid to and from school and ya know, sleep. I am going to level mine as quickly as possible though, well, just because. My Monk will not be my first level 90, but I will probably get him to at least 80-something before I start on my main Druid.
And boy have I prepared for my Monk. I went by several lists made for those who intend to race to realm first(or where going to before "raf"), and did a bit of studying different professions and items to see what else I could do for him. I am also going to be really using heirlooms for the first time. Well, I had tons of Darkmoon Faire tokens laying around and figured why the heck not-now that I have 90 levels to get through! I do not have access to the helm as my main guild is only level 12(still not bad for only 3 people!).
What follows is a rough list of the things I have gathered with some more notes at the end.
Consumables:
elixirs of agility, 1 stack of each level available(in all different versions)
elixirs of trolls blood or fort(or whichever guardian are available at each level)
healing potions(though I don't think I'll need them much)
heavy knothide armor kits
enchant minor run speed, stack
speed potions
adventurers journals(for level 75-85)
weightstones, stack for each level available
delicate bloodstones, several just in case there are any sockets along the way
Other:
Gnomish Army Knife(for +10 to gathering)
Herbalists Gloves with Gatherer enchant(my Monk will be leveling with mining/herbalism)
Heirlooms:
Venerable Mass of McGowan -mace x2 w/agility enchant
Swift Hand of Justice -trinket x2
Stained Shadowcraft Spaulders
Stained Shadowcraft Tunic -w/stats enchant
Inherited Cape of the Black Baron -cloak w/stealth enchant
I have also collected a massive collection of BoE gear, mostly rare, to be sure my Monk has basically the best available gear at each level. Farming chests in every zone from Hillsbrad to Northrend as well as the rare mobs in Blasted Lands. As you can imagine, farming them means I have several hundred extras items that don't work for my Monk that are sitting waiting for others to come back when Mists is released and buy for their new Pandas of other classes! I also used my husband's leatherworker to craft some of the better items in each level such as the Helm of Fire, Barbaric Bracers and more.
Rings and necklaces-my jewelcrafter has made any best in slot items for leveling
Niffelvar Bearded Axe x2 with Mongoose enchants-these are by far better from levels 71-80.
I've managed to find a few of the items that are available to lower levels in each expansion(ie level 57-60 gear from Burning Crusade is much better than any items of those same level from Classic). They just aren't easy to farm and our realm never had any on the auction house for less than 500g(and I will NOT pay that!). The easiest ones to actually farm were from Blackrock Caverns by sending my Paladin to farm the trash in the first room over and over.
At this time, one week from the pre-patch and about one month from the expansion, I hope I've been able to get anything I might want/need for my new Monk. I will be leveling at least one Pandaren Monk, and at least one Gnome Monk and possibly several other Pandaren, all on other realms-but I have not prepared for them at all! Not a single thing. But that's okay because I do love leveling and after the rush on the first one, I will be quietly, slowly enjoying leveling the rest of them!
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Level 85 #22
So here is what I have at level 85:
- At least one of each race
- At least one of each class
- One Druid of each of the 4 races available
Per Class:
Death Knight x2: male Blood Elf, male Undead
Druid x4: female Tauren, male Troll, male Night Elf, male Worgen
Hunter x3: male Blood Elf, female Orc, female Dwarf
Mage x3: male Undead, male Human, male Dwarf
Paladin x2 male Blood Elf, female Dwarf
Priest x1: female Draenei
Rogue x3: male Blood Elf, male Gnome, female Goblin
Shaman x2: female Tauren, male Dwarf
Warlock x1: male Undead
Warrior x1: female Undead
Per Race:
Horde:
1 Orc-female hunter
2 Tauren-female druid, female shaman
1 Troll-male druid
4 Undead-male death knight, male mage, male warlock, female warrior
4 Blood Elf -male death knight, hunter, paladin, rogue
1 Goblin-female rogue
Alliance:
1 Human-male mage
4 Dwarf-female hunter, female paladin, male mage, male shaman
1 Gnome-male rogue
1 Night Elf-male druid
1 Draenei-female priest
1 Worgen-male druid
There you have it, the break down of all of my level 85 characters. I will be leveling an Undead Monk on Day 1 of Mists of Pandaria(post about that coming soon)-though he will not be my first level 90. That honor goes to my Tauren Druid. She is always my number 1!
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Mage->Defias Rogue Transmog
Head: Outlander's Facewrap
Shoulders: Flameseer Mantle (drops Uldaman)
Chest, gloves, legs and boots are all from the Netherweave set made by tailors
Main hand: Torturing Poker (drops Scarlet Monastery-may be going away in MoP)
Off Hand: Rod of Molten Fire (rare boe world drop-got mine cheap on AH)
I don't usually wear a tabard with the outfit, but any black or red one would probably look alright. My guild tabard is black/white and looks alright, but I leave it off anyway.
Next up will be my Blood Elf Paladin!
Tuesday, August 07, 2012
Transmog Time
I am going to start a series showing off my Transmogrification sets for all of my characters. I have put a bit of time into most of my sets, getting my characters to look just how I'd like them to look at all times. It's what fits their personalities, their race, their professions even. Nothing fancy, that's for sure. But I have put quite a bit of thought into them.
First up is my main, my Druid. I posed her atop Thunder Bluff with her Hyjal Bear Cub. Items include the following:
Head: Stag-Helm of Malorne (from Karazhan)
Shoulders: Pauldrons of Tribal Fury (Justice Points in Shattrath)
Back: Grimtotem Cloak (quest in Dustwallow Marsh)
Gloves: Gauntlets of Malorne (Karazhan)
Legs: Salamander Scale Pants (Molten Core)
Feet: Cenarion Boots (Molten Core)
Weapon: Warphorn Spear (vendors in Outland)
with Keepers of Time tabard
A bit of a mish-mash from different sets, but I think they look good together. And my feral cat is the brown color, so it goes well with that. I also have the Rogue-ish blue Bloodfang recolor set for when I want to feel more stealthy.
Strangely, as much as I like this very Druid-ish looking set, with the antlers and all, I do not look forward to the new Druid travel form being a stag. I love my little cheetah! I have this Tauren Druid at 85, plus a Troll Druid at 85, a Night Elf Druid(Moonkin) at 85, and a Worgen Druid at 79-and none of them are going to step a foot anywhere until I have the glyph that gives me my little cheetah back!!
Head: Stag-Helm of Malorne (from Karazhan)
Shoulders: Pauldrons of Tribal Fury (Justice Points in Shattrath)
Back: Grimtotem Cloak (quest in Dustwallow Marsh)
Gloves: Gauntlets of Malorne (Karazhan)
Legs: Salamander Scale Pants (Molten Core)
Feet: Cenarion Boots (Molten Core)
Weapon: Warphorn Spear (vendors in Outland)
with Keepers of Time tabard
A bit of a mish-mash from different sets, but I think they look good together. And my feral cat is the brown color, so it goes well with that. I also have the Rogue-ish blue Bloodfang recolor set for when I want to feel more stealthy.
Strangely, as much as I like this very Druid-ish looking set, with the antlers and all, I do not look forward to the new Druid travel form being a stag. I love my little cheetah! I have this Tauren Druid at 85, plus a Troll Druid at 85, a Night Elf Druid(Moonkin) at 85, and a Worgen Druid at 79-and none of them are going to step a foot anywhere until I have the glyph that gives me my little cheetah back!!
Saturday, August 04, 2012
WoW Confessions
The way I see my characters are as extras in the movies. When you watch a fantasy, medieval setting film, the castle is always bustling with folks who are cooking food for the knights or making their clothes. And even Robin Hood had many more "Merry Men" than just Little John and Will Scarlet.
I play this game to set out and quest, whether it is helping the local farmer with some nasty trouble making critters, to eventually taking down one of the lesser demons or dragons that is terrorizing the countryside. What I don't do is take it to the next level. I have never felt the need to be the BIG HERO. To take down the biggest of the baddies. But I am still adventuring and having fun doing it.
So, inspired by Twitter, which I recently joined, here are a list of my World of Warcraft #confessions:
1. I have never done a raid *at* level. Sure, I venture in to some of those places when I am much higher level and the fights aren't really fair, just to see them. But never with tons of people that I don't know.
2. I have not done a 5man dungeon *at* level since Classic. And the ones in classic were enough to scare me away from ever wanting to interact with other players ever again. And that was at least 6 years ago. You try healing a warrior in BRD who wants to tank while dual-wielding daggers. And then get berated for not being able to do so successfully. No, just no.
3. I have no clue who this Wrathion is that people keep talking about now on the forums. And I don't feel like looking it up, because it probably won't affect me in the slightest.
4. I have never done arenas. I despise PvP, I tolerate it for some things at best-as long as the battleground is Alterac Valley. Being one crappy player among 40 is easier to get by than one in ten or fifteen. I refuse to ruin other people's games, so I will not waste their time by being the "baddie" making that team lose.
5. I have never attacked an opposing factions guards. As young Horde, we wandered into Astraanar back before we understood that the other guys would kill us on site. It was disturbing that we just wanted to pass by and cause no trouble and they just wanted to kill us. Early lesson learned. I avoid opposing faction cities like the, well, plague. The first guild I joined called me all kinds of things because I wouldn't help them raid Sentinal Hill in Westfall. Dropped them like a rock.
6. I am pretty sure I am a horrible player. And as they always say, "don't be 'that' guy". Alright, as long as I stay away from other players, I won't infect them with my badness or waste their time.
7. I refuse to post things on the auction house for more than I would pay for them. Really, 500g for a level 10 chest? Not a chance. 75g or more for glyphs, nope-I never post them for more than 25g. If I didn't have a Scribe on every realm to avoid paying through the nose, I would not pay more than 25g-I would rather go glyph-less.
8. I don't bother to gem or enchant most of my gear at 85. Why should I?? The only things my 85s do is dailies and professions. Call me horrible if you /inspect me if you will, I don't really care-it doesn't affect anyone at all.
Well, I think that's it for now-it's the only ones I can think of at the moment. I might post more if I think of them. So there you have it, thoughts from a TRUE casual!
Thursday, August 02, 2012
20 Level 85s with more to come
This is all I do really. Level up characters. I do it only for myself. Once at level 85, many will do some dailies for some rep gear, all will work on professions. And I will continue to have fun.
These are the 85s on my main realm, Kael'Thas. Nine Horde and one Alliance. Tauren Druid, Undead Mage, Tauren Shaman, Blood Elf Rogue, Blood Elf Paladin, Blood Elf Hunter, Blood Elf Death Knight, Orc Hunter, Undead Warlock and Human Mage.
This is my second realm, Draenor. Four 85s here: Dwarf Hunter, Gnome Rogue, Draenei Priest, and Undead Death Knight.
My third realm, Terokkar. Two here, Dwarf Paladin and Dwarf Shaman.
My fourth main realm, Norgannon. Three here: Undead Warrior, Troll Druid and Goblin Rogue.
And my last little experiment, to level on a random realm with no help and to see how quickly. Don't recall how long it took but it was quick. This is my Dwarf Mage.
One note, just because most of the characters pictured are female, most of my characters are actually male. Especially the Blood Elves. And as you can see, there are a number of other characters in the 70s and 60s. Plus I have one more almost at 85 on another of my accounts(that I don't play as much).
And I'm still having fun!
One note, just because most of the characters pictured are female, most of my characters are actually male. Especially the Blood Elves. And as you can see, there are a number of other characters in the 70s and 60s. Plus I have one more almost at 85 on another of my accounts(that I don't play as much).
And I'm still having fun!
Monday, April 09, 2012
Been busy, yep
In case anyone is wondering, I am still playing WoW. I've just been so busy, that posting here has just been an afterthought. In fact, I stopped blogging altogether because I just didn't have anything to say and didn't feel like anyone cared to listen. I have gotten back into my photography lately, have been going crazy on Flickr, and generally not as depressed. Still depressed, just not "AS" depressed.
Anyhoo, as for WoW, I have almost 19 level 85s now(16, plus 2 at 84 and one at 82). Yep. And I am in the Mists of Pandaria Beta so I've been hanging out there too(though the past few days bugs have ground it to a halt).
And I still only solo. No dungeons, no raids and only the occasional PvP.
I might post about what things are upcoming for soloers in Mists, if I feel like anyone really cares and wants to know. Of course if the damn gas prices would come down I might actually spend more time out in the REAL world. Until then I sit at my computer and explore virtual worlds.
Oh and I did try out Star Wars:whateveritscalled. I've been a real Star Wars fan since ever since I sat in the last row of the theater with my mom during the original when I was 10 years old back in 1977 and absolutely fell in love with Han Solo(and we sat there and watched it several more times that day!). But this game just didn't do it for me. Way too many cut scenes. I got bored with the stupid conversations you have to have with every quest giver rather quickly. I think my Smuggler only made it to about level 12. Blah.
Anyhoo, as for WoW, I have almost 19 level 85s now(16, plus 2 at 84 and one at 82). Yep. And I am in the Mists of Pandaria Beta so I've been hanging out there too(though the past few days bugs have ground it to a halt).
And I still only solo. No dungeons, no raids and only the occasional PvP.
I might post about what things are upcoming for soloers in Mists, if I feel like anyone really cares and wants to know. Of course if the damn gas prices would come down I might actually spend more time out in the REAL world. Until then I sit at my computer and explore virtual worlds.
Oh and I did try out Star Wars:whateveritscalled. I've been a real Star Wars fan since ever since I sat in the last row of the theater with my mom during the original when I was 10 years old back in 1977 and absolutely fell in love with Han Solo(and we sat there and watched it several more times that day!). But this game just didn't do it for me. Way too many cut scenes. I got bored with the stupid conversations you have to have with every quest giver rather quickly. I think my Smuggler only made it to about level 12. Blah.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
What's good for the solo-er in Patch 4.1
Making notes on the patch notes(and undocumented changes) for today and wanted to let other solo-ers know about some of the interesting changes taking place today.
CLASS CHANGES
Hunter: Pet happiness is going away. This change to may or may not be a welcome change. It basically means one or two extra bag slots for my hunters. With talents and glyphs, I rarely had to feed my pets, but I kept food around just in case(and several types, depending on which pets I would switch between). The glyph that formerly increased pet happiness will now change the size of your pet to smaller-which is fine by me, I hate huge pets, they are just obnoxious.
Also, all tamed pets will now automatically be the same level as your hunter. I didn't have a chance to test this, but I am hoping this applies to all pets already in your stable as well. Also meaning that they would level up when you do, same as Warlock pets. Very nice if so.
Rogue: Stealth cooldown reduced to 4 seconds. FOUR SECONDS! And with the Nightstalker talent on level one of Subtlety, it is reduced to ZERO SECONDS! Yowza I can't believe how happy this makes my many rogues! Now, Blizzard, please reduce the cooldown for Druids!
NEW MINI-PETS
Wintersaber Cub: Purchased from a vendor in Winterspring
Panther Cub: Quest reward from level 85 questline regarding the new Troll dungeon in Stranglethorn. Does not require entering the dungeon or any groups or any pre-quests other than the questline you start from either Orgrimmar or Stormwind.
Voodoo Figurine and Pterrordax Hatchling: Archaeology projects from Troll and Fossil projects.
It also appears that there are going to be new choices in the Children's Week events which arrive the first week of May(next week!). For Azeroth there will be a snail named Scooter and in Outland, a fenstrider named Legs.
DAILY QUESTS:
NEW! fishing and cooking quests are available in the Alliance cities of Ironforge and Darnassus, and Horde cities of Thunder Bluff and Undercity. Not certain if there is an achievement related to them, but at least I can break up the monotony of the dailies by putting alts in other cities. NOTE: You canNOT do all 3 sets each day; one daily of each kind per day. I suppose you could research daily to see if one of the three is one that rewards more than one skill point or award token and do that one, but not sure if the time needed would be worth it(unless you are a mage!).
GUILD INFO:
For those who are in guilds and for those who aren't.
GUILD FINDER
One thing I hate about looking for a guild on alts that aren't in my personal family guilds is doing the research or interacting with so many jerks to find the diamond in the rough. I am hoping that some of my higher level players can find a guild that fits their playstyle. If not, no skin off of my nose. I have one alt in a level 25 guild that is so huge that there is rarely talking, noone says "grats" and I can be fairly anonymous. The only other guild I have a character in is basically a family type guild where I know most of the higher ups are stay-at-home moms like me. If I can find others on other realms like these, fine. If not, no biggie.
GUILD REP TABARDS:
For those characters of mine in my family-only guilds, there are bind to account tabards are available to effectively double the amount of rep gained within the guild. Not that our level 6 guild has many perks or items unlocked, but being revered or exalted with them would still be nice! And for the alts in the big guilds, well then I can get to the cool stuff even faster(not sure I would ever buy that Scorpion mount though, just too ugly and scary!).
BATTLE.NET ACCOUNT BOUND
All items that were previously "account bound"(and are still realm bound) can now be sent to characters you have on other accounts under your Battle.net account. So I can send any heirlooms over to my daughter's account, or presumably also the Baby Blizzard Bear(which my level 85 Paladin is missing, but I am pretty sure my kid has!) or any Archaeology items I dig up!
WINTERSABER
Aside from the adorable little Wintersaber cub that can be purchased in Winterspring, it is now much easier to get the Wintersaber mount for my Alliance alts! My human mage did this grind about a year ago, and even though the rep had been upped by then, the grind was still a PAIN! It has now been changed to be more inline with the Venomhide Ravasaur questline for Horde. You get a baby Wintersaber, and feed it, train it, and raise it until you can ride it! It takes 20 days if you don't skip a day and then you have one of the best looking ground mounts in the game!
There are a few other minor things that are interesting such as Old Ironforge finally being open to visit, Honor gained being doubled, trading Justice Points for Honor Points(I only get Justice Points when I do Holiday bosses, never enough to buy anything), all cities having all trainers available, and targeted mobs or npcs showing as a dot on your minimap. It's the little things that make me happy!
CLASS CHANGES
Hunter: Pet happiness is going away. This change to may or may not be a welcome change. It basically means one or two extra bag slots for my hunters. With talents and glyphs, I rarely had to feed my pets, but I kept food around just in case(and several types, depending on which pets I would switch between). The glyph that formerly increased pet happiness will now change the size of your pet to smaller-which is fine by me, I hate huge pets, they are just obnoxious.
Also, all tamed pets will now automatically be the same level as your hunter. I didn't have a chance to test this, but I am hoping this applies to all pets already in your stable as well. Also meaning that they would level up when you do, same as Warlock pets. Very nice if so.
Rogue: Stealth cooldown reduced to 4 seconds. FOUR SECONDS! And with the Nightstalker talent on level one of Subtlety, it is reduced to ZERO SECONDS! Yowza I can't believe how happy this makes my many rogues! Now, Blizzard, please reduce the cooldown for Druids!
NEW MINI-PETS
Wintersaber Cub: Purchased from a vendor in Winterspring
Panther Cub: Quest reward from level 85 questline regarding the new Troll dungeon in Stranglethorn. Does not require entering the dungeon or any groups or any pre-quests other than the questline you start from either Orgrimmar or Stormwind.
Voodoo Figurine and Pterrordax Hatchling: Archaeology projects from Troll and Fossil projects.
It also appears that there are going to be new choices in the Children's Week events which arrive the first week of May(next week!). For Azeroth there will be a snail named Scooter and in Outland, a fenstrider named Legs.
DAILY QUESTS:
NEW! fishing and cooking quests are available in the Alliance cities of Ironforge and Darnassus, and Horde cities of Thunder Bluff and Undercity. Not certain if there is an achievement related to them, but at least I can break up the monotony of the dailies by putting alts in other cities. NOTE: You canNOT do all 3 sets each day; one daily of each kind per day. I suppose you could research daily to see if one of the three is one that rewards more than one skill point or award token and do that one, but not sure if the time needed would be worth it(unless you are a mage!).
GUILD INFO:
For those who are in guilds and for those who aren't.
GUILD FINDER
One thing I hate about looking for a guild on alts that aren't in my personal family guilds is doing the research or interacting with so many jerks to find the diamond in the rough. I am hoping that some of my higher level players can find a guild that fits their playstyle. If not, no skin off of my nose. I have one alt in a level 25 guild that is so huge that there is rarely talking, noone says "grats" and I can be fairly anonymous. The only other guild I have a character in is basically a family type guild where I know most of the higher ups are stay-at-home moms like me. If I can find others on other realms like these, fine. If not, no biggie.
GUILD REP TABARDS:
For those characters of mine in my family-only guilds, there are bind to account tabards are available to effectively double the amount of rep gained within the guild. Not that our level 6 guild has many perks or items unlocked, but being revered or exalted with them would still be nice! And for the alts in the big guilds, well then I can get to the cool stuff even faster(not sure I would ever buy that Scorpion mount though, just too ugly and scary!).
BATTLE.NET ACCOUNT BOUND
All items that were previously "account bound"(and are still realm bound) can now be sent to characters you have on other accounts under your Battle.net account. So I can send any heirlooms over to my daughter's account, or presumably also the Baby Blizzard Bear(which my level 85 Paladin is missing, but I am pretty sure my kid has!) or any Archaeology items I dig up!
WINTERSABER
Aside from the adorable little Wintersaber cub that can be purchased in Winterspring, it is now much easier to get the Wintersaber mount for my Alliance alts! My human mage did this grind about a year ago, and even though the rep had been upped by then, the grind was still a PAIN! It has now been changed to be more inline with the Venomhide Ravasaur questline for Horde. You get a baby Wintersaber, and feed it, train it, and raise it until you can ride it! It takes 20 days if you don't skip a day and then you have one of the best looking ground mounts in the game!
There are a few other minor things that are interesting such as Old Ironforge finally being open to visit, Honor gained being doubled, trading Justice Points for Honor Points(I only get Justice Points when I do Holiday bosses, never enough to buy anything), all cities having all trainers available, and targeted mobs or npcs showing as a dot on your minimap. It's the little things that make me happy!
Monday, February 28, 2011
The state of a small guild
I hear people talk about being in "small guilds", and then they talk about what raid they are doing that week. That isn't a "small guild". Our guild is small, three -3- active people: myself, my husband and my kid(who isn't all that active). And this past week we hit level 5.
I know I b*tched and moaned previously about how unfair it is for us small guilds-and I still think it is-but I think we've done alright. Yes, I really think we should be much higher at this point-and I wouldn't give two hoots if every other guild were already level 25. Five levels in three months, so maybe, just maybe we will hit level 10 by May or June. That is of course as long as we keep doing dailies, because we are running out of characters to level up to 85.
So a three person guild has hit level 5. It really makes me think twice when I see any guild at a lower level attempting to invite me on realms where my characters are guildless. And I have joined a couple of guilds on other realms. One on my Dwarf Shaman, which is the same guild my old Dwarf Paladin was in many moons ago. That guild is around level 13 right now and they have many 85s, and they attempt to raid. My Undead Death Knight(level 83) just joined a mega guild, level 18 I think, just for the hell of it. There are so many people on usually, I never need to even acknowledge them.
Not only has our little guild managed to make it to level 5, but we also went around and knocked out all of the Classic Dungeon Master achievements last week. Requirements were changed to only need 3 out of 5 people for the achievement, so we lucked out in that one. We might eventually attempt to do the Outland Heroic achievements, though I still don't even know where all of the dungeons are in Outland. Shame there isn't a "regular Outland dungeon" guild achievement-those would probably be easy.
The biggest news of all though-we actually managed to kill Zul'jin in Zul'Aman! We went in just to farm Hex Sticks so my kid could get the Mojo pet(success!), and we just kept attempting each boss and succeeding! Of course, there was no guild achievement, we would need 8 people in the group-but we got the individual achievements, which will be nice if they happen to take old Zul'Aman away. But still...we killed Zul'jin! Us crappy little players in our less than 333 gear! (I'm sure many are laughing at how they soloed it during Wrath, but hey it was pretty exciting for us!)
So little guilds can accomplish, we will just be years behind every one else(which sucks). Now if we could just find a Human Hunter and Night Elf Mage in battlegrounds to get that Alliance Slayer achievement and have that little Guild Page minipet!
I know I b*tched and moaned previously about how unfair it is for us small guilds-and I still think it is-but I think we've done alright. Yes, I really think we should be much higher at this point-and I wouldn't give two hoots if every other guild were already level 25. Five levels in three months, so maybe, just maybe we will hit level 10 by May or June. That is of course as long as we keep doing dailies, because we are running out of characters to level up to 85.
So a three person guild has hit level 5. It really makes me think twice when I see any guild at a lower level attempting to invite me on realms where my characters are guildless. And I have joined a couple of guilds on other realms. One on my Dwarf Shaman, which is the same guild my old Dwarf Paladin was in many moons ago. That guild is around level 13 right now and they have many 85s, and they attempt to raid. My Undead Death Knight(level 83) just joined a mega guild, level 18 I think, just for the hell of it. There are so many people on usually, I never need to even acknowledge them.
Not only has our little guild managed to make it to level 5, but we also went around and knocked out all of the Classic Dungeon Master achievements last week. Requirements were changed to only need 3 out of 5 people for the achievement, so we lucked out in that one. We might eventually attempt to do the Outland Heroic achievements, though I still don't even know where all of the dungeons are in Outland. Shame there isn't a "regular Outland dungeon" guild achievement-those would probably be easy.
The biggest news of all though-we actually managed to kill Zul'jin in Zul'Aman! We went in just to farm Hex Sticks so my kid could get the Mojo pet(success!), and we just kept attempting each boss and succeeding! Of course, there was no guild achievement, we would need 8 people in the group-but we got the individual achievements, which will be nice if they happen to take old Zul'Aman away. But still...we killed Zul'jin! Us crappy little players in our less than 333 gear! (I'm sure many are laughing at how they soloed it during Wrath, but hey it was pretty exciting for us!)
So little guilds can accomplish, we will just be years behind every one else(which sucks). Now if we could just find a Human Hunter and Night Elf Mage in battlegrounds to get that Alliance Slayer achievement and have that little Guild Page minipet!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Loremaster at last!
I finally finished up Loremaster on my Druid last week. I already had all of Eastern Kingdom and Kalimdor done(and nearly complete when achievements were introduced way back when), all of Burning Crusade, and all of Northrend except for Icecrown. Finishing all of the Cataclysm zones were easy. Finishing the last 20 or so quests in Icecrown was the hurdle.
Since I rarely group outside of family members, the 5man quests in Icecrown had been a sore spot in my Loremaster trip. Being 85 and having more hit points than most of the NPCs you have to fight now made it trivial. That didn't mean I didn't have fun in the process. My daughter and I took an hour or so hunting down the leftover quests and knocking them out.
And viola! I had my title and silly looking tabard(well, silly looking on a Tauren female). I think I will be using this title and only this title for a long time to come. This feels like quite an accomplishment for me, an unabashed altoholic who spends time playing on at least 6 or 7 characters a day-doing dailies and an hour of questing here, hour of questing with someone else there. I have one other character who is somewhat close to getting the title, but none of my others is even in the ballpark.
But it feels nice to have it done. Now to wait and see if they ever add an addition to "the Seeker"(3000 quests completed), seeing as how my stats say I have around 4800 quests complete with her! A new title at 5k quests would be a cinch since I have barely touched any quests in the new and improved low level zones! Bring on "the Quester"! (or whatever might sound much cooler than that!)
Since I rarely group outside of family members, the 5man quests in Icecrown had been a sore spot in my Loremaster trip. Being 85 and having more hit points than most of the NPCs you have to fight now made it trivial. That didn't mean I didn't have fun in the process. My daughter and I took an hour or so hunting down the leftover quests and knocking them out.
And viola! I had my title and silly looking tabard(well, silly looking on a Tauren female). I think I will be using this title and only this title for a long time to come. This feels like quite an accomplishment for me, an unabashed altoholic who spends time playing on at least 6 or 7 characters a day-doing dailies and an hour of questing here, hour of questing with someone else there. I have one other character who is somewhat close to getting the title, but none of my others is even in the ballpark.
But it feels nice to have it done. Now to wait and see if they ever add an addition to "the Seeker"(3000 quests completed), seeing as how my stats say I have around 4800 quests complete with her! A new title at 5k quests would be a cinch since I have barely touched any quests in the new and improved low level zones! Bring on "the Quester"! (or whatever might sound much cooler than that!)
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Still solo after all these years
Despite my distaste for Cataclysm when it first came out, I'm still rolling along just fine. As can be seen here-I'm playing so much I don't find the time to post! (but today is patch day, so...and the death of power shifting for my beloved Druids, /cry)
So far to this point I've...
Another note, our little guild of 3 is level 4. It isn't much compared to most, and it is disappointing still that it is taking so long to get higher, but it's getting there. We might fill up a 1/5 of a bar per day, depending on how many dailies I feel like doing(and whether I'm playing on another realm altogether). The perks we have so far #1 faster leveling(haven't really noticed), #2 faster mount speed(haven't really noticed-except that my Swift Flight Form is slower than everyone else-at least that changes with the patch today), and #3 Increased rep(this one helps since quests and dailies are our only way of gaining rep).
I'm still not as thrilled with this expansion, but that can always change. The Argent Tournament didn't come in until well into Wrath, so there is still hope for more fun and dailies in the future. And at least they made the one "group" quest in Tol Barad available without joining the group. If only they would do that with the named mobs on the other island. I am so sick of the fighting over the named mobs, my ignore list is filling up by leaps and bounds. >.<
Oh and "Boo" to the Packers. Just "boo". Bleh, the Puppy Bowl was more interesting.
So far to this point I've...
- Have 4 characters at level 85
- Most of the rest of my 80s are at least level 83(only 2 of them haven't really been touched)
- Troll Druid is level 74, Dwarf Shaman is level 65
- Goblin Rogue is level 40
- Worgens are still lagging behind, just not thrilled with them
- Doing as many of the Holiday achievements as possible with as many characters as possible(only the easy ones and any that give mini-pets)
- All four 85s have their Tol Barad weapons, working on the Ghost Wolf mount with my Druid
- Main Druid is at 14 archaeology rares, ready to make the push to "Professor" after the patch hits and makes it somewhat easier
- Still NO dungeons done except for holiday bosses and any that can be soloed at a higher level
Another note, our little guild of 3 is level 4. It isn't much compared to most, and it is disappointing still that it is taking so long to get higher, but it's getting there. We might fill up a 1/5 of a bar per day, depending on how many dailies I feel like doing(and whether I'm playing on another realm altogether). The perks we have so far #1 faster leveling(haven't really noticed), #2 faster mount speed(haven't really noticed-except that my Swift Flight Form is slower than everyone else-at least that changes with the patch today), and #3 Increased rep(this one helps since quests and dailies are our only way of gaining rep).
I'm still not as thrilled with this expansion, but that can always change. The Argent Tournament didn't come in until well into Wrath, so there is still hope for more fun and dailies in the future. And at least they made the one "group" quest in Tol Barad available without joining the group. If only they would do that with the named mobs on the other island. I am so sick of the fighting over the named mobs, my ignore list is filling up by leaps and bounds. >.<
Oh and "Boo" to the Packers. Just "boo". Bleh, the Puppy Bowl was more interesting.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
The newest mini-pets
First of all, I'd like to apologize for the lack of images with posts lately. New computer, no photoshop, old computer isn't hooked up to a monitor yet. Man it sucks.
Anyway, this morning I logged into my Druid and FINALLY the elusive Jadefang was there for me! I've been sitting in that nook for 4 days, logging in and out, hoping beyond hope. Jadefang drops the Tiny Shale Spider pet. Cute little thing. I'd thought I'd list the new mini-pets and how hard they are for someone like me to get them. I won't go into great details, Warcraftpets.com is great for that!
From the Shattering and before Cataclysm:
Withers-fairly easy, For Alliance, do quest line from the starting town in Darkshore up to fighting the boss in the Troll Village; for Horde simply make your way to the cave above the huge whirlpool in Darkshore and buy it from the Undead vendor in the bottom of the cave.
Brazie's Sunflower-quest reward in Hillsbrad from doing the Peaceblooms vs Ghouls mini game thing. Somewhat easy once you get the hang of it.
Mr Grubbs-Doing the first few quests in Eastern Plaguelands can get you a "Lucky" buff that will make some mobs drop and extra loot bag. It can contain this little guy. My druid got it on the 5th bag, my Shaman grinded a whole level out, dozens of bags, no Grub.
Tiny Flamefly-quest reward in Burning Steppes. Fairly easy, though lengthy, level 50-55ish.
There are of course the 2 from the Blizz store, I got the Moonkin Hatchling, but not Ragnaros.
With Cataclysm:
Tiny Shale Spider-drops from spider, Jadefang, a rare in Deepholm. She spawns on a special ledge that isn't easy to get to. There are guides on Warcraftpets and Wowhead.
Rustberg Seagull-Somewhat easy. Honored from the Tol Barad faction, plus 50 tokens. Doing the dailies, no pvp required. If your faction controls TB, you get quite a few more dailies(though some are challenging due to mega instant repops). Level 85 only. I've been slacking, but I'm fairly close to getting this one.
Personalized World Destroyer/De-Weaponized Mechanical Companion-Buy from Auction House or have an engineer-one if for Goblin, one is for Gnomish. Engineering 475(mine isn't that high yet).
Enchanted Lantern/Magic Lamp-Buy from Auction House or Enchanters made. I've yet to see one on the AH, and my enchanter isn't high enough. One is Alliance, one is Horde.
Blue/Gold Mini-Jouster-quest reward from Mt Hyjal. Annoying quest, but still fairly easy. Near the end of longish quest line. Can only get one color on each character.
Elementium Geode-Rare drop from an Elementium Node, can be bought on AH. I need to mine more...
Fox Kit-Rare drop from Foxes on Tol Barad upper island. BoP, and no luck for me here yet either.
Pebble-Cute little rock guy, achievement reward for finishing the daily quest to rescue him 10 times. I'm at 2.
Fossilized Raptor-Archaeology reward. Two of my characters got it early on, two others have yet to see it(grr)
Clockwork Gnome-Archaeology Reward. Dwarf Rare, higher level than Fossil. I have it on my Druid, but not on my others. A bit rarer than the Fossil.
Crawling Claw-Archaeology Reward. Tol'Vir rare. At least level 425 Arch, and Tol'Vir sites are quite rare themselves.
Armadillo Pup-Guild achievement reward, kill 50,000 critters. Ugh. I'm at 5,000 so far, and this is so boring. Maybe someday I will dedicate a few hours to finishing it off. ***UPDATE-You have to be exalted with the guild in order to buy it. At the rate my Druid is going, that might happen in the year 2015. Lovely.
Dark Phoenix Hatchling-Guild achievement reward, United Nations(55 exalteds). Yeah, not gonna happen with us.
Guild Pages/Heralds-More guild achievements. I'm not sure what they are, but I am pretty sure someone in such a small guild as myself doesn't stand a chance at these.
So there we go. Most of them are somewhat easy, though at the very least time consuming. And that I don't mind, as long as they ARE obtainable by someone like me. Right now my Druid is at 114 companions. I love them. :)
Anyway, this morning I logged into my Druid and FINALLY the elusive Jadefang was there for me! I've been sitting in that nook for 4 days, logging in and out, hoping beyond hope. Jadefang drops the Tiny Shale Spider pet. Cute little thing. I'd thought I'd list the new mini-pets and how hard they are for someone like me to get them. I won't go into great details, Warcraftpets.com is great for that!
From the Shattering and before Cataclysm:
Withers-fairly easy, For Alliance, do quest line from the starting town in Darkshore up to fighting the boss in the Troll Village; for Horde simply make your way to the cave above the huge whirlpool in Darkshore and buy it from the Undead vendor in the bottom of the cave.
Brazie's Sunflower-quest reward in Hillsbrad from doing the Peaceblooms vs Ghouls mini game thing. Somewhat easy once you get the hang of it.
Mr Grubbs-Doing the first few quests in Eastern Plaguelands can get you a "Lucky" buff that will make some mobs drop and extra loot bag. It can contain this little guy. My druid got it on the 5th bag, my Shaman grinded a whole level out, dozens of bags, no Grub.
Tiny Flamefly-quest reward in Burning Steppes. Fairly easy, though lengthy, level 50-55ish.
There are of course the 2 from the Blizz store, I got the Moonkin Hatchling, but not Ragnaros.
With Cataclysm:
Tiny Shale Spider-drops from spider, Jadefang, a rare in Deepholm. She spawns on a special ledge that isn't easy to get to. There are guides on Warcraftpets and Wowhead.
Rustberg Seagull-Somewhat easy. Honored from the Tol Barad faction, plus 50 tokens. Doing the dailies, no pvp required. If your faction controls TB, you get quite a few more dailies(though some are challenging due to mega instant repops). Level 85 only. I've been slacking, but I'm fairly close to getting this one.
Personalized World Destroyer/De-Weaponized Mechanical Companion-Buy from Auction House or have an engineer-one if for Goblin, one is for Gnomish. Engineering 475(mine isn't that high yet).
Enchanted Lantern/Magic Lamp-Buy from Auction House or Enchanters made. I've yet to see one on the AH, and my enchanter isn't high enough. One is Alliance, one is Horde.
Blue/Gold Mini-Jouster-quest reward from Mt Hyjal. Annoying quest, but still fairly easy. Near the end of longish quest line. Can only get one color on each character.
Elementium Geode-Rare drop from an Elementium Node, can be bought on AH. I need to mine more...
Fox Kit-Rare drop from Foxes on Tol Barad upper island. BoP, and no luck for me here yet either.
Pebble-Cute little rock guy, achievement reward for finishing the daily quest to rescue him 10 times. I'm at 2.
Fossilized Raptor-Archaeology reward. Two of my characters got it early on, two others have yet to see it(grr)
Clockwork Gnome-Archaeology Reward. Dwarf Rare, higher level than Fossil. I have it on my Druid, but not on my others. A bit rarer than the Fossil.
Crawling Claw-Archaeology Reward. Tol'Vir rare. At least level 425 Arch, and Tol'Vir sites are quite rare themselves.
Armadillo Pup-Guild achievement reward, kill 50,000 critters. Ugh. I'm at 5,000 so far, and this is so boring. Maybe someday I will dedicate a few hours to finishing it off. ***UPDATE-You have to be exalted with the guild in order to buy it. At the rate my Druid is going, that might happen in the year 2015. Lovely.
Dark Phoenix Hatchling-Guild achievement reward, United Nations(55 exalteds). Yeah, not gonna happen with us.
Guild Pages/Heralds-More guild achievements. I'm not sure what they are, but I am pretty sure someone in such a small guild as myself doesn't stand a chance at these.
So there we go. Most of them are somewhat easy, though at the very least time consuming. And that I don't mind, as long as they ARE obtainable by someone like me. Right now my Druid is at 114 companions. I love them. :)
Sunday, December 26, 2010
So many new alts
And I don't know who to play!
Aside from the 14 level 80+ that I have(only 1 to 85 so far), I have started a new army of alts, thanks to the new races and race/class combos. At this point, I have:
63 Troll Druid(got to 62 before Cataclysm came out, stuck there)
50 Dwarf Shaman
25 Undead Hunter
23 Goblin Rogue
12 Tauren Paladin
11 Gnome Priest
14 Worgen Rogue
13 Worgen Druid
17 Worgen Warlock
13 Worgen Druid(yes, another one, different realm)
16 Human Hunter
12 Goblin Hunter(mainly just a bank alt)
Sometimes I log in and just work to get one level or hit the rest pin and then log out. Right now I am determined to get my Goblin Rogue to exalted with Orgrimmar(5k to go)-I haaaaate the Goblin Trike(I don't have a Chopper on any of my characters either, don't want to spend the money and I just hate how it looks and sounds).
Part of me wants to level the Troll Druid, but Outlands is just so...ugh. I also have a 49 Human Rogue and 43 Undead Rogue that I have had forever and would like to level also. But when I play these, I feel guilty for not leveling my 80s up to 85. And then I just get this urge to log in with someone and do Archaeology!
And to top it all off, Santa brought my kid a Wii for Christmas and I'm either playing Wii Sports(tennis ftw, at least I'm getting some exercise now!) or she wants to me to play some other game with her.
So much to do, so little time.
Aside from the 14 level 80+ that I have(only 1 to 85 so far), I have started a new army of alts, thanks to the new races and race/class combos. At this point, I have:
63 Troll Druid(got to 62 before Cataclysm came out, stuck there)
50 Dwarf Shaman
25 Undead Hunter
23 Goblin Rogue
12 Tauren Paladin
11 Gnome Priest
14 Worgen Rogue
13 Worgen Druid
17 Worgen Warlock
13 Worgen Druid(yes, another one, different realm)
16 Human Hunter
12 Goblin Hunter(mainly just a bank alt)
Sometimes I log in and just work to get one level or hit the rest pin and then log out. Right now I am determined to get my Goblin Rogue to exalted with Orgrimmar(5k to go)-I haaaaate the Goblin Trike(I don't have a Chopper on any of my characters either, don't want to spend the money and I just hate how it looks and sounds).
Part of me wants to level the Troll Druid, but Outlands is just so...ugh. I also have a 49 Human Rogue and 43 Undead Rogue that I have had forever and would like to level also. But when I play these, I feel guilty for not leveling my 80s up to 85. And then I just get this urge to log in with someone and do Archaeology!
And to top it all off, Santa brought my kid a Wii for Christmas and I'm either playing Wii Sports(tennis ftw, at least I'm getting some exercise now!) or she wants to me to play some other game with her.
So much to do, so little time.
Archaeology 315
...and still no Baby Raptor. /sad
My now level 50 Dwarf Shaman has managed to find one rare, the Chalice of the Mountain Kings, so I do have the title of Assistant Professor.
Headed to Un'Goro and Kalimdor in hopes of opening up some more fossil sites. Getting lots of duplicate common fossils. Getting very, very frustrated. Grrrr.
My now level 50 Dwarf Shaman has managed to find one rare, the Chalice of the Mountain Kings, so I do have the title of Assistant Professor.
Headed to Un'Goro and Kalimdor in hopes of opening up some more fossil sites. Getting lots of duplicate common fossils. Getting very, very frustrated. Grrrr.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Archaeology thoughts
Archaeology is the one thing I was looking forward to in this expansion. It is fairly interesting. It satisfies my love of travel and exploring. But it is extremely frustrating-as it is in real life, of course. But in real life, I wouldn't go looking for raptor fossils in the Valley of the Kings, nor would I look for mummies in Utah. But I'll get to that in a moment.
My main, my Druid, is level 85, and most of those levels were gotten from Archaeology. At 525, with 10 rares solved, I am burnt out on it with her. No level 85 epics, but I don't really care about those. Got the Raptor and Gnome mini-pets, Raptor mount-those are what I wanted.
Then I started up with my Dwarf Paladin, level 80. Got to level 81, somewhere around 200 in archaeology. Got the raptor mini-pet. And I'm done there for now because I am really into my Dwarf Shaman right now...
My Dwarf Shaman is level 42. I named him for famed archaeologist Dr Zahi Hawass. I have leveled him from about 30 almost exclusively on Archaeology. I don't mind all the travel. What is driving me crazy is the number of Troll digsites I keep getting! He is at 255 and hasn't seen a single rare project pop yet. From the numbers and the levels of zones that dig sites are in, the Eastern Kingdoms should have Dwarf and Fossil about 50/50 with Troll(there might be more fossil on Kalimdor, but they are in Un'Goro and higher than my current level). There are 7 Dwarf sites, 9 fossil sites, and 19 Troll sites. But 95% of the sites I get at any time, for hours, are Troll. It is a rare thing to actually get a dig site that ISN'T Troll. I've solved 13 common Troll things and I've decided to just stop solving them. I've got 6 Dwarf and 8 Fossil solved. Oh if only the stupid Troll ones would stop showing!
The same goes on my Druid, who is at 525. I'm looking for Troll now, and all I get are fossil! I have solved everything possible for fossil, but those are the only sites that keep popping! Argh!
At least the "outside the boundaries" bug has sort of been fixed. I went back to the Orc area in Shadowmoon Valley 3 times and finally the placing changed to a completely random other place so I could get that site finished.
As for just storming into Aerie Peak on my Horde character to get those digs-I just don't do that. I've been playing for over 5 years and I have never, ever, not once killed an opposing faction NPC(outside of battlegrounds). Never done it, not going to start now. But at least the placements do change, so if it is in town, I can always come back later.
Now if I could just get that "Assistant Professor" title for my Shaman-I would be much happier! Hey it's almost Christmas, C'mon!!!
My main, my Druid, is level 85, and most of those levels were gotten from Archaeology. At 525, with 10 rares solved, I am burnt out on it with her. No level 85 epics, but I don't really care about those. Got the Raptor and Gnome mini-pets, Raptor mount-those are what I wanted.
Then I started up with my Dwarf Paladin, level 80. Got to level 81, somewhere around 200 in archaeology. Got the raptor mini-pet. And I'm done there for now because I am really into my Dwarf Shaman right now...
My Dwarf Shaman is level 42. I named him for famed archaeologist Dr Zahi Hawass. I have leveled him from about 30 almost exclusively on Archaeology. I don't mind all the travel. What is driving me crazy is the number of Troll digsites I keep getting! He is at 255 and hasn't seen a single rare project pop yet. From the numbers and the levels of zones that dig sites are in, the Eastern Kingdoms should have Dwarf and Fossil about 50/50 with Troll(there might be more fossil on Kalimdor, but they are in Un'Goro and higher than my current level). There are 7 Dwarf sites, 9 fossil sites, and 19 Troll sites. But 95% of the sites I get at any time, for hours, are Troll. It is a rare thing to actually get a dig site that ISN'T Troll. I've solved 13 common Troll things and I've decided to just stop solving them. I've got 6 Dwarf and 8 Fossil solved. Oh if only the stupid Troll ones would stop showing!
The same goes on my Druid, who is at 525. I'm looking for Troll now, and all I get are fossil! I have solved everything possible for fossil, but those are the only sites that keep popping! Argh!
At least the "outside the boundaries" bug has sort of been fixed. I went back to the Orc area in Shadowmoon Valley 3 times and finally the placing changed to a completely random other place so I could get that site finished.
As for just storming into Aerie Peak on my Horde character to get those digs-I just don't do that. I've been playing for over 5 years and I have never, ever, not once killed an opposing faction NPC(outside of battlegrounds). Never done it, not going to start now. But at least the placements do change, so if it is in town, I can always come back later.
Now if I could just get that "Assistant Professor" title for my Shaman-I would be much happier! Hey it's almost Christmas, C'mon!!!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Cataclysmic mess
Cataclysm is a week old now. I'm sure most people are already 85 and decked out in their epics and whatnot. And I'm not sure I want to play much more.
I knew, from reading about beta, that the game was going to be very different. For a soloer, it is.
First of all, the mobs are tough, really really tough. I wasn't having too much trouble with my Druid, but some of my others are barely getting through most fights. We went from fighting level 80s in Northrend with 12k HP, to level 80s with 30k+ HP. And obviously they hit much harder-and the many instant respawns are horrible. But I'm sure these mobs are tuned to someone in their ICC epix, and not to some noob with barely iLvl 200 gear.
My Druid is level 84. And the only quests I've done have been finishing Mount Hyjal. The rest has been from mining and Archaeology.
Archaeology can be fun, but it is extremely annoying at times. Running in circles while the green light points in a different direction 5 different times is ridiculous. And yes, I know all about triangulation. I spend quite a lot of time with a GPS and I study maps as one of my main hobbies-like USGS maps, not just street maps. This profession is right up my alley. The only other problem is the bugs. Right now, at level 42o, I have 2 sites I can't finish which means I'm down to looking for 14 sites at a time rather than 16. One in Dragonmaw Village in Shadowmoon points to a spot outside the zone, so you get "you can't use that here" when you try to step closer to where the green light is pointing. The second is smack dab in the middle of Aerie Peak-and I'm Horde. I'm not going INTO an Alliance town to get an artifact. Screw that. Otherwise, it's sort of fun-I have the Raptor and Gnome pets, and the Raptor mount-they are pretty cool.
My biggest beef is with the guild leveling nerf that hit yesterday. My main realm has the guild with most of my 80s, my husband and kid's characters. The first few days we never got near the cap, but we were making progress. I thought we might actually hit level 2 next weekend. Then the cut back to 25% of XP and the progress has grinded to a halt. I don't want to hit level 25 in a month like most guilds, I'm not asking for the SAME THINGS AS HUGE GUILDS, I was just hoping that maybe we could actually hit freaking level 2!! in a few weeks! Is that REALLY too much to ask?? I suppose it is, judging by comments made by so many in the forums. It's either "join a huge guild or GTFO or STFU".
Don't get me wrong-I really honestly don't give two shits about the guild perks. I have 80s on 3 other realms that are guildless and I don't really care if they ever join a guild. I don't need the "perks" and I don't need other people. But I was really hoping our little family could at least make a LITTLE progress. At this rate, we probably won't hit level 3 until the next expansion hits-if we are still playing by then.
At least with Wrath I had something to look forward to when I hit the max level-there were tons of dailies with lots if interesting rewards. I worked towards the Hodirs to get the Mammoth(that I never rode). I even did those 3 measly dailies for Wyrmrest to get exalted and the Red Drake-it took me months and months, but it was worth it! What dailies are there now? I'm not 85 yet and haven't opened any, so I don't know for sure, but I think it's just Therazane(with no reward worth bothering for) and Tol Barad(which will require your realm to have control if you want to get the extra dailies). Oh and one little daily for Tolvir, for 150 rep-it's not like I really wanted that camel anyway. There might be a few in Twilight Highlands(haven't been there yet), but no interesting rewards there either. No dailies for Earthen Ring or Gaurdians of Hyjal-disappointing. I crave another Argent Tournament!!
I know, it's stupid of me to want to get exalted with a faction just for a mount or something cosmetic-even if it's something I'll never use(Mammoth and Red Drake)-but I have no real use for the end-game gear. Even the little achievement for being exalted is a nice thing to strive for. I see now that they are trying to reinforce that the BIG GUILDS and RAID/HEROICS/ARENA or GTFO. I guess it is time for me to move back to the Sims or some other shit like that. Can't really kill anyone to get your frustration out in the Sims-unless you place them in a building with no doors and no food. They will die eventually. It's torture and just not as satisfying as bashing in some big ugly Ogre skulls.
Worgens/Goblins-I just can't get into them. Haven't gotten one past level 13. The Goblin areas-ugh. I'm sure I'm the only person playing the game who drove their little hot rod around as carefully as possible, never using the speed boost, looking for the talk radio station, and avoiding the people like crazy. I drove it like I drive my real car. Can't help it. And then I get to Lost Isles, and the leader guy yells out every few minutes how EVERYTHING IS YOUR FAULT! Naming YOU by name! Great, for someone with self-esteem issues, who has thought everything was my fault ever since I was a kid, it makes me want to take my character to the water and drown it, just get it over with and end it all. Thanks game.
The Worgen I just find boring so far. The architecture is AMAZING. I could run around Gilneas all day. But I can do that with any of my 80s, without the annoying mobs. I'm not sure why I just don't really like the actual characters so far. It could also be the absolute massive amount of others in the zones that turns me off. Perhaps if I was running around alone, I'd be more into it. Right now I'm either AFKing or rushing through to avoid the random jerk who wants to spam duels or group invites or just talk about stupid shit. Go away!
So a week in and I'm not having fun. Not to mention I get absolutely hounded and ridiculed on the one message board that I used to frequent. So this will be my only vent portal. If ANYTHING positive happens for soloers, I'll post about it. If not, well I might just not be playing much longer. Doesn't seem like they want my kind around here anymore.
I knew, from reading about beta, that the game was going to be very different. For a soloer, it is.
First of all, the mobs are tough, really really tough. I wasn't having too much trouble with my Druid, but some of my others are barely getting through most fights. We went from fighting level 80s in Northrend with 12k HP, to level 80s with 30k+ HP. And obviously they hit much harder-and the many instant respawns are horrible. But I'm sure these mobs are tuned to someone in their ICC epix, and not to some noob with barely iLvl 200 gear.
My Druid is level 84. And the only quests I've done have been finishing Mount Hyjal. The rest has been from mining and Archaeology.
Archaeology can be fun, but it is extremely annoying at times. Running in circles while the green light points in a different direction 5 different times is ridiculous. And yes, I know all about triangulation. I spend quite a lot of time with a GPS and I study maps as one of my main hobbies-like USGS maps, not just street maps. This profession is right up my alley. The only other problem is the bugs. Right now, at level 42o, I have 2 sites I can't finish which means I'm down to looking for 14 sites at a time rather than 16. One in Dragonmaw Village in Shadowmoon points to a spot outside the zone, so you get "you can't use that here" when you try to step closer to where the green light is pointing. The second is smack dab in the middle of Aerie Peak-and I'm Horde. I'm not going INTO an Alliance town to get an artifact. Screw that. Otherwise, it's sort of fun-I have the Raptor and Gnome pets, and the Raptor mount-they are pretty cool.
My biggest beef is with the guild leveling nerf that hit yesterday. My main realm has the guild with most of my 80s, my husband and kid's characters. The first few days we never got near the cap, but we were making progress. I thought we might actually hit level 2 next weekend. Then the cut back to 25% of XP and the progress has grinded to a halt. I don't want to hit level 25 in a month like most guilds, I'm not asking for the SAME THINGS AS HUGE GUILDS, I was just hoping that maybe we could actually hit freaking level 2!! in a few weeks! Is that REALLY too much to ask?? I suppose it is, judging by comments made by so many in the forums. It's either "join a huge guild or GTFO or STFU".
Don't get me wrong-I really honestly don't give two shits about the guild perks. I have 80s on 3 other realms that are guildless and I don't really care if they ever join a guild. I don't need the "perks" and I don't need other people. But I was really hoping our little family could at least make a LITTLE progress. At this rate, we probably won't hit level 3 until the next expansion hits-if we are still playing by then.
At least with Wrath I had something to look forward to when I hit the max level-there were tons of dailies with lots if interesting rewards. I worked towards the Hodirs to get the Mammoth(that I never rode). I even did those 3 measly dailies for Wyrmrest to get exalted and the Red Drake-it took me months and months, but it was worth it! What dailies are there now? I'm not 85 yet and haven't opened any, so I don't know for sure, but I think it's just Therazane(with no reward worth bothering for) and Tol Barad(which will require your realm to have control if you want to get the extra dailies). Oh and one little daily for Tolvir, for 150 rep-it's not like I really wanted that camel anyway. There might be a few in Twilight Highlands(haven't been there yet), but no interesting rewards there either. No dailies for Earthen Ring or Gaurdians of Hyjal-disappointing. I crave another Argent Tournament!!
I know, it's stupid of me to want to get exalted with a faction just for a mount or something cosmetic-even if it's something I'll never use(Mammoth and Red Drake)-but I have no real use for the end-game gear. Even the little achievement for being exalted is a nice thing to strive for. I see now that they are trying to reinforce that the BIG GUILDS and RAID/HEROICS/ARENA or GTFO. I guess it is time for me to move back to the Sims or some other shit like that. Can't really kill anyone to get your frustration out in the Sims-unless you place them in a building with no doors and no food. They will die eventually. It's torture and just not as satisfying as bashing in some big ugly Ogre skulls.
Worgens/Goblins-I just can't get into them. Haven't gotten one past level 13. The Goblin areas-ugh. I'm sure I'm the only person playing the game who drove their little hot rod around as carefully as possible, never using the speed boost, looking for the talk radio station, and avoiding the people like crazy. I drove it like I drive my real car. Can't help it. And then I get to Lost Isles, and the leader guy yells out every few minutes how EVERYTHING IS YOUR FAULT! Naming YOU by name! Great, for someone with self-esteem issues, who has thought everything was my fault ever since I was a kid, it makes me want to take my character to the water and drown it, just get it over with and end it all. Thanks game.
The Worgen I just find boring so far. The architecture is AMAZING. I could run around Gilneas all day. But I can do that with any of my 80s, without the annoying mobs. I'm not sure why I just don't really like the actual characters so far. It could also be the absolute massive amount of others in the zones that turns me off. Perhaps if I was running around alone, I'd be more into it. Right now I'm either AFKing or rushing through to avoid the random jerk who wants to spam duels or group invites or just talk about stupid shit. Go away!
So a week in and I'm not having fun. Not to mention I get absolutely hounded and ridiculed on the one message board that I used to frequent. So this will be my only vent portal. If ANYTHING positive happens for soloers, I'll post about it. If not, well I might just not be playing much longer. Doesn't seem like they want my kind around here anymore.
Sunday, September 05, 2010
Lost my password again....
Yeah, things have not been great in my life the past 6 months or so. Culminating with mouth surgery a week ago. I'm not in a good mood and I have to eat soup and pudding. I won't go into all the problems we have had, but let's just say that the only thing I've really been able to do lately is play WoW.
I suppose I'm still having fun, but updating this blog hasn't been a priority. Frankly I didn't figure anybody would miss it. I mean, I'm not in beta, I don't have awesome info on how to make money or strategy on how to fight anything. I'm just on here whining about how much I suck at this game. Heh.
I suck so much that I now have 14 level 80s. Yes, FOURTEEN. Eleven of them have the "Crusader" title from the Argent Tournament. My 2nd Death Knight will have it soon, just working on that old world reputation(not easy for Undead like it is for Humans). Two more are a few weeks off. Twelve of my 80s have epic flying, 11 of those have Netherwing drakes. Working on getting the "Chef" title for a few of them, but some recipes just refuse to drop for me(damn you Stormchops!).
And still no heroics and no heirlooms and no refer-a-friend.
Anyhoo...
I have been spending a lot of time reading and watching videos on beta. And it is really starting to look like they are pushing people away from soloing, so I am really considering being "done" soon. From mobs being almost quite difficult for players in Tier gear, to all the new perks being only for those who join huge guilds and raid(or join pvp guilds and only do pre-mades with them). I really haven't seen anything for the "soloer" in all of the news coming out. Maybe archaeology(which I am really looking forward too), but if that's it, well that's not much.
Sure the guild perks are just that, perks-meant to be extras. We get by just fine now without the XP bonus and gathering bonus. It is frustrating to see the things like mounts and pets only available to those who put in tons of time in a large guild. It isn't enough incentive to get me to change though. I can't speak for all soloers, but shutting this one out of so much in the expansion is just going to make me quit-not change my evil ways.
I know it's beta, but they have also talked about making the mobs tougher to fight. I've watched the videos from Jesse Cox and the mobs go from being pushovers(expected from someone in his gear) to being so tough that he heals up after every fight. If he is getting to half health after each mob in his gear, what is someone fresh from Northrend going to do? Go raid Icecrown whatever before you can head to Hyjal?
I'll level a Goblin, and a Worgen(and maybe more than one or two of each-I have lots of names saved). But it's possible that once they finish Azeroth, they(and I) will be done with the game. I just haven't seen anything that makes me excited about Cataclysm.
And maybe that's their idea. I keep hearing that I shouldn't be playing this game because it isn't meant for soloers. It was just fine for a soloer for 5 years, but it's starting to look like it's going to change. And I'm sure 99% of the WoW population just look down their noses at me and say "good riddance".
Gah, my mouth hurts. :(
I suppose I'm still having fun, but updating this blog hasn't been a priority. Frankly I didn't figure anybody would miss it. I mean, I'm not in beta, I don't have awesome info on how to make money or strategy on how to fight anything. I'm just on here whining about how much I suck at this game. Heh.
I suck so much that I now have 14 level 80s. Yes, FOURTEEN. Eleven of them have the "Crusader" title from the Argent Tournament. My 2nd Death Knight will have it soon, just working on that old world reputation(not easy for Undead like it is for Humans). Two more are a few weeks off. Twelve of my 80s have epic flying, 11 of those have Netherwing drakes. Working on getting the "Chef" title for a few of them, but some recipes just refuse to drop for me(damn you Stormchops!).
And still no heroics and no heirlooms and no refer-a-friend.
Anyhoo...
I have been spending a lot of time reading and watching videos on beta. And it is really starting to look like they are pushing people away from soloing, so I am really considering being "done" soon. From mobs being almost quite difficult for players in Tier gear, to all the new perks being only for those who join huge guilds and raid(or join pvp guilds and only do pre-mades with them). I really haven't seen anything for the "soloer" in all of the news coming out. Maybe archaeology(which I am really looking forward too), but if that's it, well that's not much.
Sure the guild perks are just that, perks-meant to be extras. We get by just fine now without the XP bonus and gathering bonus. It is frustrating to see the things like mounts and pets only available to those who put in tons of time in a large guild. It isn't enough incentive to get me to change though. I can't speak for all soloers, but shutting this one out of so much in the expansion is just going to make me quit-not change my evil ways.
I know it's beta, but they have also talked about making the mobs tougher to fight. I've watched the videos from Jesse Cox and the mobs go from being pushovers(expected from someone in his gear) to being so tough that he heals up after every fight. If he is getting to half health after each mob in his gear, what is someone fresh from Northrend going to do? Go raid Icecrown whatever before you can head to Hyjal?
I'll level a Goblin, and a Worgen(and maybe more than one or two of each-I have lots of names saved). But it's possible that once they finish Azeroth, they(and I) will be done with the game. I just haven't seen anything that makes me excited about Cataclysm.
And maybe that's their idea. I keep hearing that I shouldn't be playing this game because it isn't meant for soloers. It was just fine for a soloer for 5 years, but it's starting to look like it's going to change. And I'm sure 99% of the WoW population just look down their noses at me and say "good riddance".
Gah, my mouth hurts. :(
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