Another 50

Nothing quite like exploratory ding sneaking up on you. After getting in good with Highmountain, I had Saintvache visit Suramar, since I wouldn’t mind a Nightborne. Once again failing to look up what is required bit me in the rump. I figured it would work the same as the Highmountain in that I needed to complete the initial group of quests. As you likely know, that’s not the case. But at this point, I’d now done two of the factions for “Uniting the Isles.” So it was off to Val’Ashar for some more samaritan work. It was while wandering about there the 50 happened. At this point, I’ll probably keep him up in that area to continue to unite the isles. That’s now the Paladin and Druid that are level capped for me. I think up next is someone on the Alliance side. The who is still up for debate.

A Weekend Resumed

Looks different around here, I know. But so does Azeroth. No, not in the private sector where you’ve occasionally heard me from. The real deal. I resubbed on Friday…for a month. Who knows, I might wrangle enough gold to buy a free month as well. But in the short term, we’ll see how it goes. It doesn’t mean I’m back for Shadowlands. Much as I have to have the Collector’s Edition at some point for my collection, I’m in no rush. Instead I came back to see what everything else is like.

The first thing I did was putter about on a couple of toons. Elcombe still has a 6-tab Guild Bank full of pets. So, guess no one hacked me at any point. After checking that, I took him to the barber shop to see what the new options looked like. He ended up looking like Stephen Baldwin apparently.

After that, I did what I do most. Maybe best. Took a bag full of pets over to the auction house. It’ll take me a little while to get settled into the market. But if I can sell a lot of what I’ve got in stock, that free month might not be all that difficult to achieve. Heck, if I put all my toons in one place it would be mission accomplished. But, that’s not the case, though I do still know how to move money around to some degree if I so desire.

Then it was time for familiarity. Over to Zarahi and druid adventuring. She was sitting at the top of the toons at level 42. So I puttered in Warlords for 1-2 levels and then made my way to Azsuna. Apparently I had some quests there from the last time I logged in…a couple of years ago. So I went through a few of the storylines.

Then decided to take her to the Barber Shop. Holy crap, I can be a Druid of the Flame. Permanently. Didn’t see that one coming at all…and nope, didn’t even look at Bear Form.

At this point, I decided to go to Zandalar. Figured her last few levels would get me on track to unlocking Allied Races. Of course, I didn’t put much research into how to do so and was disappointed when I completed the Zandalari stuff and it turns out that’s just the beginning of what was needed. Oh well, still hit the level cap in no time at all.

When I realized I wasn’t unlocking the Trolls just yet I thought I’d visit a place I’d been dying to see: Siege of Orgrimmar. If I can’t have what I want, at least I can go kill Garrosh, right? Well, not so much. Despite researching the issue, I just could not solo the Scrolls of Pandaria. After dying about a half dozen time I gave up. Between the trolls, Garrosh, and this site causing me grief (hence the new look), I wasn’t in the best of moods by Sunday night. So, I needed to remedy that. Went to a favourite place. No, not Karazhan oddly. Instead it was off to Sunwell Plateau. Wasn’t long after I paid Kil’jaeden a visit and felt better. Even had the Chaos Pup and Wretched Servant drop.

So I experienced some of the new and some of the old. We’ll see what the next 30 days brings. I know Shadowlands hits this week and as I said off the top, I’m in no rush to get it. I haven’t played the game in a couple of years so there’s lots for me to do for my dollar (which, yes I was fairly certain I would never again give Blizzard…eh, times change I suppose). I’ve certainly built up a few thoughts on how things are in Azeroth now. We’ll see if I can get them out here with some semblance of frequency. No guarantees, but for now we’ll do our best and enjoy the ride.

Father Fandral Claus

I’ve been running Firelands weekly since, well, I realized I could.  So we’ll say almost two months.  I’m honestly amazed at either how much little leather gear there is or just how bad my luck is.  I actually average less than one leather item per run.  But that’s not the reason I run it.  Oh no.  I want to be a fire cat.  Druid of the Flame, that’s Zarahi.  Or at least, it would be if Majordomo Staghelm ever dropped the darn staff.

With it being Christmas and all…and the annual daftness around the trees in Ironforge and Orgrimmar, I figured it was a good time to make my weekly run.  Once again, next to no leather drops (though I did get a Tier helm).  Alysrazor nearly killed me because I wasn’t paying attention…but she died, and no mount.  A short while later I’m across the bridge and staring at that MajorPainInTheRear and then he’s dead.  Scythe!  Needless to say, a short while later I was enjoying the benefits of being a Druid of the Flame.

Oh yeah baby.  Now, the only thing concerning me is that the buff ends the moment my combat ends.  I know it’s supposed to be a mildly lingering effect, and just a few moments ago saw one in Ironforge.  The player said it seemed to last for a bit out of combat, and that’s not the case for me.  I don’t know if it’s a glitch or if the item was changed somewhat.  But then it should affect all users the same way.  Regardless, I’m still ecstatic for Fandral to give me such a lovely item this Christmas.

Ahead By A Century

After a few delays and time away from Azeroth, Zarahi became the first of the Amateur Army to hit the new cap of 100.  With much rejoicing I stopped to consider things thus far.  As such, here’s 100 random thoughts about the new expansion:

The 90 Death Knight March

On the even of Warlords I finally used my insta-90.  I hadn’t done so earlier because despite my previous ideas I wasn’t all that certain what I wanted to do.  Unlike the title, I did not actually choose a Death Knight.  I knew all along I wanted a Druid, but found myself stuck between a Male Tauren and a Female Troll.  In the end, tusks beat out hooves.  Admittedly I surprise myself on occasion.

If you haven’t boosted a character yet, it’s a surprising and oddly confusing experience.  Truth be told, I wish there was option to skip what I can only consider to be a tutorial.  For new players, it might be handy.  Personally, I found much of it to be a pain in the rear as the developers took the Death Knight leveling process and seemingly made it more frustrating.  I will admit it could just be the process for a Feral Druid, but I can’t imagine it’s just one spec in the system that works that way.

At the start I had two abilities: I had Shred and I had a Windrider.  This should have been the first sign of what I was in for because despite having the Windrider…you can’t actually fly.  Why not just put the racial mount then?  On top of no abilities, you have no talents either.  Near the end of the tutorial you get your first talent, which in the Iron Horde invasion is seemingly lost because as we all know the opening talent is movement based.  Had I been able to use my class fully, heck even Mass Entanglement once, I would not have done this more than my previous toons combined:

This was taken after death three or four.  It’s one thing to learn a new class or make mistakes.  But there were things I wanted that my level 24 Druid can do that would have helped me.  Unfortunately you don’t get those things until after the second last quest…at which point I wanted to get out of Blasted Lands as fast as I absolutely could.  And I most certainly did.

The process is very much like the Death Knight start zone, but in fairness it is presented well for a new player.  Starting out with a base ability, then learning them in groups of three and in categories, does slowly present what your class and spec can do.  It gives someone new the opportunity to fart around and see what does what.  Most existing players know what does what and just want to get going.  Not having that option becomes more and more frustrating because the zone is not nearly as forgiving as the DK zone.  It was designed to be encountered by a massive number of players who are not only level capped, but also have flight.  Running around on foot with a small portion of your abilities is somewhat torturous at best.  For a new player, I guess it’s a taste of death.  Which, when you think about it, is rather amusing.  Normally, you have to do something silly or have dumb luck work against you in order to die below level 50.  Here it can happen in less than 15 minutes.

I think in the end, I like the “tutorial” as it were.  I would merely change the location (not necessarily sure where a better option would be), and allow players to “skip” it and simply show up in the location all decked out and ready to go.

 

30 Days (April) – Favourite Class

The two classes I play the most are Priest, and now Paladin (used to be Rogue).  They are easily my “go to” when it comes to doing certain tasks.  Strangely enough, neither one is my favourite.  In fact my favourite class in WoW is one that I’ve never even gotten to 30.

Yep, Druid.  I’ve talked about the class before and mentioned my fondness for it, yet for some reason I’ve not taken the time to level one. I love Feral, and healing, the complete connection to nature…I remember complaining back when Trolls could not be Druids and I rolled one the moment I could.  He’s 16.  I can’t explain it.  Fortunately, I’m finally going to rectify that as after much deliberation it will be my Tauren Druid that I boost to 90.  It’s long overdue that my favourite class gets to be experienced properly and not just as a lowbie and through the lore.

30 Days (April) – Favourite Male Character

It wasn’t always the case, but Hamuul Runetotem is hands down my favourite male character.  Other than his involvement in the Cenarion Circle and obviously being the top Tauren Druid I couldn’t have told you anything about him.  Then came Stormrage, The Shattering, and the Molten Front.  Like other Druids, Hamuul had prominent time at the front of the story.  In fact, the former Malfurion student nearly dies…twice, in that time period.

The first time is during the Druid meeting in Ashenvale when they’re confronted by a group of orcs and one puts an arrow in Runetotem’s back.  The lot are all killed, though Hamuul survives.  He sends an owl to Thunder Bluff to report what happened and then, in my personal favourite, nearly succumbs to Leyara, Druid of the Flame.  I’m glad I had gotten to know the character more by that point because when he fell, I was genuinely saddened and angry.  It made continuing on the quest chain all that much more important to me because Hamuul needed to be avenged.  Imagine how I felt when he later shows up and jumps into bear form to help take her down!

Hamuul, which to be perfectly honest is just fun to say, epitomizes the Tauren way.  He always thinks things through and looks at the bigger picture.  He maintains reason and council to the High Chieftain, as well as his fellow Cenarion Circle druids.  For the near future, I have no doubt Hamuul’s work is done for now as far as the players are concerned.  He may be part of a Horde council when plans are set to send heroes back in time after Garrosh but we will not see him in the front line again.  But that doesn’t mean he won’t be as vigilante, or diligent, as ever.  I’ve said before the Druid is my favourite class and I connect far more with Hamuul than Malfurion.

A little bit of coincidence in all this comes from a little story.  I played on Maelstrom (US) when I started the game, as that’s where the friends were that wanted me to play.  When my wife officially signed up as well, I said to make her character whatever she wanted on whichever server and I would make a character there of the same race.  The server she ended up picking?  Runetotem.  I should’ve known then.