Belated Happy Winter Veil

As the title suggests, a very happy holidays to you! It’s been a busy time around the Amateur household, to the point even Azeroth has not been seen much. I did hope on Zarahi in the hope that for once Blizzard would surprise me with something new from Greatfather Winter. Imagine my surprise when not only was there a new pet (see raptor in picture) but also a new toy as well! I don’t know if these are new to this year, or just new in my absence but they’re long overdue to me. Not because I am greedy by any stretch but because I feel like $100 a year per player (minimum) deserves a little something in return, more so than what the game generally offers.

To the topic at hand once more, though, I truly hope you and your family have had a nice holiday and I wish you the best in 2021. Illidan knows it can’t be as trying as this past year was.

Much love,
JD

When I Should Have Been Leveling

I set out a goal quite some time ago, to have one of each class at 100 by the time Legion hit. Granted, with the free 110, I could let one slide. As you can see from yesterday, though, I’ve only gotten five there. I certainly have my work cut out for me (good news is, the DK is now 83) to get several classes maxed out. Realistically, of course, I won’t. Life will get in the way of that, and I’m ok with it. I’ll get there eventually and then check out each class’s artifact quest chain.

So the question is, if I had the time and don’t raid…why didn’t I get more leveling done? Well once again life was in the way and my play time was reduced. I could have nickeled and dimed a character or two but I didn’t. Instead, I invested.

The relative sure investment in the game right now is pets. So long as you know their relative value, you can never lose more than 10%…if you lose any money in the first place. What makes pets so lucrative is their ability to be sold on other servers. What’s worth 30g on your server could be worth 300g on others. And you can always circulate the gold back to your server via the same process.

Now the way I see it, when Legion hits people are going to be all over the new content. That means out with the old and in with the new. This will include out with Draenor for most players, even new ones. So, for example, I bought up any Left Shark I saw for less than 50s on my servers. I also got an idea what several pets are worth overall. I flipped some so that I could keep my various economies stocked, but any time I had more than three of a pet at the end of the day they went in the bank. The end result?

So we’re looking at just shy of 600 pets, varying greatly in their value and rarity. Some are only going become less common (I’m looking at you Iron Starlette and Hydraling), meaning there will be a slight increase in their worth, depending on the server. I’d love to say I’m concerned about breaking even, but the truth is I already have. With these pets and others, I’ve made enough gold to cover what all of these cost me. Well, the ones I didn’t track down on my own. All in all I’m just about set to open my pet shops, I think.

Worth More Than Money

There’s no recap on gold made this week. To be honest, I didn’t log on most of the week, until Sunday when I did some leveling. I know I made between 1500-2000 gold just from Garrison missions, but that’s ballparking it based on what I recall. I sold very little and didn’t even bother tracking while I was out questing. It happens, and as the title suggests I did better than any financial gain could offer.

In puttering around this morning, I happened to be on Zarahi when I got the notice of realm reset. After doing a few odds and ends, I decided I would park her in Felwood and hope that maybe I would luck out and beat someone to a Minfernal. Given how many years it’s been and I’ve had zero luck, I wasn’t holding my breath. But off I went all the same.

I circled in and landed in the Shattered Vale. Noticed a pet on my map, but the only thing near me was an Infernal. Or rather, a half-size infernal. When my brain clicked, so did my mouse. Despite 5-6 people nearby, I managed to tag him quite easily.

See kids? This is why no matter the battle, always have your turnip handy. Always need to make sure you can leave the target with 1 hp. Goodness knows I’ve killed my share of pets I wanted to trap. Fortunately nothing even remotely this rare!

After grabbing the Minfernal and the servers resuming, I realized I needed the Crested Owl in order to complete my Kalimdor Safari achievement. A quick port to Darnassus on my Mage and I headed out into Teldrassil where it didn’t take long.

I still have half a dozen Draenor pets to grab as well as the same number in Pandaria. But then it’s World Safari (yes I know I don’t need Draenor for the achievement but my OCD says I do).

Demidos!

Running some of the Horde Garrison quests in Shadowmoon Valley on the weekend and I came across a rare spawn.

Right away the name sounded familiar, but to be honest I was drawing a blank as to why.  I didn’t really care because a rare is a rare.  A Human Mage and Nelf Druid had come strolling up and I figured the three of us could probably take it down.  That didn’t happen.  I have no idea where they went, or they died.  I quickly realized I couldn’t take it down on my own and sent out a message. Repgrind was in immediately, and Arv was close behind.  Unfortunately, we learned Arvash didn’t have the flight path to Shadowmoon Valley yet, being a fresh 100.  It was also around this time where I remembered what made Demidos special: the Servant of Demidos.

Rep and I decided to tackle him anyway and we got him down to about 10% before we died.  We learned his health pool climbs based on the number of people in the fight.  As we were rezzing, a Gnome got into the fight.  We fought hard and got him down.

A nice little achievement there.  Now the key to the fight is easily your health.  Demidos has an ability that knocks your health down 25%.  Not total health, mind you.  Just current health.  So heavy top-up heals are not really a great idea in this fight.  If you can do some HoT’s then you’re in better shape.  I know my health sat below 35% for most of the fight.  But I just kept Rejuvenation active as much as I could.  Rep was busy on her end and we managed to take him down a second time on her server.  Unfortunately there was no loot the second time around.  I was disappointed because Repgrind had gotten a necklace that was of no use.  I wanted her to get the pet…same as I did!

Incredibly ecstatic to have the Servant drop.  In briefly perusing the new Draenor pets, this was probably the one I wanted the most.  I definitely couldn’t believe my luck when I saw it in the loot.  I tried to carry that luck over and nab some raid pets.  Once again Tempest Keep and Karazhan offered me nothing.  But still, getting this guy made my weekend.  And I couldn’t have gotten it without Repgrind’s help!

Blingtron’s Feeling Festive

At least, that’s what I would like to think.  Most days he basically hands you a Thermal Anvil, or less, and send you on your merry way.  Today he seems to realize it’s getting close to Winter Veil and his usual gifts won’t compare to Greatfather Winter’s offerings (assuming they actually change this year).  As such, along with his usual paltry items, Blingy decided Zarahi’s been a good Troll so far.

The quest book is for the Brawler’s Guild.  It unlocks the Blingtron 3000 card from Card Trader Ami.  The Sky-Bo, to be honest, I had never even heard of (still out of the loop in many regards).  It’s the pet version of the ever popular Sky Golem.  I’ll be interested to see what it does.  First I need to level a few other pets just to defeat my blasted menagerie…

Gene-What Now?!?

The Amateur house is looking more and more festive every day, and that means limited Azeroth festivities.  I did, however, manage to upgrade my Garrison to level 3 yesterday.  Having the Warchief refer to me as “General” was a nice touch…and a bit empowering.  Of course said feeling of empowerment did me no good when I tried to do the Pet Battle Menagerie.  I went after Gorefu and after several tries logged.  I just don’t have enough high level Moths.

I had some free time this morning, but unfortunately the Realms are down for full maintenance (and Hearthstone too…who scheduled that?).  There is good news, though, as when they go live in a few hours not only will the Highmaul raid be open but the World Bosses also go live.  I’m hoping Zarahi can get in on one before I head to work today.  If not, I will probably just get Tum or Liouxpold to 91.  Both have set up their Garrison and, while Lioux has completed a couple of quests, the pair are both at relatively the same point.

What about you?  When the realms pop back up, any immediate plans?

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: