what do I do now?

I can't believe I haven't posted about this. As of last Friday, Waradwen is level 80! I had visions of a grand exploration ding, where I filled in the last bit of covered map to give myself the achievements for level 80, Northrend exploration, and world explorer at the same time but really that was too much work. And, as regular readers know, I am fundamentally lazy. Hehe. I have a screenshot but managed to miss the swirly shinyness. Oh well.

So, now what? I've been spending my time continuing to explore the content available and have opened up the Argent Crusade, Knights of the Ebon Blade, and Sons of Hodir quartermasters/daily quest areas. After scanning the potential rewards, the Argent Crusade is going to be last on my list of factions to level, I think...there's really nothing there that I find terribly compelling. Kirin Tor is my main goal, so I've been doing the cooking daily quest every morning and really need to get running dungeons. I've done enough Knights of the Ebon Blade quests to hit honored and get my grubby paws on the [Dark Soldier's Cape]. Now that I've opened up the Sons of Hodir area, I've been doing those religiously so I can get to the shoulder enchants. I thought about grabbing the Scryer enchant just for the time being but people are asking ridiculous prices for each [Arcane Tome] and I'm too lazy to farm them myself. There's something about those quests that makes me feel a little dirty...Blowing Hodir's Horn? Polishing the Helm? Really, Blizz?

And that's about all I've been working on lately. I've been playing a little less now after hitting 80, but am getting ready to gear up for the winter holidays. My guild took a poke at Naxx earlier this week and got completely destroyed by the first boss, apparently. I had other plans and didn't get to go with, but the word used to describe the experience was "Mollywhopped". No, I'm not really sure what it means, but I've got some guesses based on the context. Hehe. So we've got that to look forward to later this month.

How's by you? Northrend treating you well?

return of the grabby hands

As of completing the Dalaran cooking quest this morning, Waradwen is more than 75% of the way to level 80! That probably won't happen tonight (unless I forsake sleep, which is possible), but will almost certainly happy by Friday night. So, what to do post-ding? Get grabby! Conveniently, Gray Matter is posting a multi-part series on pre-raid moonkin gear (part 1, 2, 3). Let's see what he suggests, and how it fits with what I have already and what I need to do to get from here to there. From head to toes:

Head: Currently, I'm wearing the [Overcast Headguard]. Not bad, but clearly PVP-oriented. Still, it's equivalent to or better than what I've seen from quests and drops so far, and it was free, as I was leveling my leatherworking. I'd like to get the [Battlemap Hide Helm] from heroic Utgarde Keep, but I might keep an eye on the AH and my tailoring buddies for the [Hat of Wintry Doom]

Neck: [Clutch of Undying Will]. Blue, but getting old at this point. I haven't seen the quest yet, but I've got my eyes open for [Emeline's Locket]. Alternately, I'll aim for the [Necklace of Taldaram] from heroic Old Kingdom if I can convince some suckers...er...friends to go into that spidery pit with me.

Shoulders: [Purehorn Spaulders]. Again, free from leatherworking and I like how they look. I feel fierce wearing them, hehe. I don't plan to replace these at the moment.

Back: [Shadow Vault Shawl]. Ack! A green! Get me to the Knights of the Ebon blade for the [Dark Soldier Cape] post-haste! (2248/6000 rep currently)

Chest: Still rocking the [Windhawk Hauberk]. It looks like I'm going to have to fall back to cloth to replace this, at least pre-raid, feh. I'd like the [Robes of Lightning] for the hit rating -- side note. I've killed Loken, I just didn't have the quest. Can't I have credit anyway? hehe -- but am drooling over the [Water-Drenched Robe] from heroic Violet Hold. Sexeh. Plus, that's a hella-fun dungeon, so I'm willing to run it a lot for the random boss.

Wrists: [Storming Vortex Bracers]. I got these on our awesome run through the Halls of Lightning the other night and quite like them a lot. Post-these, it really looks like a toss-up between the [Azure Cloth Bindings] from heroic Violet Hold or the [Plague-Infected Bracers] from heroic CoT: Stratholme. I suspect I'll end up with the former, if I have to farm Violet Hold a lot for those robes.

Hands: [Gloves of Malorne]. Dunno quite which to replace these with. It looks like there area bunch of tasty gloves in heroic Halls of Lightning, so I'll just aim to run that a lot. The [Traditionally Dyed Handguards] do look nice, especially with the socket.

Waist: [Windhawk Belt]. Ah, my first epic. And it still looks so lovely. I'd love the [Ghostflicker Waistband] from the Kirin Tor, but that'll be a long rep grind.

Legs: [Dark Iceborne Leggings]. I think I'll target the [Crenelation Leggings] at the moment, as I haven't any rep with the Sons of Hodir for their [Giant-Friend Kilt]. On the cloth side, there's always the [Woven Brocae Leggings] from heroic Halls of Lightning or [Cyanigosa's Leggings]. Can you guess where those last legs are from? Yeah. I thought you could.

Feet: [Bugsquashers]. The [Boots of Transformation] from heroic Gundrak look pretty nice. I haven't seen that dungeon yet, so I don't know how hard the heroic version will be. From what is becoming my favorite target, heroic Violet Hold, come the [Footwraps of Teleportation], which would be nice as well.

Weapon: [Chilly Slobberknocker], from the ring of blood-esque series in Zul'Drak. I'd like to grab the [Flameheart Spell Scalpel] from the Kirin Tor (5550/18000) to replace this, with the [Ward of the Violet Citadel] once I have the badges.

Oof. This has gotten far too long for a single post. I'll explore the constellation of possible rings and trinkets next time.