3x80

the ultimate ding

antepenultimate ding

I hit 68 last night and, after today's playing, am only a few bars away from 69. Can I tell you how much I love the druid flight form? It makes life *so* much easier.

Going to bed now. More tomorrow, probably.

getting close now

Ding 67! Hurray! I've spent the past couple of days clearing most of the solo-able quests in both Nagrand and Terokkar Forest which has brought me lots of experience, money, and vend-/auction-ables (more moneys, really). The gold differential is really just stupid. Stupid-crazy, not stupid-not smart, that is. Not ten levels ago it was a significant achievement to make 10 gold in a day. Now, give me an hour -- maybe -- and I'll have that for you. Training is more expensive, too, but it hardly even matters, the gold is so plentiful. Earlier this week I went back and trained all of the available animal-form spells that I have been neglecting since, oh, two months ago, and still have almost 200 gold in the bank. Not that I'm complaining, of course, just observing. I should be saving for my next riding training, but instead I'm giving it away. There's a younger member of our guild (someone's young-teen brother) who just hit 40 and I'm going to give him at least half of his first mount, depending on how much I've saved. How nice is it to be able to do that? I remember how cool it was when Zal did the same thing for me, so it's really gratifying to be able to pass that along.

Since I'm down to the elite quests for my current zones (and because I'm too lazy to scare up a group to go finish them), I'm pressing onwards towards Shadowmoon Valley and Blade's Edge Mountains. I had breadcrumb quests leading me both places, but have found myself in SMV more. What a serious change in atmosphere that is, after spending a lot of time in Nagrand! Holy crap, man. Or perhaps unholy. Evil Things are Afoot in that zone. The loots are nice, though. I've picked up four or five greens worth six gold as well as [Recipe: Fel Strength Elixir]. Yay!

ding 65 (and 64)

Too much playing, too little blogging. Okay, so I'm not actually too upset about that trade. I dinged 65 last night and apparently missed posting when I hit 64. So be it. I've been playing in bite-sized chunks this week, so I haven't had the chance to run any more instances. I think that's going to be my goal for the weekend, to run a couple of instances. Underbog and Slave Pens, maybe? Or maybe Mana Tombs again. That was pretty sweet the last time.

After a couple weeks of saving money, I've spent almost all of it again. This weekend I finally made enough to get my epic riding mount training (woot!) and am now cruising around on my [Swift Brewfest Ram]. Totally cool. Also, I blew a decent chunk of change buying [Braxxis' Staff of Slumber], a bitchin' tank weapon. Eventually I plan to get [Earthwarden], but for now it's very nice.

My questing has been alternating between Terokkar Forest and Nagrand...a couple hours in one place, a couple hours in the other. Very cool. For a few relatively easy quests last night, I picked up [Melia's Lustrous Crown] and [Eighty Silver Links], decent upgrades to what I had previously.

I'm building up a nice reputation among the Outlanders. As of last night, I'm at least friendly with most of the major factions I've encountered (Thrallmar, Sporeggar, The Consortium, The Scryers, and now The Mag'har, as well as honored with the Cenarion Expdition). The Aldor aren't big fans, but screw them.

Oh, hell! I just realized that I can get the key for heroic Coilfang Reservoir instances now! Hells, yeah! I'm going to die so many times this weekend!

ding 63

I hit 63 last night, helping protect the Sporeggar young'uns from a slew of Bog Lords and the like. It was actually quite fun...the mobs were all 62-64 and dropped some nice loot. I picked up about 30 [Unidentified Plant Parts] to turn in for Cenarion Expedition rep as well as almost 20 [Mote of Life]. Not bad.

I've had a nice few days financially, too. I haven't had to spend a lot of money on repairs lately (/flex) and am almost to 400 gold. No, really almost. As of this morning I had something like 399 gold, 40 silver, and a few copper. Plus I'm not spending money much at all at the Auction House, so that helps. The gear from the quests has been nice (and useful!) enough that I don't feel like I could be doing significantly better in other threads. Hurray!

Now I just need to figure out where to spend that new talent point...

ding 62

At some point this weekend -- Saturday night, I think -- I hit 62! Woo! And actually, as of this writing, I'm about halfway to 63. Hurray!

I improved a couple of my professions, too, which is exciting. I'm now maxed out on herbalism (390/375, with the +15 cow bonus), so I can now pick epic flowers out of my nose, as one of my guildies put it. Heh. I also finally did the artisan fishing quest, so I can get that going up again. I'm jonesing for a [Mr. Pinchy]. I also broke the 300 gold mark, so I'm getting close to that epic mount. Then I can start saving for my flying mount! Yay!

ding 61

I hit 61 last night in Hellfire Peninsula. Woot. I spent the point on Omen of Clarity, which seems to have a bad reputation that I don't understand. I guess that as a pure resto build, you aren't going to be doing a lot of melee attacks, but for me it seems great.

The Hellfire Peninsula quests are still yellow and red, so my plan is to continue banging around in there. I might start cruising into Zangarmarsh as well, to start building that Cenarion Expedition rep up. [Earthwarden] ftw!

I just about broke even with money last night. I bought 20 [Thorium Bar]s and a few [Arcane Crystal]s for my transmutes which set me back about 30g, but I did manage to make much of that up. I think I ended up down 10g for the night, so I'm not too upset about that.

ding 60

I hit 60 this weekend while adventuring in Outland. I'm finding the leveling there much easier than the past 10 levels or so, or at least I'm having more fun doing it. There are spots that are tough, certainly, and some areas are ridiculously crowded with mobs, but it seems to fit my play style well, for whatever that's worth. There's actually only been one quest that I've found frustrating...I must have died three or four times trying to burn that last building. Bastards.

Hitting 60 opens up some new opportunities, of course. I'm working to save money for my epic mount training. I have a friend who has offered to loan me the balance once I hit 300 gold, but I'm a while off from that. Money's coming easier, but 540 gold is still a lot of money. I have a [Swift Brewfest Ram] already from the Brewfest event so at least I don't have to spend the money on a mount as well as the training.

I also chose a faction in Shattrath City over the weekend. I chose to align with the Scryers...the gear available from them seemed more useful for a moonkin like myself, plus they have an alchemy recipe available. I'm pretty indifferent to the blood elves overall -- I actually find them a little too pretty for my taste -- but whatever. At least the women are hot, right? Heh.