pre-vacation update

I'm heading off on vacation tomorrow, so I figured I'd give the ol' neglected blog a brief update before we go. That way I'll have a set of goals in front of me when I get back, rather than having to make it up as I go...

Waradwen: Wara's largely in a holding pattern these days, waiting for Wrath. Due to some /afk issues, I haven't had the blocks of time to commit to raiding, which really sucks. Running around with the Murlocks has been totally fun and awesome, and I'm hoping that I can schedule more time to be with them when we get back from vacation. I think we've got enough people to poke our heads into some 25-man content, but I'm not sure if we're balanced enough. Hmm...something to ponder.

Gear-wise, Wara's pretty well set for the content he's seeing. I've resigned myself to the fact that he's not going to be decked out in T6, and that's okay. He's almost entirely dressed in purples at this point, when he's wearing his inappropriate-for-a-boomkin cloak. I really need to get some better legs, though, and am even contemplating PvPing for the Season 2 version. As much as I dislike the idea of using PvP to get gear for PvE, those are pretty nice. Hmm.

Waradwenne: Nothing new to report since last time. We had to cancel our group this past week for some family issues and I'm gone for next week, but after that we're ready to keep tearing up the Old World. 'dwenne's fishing is up to 225, so we're planning to go run around and do the quest from ol' Nat next session. That should be fun.

Rotaan: The Dwarf is up to level 47 and is building up that tasty, tasty rested XP. He's been rather peripatetic lately, not being able to decide on a zone to level in and bouncing between Tanaris, Stranglethorn Vale, and the Hinterlands. He stuck his nose into the Blasted Lands this past weekend and liked it, although most of the mobs were just over his head. No pun intended. The goal for him is to keep leveling, making the most of the rested XP available. He's going to do some PvP before he hits 50, too, so he can build up enough marks to get a [Black Battlestrider] at 60. Sweet.

Everybody else: Same plan as Rotaan, essentially. Leveling as much as the rested XP allows. By the time I get back from vacation, I think that everybody should be at the max amount of rested XP, so I'm hoping to get on a cycle where I level one toon one night until he's out of rest, then switch to the next. We'll see how long that plan lasts. :-D

green armor dwarf

peripatetic long weekend

A few notes on the long weekend...

Waradwen: I am just about sick of doing dailies, which is almost all I've done with good old Wara lately. I haven't been able to get the time together to do any raiding the past few weeks and consequently haven't been spending much time boomkining around. The good news is that I'm up over 1100 gold and have my full raid kit together, so any money I make between now and next raid goes towards Swift Flight Form. One of these days...

Waradwenne: Poxing night is tonight and am I pleased as punch. We're in the Scarlet Monestary again tonight, planning to tear up the Library and get Daxe his dagger, then dip our wee toesies into the Armory. Next week we're going to switch things around a little and go tackle Razorfen Downs, which should be a lot of fun. Like most of these instances, I've only run RFD once and am looking forward to the full experience. My previous RFD experience was essentially: "Watch these guys tear it up and try not to get killed." Heh.

Engineering training is going nicely, although it's costing a pretty penny. Thanks to a helpful benefactor, I'm up to 130 and made a handful of small seaforium charges. I even got to open a locked box the other day with one, which was very exciting.

Rotaan: The gaseous dwarf is up to level 32 after a lot of play time this weekend. I still haven't taken him tanking yet, which I really need to do. I'm simultaneously nervous and excited about the possibility of tanking. Gnomer and RFK are beckoning me, though, to plumb their depths...

Over the course of the weekend, I outpaced Rotaan's crafting skills. Until now, I've been able to make gear that's too good for his level, but not anymore. I'm stuck making the green iron armor for a little while longer. Oh well. It's a nice set. I can also now mine mithril, which is pretty exciting. Whenever I read the word, I hear Gimli's voice in my ears. Haha. I'm such a dork.

Rotag: The last toon I spent some time with this weekend is Rotag, my Draenei pally tank. Well, will be tank, one day. After realizing how much fun engineering is with Waradwenne, I decided that it would be a good skill for him to have. Rotaan can feed him some armor and weapons, and Rotag can keep his eyes locked on those beautiful tanking goggles (which will probably be obsolete by the time he gets there, but who cares?

alternative post

I can't believe how behind I am in posting. Well, not behind, as there aren't deadlines or schedules or what have you, other than self-imposed. Feh.

Waradwen: I've been playing a lot of my alts lately. I've done a little raiding with Wara in Karazhan, but not much else with him. Some dailies, I guess, and am pushing exalted with the Shattered Sun, so that's nice. I'm tired of the dailies and usually only do a few each day to support my modest raiding habits.

Waradwenne: Awesome fun with the Poxers, as usual. The past few weeks we have torn up the Scarlet Monestary Graveyard and done a bunch of running around, filling out class quests. I have lots of screenshots that I will someday get posted, but probably not before tomorrow's adventures. I have my felpuppy now and we're anxious to start pushing deeper into the Library. We got through half of the Library a few weeks ago but were pretty overpowered by the large groups of mobs post-Locksey. This week they're going down. Woo! And Arcanist Doan is going to drop his robes! Umm. That didn't sound right.

I've also swapped 'dwenne's professions around. She had been doing mining to make some money, but since I don't play her much other than on Pox Nights I never did much leveling. So I dropped mining and picked up engineering, which is pretty awesome. Not having a rogue (or other engineer) we've been passing all of the locked chests, and I'm looking forward to my first seaforium charge. Heheheheh. Plus, there's some really cool headgear coming up soon...

Rotaan: Most of my game time lately has been with Rotaan and I'm starting (starting) to get a feel for playing a warrior. I'm getting better about remembering which move to use when, etc., and am having a heck of a lot of fun with him. Rotaan's up to level 26 and I'm currently leveling him as an Arms warrior. I started with Fury but am having more success with a big, two-hand weapon, so Arms seems to fit better. I'm having some trouble figuring out just where to be leveling, as this is my first real Alliance character, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. I spent a couple nights banging my head against the Wetlands before discovering Redridge Mountains which was so much more appropriate for my skills. I'm back to Wetlands now and am starting to plot where to go next...maybe somewhere on Kalimdor? That'd be fun to see as an Alliance toon.

I'm also looking forward to (but am very nervous about) tanking my first instance with Rotaan. I ran Deadmines with an overpowered guild group a few weeks ago (whence the Rolling Pin of Doom) but not as the tank. I think that's the next thing I really need to do. I just picked up a ton of Gnomer quests late last night, so maybe...no. That's probably not a best choice for first tanking experience. I never did the Deadmines quests, so I should probably go back and pick those up. Easy XP, baby.

Miscellany: Sidhe Devils are awesome. I had one of the most fun evenings just farting around on Friday night thanks to my awesome new guildies, as well as an older friendship that I'm getting to develop more lately. Oh, and the tastiness of a few Honey Moon Summer Ales. (Not my favorite beer ever, but certainly decent and enjoyable.)

fishy dwarf

warrior woes

Leveling a warrior is tough, man! Little Rotaan is up to level 14 and it has been tough slogging so far. I'm getting better at pulling single mobs away from a group (hurray for cheap guns!) but still have trouble when I get swarmed by more than about three comparable-level mobs. Oh well. Practice, practice, practice, I suppose. Or as a guildie recommended, I need to go to another zone and try some green-level quests for the time being.

in which our hero blathers on...

...about his new main guild, Kiss My Murlock.

You guys are seriously awesome. Congrats on the first ever full clear of Kara! I wish I could have been around more this weekend but I'm so proud of you. I hear the drums calling us from ZA and I'm looking forward to spending more time with you guys.

...about his new alliance alt and associated guild.

I'm a total follower sometimes and have joined BBB and Cassieann's new guild, Sidhe Devils, on Kael'thas. Having always rolled Horde, I've been feeling an itch to explore the Alliance side of the game. I've recently learned about how important the social aspects of the game are to me, so when I read the announcement it really scratched my itch nicely. I've rolled a dwarf warrior named Rotaan (there's a story, naturally, but probably not one worth sharing). It's really odd talking in guild chat and seeing this "other," non-Wara-prefixed name speaking in my voice. I'm starting to get used to it, but it's still a little disconcerting. "Who is this guy, and why is he saying what I'm saying?"

So far, I'm really enjoying the dwarf story. I like the snowy wilderness that we start in and I think Ironforge is really cool. I'm totally lost, still, but have gotten good about flipping between the map and where I'm running. QuestHelper has been a blessing, too.

A few more words about the guild, before I forget. It's awesome. I'm still a little starstruck when BBB or Cassieann are on but they've been nothing but kind and friendly and funny. In fact, BBB made one of the worst puns I've heard in a long time the other day. There's another guild member with the exact same first name as me (a rarity, at least in these parts) and the same first half of his last name, and we were chatting about how to translate our names. "Hegge" roughly translates to "rocky" and I thought that "stad" roughly translated to "land" -- so my last name would mean rocky land, which is quite appropriate for the town we came from -- but my alter ego informed me that "stad" actually means "city" from the old Norwegian. So, rocky city. After which BBB interjects, "Philadelphia." Huh? Oh. Rocky city. Not rocky, Rocky. /golfclap, sir. You win this round, but I'll get you yet.

There are also a bunch of Poxers in the guild and I'm having a blast spending time with them. One of my regrets about the way the Pox Arcanum project is going is that we've become a little insular in our groups and we don't get a chance to spend a lot of time with the other groups. I know it's mostly due to the innate difficulties with scheduling but it make me a little sad. And now, here's a chance to hang out with them! Hurray!

...about the new dailies.

Honestly, I'm split. I like the diversity of the dailies and really like that there are some that benefit gatherers and fishermen, rather than just kill-10-of-these-dudes, but they're not very stimulating. Especially when you do them day after day after day. Consequently, I'm not. I'm doing enough of them to keep me supplied for raids and keep all of my armor sets well-repaired, but that's about it. If there's a little extra I might try to upgrade a gem or two, but I'm not doing enough dailies for there to be much extra.

My typical routine is to do the Outland quests three or four days a week, then go to the Isle of QQ once or twice a week. This seems to work okay. The Outland dailies are enough to meet my monetary demands easily, so the rest is gravy. I tend to do the Nether Residue quest by skinning clefthoofs in Nagrand, so I've built up a few nice stacks of Thick Clefthoof Leather and Heavy Knothide Leather which will be useful for either myself or other crafters.

As for the Isle, phooey. I do them occasionally, but find them very boring. I'm not in a huge hurry to build my Shattered Sun rep but am already at Revered, even with my casual play. I picked up [K'iru's Presage] to replace my current healy mace ([The Essence Focuser]) and love the [Naaru Rations], but otherwise...*shrug*.

...about his gear.

Nothing terribly exciting to report. I grabbed an [Ember Skyfire Diamond] for my beautiful new helmet. I also got my bracers enchanted (Greater Intellect) and have the mats for most of what else I want.