new hats!

favorite new achievement

Cooking With Style. MMO Champion has a screenshot of the hat, too. I've been doing the cooking daily pretty religiously and have a bunch of tokens stored up, and almost two full stacks of spices in the bank, so you know I'm all over this as soon as it drops.

straying

I just wish I had noticed that the trial through Steam is 21 days, instead of the 14 day regular trial. It probably doesn't matter, though...I'm a week in and am seriously considering trying it for a while. I'll probably buy the box and use the game time that comes with, then make a decision if I can afford two games or not. As a friend pointed out, it is less than a daily coffee, so maybe I'll cut that out. Wait, I don't drink coffee...hmm.

/delurk

/em pokes his feathered head out of the brush.
/s Howdy, strangers!
/s Your fine, alternately feathered and furry friend, here!
/s My /afk ego has had some computer issues but claims he misses y'all.
/s So, he sent me to say hello and let everybody know he's not dead.
/s And promises he'll be back soon, to help me talk with you guys.
/wave

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.

my frosty mug runneth over

So, um...hey, strangers! How's your expansion going? Mine? Totally awesome. I am having an absurdly good time. In the last two weeks, Wara...
- is up to level 74
- has explored the Borean Tundra and done the questing there
- feels like he's halfway through the Dragonblight
- has run four dungeons: Utgarde Keep, the Nexus, Azjol-Nerub, and Ahn'kahet: the Old Kingdom. Those last two? Hope you're not arachnophobic...
- has leveled skinning to 450, leatherworking to 405, cooking and first aid to just over 400, and fishing to 350. Yeah, I've got skills.
- is on his way to being beloved by the Lolruses. So cute. Such an awesome fishing pole.
- ...

There's so much more to catch up on, but I've got to get something posted. I've started and re-started this one a dozen times now. Elbow and send!

gorilladins? totally awesome

As I mentioned a few days back, my baby hunter got herself a gorilla pet. Last night I had a half hour to test him out. Verdict? Awesome.

We started out slow, going after the level 32-34 Bloodscalp trolls north of Grom'gol. One or two? No problem. By the end of the festivities, Bobo was holding aggro on three or four trolls and I could blast away to my heart's content. The hardest part, honestly, was picking them all up in the first place and keeping my mana up. Good times.

After tearing them up, a questgiver sent me to the Arathi Highlands, with some nice, tasty level 34-36 ogres and raptors. Again, no problem! At one point, Bobo and I tore down a level 33, 34, and 36 rare ogre. We got a nice clothie hat and access to a couple of iron nodes for our troubles. It was a little close with some of the heals, but we felt pretty proud of ourselves by the end.

I need to figure out how to more efficiently use Bobo's energy, because that was probably the rate limiting factor in our adventures last night. Maybe cast the first thunderstomp myself, then set it to autocast? I'll bet the astute BRK has some advice in that direction. Some how-did-I-live-without-this-before macros, perhaps.

a question and a new pet

Is a level 70 epic BOE enough motivation to level a new alt?

Last night Waradwen went on a midbee, early Kara fun run, to pick up a few badges and see the Scourge Invasion boss. It was fun to see a new fight and, admittedly, it was almost fun to clear all the trash on the way to him. I've never been into the scullery in Kara or in the animal boss area, so that was fun to explore. The boss fight itself was more annoying than difficult. Our tank did an awesome job kiting him around in a big circle while we blasted him between Blood Mirrors. Love the new pet, too.

After killing the new boss, we were clearing our way towards the Maiden when [The Night Blade] drops! And I won the roll! But now, what should I do? I don't have a rogue, and this sucker just screams rogue. The melee DPSers I have are a shammy and a paladin, and I don't see the point in either of them equipping this bad boy. And I don't want to just sell it to a random dude at the Auction House. Soooo...yeah. I'm probably going to start a new alt. I mentioned yesterday that the priest wasn't a great fit yet... /stabbystabby!

The last thing I did last night before bed was to hop on my hunter, push her to level 32, and get her a badass gorilla. In complete huntard fashion, I forgot to take the appropriate food for the gorilla after I tamed him. Der. Fortunately, it turns out that gorillas will eat halloween candy. And that will make him happy enough to get him back to the closest town. I'm looking forward to testing him out tonight.

Happy maintenance day!

state of the (horde) toons report

On the eve of the Lich King's re-emergence (and due to my self-resurrection as a poor blogger), I thought I'd give a summary of where my toons are and what they're doing. Yay!

Waradwen - Doin' dailies, makin' money, light raiding. A few months back my Horde guild asploded and, faced with a number of suboptimal options, Wara stepped through a strange portal and found himself on a new server. Same world, just slightly shifted. He's found a really awesome guild and I'm having as much fun with him (and in WoW in general) as I ever have. Wara's primary goals right now are feeding his achievement addiction (Salty Chef Waradwen Jenkins the Hallowed, ftw) and pwning Kara for badges. Moar badges! My guild got together for an rp-inspired tear through Gruul's lair and impromptu Magtheridon raid this weekend which was really fun. I'd seen Gruul's before -- once or twice -- and it was fun to get back. My rolls sucked, or I might have been decked out in complete tier 4 this morning. And Magtheridon was awesome, too. Nerfed to hell, apparently, but a lot of fun to down regardless.

As I'm on a new server, I decided to make new alts rather than spend the money to move below-level-30 dudes. Not worth it, right? So, a new horde of my own. Maybe I can be Thrall when I grow up!

Alt the first: the hunter. My first alt on that brave, new world was a belf hunter. Female, naturally. So hawt! Hahaha. I got her to level 30 this weekend and picked up a purple hawkstrider, which still feels weird. Mounts at 30? Well, I'm not going to walk... She's a miner/engineer, mostly for the fun toys. Right now I'm having an awesome time as a beastmaster, running around with a raptor pet, rocking the crap out of mobs that are much higher than me. This weekend she took down Frostmaw, a level 37 yeti, having just reached 30, to earn a lovely new headdress. Nerf hunters!

Alt number two: a troll mage. Magey is a special toon (no, not that sort of special), running in a static group approximately once a week. He can bring some awesome dps to the instances we're running, although I'm still trying to figure out mana and threat management. He started out as an herbalist/alchemist, but I found I really wasn't spending time farming with him and he dropped herbalism for inscription with the last patch. Very fun. He hit level 21 last week and loves the crap out of blink and teleport. So awesome.

Alt number three: a Tauren shaman. Goddamn I love the Tauren and love adventuring in Mulgore. I'm still getting the hang of playing a shaman. He's specced enhancement at the moment, which feels a lot like leveling a pre-boomkin druid. Pull with lightning bolt, dot with flame shock, then pound to death with a big staff. I really like having a spell interrupt for fighting casters and the totems are useful for emergency situations or for fighting big mobs. By and large, I'm moving around too much to spend the mana setting up the totems on a regular basis. I haven't had a chance to run any instances, yet, but I think that's where the totems will really shine. As of this weekend, he's up to level 18. He's my primary farmer at the moment, an herbalist/miner, gathering herbs for the mage's potions and inks and ore for the engineer and the jewelcrafter and the future blacksmith and... A brief note about herbalism. I *love* the new HoT spell. It has already saved his steak-y butt a few times from the fire.

Alt number four: a Forsaken priest. This guy is probably my worst fit so far, but it's still early. Actually, let me qualify that a little. Soloing with this guy is the worst fit. I ran around with a friend leveling a warrior a few weeks ago and had a serious blast. Since then I've downloaded HealBot, which is pretty groovy. No instances, yet, but about ready to push into the WC range. He's still low enough that fights are generally smite-smite-shadow word:pain-wand to death. Hopefully groups and getting further into the talent trees will help. As for professions, he's a tailor/(dis)enchanter.

Alt number five: a paladin. Another hawt belf chica, with a big sword. Pretty fun. Looking forward to consecrate. She's a miner/jewelcrafter. The mining is fine, helping to feed engineering and provide mats for jewelcrafting, but I'm not overwhelmed with JC. Any gem I want for Wara I can either get on the AH or cut by a friend... The self-healing statues are nice (and easy skill points!) and it is nice to provide low-level rings and necklaces for the new family of alts.

Alt number six (coming soon!): a Tauren death knight. I've got the name I want reserved with an unplayed alt and am just waiting until November. My plan is for him to be a miner/blacksmith, probably making cool swords and axes for himself. I'm trying to bank a bunch of copper and tin ore prior to the expansion so I can ease his mining leveling through smelting. Exploration will be fun, but I don't really want to do have to spend a lot of time mining copper in Durotar as an uberl33t death knight. Hehe.

Alt number seven: the former Poxic warlock. Waradwenne is still hanging around on Anvilmar, but at some point soon I'd like to consolidate her with the rest of the army. I've played her for maybe half an hour since the Purples broke up (/cry) so there hasn't been much progress on that front. She's still a tailor, but she dropped engineering and isn't sure what to pick up. Herbalism, probably, so she can funnel higher-level herbs to the mage. In general, she's on hold until I have a little more disposable income.

So there you go. Lots of little alts who will, someday, be fearsome fighters. By endgame, I'll have a couple of tanks, a couple healers, and a bunch of fearsome DPS to make with the pew pew! Pew! Pew! /cast Starfall