Long Time, No See

I haven't posted in ages... mostly because I'm unemployed.

Being unemployed sucks. Seriously.

That said, I'm still playing WoW, just not like I used to. Eventually money will get too tight to play, but right now I still feel that $15 a month is totally worth it. Unlimited entertainment for that price is hard to come by anywhere else.

My main has been on a short hiatus, though, as I've been playing with a RL friend of mine through the recruit-a-friend program (hooray for a free month AND a sweet zhevra mount). We didn't get any of our characters to level 60, but we got two pairs to level 40 and another pair to level 20. She's also sufficiently addicted to the game, so we'll play together even after the RaF super experience is done. Hopefully she still enjoys the game, even without leveling every couple of hours. ;)

PTR: Interesting Patch for Newbies

I was reading the patch notes for the current PTR build (thanks to wow.com) and have to totally agree that new characters are getting it easy. Not that I mind, of course, as a dedicated altoholic, these changes make me very happy. What really caught my eye, though, was the change to new rogues, as I'm definitely planning on rolling a Worgen rogue when the option finally comes around.

While Blizzard is definitely making it easier in general for new toons, like standardizing stats, handing out basic weaponry (in this case mostly 2-handers, aside from shamans, who get a 1-hander and a shield), and reducing the chance for a newbie to get dazed (From level 1-5, you'll never get dazed; levels 6-10 it's a greatly reduced chance.), there was a change specific to rogues that I totally agree with and love: twin daggers.

New rogues, once this patch goes live, will log in, at level 1, already knowing how to dual wield and will have two daggers equipped. All I can say is: "It's about freaking time, Blizz." The whole point of a rogue, in my opinion, is dual wielding daggers. I mean, it's the class's signature! Yet every rogue I see is dual wielding swords for the most part, until much higher levels. I hope that they also do more to make leveling with daggers more interesting/possible. Early quests nearly never have good daggers as rewards, and most of the early dungeons don't drop them readily. There is the one from the rogue quest, but it's unique eqipped so you can't have two.

If Blizzard developers can make those improvements with Cataclysm/the next patch then I'll be a very happy camper. It might even make me take another look at one of my rogues, like Untainted, while I wait for the next expansion.

Hooray 80!

Seona just dinged 80!

It's exciting. I have a screenshot for momento, kept Ronin's letter in Gryphonheart Items, and am totally ready to become a true retribution paladin. That means gear.

Unfortunately, I haven't found a gear guide for fresh level 80 retribution paladins. When Yrovi dinged 80, there were tons of places I could go to see a list of crafted/easy to get gear to get to the defense minimum. For dps, though, it appears the only criteria is get hit capped. :/

So, I guess I'll be doing some research and figuring out just what kind of gear I need and can get easily for a Retribution paladin with a focus on PvE.

----------

Okay, info goes here:

According to this post by Svirve on the Wowhead forums...

Retribution specific "caps"
Hit: 8% or 263 hit rating
Hit(PVP): 5% or 164 hit rating
32.79 hit rating per 1%

Spell hit: 17% or 446 hit rating
Spell hit (PVP): 4% or 105 hit rating
26.23 hit rating per 1%

Spell Penetration: 0%

Armor Penetration: 100% or 1340 armor penetration rating
13.99 armor penetration rating per 1%

Expertise(PARRY): 60 expertise skill or 492 expertise rating
Expertise(DODGE): 26 expertise skill or 214 expertise rating
32.79 expertise rating per 1% | 8.2 expertise rating per expertise skill | 1 expertise skill per 0.25%

That's a decent start. I absolutely must have my hit at 8% so I can perhaps find some gear that has sockets and gem for it.

One To Go and Plus One

Seona is at level 79. I'm actually really excited because this will be my second toon to level cap, and this time I know for a fact I won't get burned out. Seona's guild is big enough to keep me busy regardless of what I'm doing. On top of that, the roleplay opportunities abound, always, so each time I log in it's something fresh and new.

For example, a member of the guild did a very moving and interesting "sermon" for the guild on Sunday, followed by a pilgrimage to Uther's Tomb. I was actually touched, emotionally, by the words, especially since other members of the guild also got up and spoke (from their character's point of view, of course) which gave the whole thing a very "kumbaya" feeling. Seona listened intently, and so did I, as the whole thing gave me just one more way to understand the other characters in the group, along with the people behind the characters.

Real life has been interesting as well, with a new addition to my little family: Conner. He's a border collie mix I adopted today from a city pound. He had been running around my neighborhood for a couple days and was crashing for the night on front doorsteps; he's a real vagabond. When he crashed on my doorstep, though, we brought him inside, but ended up taking him to the city shelter in the hopes that any worried family that might be looking for him would finally be able to get him back.

Unfortunately, his family didn't come looking for him, or, if they did, they weren't really trying that hard, because he stayed in the pound for a week. I had checked in on him occasionally, as I didn't want him put to sleep, and decided that I'd adopt him. Yesterday was the initial visit, and the time when I told them I was interested in adopting. They got him ready for me by getting him to a vet for vaccinations, altering, and a heartworm test, and I was able to pick him up today.

He'll still need to go see my veterinarian, especially since my other dog is up for a vet visit as well, for a checkup, but all-in-all he's a sweet dog. I'm glad I got him out of the shelter before they euthanized him.

Remember to spay and neuter your pets to help keep pet population down so fewer animals have to be put to sleep in your city shelters and Adopt, Don't Shop! Buying puppies from pet stores only keeps puppy mills in business!

Dalaran

Seona, finally level 74, has made it to Dalaran. On Yrovi, it was this amazing, beautiful city that was entirely new and shiny and convenient. On Seona, however, it's laggy, crowded, and slow, though still pretty convenient, thanks to all those portals. The reason? I don't play on my parent's iMac anymore, just my 3-year-old MacBook Pro. On top of that, I recently upgraded to Mac OS 10.6, aka Snow Leopard, and I'm now getting some nasty graphics issues.

At first I thought my graphics problems were due to the upgrade, of course, since before installing Snow Leopard I was fine. Did a search on the official forums, in the Mac Troubleshooting area and found out that my problem was probably heat/hardware related. Totally true story, since my MacBook Pro runs crazy hot, always has. The small strip of metal right above the keyboard on my laptop gets hot enough to burn my fingers sometimes. So, after reading a few blue replies I downloaded some free software to control the fans inside my machine. It made an immediate difference of about 20 degrees and I can literally feel the difference. If my graphics issues were truly due only to heat, then this may have fixed it.

Obviously I won't know until later today, as it's Tuesday, and we all know that Tuesday means maintenance day. I'm glad for the break, actually, as I feel like I need to resort out my priorities and get some stuff done in RL, like updating my resume, doing some laundry, etc. On top of that, a couple of days ago, while visiting my parents, we were sort of "chosen" by a stray dog in the neighborhood. My mom is a total animal lover, so she brought him in the house and let him hang out with our dogs. We couldn't keep him at the time, plus his owners might be looking for him, so I took him to the shelter down the street. I checked their website and today is the day he becomes "available", I'm assuming for adoption, so I need to find out how long the city keeps a dog up for adoption before euthanizing. He was too sweet to allow something like that to happen, and I have plenty of room here, though my dog may get a bit jealous.

If nothing else, I'll get him into a non-kill shelter. Hooray for my good deed of the day, right?

Long Time, No Update

Wow. It's been awhile. You'd think I would have plenty of time to update this thing, but I end up spending all my extra time in WoW or doing chores... imagine that. In any case, I've been playing. Seona is in her low 70s and I've been messing around with a couple of my alts for fun, namely Leodry of Lordaeron and Brother Fandren.

Leodry of Lordaeron (Human Warrior - Emerald Dream RP-PvP) is at level 21 and is currently hanging out in the Wetlands, happy to be of some service to the dwarves of Ironforge. Eventually his (and his brother's) story will be up on my other blog, Ink & Blood. Still, I'm hoping to get him to level 80 before Cataclysm hits store shelves next year. It should be doable, provided I get Seona to 80 and running heroics/earning champion's badges/tokens/etc. for that lovely heirloom gear. With 20% extra experience, it should be cake.

Brother Fandren is, you guessed it a priest (Human - also Emerald Dream). He's slowly leveling himself up, currently at level 16, and is the second time I've considered leveling a priest (the first was the lovely Eruza, a troll on Gul'dan that, while still in existence, definitely doesn't hold my interest). I'm leveling him as shadow, naturally, as any other way borders on severe masochism. So far, so good, but it's slow going. I'm so used to plate-wearers that leveling a squishy clothie is more than different... it's actually quite difficult.

Seriously. The highest-leveled characters I have are a Warrior and a Paladin (not to mention a couple Death Knights). Notice that they all wear the heaviest armor class in the game and my warrior was even a tank, complete with 540+ defense. Being able to take a few hits before worrying about my hit points has been a typical aspect of my playstyle for a long, long time. Every time I try to level up a class that wears cloth, I get terribly frustrated due to the flimsy nature of the toon. I've had a Mage - got bored by the time she hit level 15. I've had a Warlock - never managed to break level 20. I'm finally retrying a Priest, but he's definitely more of a "hey, I have free time and don't feel like smashing faces in with Seona so let's go do some leveling in Westfall" kind of character.

Still, now that I've figured out some tactics and have a decent wand from enchanting, I think I might be able to stick with this guy. At least till level 20. ;)

P.S. I also finally managed to Recruit-a-Friend with an actual friend of mine who lives far away. It's both a great way to spend some time together (talking over Skype) and getting her addicted to this wonderful game we all love. She's running a Shaman and I've rolled a Druid for the flexibility (hooray healing/tanking/dps'ing!). She's only got the trial and we've already managed to get to level 16 with just a few hours of messing around. That 3x experience is crazy-insane good. I couldn't have imagined just how fast you eat through the levels this way, and while she isn't sure she'll be buying the game, I'm temped to get at least vanilla for her to expand our playing for a month. $20 for a great way to spend time with her doing something I really love? Yes, please.

Faction Change Now Available

Wow. Didn't see this coming this fast.

Faction Changes are now here and ready to go. FAQ can be found here. Very cool, as I've been thinking about moving Poloma, my tauren hunter, over to ED and changing her to a draenei. Blizzard has made the service pretty simple and straightforward, it looks like. The biggest drawback, though, is the cost.

Good gracious-bodacious, $30? And it doesn't include the server transfer. That's hefty. $55 for a full transfer and faction change is too much, especially for me right now due to RL woes. I mean, that's crazy-expensive. Of course, plenty of people will use the service regardless, so the price probably won't come down anytime soon. I guess that means Poloma will be staying dormant for awhile longer.

Otherwise, though, my World of Warcraft life is peachy-keen. Seona is rolling right along in Northrend. The story is fantastic, the quests are fun, and the gear is good. Her 2H Sword skill is up over 320 so she's not missing every single time, although I've got to see what I can do about getting her a decent 2H Mace for the racial bonus.

On top of that, Ziir has about 20 mails full of Outland greens and leather from Seona's swift romp through those zones. I'm going to take the time tomorrow to get it all sorted out and put up on the AH in order to make some more gold. Hopefully the greens will be bought up by enchanters or something (One day I'll have an enchanter so I can shard all this stuff, but damn, it takes forever to level that profession...).

I popped over to Leodry this morning to check on him (the beginning of his story is up on my other blog...) and he's doing okay. His mining and blacksmithing are at the same level (around 120) and all the gear he's making is at his current level. I'd love to be able to continue that all the way to 80, though that might become difficult if/when he gets the heirloom gear. Right now he's in all "rough bronze" stuff, very dashing, very nice to look at since it matches. I've got him as arms right now, but I'm wondering if that's the best route to take.

I've heard that the best way to go as arms is with Poleaxe specialization, adding damage to axes and polearms. Human's get an expertise bonus with maces and swords, though, and I'd rather go a more RP route with him than min/max. The current plan (once he gets that far along) is to go sword specialization and have him always carry a giant 2H Sword of Doom.

I've also considered leveling him through PvP, but the experience gains in Warsong Gulch are terrible and his survivability right now is pretty poor. I was hoping to do this at least until Seona hit 80 and could get that badge gear. I might try again with Arathi Basin in about 10 levels, as the experience gain there is much, much better. I was planning to do this with my hunter, but discovered a huge flaw in that plan... the pet doesn't level with you, just you. So, hunters are actually screwed a bit by pure PvP leveling.

Still, it'll be fun. I want Leodry's story to really come out over the next year as he slowly levels from 18 (where he's at now) to 80 in time for the Cataclysm. Seona will be 80 in a couple weeks, at the current rate, so she'll be busy with endgame stuff, earning badges and, hopefully, finally seeing the raids.

Northrend, At Last

Seona has finally made her way into Northrend.

The best part: she ding'd level 68 on the quest from Toshley's station that flings you over the terrain. It was both fun and productive! As soon as she hit 68 I hearthed to Shattrath, then took the portal to Stormwind. Seona emptied her bags and her quest log, ready for a totally new start in the cold North.

It's funny, how excited I was, even though I've seen Northrend before on Yrovi. I've even taken a quick jump up there on Seona for profession training. The Alliance quest-lines are totally different from the Horde ones, and on top of that, I did Howling Fjord the first time around on Yrovi, so Seona did well landing in the Borean Tundra. She's already uncovered the work of the Cult of the Damned, is helping a woman find her brother, and feels like a total hero. I mean, the people here know my name! It's exciting!

As great as it is, though, I've got to set aside some time to level up my professions. My skinning is fine, as it has to be the easiest gathering profession to level, but my mining, cooking and fishing are all in desperate need of an update. I managed to get First Aid leveled up as well, and used up the rest of my Netherweave to create heavy bandages to sell for the little bit of extra gold. It'll take a great deal of time to level these professions, though, so I better look for some guides.

Mining will take the longest, unfortunately, but there are tons of guides out there for it, complete with maps. It really just requires tons of patience and the willingness to run around the same zone a few times ad nauseam. Much as that sucks, it has to be done. I went through all of Outlands without being able to mine, and that's just stupid.

Cooking and Fishing go hand in hand, and El's Anglin' has a great guide to level them both together. Plus, fishing is much less terrible to level now than it used to be. It's still not what I'd call "fun" but I have some lures stashed somewhere that'll help. Cooking is just a good skill to have, for the buff food more than anything else. I remember leveling it up on Yrovi, and it's doable.

Still, leveling mining, cooking and fishing will take hours, and some of it may have to wait until she's 80. Mining takes priority, for the gold-making aspect. I mean, I eventually want her to have epic flying and she'll need to buy cold-weather flying when she hits level 77. Doable, but the more gold I have, the better it is.

Oh, one other thing... Seona got a brand new weapon from one of the first quests she did. The only problem? It's a sword. Great! You're probably saying. Sword's are cool. Yes, they are, but I hadn't had Seona use a two-handed sword since her 20's. Her skill was so low, it was embarrassing. Lucky for me, paladins are so damn hard to kill and powerful against the undead, because for a while she was straight up missing her target. I think she'll be okay now, since I finally stuck with it and got her 2H Sword skill up over 300 points, but, man that sucked.

I hope Blizzard looks at the way we level up our weapon skills after they finish messing with fishing. It needs something to make it suck less. Maybe let us level our skill up on a training dummy... that would make logical sense, right? *sigh*

Extended Maintenance

Emerald Dream (RP-PvP), Seona's server, has extended maintenance today. Supposedly, it will help with the "Additional instances cannot be launched" issue that I know plagues us, as the Kingship has actually had characters RP'ing the fact they can't get into dungeons. I realized that I've had this issue only once, for Shadowfang Keep.

It was back when Seona was working on getting Verigan's Fist. Part of that is going into various old-world dungeons for materials. Shadowfang Keep was one of these and I ran Seona all the way there. This was months ago, mind, and I was ready to go in there and kick butt solo to get to the stables, and sure enough I jumped into the instance only to get that error. It was the first time I had ever seen it, I was in enemy territory, and I was only about level 27 or something. Maybe level 30. It wasn't a huge deal, though, because one or two jumps later and I was in and I didn't give it another thought.

I can't imagine what people are doing now. I guess it's just as well that I don't bother to run older instances for gear since I level fast anyway and the greens are perfectly acceptable for what I do. Questing is serious business, amirite? Exactly. Northrend Greens will blow what I've got on right now out of the water anyway. I intend to slow down just a bit in Northrend, but not by much. Part of it will be sightseeing, but the other part will be for the story. I haven't seen the Alliance side of it, yet, and supposedly we get to witness Arthas's change in all its glory. It's something I want to savor.

And, in true altoholic form, as soon as Seona is level 80, I'll be working on another toon: Leodry. If you check my other blog (Ink & Blood, my fanfic site) soon, you'll see the beginning of his story, along with another toon that will premier after Cataclysm goes live. I revamped his history, changed it up a bit, making Leodry the younger of two brothers whose story starts during the Second War.

I figure I have just over a year to get Leo to 80. Should be cake, especially with Seona eventually at 80 and getting badges for heirloom gear. Hopefully I'll be able to deck Leo out in both the shoulders and the chest. Each part (for PvE) is 40 emblems or 60 champion seals. That's interesting. It means that I could just deck them out without having to begrudge Seona her own badge gear. She'll definitely be jousting for seals, so there shouldn't be any problems.

Look at me, all excited again. God, I love this game.

One More Season to Northrend

Seona hit level 67 yesterday, plus a couple bubbles more. At this rate, I'll get to Northrend early this week. Although the leveling is still going quickly, I've definitely felt the steeper slope to get to the next level. I was blazing through levels while in Zangarmarsh and Terrokar Forest. I thought for sure Nagrand would take me to level 68, or at least very close, but it only just got me to level 67 on quests I could solo.

Seona did manage to finish the Nesingwary quests, including the Ultimate Bloodsport, earning the Hills Like White Elekk achievement. Hopefully all those skins and leather will sell for a pretty penny... uh... copper, I mean. While I had to burn some cooldowns, as a ret paladin I was able to take out all the elite beasts required solo. Some good luck happened, too, as I got a Sheath of Light proc on a Lay on Hands, healing me for tons afterwards on the Elekk. I'm pretty sure that alone let me solo her. Still, managed okay, and got my first libram. While not terribly helpful for me as retribution, if I ever have to do some quick healing it'll come in handy. I'll replace it quickly enough in Grizzly Hills with the Venture Coin reward.

She also did the Ogre quests that deal with that half Draenei, half orc Blademaster. Thanks to that quest chain, she got a new polearm. And, believe it or not, Seona's racial made finding the armaments and such things really easy. I know people scoff at that dwarf racial, but I wonder just how many people bother to use it? Probably no one, since it's so obviously terrible. I mean, it's not amazing, but it's helped me several times now. In Zangarmarsh, in Nagrand, and now in Blade's Edge. Great all the time? No. Situationally helpful. Definitely. Hopefully it'll come into bigger play with Catatclysm and the new Archeology secondary profession. It makes sense to do so, but Blizz sometimes doesn't make sense. Plus, I found some chests for extra silver and food. There are a couple scattered thinly in Nagrand.

So, new loot, new achievements, new area, and less than a level to go till 68. While I really should be worrying about some real life issues, this is fun. And, honestly, fun is good.

Got My Groove Back

Yep, I'm definitely back in the leveling groove. After taking a week and a half off from WoW, getting back into the leveling grind is going really smoothly. It's been awhile since I've done many of the Outland quests I'm doing now, so, while not "fresh" per se, it isn't terribly stale, either. I'm keeping Seona in Zangarmarsh for as long as possible, now, after taking some time to work in Terrokar for a bit. Honestly, the forest itself isn't awful, but the Bone Wastes are just boring.

That being said, I am nearly finished with the quests in Zangarmarsh, I think. Not every single one, of course, because I'm not stopping for instances, but all of the other quest lines are just about done, I think. I've picked up the breadcrumb quest to get me to Nagrand, though, so it's okay. I avoided the breadcrumb quest for the Bladed Mountains, as I'd like to ignore that entire part of Outlands, if possible.

With Nagrand on the horizon, and Zangarmarsh fully explored, Seona is blasting through levels. While it may have completely depleted my gold supply at the time, buying her flying training and a gryphon was the best investment so far. She can skip tons of mobs if necessary, fly straight from point to point - more efficient travel is always good - and just get stuff done faster. It's fantastic. And as for gold... she's already earned back a nice bit from quests alone. Nearly every quest she's doing now rewards a few gold. She went from having no gold left at all (just a handful of silvers and coppers) to well over 150 gold in a few hours of questing. That's not amazing by any stretch, but she can take care of the basics, like training, without any worries.

Completely avoiding instances may have been a mistake, but I'm trying not to worry about it. Getting groups is hard, and apparently Blizzard still hasn't fixed the whole "More Instances cannot be launched at this time" problem, yet. I have faith that they'll take care of it, in due time. Seona may not have the best gear, but what she does have takes care of quest mobs without any issue. And it isn't like I'm a newbie... I know how to act in a group, what my duties are as a hybrid class, and how to take over different roles if needed. The only thing I haven't done, yet, is heal.

I have a pseudo healing set, one that doubles my mana bar, but I don't have dual spec. I understand that healing as Retribution is perfectly possible, even viable, especially at lower levels in regular dungeons... but I've never done it before. I've managed to pick up plenty of spell power gear through quests and probably have a decent healing set, I guess, but I haven't put it to the test. I guess my next goal should be to save up 1000 Gold for dual spec, though. Holy Pallies are great healers, and I'd love to really give healing an honest try. What's the point in carrying all this healing gear if I never use it?

My plan for Seona is, once she hits level 68 (only three levels to go...), to head to Northrend. From there, I'll plan to do instances again for good gear, hopefully as Retribution, but I'll heal if that's what's needed, especially if the group I'm in agrees to allow me to roll on DPS gear instead of healing stuff. From there, it's a straight shot to 80. Fame, fortune, and phat lootz and purps await!

Renewed Vigor

Although I've been feeling under the weather (yuck, Bronchitis), I've still managed to spend some time in game (sick days ftw?). Seona has finally scraped together enough gold to purchase flight training, and has bought a beautiful golden gryphon to carry her all over Outlands. She's named him Zephyr. Caliburn is a little jealous, I think. She also hit level 64, which means only four levels to go until Northrend.

Having a flying mount at level 60+ instead of 70 has completely changed the leveling dynamic in Outlands. Several of the quests can be easily completed just by flying to the point, especially if it is a quest that requires you to go find an item and bring it back to the quest-giver. What? You need me to go get the eyes of the Skettis? Sure, no problem, let me just fly on over and pick those up for you... It makes it almost too easy, and I begin to see what some of the purists complain about. Still, I find it nice, seeing as my only goal at this point is to reach level cap and begin joining the guild in even more events.

She's also firmly out of Hellfire Peninsula. Most of her current quests are located in Zangarmarsh, which is fine by me, as it's got to be one of my favorite zones in the game. It's calm, and beautiful, and serene. The music (when I have it playing) is also quite nice. The little Spore people are also adorable and I don't mind helping them in the least. It's just a great place to level and explore in general for me. Nagrand is next and it's my second favorite in Outlands. The sky is what makes Nagrand so pretty. All-in-all, I think what makes leveling through Outlands so terrible for people - and why they complain about it so loudly - is Hellfire Peninsula. if you can just get through that Orange place, you'll be fine. The rest just... flows.

With the increased speed to leveling, a flying mount, and rested experience, Seona should make level 68 in no time. Northrend is waiting, and since I did it once already, albeit with a Horde character, I think I'll be fine.

3 Down 1 To Go

Last night, after deciding that I'd only get on for about an hour or so do do a bit of questing before going to bed, I somehow ended up with several new achievements. And they're achievements I never thought I'd get on Seona at this point in her existence. The Kingship decided to retaliate against the terrible Horde last night, and made a run on their leaders.

Seona was able to tag along (and trust me, at only level 62, that's all I was able to do) and the group (more or less full raid of 40) managed to get three of the four bosses down. Lady Sylvanas fell first in Undercity, then Lor'themar was taken out, and finally Cairne was downed. By this time, however, the Horde was able to regroup and it made killing Thrall impossible. To be fair, we did leave the hardest boss for last, and it showed. Naturally they carried me all the way, but I did what I could to help, stomping totems for example and helping summon people. Of the three achievements, I got two of them while dead. Still, it was a great fight and a ton of fun. Even better, I upped my Honorable Kill count, earning the achievement for 100 HKs.

What I love about the Kingship is their honor and compassion. We were unwilling to leave anyone behind after the wipe. I felt real kinship and strength with them. What's even more exciting is the fact that I know we'll go after Thrall again in the near future. There's always an excuse to get retribution on the Horde, and killing Thrall is a great way to do so. Hopefully next time they go for him, I won't be a level 62 just along for the ride. I mean, I hope to at least be level 70. ;)

Holy. Cow. CATACLYSM

I don't know how I'll focus on life after Blizzard's announcement today.

Check. This. Out: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm

It's beyond all imagining. I thought I'd want to take screenshots/video of the old zones for nostalgic purposes, but now I know I have to. Azeroth as it's currently known will be no more once this hits. Old zones will be completely redone, and I don't mean new skins and an extra hill or two... I mean straight up, full on armageddon. Shattered lands, lava and molten rock everywhere, and giant scars in the land.

Thankfully, we'll get to use our flying mounts in the old (now new) world.

But, God, this is so awesome. I haven't played in about a week, but I'll be jumping online tonight for sure. Leveling up Seona seems to be a must. And I'll hit up Yrovi, too. I'll be rerolling a few toons (Undead Hunter FTW!!), and definitely picking up one of the new races to level to cap. At least. On top of everything else, it appears that there will be other new things, like guild leveling and a new profession. The guild leveling thing interests me... I wonder what it's all about and how it works. Oh! And there's something called the "Path of the Titan" for players. It sounds like a crazy-epic questline or something.

I'm so freaking stoked. :D

Edit: So, Goblins and Worgen will start at level 1, but their opening areas are going to "top the Death Knight starting area" with full on cinematics (like Wrathgate) and the like. This expansion might as well be called World of Warcraft II.

The Big 100 - Cataclysm Spoilers Ahead!

It's a bit funny that my 100th post comes when I haven't been playing WoW. My friends were in town, so instead I hung out with them, did the tour guide thing and partied. All-in-all, WoW hasn't been on my radar much over the last few days, but I'm definitely looking forward to what Blizzcon has in store for us. Don't read if you don't want spoilers. Even if not all of it is true, too much of this is potentially fact.

MMO-Champion has gone into heavy speculation (almost-fact, according to them) about the new expansion. If even half of what they're saying is true, I'm beyond excited. This is starting to go into crazy-awesome territory, where mere words cannot express the emotions I'm feeling. While I won't go into every single thing that Boubouille has posted regarding Cataclysm, I figure I'll touch on the ones that make me giggle with joy. Seriously, stop reading if you want everything to be a surprise... Okay, don't say I didn't warn you.

• New Class Combinations. Holy Cow. Literally. The next expansion will allow new race/class combinations, including the possibility for a Tauren Paladin. Do want, now. I also find the idea of a human hunter, undead hunter, and dwarven mage flat out giggle worthy, but in a good way. I'd love an undead hunter, especially if I could tame all the diseased-looking beasts for that special look. It also looks like Gnomes will finally get their healing class, and Trolls can potentially become Druids. That's surprising, simply because... well, will they use the Tauren forms or do they get all new ones? I'm not holding my breath for all of the combinations listed, but wow, this could be cool.
• Classic Azeroth Redone. Armageddon. Flooding of certain zones, breaking up the Barrens, reworking Azshara to be a lower-level zone... it's all amazingly cool. With the potential for phasing technology, this could be one of the coolest changes of the entire expansion. Thousand Needles underwater? Yes, please. To be able to fly in the old world? Do want. As much as I love the game as it is, can you imagine how absolutely fantastic it could be with the old world updated as well? Leveling will supposedly be more streamlined as well, making getting to the new level cap of 85 that much faster. And yes, it'll only be 85 instead of 90... interesting, but not unheard of. I'd hate to go another ten levels, as slow as I usually go.
• Thrall's Destiny Revealed. Thrall, leader of the Horde forces and beloved orc of all... will become the Guardian of Tirisfal and hand over leadership to Garrosh. Of all the changes, this one is most interesting to me. I'm not overly fond of Garrosh. He's a hot-head, and not overly intelligent. He'll definitely throw the Horde into full war against the Alliance (which will only be more fun for PvP) and be an overall jerk. Still, it's a change, and it moves the story along, so I can't complain. Varian will finally look better, at any rate, as even he isn't as big of an ass as Garrosh.
• New Races. I've covered them already, not much new here, aside from the potential backstory involved. Apparantly the Goblins will be rebellious slaves of Deathwing and the Worgen will be Gilneans who have found a semi-cure of their Worgen curse, allowing them to keep their head during their transformation. Very "Remus Lupin-esque." Still, cool backstory and huge potential there.

All in all, I'm beyond ready to hear what happens at Blizzcon. I can't go, and I can't buy the live stream, but Wow.com will cover it all, of course, as will every other WoW news site out there.

I just realized... I really need to go visit all the old zones and take screenshots. Can you imagine what the new world will be like? I might want to wax nostalgic later on, so I better go get that explorer title and snap photos. Cataclysm, we're all waiting for you, eager as ever.

99th Post... Onyxia and a Confession

Wow. I've actually talked about stuff nearly 100 times on this blog? Crazy. Honestly, I didn't even think I'd go past maybe a month or two writing, yet here we are. It's because no one reads and it's like leaving an open journal sitting on my desk. If someone came by, they'd see it and maybe read it, but no one does so.

Still, I never did this for others, only for myself. ;)

There's news regarding WoW's 5th anniversary. Onyxia, raid boss known so well for providing the experience that lead to the "DPS VERY, VERY SLOWLY... AND BY SLOW, I MEAN F#*@ING SLOW" video known so well among WoWers, is making a comeback. Blizzard is revamping her raid to be 10/25 man and will drop updated loot, including updated T2 helms and a new flying mount that will look like the queen dragon herself. In addition, anyone who logs on during that time will get a special Onyxia broodling whelp pet (I'm excited about this, actually. Last year it was a baby polar bear, which I love, too.) that may or may not be account bound. The bear last year was account bound, so we'll see.

I have never seen Onyxia, personally. I know that it's currently possible for a decently-geared level 80 to go in a solo her, especially paladins. Interesting, considering she was once a very difficult 40 man boss (Vanilla WoW). Still, it just proves how powerful we've all become in the many years we've traveled the World... of Warcraft. I'd like to go up against her, but Yrovi is not exactly raid-ready. Sure, she's uncrittable, but I've more or less shelved her (obvious, I'd guess, since I haven't written about her, at all, for weeks now), not run anything with her, and her health pool is, thus, still quite low. Plus, I've more or less come to the conclusion that, while tanking can be fun (especially at the lower-levels), the extra responsibility required of a tank makes the game less fun for me. I don't want to lead a group, usually because I have no idea of what's really going on.

Seona, on the other hand, while a completely new character and one that takes time to build up, is tons of fun. DPS is so much more carefree. That's not to say there isn't responsibility involved... I still have to be good at my class to not be carried. And I don't want to be carried. That's, honestly, the last thing I want. But I don't want to have to constantly ensure that every mob is on me, that I have things positioned well, that... well... that I'm the leader.

Here's the Confession: I don't want to lead, I want to play. That means I don't want to tank, possibly ever again. I don't know if I want to try healing. There's responsibility there, too, but it's different. But, I don't think I want to tank. After all the work I put into Yrovi, that's a bit of a harsh realization for me. I spent a lot of gold, and my guildmates (especially Tyra) did a bunch for me to get to uncrittable and theoretically raid-ready. I don't know if it's just a phase, or if this is a real, honest feeling, but tanking just may not be for me.

*Deep breath* That being said, my dwarf paladin is coming along really well. Seona is 60, which means a super cool avatar on the forums and potentially flying training (if I can get 650 Gold anytime soon). I'm doing all I can to get my Honor Hold rep up to reduce the price a bit, now that it applies. At this point it's safe to state that Seona will be my new main and I hope to do some raiding with her in the near future. In this case, it'll be the guild helping me along, thanks to lots of members and generally helpful people. Not that we didn't have generally helpful people on the old server, but there are so few of us. *sigh*

I kinda miss my old guildies... :( The Cradle is/was cool. I think I'll have to log on again soon, if nothing else, to say hi. The Kingship is freaking awesome, though, too, and I think I can make some good friends here, especially once I get to level 80. Only 20 levels to go...

Speculation... New Races?

So, I wrote about this some time ago, right when MMO-Champion first talked about it. Boubouille, a member of the MMO-Champion team, did some crazy data-mining and found some interesting halloween masks of Goblins and what looked like Worgen. Based on his findings, he determined that these would be the new races in the next expansion, which people are now calling Cataclysm, a name Blizzard patented recently. Most of the WoW sites are now more or less saying this is true and stating it as almost-fact.

Also, as I mentioned before, all those who are following this train of thought agree at this point that the Goblins will be aligned with the Horde and the Worgen will be aligned with the Alliance. It makes sense. Goblins have always leaned a little towards the Horde side of things, giving them more support with Zeppelins and shredders for tearing down Ashenvale forest and things. Well, I say give, but I guess what I mean is that they have a long-standing business relationship with the Horde, and those Zeppelin Goblins sure don't like the Alliance. Ever get on a Horde zeppelin as an Alliance..? Yeah. Those little green bastards are mean.

I imagine, if I were one of the writers for Blizzard, that the playable Goblins would be from a different merchant group than the current goblins. The Steamwheedle Cartel and the Venture Co. are already in game, one neutral and one hostile. So these playable Goblins would just be another Trading Prince's faction that chooses to join the Horde, perhaps as mercenaries. I would also guess that the classes available to the Goblins would be similar to the ones open to the Gnomes... things like rogue, warrior, warlock... but no healing class. Something tells me they're specifically meant to be the Horde equivalent of the "tiny" race.

I'm actually more excited about the Worgen. My guess is that Blizzard will finally open up the Greymane wall and reveal a totally Worgified Gilneas. While I realize that Arugal was in the vicinity of the wall for a long time, I don't think these Worgen will be of his making. Perhaps the Night Elf who first received the Scythe of Elune entered Gilneas and used it there... maybe they went there on their own... who knows. Regardless, it will be interesting how the writers tie them into the overarching storyline of the World... of Warcraft.

I'd guess they'd have similar classes to humans, though perhaps not a healing class... except maybe shaman. Warrior, rogue, mage... those sound good for Worgen. I doubt they'll be warlocks, as they despise the "Emerald Flame," essentially the Burning Legion. They are well attuned to magics as well. The Worgen from the other dimension are known to be very vicious and territorial, though, so it's still unclear how they tie to the Alliance, aside from Gilneas. Like I said, I'm interested in how Blizz will work them into the story in a believable way.

Regardless, I'll roll at least one of each. Who doesn't want a goblin? "I'VE GOT WHAT YOU NEED!" The worgen are just oozing "cool factor"... maybe I should make place-holder toons to get the names I want. While I'm not totally sure what I'd name a goblin, if I rolled a Worgen on ED, I'd probably name it something like... Aconitum or Vulparia. Or maybe Usiaslau. The first two names come from the plant known colloquially as "monkshood" or "wolfsbane" and the third was the name of a Belarusian prince who lived during the 11th century that was thought to turn into a wolf. Obviously the first and third are male names, while I'd make Vulparia a female. Goblin names tend to be like: Rizzo, Vark, or Guido. They're meant to be funny, seriously. :D

God, I can't wait for Cataclysm. The only drawback? All the new Worgen that will be called:

Xxjacobxblackxx, jacobblack, jaccob, and Lupin. Maybe throw in a Cujo and Lucian for good measure.

*sigh*

My Lucky Day

Have you ever had one of those days where things just worked out? And it doesn't have to be some big thing, it can just be over a little thing, like finding that perfect book or a great pair of jeans when you weren't really looking... or a tv show you like on sale. :)

So, yesterday evening, I was catching up on my recorded TV shows, specifically Inuyasha (yes, I know, I know... not the best anime ever, but I'm a fangirl, what can I say?). I was sad, because Adult Swim only shows two episodes a week now, as opposed to every night, like they used to a couple years ago. I wanted to own the series, of course, but it's so expensive!

I mean, I had seen the box sets at Best Buy, but each season - there are 7, I think - ranges in price from something like $45 to over 100! Each! I can't afford that! So, last night, on a whim, I searched on Amazon. I don't mind buying them used, as long as they play. Unfortunately, most of the seasons are still quite expensive, even used. So, I was all crestfallen and sad, when I remembered that Half Price Books, a discount bookseller chain here in Texas, usually has a bunch of used Anime on their DVD shelves.

Of course, it was Sunday, and I figured they'd be closed by the time I thought of it (7:30 PM). I was surprised, though, to see that they were open till 8! I jumped in my car and drove over, thinking that if they have any of the sets, I'd buy them... provided they were reasonably priced. I figured I'd pay no more that $25... at least, that's what I figured I could afford.

I especially wanted the first season, as I'd like to watch them all in order. Imagine my surprise when I got there, ran over to the Anime section... and there it was. Plain as day and just sitting there. On top of everything else, it was only $10!!! I couldn't believe it! The discs are in perfect condition, too. I was grinning like an idiot, let me tell you. :D

As a bonus, they had the first movie, too. There was an "As Is" sticker on it, but I checked the disc and it looks fine. I haven't tried to play it, though, so there may be something wrong with it that I just can't see. I'm super happy, though, because I got exactly what I wanted, for an amazing deal, and now I can have fun "treasure hunting" for the other seasons at other stores.

So, basically, this was like getting that rare drop, epic lewtz, uber-purples kind of thing. And the best part? It happened IRL. :D

EDIT: I just realized that seasons 1, 2, and 3 are on Hulu!!! Holy crap, that's amazing. ^_^ Now I don't have to buy 2 and 3 right away, I can get my fix for free... at least until I can dig up those seasons on sale or at Half Price. EditEdit: Turns out on Hulu they're subtitled... that's a minor inconvenience. Still, better than nothing, right?

Hunter is Overpowered

Last night included further experimentation with the Battlegrounds, again on a hunter, but this time on my Nelf Hunter, Berryl. I think I played five or six Warsong Gulch games, and two Arathi Basin games. She was about half-way through her level, fully rested experience, and managed to get to level 26 by the end of the night. I haven't had that much fun in a battleground in a long time.

I stuck with Warsong Gulch for the first two tries, just to get a feel for the character again. Unlike Gruun (level 12), Berryl has quite a few more tricks up her sleeve (level 25, now 26). I'm even proud to say that on one of the games, I was the top damage-dealer for the Alliance. I've never been the top of the damage list. It gave me giggles. :D

Luckily for me, talent points had been reset for hunters, so I made her Marksman. I'm liking her current build so far, and I'm loving the Spider pet's special ability. I'm sure it pisses the other players off to no end to be suddenly rooted in place by a hunter's pet while I'm whaling on them from way over here, where they can't get me. Plus, her little 8-legged beastie can do some decent damage by himself.

That's not to say I don't die. I die plenty. Usually to some class that can bubble or to those damn rogues. Many of them are over my level and can one shot me if they catch me at below full health. Their crippling poison is a real pain, too. Still, I do really well, especially on defense. Set a freezing trap at the flag, leave Obsidian (her spider) on aggressive in the center of the flag room and go to the corner to Shadowmeld. Perfect.

I even did the Battleground daily for Arathi Basin last night, which got me some extra honor. It's too bad I can't get her any heirloom gear. I see plenty of players in the heirloom shoulders and I'm green with envy. Not only are they probably getting an increase in experience, but the gear itself is a nice boost. And gear is going to become a main concern here, soon.

See, you can't get gear just from fighting in a BG. You have to earn enough honor to buy stuff, and it seems like most of it isn't available to use until much later. I'll have to do some research because otherwise it looks like the AH and I are going to be best friends. Or, rather, my gold and the AH will be... :(

The Perfect Gun and BG Experience

Blizzard has once again honored one of the elite, one of the great players of their game, with an in-game item. In this case, it is a gun, specifically tailored for Hunters, and it's a drop in the tribute chest in the new Argent Tournament Coliseum. That's right, everyone's favorite Beast Mastery Hunter, BigRedKitty, aka BRK, has a new weapon named after him.

The BRK-1000. Isn't it pretty? *sigh* We miss you Daniel and it looks like Blizzard misses you, too! This is a pretty nice way to remember him, I think. Good on you, Blizzard, this was a long time coming for the guy that taught me more about playing a Hunter than anyone else.

And speaking of hunters, I recently dug up an old alt of mine to test the Battleground experience change, since ED was locked out with a 400+ server queue to get in. His name is Gruun (troll males FTW!) and is located on the Underbog server. At level 12, I knew I'd probably get stomped into the dirt in Warsong Gulch, but hunters are good for PvP, so I gave it a shot. I set him up with his 3 talent points in Improved Tracking (+3% damage against whatever I'm currently tracking, obviously humanoids for the BG) and queued up.

He actually did okay. No twinks, although there were a few level 19 and even a handful of 20's in the bracket that could one-shot him (he only has just over 300 health). He got several of the PvP achievements that night and I actually had fun for once. It definitely makes me want to take another toon out to the BG's and tear up the place for fun.

I like hunters for PvP, with their kiting abilities and decent damage, plus pet. I'm fairly certain hunters have gotten a talent reset (I definitely didn't pay for his talent change last night) and I think Berryl might make a good candidate for BG leveling. She's higher up and will soon have more access to Arathi Basin. Warsong Gulch is fun and all, but the experience gain vs. time spent is pretty awful. The developers are definitely watching this, they've said as much on the official forums, so hopefully they'll bump the experience gain for WG soon.

Gear is still a factor, but not having to worry about twinks makes life easier. And, it may have just been my good luck, but there appeared to be a great deal less QQ in the BG chat last night. If a happier, friendlier Battleground is what awaits, then I'm all for a great deal more Battleground excitement.

Don't Be Lazy... You'll Just Die

Normally I'd hate Hellfire Peninsula, but it isn't too bad right now. Seeing it from a different perspective is pretty nice. There are plenty of quests to do, and though they're very similar to the Horde quests, the story behind them is just different enough to make me care again.

There are some drawbacks, though, of course. Seona's mining never did get to 300, so I'm unable to gather any ore I see while questing. That's just a bummer. Her skinning is doing it's thing, however, so all those over-eager Helboars need to back off or get skinned. I'm also having to level up my two-handed axe skill, which is just boring and tedious. Seriously, Blizzard needs to find a better or more interesting way to level up weapon skills. Right now it's just masochistic. Oh, and I'm dying more often than I should be.

Yes, the Fel Reaver got me. It wouldn't be Hellfire Penninsula if you didn't get one-shotted by the big guy at least once while there. It's interesting how easy it is for a giant, metal, evil robot to sneak up on you, but trust me, he can and will. I've gotten really lazy when it comes to my "oh shit!" buttons, though, because I've died to mobs when, frankly, I shouldn't have. It makes me feel very noobish and ignorant of my class.

For example, I over-pulled some of those red fel orcs in the middle of the zone. Instead of popping a bubble and running away to try again, I stayed to fight. Fine, shouldn't be an issue, pop the bubble... well... no you're dead because you didn't react fast enough. You know, you really shouldn't have died because Lay on Hands was also off cooldown, too. Wow. You just sucked that up right badly, didn't you? Terrible.

That went through my head not once but TWICE last night. I blame the late time and sleepiness... or maybe it was the pudding I was eating while playing...

Mmmm... pudding.

3.2 Has Arrived (And a Wedding)

So, anyone who plays knows now that 3.2 is here and ready to go, as soon as Tuesday maintenance is done. Before I go into that, though, Seona attended a beautiful wedding last night between two guildies.

The wedding took place in idyllic Elwynn Forest, high up in the hills, by a waterfall. Even more beautiful, the entire ceremony took place over the water. Thanks to a few water-walking spells and potions, we were able to stand out on the lake, the waterfall cascading down behind, and witness a beautiful ceremony. It was really quite touching and an amazing RP experience. I dressed Seona up in a very nice blue-green robe that matched her eyes and enjoyed the refreshments afterwards. It's just too bad I couldn't stay longer. The ceremony started around 10 pm and didn't finish till nearly 11... and getting up for work was going to be difficult enough as it was.

So, congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Fost! Best wishes to you both!

Okay, so, 3.2...

First thing I'm gonig to do is log onto Ziir and send out some Gold to Seona. She's getting an upgrade to Caliburn. She managed to level to 58 right before the wedding last night and has already reported for duty in Honor Hold. The demons are no problem, so the "old world" is going to become a pretty distant memory, at least for the time being. I'm also very keen on doing all the quests I can for Honor Hold, to get to exalted as quickly as possible.

Flying training was quite expensive and had no discounts. Now, thanks to the trainers moving to Honor Hold/Thrallmar, you can get reputation discounts and they've made it cheaper. The PvP daily you can grind out there gives reputation, plus tokens and 70 silver. I'm also hoping to finally run a few instances, although with all the Death Knights out there, I'm not so sure I'll get any drops as Retribution. More than likely, I'll throw on some spell power/+int gear and keep those undead buggers alive for experience and fun times... although Hellreaver would be really, really nice. *sigh*

I always intended to make Seona dual spec into healing, however, so this might give me good practice. Regardless, any chance of running instances is good for me, and I actually like some of the BC dungeons.

So Close I Can Taste It

Level 58 is now a heartbeat away. Seona managed to solo Araj the Summoner out in the Plaguelands, allowing her to finish the Scholomance key as well as Alas, Andorhal. Those two quests alone got her 14300 and 11900 experience, respectively. Araj is a pushover when he's alone. I pulled and killed his guards (coming from the East, you know, where the bridge is) and then cleaned out a few more mobs around him, then attacked him directly.

Thanks to Chromie, I had an attuned dampener or whatever it is, which damaged him quite a bit and nerfed his damage to me by 25%. Easy. Done and done, and that much closer to the greatly wanted level 58. Unfortunately, the only quests I have left for the Plaguelands are in the dungeons and I don't really think I have time to run an instance. I'd love to do so. I'd love to run Scholomance or Stratholme at the level you're supposed to, as I've never done so before. Except... well... I want to be level 80 ASAP. And tonight Seona needs to attend a wedding (she's going to look so pretty in her dress) so running something time consuming like the Plagueland dungeons is out of the question.

So, I took her to Silithus. God, I didn't think anything could be worse than Desolace, but Silithus does it, hands down. I'm not a fan of bugs and such to begin with, and that's all you see in this desert (plus the buzzing puts me on edge). The good thing is that it's all new to me, so at least I'm not bored (just on edge :/ ). A few more quests there, though, and Seona will be through the gate and in Outlands, especially since the week means I'm occupied during the day and Seona is gaining rested experience while I'm working.

Good gravy, I can't wait. :D

Overflowing Inventory

The Auction House is a treasure trove. Just about anything you need can be bought and sold there. The prices take getting used to, which is why I use Auctioneer, but I can generally make a great deal more selling materials and such there than vendoring stuff. And, really, that's the way it should be.

I have bank alts to take care of my finances. The best bank alt I've got is a Death Knight, Ziir, on ED (which I've talked about before). He takes care of all the day-to-day business for Seona so that she is free to work for the Argent Dawn, or whomever is needing her most right now. Unfortunately, she picks up a great deal of stuff, especially greens and cloth, and Ziir has run out of room.

Three possible solutions:

1. Buy him bigger bags. I feel like this is a temporary fix. His bags are all 12-slot, aside from one 16-slot. That's quite a bit of space, and I would hate to just get rid of all his soulbound 12-slotters. The investment is doable however, as most 16-slot bags are affordable on Emerald Dream.
2. Buy more bank slots. This is a pretty big investment. I've already purchased the "cheap" slots, so all the rest cost 25 G each. My current cashflow is pretty minimal. If I did this, though, his extra bags wouldn't go to waste, and I'd still have to do number 1, above.
3. Clean out my banks. Both Ziir's and Seona's, preferably. This is the "best" solution, because it doesn't cost any gold, instead it would actually make me some gold. However, this fix is even more temporary than number 1, because what keeps me from just filling them up again?

It all comes down to whether I want to invest Gold right now, or save it for 3.2 so Seona can get better riding. Truthfully, the money is in crafting professions, if you know what to make. I had always planned on Seona dropping skinning at some point for a crafting profession, like blacksmithing, jewelcrafting, or engineering (which is much better now with the new changes coming, and probably the most interesting profession). I can use the 300 Gold I currently have to get her epic ground riding training and invest in a crafting profession OR I can invest it all right now to hopefully get more inventory space.

I'm not sure what I'll do. Power leveling a crafting profession is tough work. It requires a ton of time and, especially with the professions I listed above, a ton of Gold. Time I've got (to a degree) but I don't have much gold. Ziir has herbalism and mining. I might actually have him drop mining and take up skinning. It's much faster to level up (Seona is already over 300), but the profit isn't as high. Getting her epic ground riding training is important, though, as is flying later on. *sigh*

I guess I'll start with Number 3 and go from there. Clean out those banks, getting rid of everything I don't absolutely have to have. Maybe I'll check the patch notes for potential profits. Hopefully I'll find some high-demand items in my banks that will turn me a nice profit.

Another Down, Three to Go

Seona hit level 55 this morning. After spending so much time in the plaguelands, I needed a break from all the dead things, so I headed over the ocean to Kalimdor. After landing in Tanaris, I left from Gagetzan and made my way into Un'goro Crater. Let me just say, I really, really hate Un'goro. It seems like all the quests are "Go kill a bunch of stuff for things that, logically, every single kill should have, but never ever does so you have to kill 5 times more things to get all the junk I need, etc."

I suppose the redeeming factor is the single quest hub. Having pretty much all the quests in one place makes it a little easier to deal with the zone. Still, next time I level a character through their 50s, I think I'll focus on Burning Steppes and such. I've heard bad things about Silithus, too, but I've never been there with any of my toons, so I think the newness will make it acceptable.

As I was questing, I noticed that I consumed all my rested experience while in the Crater, which will slow me down a bit. Not too much, I hope, as I really would like to make Outlands by next week, especially if 3.2 hits live then. The only thing I still need to do is level up my mining skill. Right now I'm woefully behind, only just hitting 166. As I'm questing, I see lots of ores that I can't mine because I'm not skilled enough, which is frustrating, not to mention stupid. My professions are for making gold, and right now I have to pass up all that potential profit. Gevlon would be very disappointed.

So the "to do" list stands thus: mining, mining, mining (need to hit 300 before Outlands); quest, quest, quest (three levels still to go); sell, sell, sell (I'm going to need gold for my next riding speeds, as 3.2 comes with cheaper fees, but still substantial for my reroll); and fun, fun, fun (it is just a game, you know!) ;)

...And Counting!

Wow, there is some great experience from quests in the plaguelands! After hitting level 53 yesterday morning, I never expected to hit level 54 that evening. If I can keep up a level a day until Outland, I'll be on my way to the other planet by this weekend. I'm fairly certain I have a certain quest chain to thank for my second ding of the day: Mrs. Dalson's Diary. I was on my way to finish up A Plague Upon Thee and noticed the yellow exclamation marks in the dilapidated farmhouse and barn.

After fighting my way through to the upstairs room of the farm house and noticing that it was just a wardrobe that required a key, I made my way over to the barn, killed the scarlet crusaders outside, and the undead inside, and found the book on the floor. Thanks to a quick Lightheaded search, I figured out that the random skeleton I had killed not 5 minutes before was the mob for the quest. The respawn was fast, though, so no problem. This one little quest chain got me over 10,200 experience (especially killing all those mobs with rested experience) and only took me about 8 minutes to do.

On top of that, I did the Plagued Termites quest at the lumber mill which got me another 12,000 experience or so. That's two pretty big chunks of experience in less than 20 minutes. In no time I was ready for more training. I hearthed back to Ironforge (which is truly Lagforge on my little laptop) and got my spells upgraded. I suppose I also got Greater Blessing of Wisdom as well, but I haven't been in a group since VC. That's a long time between instances... I plan to run some stuff in Outlands, though.

With only four levels to go until Outland, I've begun thinking about what I'll do about mounts and upgrading my riding skill. The running theory is that 3.2 will be out next week, so I'll definitely wait for it (I may not even be in Outlands by then... we'll have to see how much more progress I make). While the quest line would be very cool, it's just not cost effective. At all. Period. As far as I know, with the patch, training and mount will only be about 65 gold or so. Compare that to the 300+ gold I'd need for the questline and it makes little sense, even if I can get the questline at level 60 (you can't train the mount until 61). Although for RP, it would be very, very cool to do the quests... *sigh*

Speaking of RP, there was a bit of drama last night. Nothing major, but with a guild as large and prominent in the RP community of ED as the Kingship is, there's bound to be some stuff going down. Turns out that a guild that was/is our ally recently kicked a few members for being overall jerks. These kicked members formed a new guild, on that plans to switch to Horde as soon as faction changes come about (until then, they are RPing as Loa-worshipping Alliance... I have to give them some credit for originality, even if their new name is a little... well...). Of course, being on a PvP server, that's easily and justifiably seen as turning traitor.

Long story short, his majesty King Hinik called an impromptu meeting in Stormwind and we walked down to the lake near Goldshire to show support for those who were standing up for us and to let these rumor-spreading traitors know that we're here and if they want to say something they can say it. Needless to say, nothing crazy happened (aside from the god-awful RP of Goldshire/annoying retards that seem to congregate there) and we went on our merry way afterwards.

Regardless, it was fun. It was also a show of force, as Hinik was able to truthfully tell our ally that the force he came with was one that he was able to call forth in less than 5 minutes. That's the kind of loyalty and obedience we show our King, and for good reason. I gladly drop anything I'm doing to come when called, because that's what you do for your group/for your friends. Plus, it's fun to RP. :D

Returning to Routine

I'm back, but it's a bumpy start. Forgetting that today is Tuesday, and thus maintenance day, I spent last night watching my delicious TV instead of playing and catching up (Oh, and it was delicious... my DVR has so much work to do, I swear I'm going to wear it out. I mean, who doesn't love a Deadliest Catch marathon?). I did manage to play a bit yesterday morning and this morning (hooray for minor maintenance!) and ding'd 53 on Seona. Just five more levels to go before leaving the old world behind for good.

My plan to level Seona exclusively in the Plaguelands is falling a bit flat, however. Most of the quests are actually harder than I thought for my level and many of the exclamation marks in Chillwind Camp are still grayed out. Because I hearthed back to Ironforge just after hitting level 53, it's possible a few more have opened up for me and the mobs will be a bit easier to take down. When you get a group of 3 or 4 orange mobs on you, it's tough, even for a paladin. Or, even better, when an elite abomination comes out of nowhere to more or less one-shot you. I was so surprised by him I forgot to bubble. :(

To compensate for the scarce questing, I've been going back to Tanaris and am thinking about hitting Un'Goro for a bit. If the plaguelands are consistently more difficult than I feel is necessary, I'll supplement with stuff from Kalimdor. Still, the plaguelands are kind of fun. Seona definitely has an advantage against the undead (exorcism anyone?) and that's the only mob you'll find out there, just about. She's also smack dab in the center of the Redpath questline, which I've never done before. I hear it's a doozy.

And We're Back, Baby!

Internet? Check.

Updated WoW client on my Laptop? Check.

Authenticator? Check.

Looks like we're back in business. I miss the far better graphics and computing power of the iMac, but I'm not going to take it from my parents, since they bought it for themselves. We thought about working out a deal where I bought them a new computer and took the iMac instead (think inexpensive mac mini in exchange for the year old iMac), but when I checked prices I realized it would just be better to buy myself a new iMac and let them keep theirs.

I did a mass AddOn download (damn if Minion from MMOUI still isn't working for Macs...), and did my best to set up a decent-looking UI in the game using an alt. I'm honestly not overly happy with what I came up with but I won't complain too much. It works for now. Ideally, I'd love an all-in-one UI, like Spartan, but it usually ends up being too restrictive. I'm especially missing the giant 24 in. screen from the iMac as my much smaller MacBook Pro is lacking in screen real estate.

I'm surprised at how many AddOns I use. Even with my long list, though, I don't have a decent unit frame AddOn. I've always simply used the Blizzard ones. Something tells me that's something I'll have to deal with later. I've heard good things about Pitbull, Grid, and X-Perl. They all do the job, they're just all a bit different. I've also heard that you can make Pitbull look like Grid. It takes time to set them all up, though. :/ I don't know anything about this stuff.

Pitbull just looks sexy. It has 3D unit pictures, nice-looking bars and looks like it can be set up in a really clean way. It uses icons and such for a more visual way of communicating. The only thing I'm worried about is that for my laptop, it may be too sexy-looking. The poor thing is about ttwo years old now, maybe a little older, and I doubt it can handle all the processing that Pitbull appears to need. Also, it may have so many options that just setting it up would take me hours.

Grid is clean. It's small, light-weight (it appears that way, at any rate), and efficient. There aren't many bells and whistles, though (at least not at first glance). I also would have to figure out how to read it in a raid setting. I like pictures, icons, things that let me know exactly what the hell is going on without having to think too much. I mean, it's a game, not a chore. The little indicators may not be enough for me. Interpreting it in the middle of a fight may not be easy.

X-Perl looks a great deal like Pitbull, but easier to configure. That probably also means that it is a little less versatile. It has an option panel that appears easy to read and work with, so I can probably set it up in a half hour. I'm not sure, though, if my computer can handle it. It's sexy, but, like Pitbull, I'm worried that there is too much going on.

You know, I shouldn't discount an all-in-one UI just yet. Spartan is still one of the absolute best-looking UI's out there. With a few extra items, I bet I could make it work just fine. Or I could get a few extra things, like CBH Viewport, and set something up that will give me some other spaces to work with. If I ever get this all figured out, I'll post a picture. :D

Interwebz Tomorrow!

I'm so freaking excited. AT&T is installing my U-Verse package tomorrow which means I'll have Internet again. :D Good grief, I'm like a crack addict needing my fix... Anyway, I'm ready for it. Going this long without Internet (except for my iPhone, which is no doubt what kept me sane) has been difficult. I'm getting quite a nice package, I think.

For my viewing pleasure, I've chosen U-200. That's 200 channels of cable goodness all for me. Some channels I'm looking forward to include Animal Planet, Cartoon Network (hooray, Adult Swim!!), CNN (hoping it's better than local news...), Comedy Central, Food Network, G4, Spike, and Syfy (why did they change their name? Good grief, it looks dumb now...). I also get some really cool music channels with that, though I doubt it would sound good coming from my crappy TV.

My Internet will be what AT&T calls "Elite," which allows downstream speeds of up to 6 Mbps. Basically they recommend this speed as the minimum for Internet gaming, i.e. WoW, thus I bought this instead of something less expensive. I also get access to all of AT&T's hot spots with this Internet, so I'm excited about that (including Starbucks, not that I go there that often anymore). That's pretty cool, too.

I rounded out my package deal with a home phone, too. I got their "unlimited" minutes plan, which only made sense. What's super cool about the home phone, though, is the Home Manager. This thing is just a really cool gadget. :D I mostly love the fact that it doubles as a digital photo frame. Now, naturally, I had to buy this separately. Thanks to my package deal, though, I got $200 off the price, making this a $100 phone. Reasonable, considering all it does. And yes, I did look at Best Buy and such for a normal land line phone and decided they were all really expensive and totally not worth it for what they did. The Home Manager is pretty sweet, though, so I'm excited to see how it looks when all's said and done.

All in all, tomorrow can't come fast enough. I really hope the AT&T technician arrives relatively early in the day so I can make the most of my new Interwebz.

Wanting a Rogue

Today I woke up and really wanted to play a rogue. I'm certain it's just a minor issue with my altoholism, it will pass, but I find it funny. I have a warrior at 80, a Paladin well on her way to 80 (especially once I get my nice internet this weekend... I'm excited!) and a slew of alts. Far more alts than I'll ever be able to play, or want to play. The new Armory app for my iPhone has made that exceptionally clear.

I have two rogues, though, that I've created and actually played in the last 6 months or so: Loem, a male human rogue on ED, and Untainted, a female Belf on Gul'dan. Loem is only just over level 10 or so and is Leodry's brother (RPlol). Untainted is sitting pretty at level 39 and I've run a few battlegrounds with her, but I'm not sure how I want to work her. Patch 3.2 will bring battleground leveling, but something tells me it won't be nearly as efficient as regular leveling. Honorable kills don't count towards the experience, for example, so it makes me wonder just what does.

I'd love to level at least one of them in the battlegrounds, just to see how it would be done. Instead of dungeon drop blues, I'd get some nice PvP rewards. Instead of questing, which requires tons of travel, I could just stick in a major city at all times (thanks to queuing from anywhere now). That would mean lots of rested experience. If I could get some BoA shoulders, too, it would help. I hope this battleground experience thing works out. It would be a really interesting way to level up a toon and I'd be able to focus entirely on PvP for once.

Rumor: New Races

Apparently MMO Champion is claiming/strongly suggesting that Goblins and Worgen will be the new races in the next expansion.

As if it hasn't been posted a million times before... still, I find it interesting.

I know that Pandaren will never become a playable race, so that really only leaves a few races that are already in the game as options. The other thing that Blizzard could do is introduce something else entirely, although that didn't go as smoothly as they liked when they crash landed the Draenei on Azuremyst the last time.

MMO is making the claim based on four Hallow's Eve masks they discovered: male and female versions of Goblin and what looks like new Worgen faces. This is significant (according to them) because all of the current masks are playable races. They make a good argument, honestly. I'm one of those that believe that, if this is actually true, Goblins will be aligned with the Horde and the Worgen with the Alliance. Goblins already appear to be more buddy-buddy with the Horde anyway, and the Worgen were once the Human nation of Gilneas, so it makes sense. Also, less important, but should be taken into account, it would give a small race to the Horde and a bigger/furry race to the Alliance.

What remains to be seen, of course, is whether or not Blizzard will confirm this information at Blizzcon. I'm actually hoping they do. I have one level 80, and another toon on the way towards 80. One is of the Horde, the other of the Alliance. Rerolling doesn't bother me much. I'm a dedicated altaholic. Expect to see me roll at least one of each of these to play around with them if they come true.

Interwebz?

So I don't get Internet at my house until the 25th (that would be next Saturday, I guess). This makes me a sad panda, mostly because this means I have to play something like Sims 3, as that doesn't require Internet. I've come to the conclusion that all games are better with the Internet, though, so I'm still sad. If I could just log on for an hour it would make me happier, but I'm not sure when I'll get the chance.

On top of that, my Wii is still busted because I'm lazy as all hell and still haven't sent it in for repairs. I'll probably do that this weekend, or maybe this afternoon, but I've got to find a small box for the console. In the meantime, I've got an old PlayStation 2 around here somewhere, so maybe I'll finally finish that Final Fantasy game or Kingdom Hearts or maybe Sly 2.

Or maybe I'll do a Harry Potter marathon and watch all 5 of the movies so that this weekend I can go see the new film and be all caught up. That should take up quite a bit of time in between housework. I've still got boxes all over the place, while I try, little by little, to move into my house.

Clothes need to be washed, boxes recycled, old things from my childhood dealt with (ever heard of Playmobil? I used to collect the stuff, so I have bags/boxes of that and I need to figure out what to do with it all...), exercise equipment cleaned off and brought in from the garage, a sleeper-sofa to overhaul... the list goes on and on and on. And that's just inside. Don't get me started on my garden out back. After the scorching TX summer, most of the plants are dead.

Why does owning and maintaining your own place take up so much damn time?

Poloma: The Spare Time Toon

After talking about the faction switch change and bringing up my old hunter, I decided to log on to Quel'Thalas and check on Poloma. She was still in Winterspring with a quest log full of green quests, some of which were completed, nearly all of which required extensive travel.

Man, I had forgotten how slow Tauren seem to run thanks to their size. It's like watching her wade through molasses, I swear, especially after spending so much time on a dwarf. One of the quest lines she's on is a Hunter-only questline that takes her into Sunken Temple. I probably won't get her in there. Finding a group of old quests is impossible and I've never been in Sunken Temple before. Like, ever. On any toon. So that's probably out.

Really, I think I'll be taking her to Un'Goro and then Silithus. Honestly never really gone that route so it would be new and refreshing. She's still in really bad shape, though. She has no glyphs, some of her gear does indeed still have some strength stats on them (really embarassing, seriously), her mining is only around 110... it hurts my soul, really. At least the gear with strength has agility, too. I guess I had kept a bunch of quest chainmail thinking that armor was more important than having good stats. Obvisouly I've learned the true path, now.

It's interesting, though, to have a way to look back in time to see how I used to play. I've come a long way since I first decided that my tauren hunter would be my main. I like to say that Poloma taught me how to play World of Warcraft. That doesn't mean she taught me how to play a Hunter... but I understood the game through her point of view.

So, she's sitting around level 56, hopefully in my spare time I can get her to level 58, thus outlands, and fix her gear. Quest greens from there are huge upgrades and maybe, just maybe, she'll eventually become worth the $25 fee to transfer her to one of my main servers.

P.S. Her name, "Poloma," is a Choctaw name meaning "bow." Fitting, no? Well, except for the fact that she uses a gun. But that'll change, no doubt, as soon as I get to Outlands. :)

Video Games Live!!

Last night, I attended Video Games Live, a video game music performance. It was spectacular! If you get a chance to attend this event, do it. Totally go for it, as it was amazing. The lights, the music, the talent, the audience participation, everything was fantastic. This is what video games are about, the community coming together to experience some of the artistic talent and beauty inherent in creating a video game. This is the entertainment of the future.

I took my dad along. He enjoys video games. He's played the old arcade style stuff, like Centipede and Space Invaders, is strangly addicted to Bubble Bobble from way back when I had my original 8-bit Nintendo, and he loves my Wii. He and my mom bought a Wii of their own, in fact, just a couple weeks ago. Last night, he experienced a small slice of the local gaming community... and at first he wasn't so sure about the event.

If you try to talk to him about games like Final Fantasy, or Halo, or even World of Warcraft, you'll just get a big, blank stare. At least he is aware of WoW, since I play, but he has no real interest, at all, in any of these games. One day he might take a shot at some sports stuff, but it's a stretch. I can say, however, that last night opened his eyes a bit at the possiblities that video games bring these days.

On the drive home, he asked me about the music in the games, if what we heard was actually heard while you played. I told him, yes, of course. In WoW, the music plays in the background, unless you turn it off (something far too many people do right away... it's beautiful music that really sets a certain mood and should be expereienced at least once the way it was meant to). I honestly believe it's made him think about games as less of a "time-waster" or "for kids" and more as a true entertainment option that's as healthy and normal as watching tv or going to the movies.

I doubt he'll be running out to buy a Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 anytime soon, but at least he's more aware of the joy of gaming.

P.S. This event has opportunities to win stuff. One of those is a Guitar Hero competition, and I want to congratulate the winner last night. YOU GO GIRL! :D

That's right, the winner of the Guitar Hero competition, the one who beat the pants off every guy there, was a girl gamer. She got up on stage in the second half and played Aerosmith's "Sweet Emtion" on Expert mode. In order to win the prize, she had to get a score of 220,000.

She rocked out, earning over 250,000 points with a 96% accuracy! It was fun, I cheered and shouted, and loved the fact that last night, a girl proved we can game just a good, if not better, than the boys.

Poloma: The Hunter I Forgot

I want to start this with something seemingly unrelated: The upcoming faction switch option. I don't like it. I feel that choosing a faction is one of the most important aspects of creating a character, and not in an RP way, but a simple game mechanics way. I mean, c'mon... when you sit down to create a new character you have to choose which side you want to be on.

That being said, I understand exactly why they've done it. For one, they're a business and they want to make money. Best way to make money is to provide services that your customers want and are willing to pay for. If Blizzard can figure out how to code the transition to change achievements that are faction specific, mounts that are faction specific, reputations, etc. then go for it, whatever. I don't have to change factions, it's entirely optional.

I can see the appeal, though. I have a tauren hunter by the name of Poloma. She used to be called Baress and was my first main. I moved her when free server transfers opened up for her server months and months ago. Opalandra the druid may have been my very first toon ever, but Baress/Poloma was the one I leveled. I made it to level 20 before the trial I had downloaded expired and got her to just over 40 before quitting the game for a bit to study abroad in Italy, and since then have gotten her to 56. She's hanging out in Winterspring, sitting on 300 skinning because I'm too lazy to take her to Northrend (dumb, I know). Mining is her other profession, for gold, but it's really low level, only around 110.

I was the true huntard so long ago, even carrying some gear with Strength on it (oh, the horror!) and probably had never laid a trap in my entire existance. I still find the hunter class very complex to master: easiest to level and get into, hardest to master, truely. The faction change would benefit her most, I think. I've gotten rid of the pure strength gear (yeah, burned that stuff fast, man it was bad... well... except for her gloves and pants... they still had agility and I was tired of spending gold...), upgraded what I could without breaking the bank seeing as Outland is so close, and gotten her rested up. I don't play her often, though, because of her server.

Know how I said that I moved her during a free transfer period? Well, I didn't read the fine print. Turns out she was moved to a new Latin American server. I wouldn't care too much, except my Spanish is terrible and I have no hope at all with Portuguese. I feel like the dumb American tourist intruding on their space, and I hate it. It makes playing not so fun. I have options, though, especially with the upcoming faction switch.

As much as I dislike the idea, as much as I despise the concept of transforming her into something she's not, the fact that I could change her into a dwarf or a Draenei and move her to Emerald Dream or some such appeals to me. She has hours of work put into her, pets that I fell in love with (my first pet is a wolf from Mulgore named Karo) and she's whethered all the hunter changes throughout. She's from pre-BC for goodness sakes, just like Opal. She deserves a second chance.

There is another option, of course. One that may appeal even more, simply because it would require a great deal less work, and I could do it today, if I wanted. I could delete my orc hunter on Gul'dan and bring her over. I've thought about doing this hundreds of times. It would get rid of the whole "I don't speak Spanish well enough to play here" problem I'm having with Quel'Thalas (the server, not the zone, of course) and would get her on a server with my level 80. She'd have gold and a bank alt to send stuff to, and everything.

I haven't done it, yet. I haven't taken the plunge. It's on my mind, though. I'd hate to just ignore Poloma forever. Like Opal, she deserves better.

Countdown to Outland

Seona is rolling right along, achieving level 52 plus a little extra over the weekend. The only real drawback is that a great deal of that experience came from killing mobs, so her rested experience was depleted. Hopefully with some rest in Ironforge, she'll get that back this week in between me working and dealing with the house.

Getting to 52 just means that I only have seven levels to go until Outlands, which is exciting. All my gear consists of quest rewards, meaning I'm mostly in lower-level greens. I mean, I bought some new shoulders because she was still wearing chainmail ones that a very kind warrior had made for her in Lakeshire. Since level 25 or so! Way too long. Thankfully I got them for a really good deal, only a few gold. I hate to get any really good gear, simply because I know I'll replace it within a few hours of hitting Outlands.

She also finally replaced Verigan's Fist with the Ice Barbed Spear. It was way past time. The best part? I only had to do the battleground one time, and the whole time I was in the harpy cave, attempting the opening quest for the trinket. The rest of the raid sitting at level 59-60 did most of the work for me. Thanks, you guys, for my new polearm!

Otherwise not much to report. I'm a little sad that Seona hasn't stepped foot in an instance since the Deadmines. She got a random whisper yesterday asking to heal something or other, but dinner was on its way, and I wasn't going to start an instance right before dinner. Plus, Sunday nights are Merlin nights, so she politely declined. She did wish them luck, though.

Oh! Speaking of the house and new loot, I got a Roomba as a housewarming gift! I named it Dirti. Yes, named after that Dirti. I think I'll find a picture of the little guy, print it out, and tape it to my vaccum robot. I think it would be cute. And adorably annoying because no one else I know would get the reference.

Whoa... Level 51 Already?

Yep. Seona is at level 51 already. I can't imagine how fast I would have leveled if she would have heirloom shoulders. Can you imagine? It's no wonder you can level an alt in no time, especially with Recruit-a-Friend, if you have access to it.

The Thorium Brotherhood got her very close to 50. With a shipment of silk cloth from her Estate Manager (read: Bank Alt), she was able to help a dwarf who was stuck in an outhouse in the Burning Steppes. Also, at some point in her travels, she had looted a key from one of the Dark Iron Dwarves' corpses. The key just happened to be for the outhouse, thus, she was able to free the poor dwarf from the little shack, earning her level 50.

Yep, that's right. Seona got to level 50 from an Outhouse quest. I feel dirty. D:

Still, level 50 meant a trip to the Plaguelands. So, off she went (after killing some spiders for their legs... some goblin wanted them, and she was there, you know?). The gryphon landed in Chillwind Camp and her first tasks for the Argent Dawn were started.

She's equipped with her Commision trinket, now, and killing undead goes quickly, provided they're only 2 or 3 levels above her. I've quickly come to realize that anything over that, with a red number, takes forever to kill due to missing. Regardless, she was able to knock out several quests, including the first two cauldron quests, which managed to bump her all the way to the next level. So, sitting pretty at level 51, she's well on her way to getting ready for Outlands.

Oh, and yes, she's picked up the Redpath questline. I've heard it's a bit of a tearjerker, so I'm ready for that. The other thing I've noticed? Now that I'm over that hump and in an area so steeped in Paladin lore (Uther's Tomb, anyone?), I've slowed down again. I read the quest text (most of the time) and do my best to be all "Paladiny" and glowy.

One last little note: Patch 3.2 is still on the PTR, and they appear to be having a few issues with it. Since that's the case, Seona will probably hit level 59/60 before it goes live. Because of the mount changes, any new Paladins will never do the quest for their epic mount, but, luckily, I think I'll be able to do so with Seona. In fact, it'll probably be one of those instances where I'll just be squeaking by before the patch hits live. How cool that my RP pally will be able to do the quest as was intended? It'll be worth it, I think, for the Feat of Strength alone.

Of course, if I don't get to 60 before the patch then it's all moot. The questline requires expensive, rare mats, and at least 350 gold. If the patch hits first then it's 50G for the training and maybe 20G for the spell. RP opportunity or no, I'm not going to spend the 350 if I can get it for 70.

On Her Way to 50

Seona, my paladin, had been caught in a slight leveling rut since around level 46. Nothing major, but not great. It seemed that I had spent a great deal of time questing through full storylines, completing every quest in a zone before moving on (which makes sense from an RP point-of-view, as you wouldn't really leave an area until you had helped all those who had asked for your aid). It also meant that by the time I arrived in the next zone, I was leveled a bit past the normal starting point.

Stranglethorn Vale, for example, had nearly every quest in green, which meant less experience. Also, I came to the conclusion that I didn't much like the goblins. Or, rather, I should say that I decided Seona wasn't overly fond of them, thus making it difficult to quest for them. Yeah, yeah, dumb, I know, but that's that. I took care of just enough quests to make it to level 48, then decided I should move on.

According to WoWWiki, I guessed that the Blasted Lands would make a nice questing hub for me, as the zone was labeled at being Alliance-favored for levels 45-55 or so. "Nice," I thought, "I'll head there next." Yeah. Not one quest available. The only exclamation point I see is grey, and nothing else is showing up. Super. Glad I wasted my time.

Instead, I looked around at the Eastern Kingdoms map again and realized that I hadn't yet gone to the Burning Steppes. So, after a quick gryphon ride to Lakeshire and a run through some rather dangerous territory, I arrived in the volcanic zone. Well, now, look at that. Lots of people could use my aid here, especially the Thorium Brotherhood. Fair enough, I'll help them out, at least until I hit level 50.

Level 50 = Plaguelands.

Seona is a paladin. As a paladin, it is her solomn, sacred duty to stamp out undeath and the Scourge everywhere. As a paladin, it is in her best interests to make contacts early on with the Argent Dawn (and, thus, the Argent Crusade). And, most importantly, as a paladin, she's freaking overpowered as hell when it comes to fighting the undead, so I should be able to power through the plaguelands in no time to 58, and, in the end, that's all I'm starting to care about, RP server or no.

Pre level 40, I used to painstakingly read every quest before I accepted it, so I knew exactly why I was about to go off and do whatever I was being asked to do. I wanted to know the story, the reasoning, behind everything.

Now I just want level 80, bad. Like, really bad.

It's sad. :'(