Ding! Level 80

Purah is level 80!

I've been hard at work getting him better gear and enjoying having a third 80 (although his server isn't my favorite... I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that, though). I've run some dungeons at 80 and have managed to get a couple of lucky drops and some quick upgrades via the Auction House and faction vendors.

First and formost, I was most excited to join a random group into the Coliseum at the Argent Tourney grounds. As the only Plate-wearing-DPS on the run, when the Helm of the Violent Fray dropped, I had no competition. Bingo, one meta-socket helm for Purah. This spurred me on to get a few more upgrades, namely so I could buy, socket, and activate a Chaotic Skyflare Diamond into that pretty, winged helmet. I visited the Auction house to buy some strength + hit gems (I'm still woefully under the hit cap, unfortunately...) and a belt buckle, and then traveled around to some vendors that had shiny things to buy.

First stop: The Argent Tourney, and the Silvermoon vendor. As much as I really, REALLY want the Silvermoon two-hander for 25 seals, I can wait a little longer, and instead used up half of my Champion's Seals to buy the Clinch of Savage Fury. I considered buying the necklace that's available there, too, but I think I'll wait just a little longer. I mean, I REALLY want that sword, and it'll take a few more days to get it, the way I get seals (i.e. slowly).

Second stop (after a few more quests): The Shadow Vault. As a Death Knight, I had a slight head start to my reputation, and finishing up the quest lines for Darkrider Arly at the Fleshworks, along with a couple for the Bone Witch, and I was Revered with Purah's true faction. I immediately visited in order to get a Runeblade of Demonstrable Power (to tide me over till I get the Argent Tourney sword of awesome) and the Arcanum of Torment to put on my helm.

It's a start. I still need more hit. A lot more hit, and I'm really sad that I can't put a Titanium Weapon Chain on my sword along with my runeforging. I love the weapon chain. *Pouts* I got a couple other items while I was running errands for the Ebon Blade, and it's possible I can pop a few more +Hit gems onto my gear. I keep thinking that I just need to run some more of the Level 80 dungeons, though. I don't want to even try Heroics until I'm at hit cap. I don't feel it's fair to other players to come under-geared and expect to be carried through the content (plus expect to be allowed to loot), much less have some healer blow mana on trying to keep me alive in content I'm not technically ready for (and yes, I know that Blizzard has a gear check for Heroics, but, seriously, I'm nicer to other players than that).

Oh, and by some luck of the draw, Je'Tze's Bell dropped for me as well during my questing for the EB. I'll pop it up on the Auction House soon enough and see if I can't get some gold to cover all my upgrade expenses.

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.

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.

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.

This Will Bring Me Back

Holy. Crap. o.O

Huge change posted by the floating skull of doom on the general forums. This is what I get for stepping away for a bit and not paying attention to the forums.

So, mounts are going to be revamped yet again to allow quicker travel at lower levels. Exciting stuff here, for sure. This means I actually have several alts that could get mounts when this goes live instead of much later. That could make a huge difference in how fast I level these toons. A very tiny part of me is crying, outraged that they'd make it so easy for the newcomers and super-causuals (conviently fogetting that I'm one of them) and demanding a refund, but I beat it back into its dark corner and go back to cheering for all my alts.

Regular land mounts are to be trained at level 20 and even cheaper. Epic land mounts are trainable at 40. Now wait, now wait! 40? Really? Jeebus, that's huge. Does this mean my epic Paladin mount for Seona is a quick learn at 40 for about 60 gold? This is mind-boggling. Flight is now learned at 60, and epic at 70, as usual. Crazy, truly crazy.

I definitely didn't expect this change, especially out of nowhere like this. It feels like something in from left field, but I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Of course, this doesn't come around until the next major content patch (3.2), so there's still time before it goes into effect, but this is a really big change.

With that patch, many of my toons will be eligible for mounts:

Purah, my death knight, will be able to get flying. I might even get him the skele-chicken all DKs can get. Untainted and Mål are a stone's throw away from 40, meaning they'd be able to get epic ground mounts. I have at least 5-6 toons in the mid-20's and they'd all be eligible for regular training... the gold I'm going to need!!! Oh, man!

What I've just noticed, though, is that this means no low-level toons will be getting exalted with a second faction before hitting the appropriate level for training. You're stuck with your faction's mounts. Interesting. I know quite a few Belfs, for example, that despise the "cocks colored like rainbows," to quote Nyhm. Still, I'm not going to complain. This is huge.

Yrovi will be farming a bit to earn extra gold. Most of those 20-somethings are on Gul'dan and might actually get me to play those toons. I haven't played my warlock in awhile... and now I'll have a whole new reason to push to 40 on Seona. Wow. There's work to do.

Yrovi Says Hi

Managed to jump on WoW this weekend for a few hours, including my recently ignored main. Yrovi worked on some Argent Tourney stuff, then tried to hop over to Outlands to fly to Shadowmoon valley and see those Netherwing dragons. Unfortunately, she didn't actually get that far. I was interrupted on the way, having to stop in Terrokar, so that was a little unfortunate.

Still, she's on her way, so when I log on her again, I'll head to Shadowmoon to do more undercover work. I figure I have a week's worth of dailies to still do to get exalted. I may try to do the cannon questline in order to speed it up a touch, but the mats needed are a pain the behind to get, I think. We'll see. I need those dragons for the 50 mount achievement (bought the white skeletal warhorse from the Argent Tourney, so I think I still need 19 more... it's sexy). I need to speed it up anyway, seeing as patch 3.2 is going to expand the tourney again. I'm always falling behind with this stuff.

Forgot just how much gold I have thanks to dailies on Yrovi. I've been playing on ED, which has more or less been a complete re-roll for me, trying to figure out the market and such, and it's shocking to realize I have around 2k gold available, suddenly. I've also been trying to get enough materials to craft a sweet tanking gun using my neutered profession, as it's something I could really use for stats and such. Too bad the mats are crazy expensive or I'd farm more in order to sell the guns for profit. It'll require a farming run in Wintergrasp for eternals, though, soon. I need water and air (15 of each, damn) for the gun. I have the titanium (10 bars needed) thanks to a good price on the AH, as well as the saronite (easy to farm, had tons of that, needed 20 bars), and just need to snag a frozen orb (either from a heroic run or from the AH). The final part is a vendor item, so that'll be that.

I'll get a nice, big Stamina gem for the gun once it's done (would love a Stormjewel, but too expensive and I'm not that lucky). I've got to increase my health pool somehow, as I'm still terribly lacking in that department. I'm also tempted to buy the Troll axe from the tournament as an upgrade to my current one. The Red Sword is obviously better, but that relies on a drop and one from a Heroic I don't think I'm ready for, seeing as I haven't run any 5-man content in awhile. I practically need to start over again and run the basic heroics for badges and such before I do anything else. Something like Utgarde Keep and the Nexus, easy stuff to get back in the groove, with nice, easy badges. There are still plenty of upgrades in these instances, too, when it comes to drops, especially if I want to flesh out my off-set, as it's comprised of mostly quest stuff atm. At least the Sen'jin axe would look freaking sweet. ;-)

I think I even have the tokens for it, even with my mount purchase. If I don't I will in a couple days of work, no problem. One day, if I manage to get a group for the [Threat From Above] quest. The one good thing about taking a long break from Yrovi is that the Tourney quests are still interesting and fun. They were getting stale earlier.

Seona also leveled and is sitting at 37, nearly 38, in Theramore. Keeping her rested, I think I'll make 40 by the weekend. Hopefully then I can take an hour or so to speak with the recruiter and make my way into my dream guild. :) All my other toons are taking a break till this happens, I think, aside from Opalandra. She also leveled this weekend. I think bouncing between these toons will keep the two leveling ones rested well enough to make their journey short and sweet. Also, short quests I can complete in the morning before work? Yes, please, give more.

The Terrace Two-Man and Level 35

I had a great deal of fun tonight, running a two-manned Magister's Terrace with our resident holy paladin, Tyra. That's right, just the two of us. I had never gotten a chance to see it before, so it was a unique experience. I have to admit, I've become just a bit burned out on end-game type stuff, so running something just for fun, without any reward other than seeing something I hadn't seen before and being able to take part in some lore (i.e. seeing Kael'thas, even in the poor shape he's in within the Terrace). Too bad the little pet didn't drop, but that's probably asking too much anyway. Regardless, I learned a thing or two, enjoyed myself, and earned two achievements tonight: Magister's Terrace and Got My Mind on My Money.

Speaking of old content, I've also been running Scholomance for Dark Runes and Argent Dawn rep (and jumping over to Stratholme for a chance at the mount) with Yrovi and that has it's own brand of fun. Pwning these instances is easy at level 80, but I had never done Scholomance before, so it was totally new to me. I've also figured out how to get to the Baron in Stratholme, but it still bugs out so that I can't get out of the instance. I have to port. My runs for the mount will be limited to one, or maybe two a day due to this if I ever get serious about it. I probably won't, though, seeing as I'm a Forsaken and our mounts look just like his already. Still, it's a cool instance and I need to be as familiar with it as possible. For later, when I have to run through on my Pally.

I'm farming those Dark Runes for a reason, you know. ;-) When Mål, my little ret pally, is level 60, I plan to go ahead and do the epic mount questline, rather than try to buy the summon Charger spell from the trainer. I have my reasons, the least of which is that it should be cheaper overall that way, plus you earn your Blood Knight tabard with the quest and it is the only way to get that particular tabard. Mål must have it! He just ding'd level 35 this evening, so there is still a great deal of time left before I need all these things, but better to have it sitting in the bank, ready to go, than to have to put him on hold at level 59 or so. I get about a level a day when I log on to him at the moment, so he's well on his way to starting that questline.

The questline requires various items of different qualities, and most of it is farmable, so Yrovi has been hard at work preparing. The added bonus of Argent Dawn rep is just icing on the cake, seeing as there is a title involved if you get exalted with both Argent factions. Yrovi must have it! Too bad the Argent Tournament in 3.1 will essentially make the cloth turn-in quests for city reputation obsolete, because farming Scholomance for runecloth is so easy. Just running the first three rooms a few times yielded over ten full stacks of runecloth. Tailors, if you're in need of runecloth, get a high-level run through part of Scholo and you'll have all you could want. I kept about half of them for my tailoring alt and dumped the rest.

Speaking of tailoring alt, I really need to look at the professions I have. All of my toons have their professions slots filled. I think I've covered everything, aside from Blacksmithing. I've been wondering about some of my less-played alts, and while the main reason I don't log on to them often is because of time constraints, I think their professions may have a bit to do with it as well. My priest, for example, was the second character I rolled on my main server after Yrovi. I intended to level her so that our guild would have a healing priest for end-game. Yeah, that never happened. I want to make her viable again, though, so I've thought about dropping her professions (tailoring/enchanting; my mage happens to have the exact same professions and she's much more fun to play) and replacing them with something a little more fun: Engineering. The profession has plenty of issues. I personally agree with many other engineers out there, and have to say that at end-game, engineering is lacking. Still, while leveling, this predominantly PvP-slanted profession could be a real boon for a priest, with bombs for dps, target dummies to hold aggro for a few seconds, and gadgets and gear to improve stats. Heck, I have engineering on my main, I know how to level it, and I know how to use it to my advantage. It just may make my priest playable. I'll keep tailoring and enchanting on my mage, which makes more sense, lore-wise, anyway, and get my priest rocking the Engineering.

The only thing is, what do I pair with it? I already have two miners, ore won't be an issue. I have an herbalist and a skinner, but I may still go with one of those. Several engineering recipies require leather. I could go with another crafting profession, but what would it be? Alchemy? Or maybe I keep enchanting? This is going to take some thought, I think. I'll let you know. ;-)

The Lull and Saving the Day

Recently, Blizzard's Jeff Kaplan spoke about how the quest design team goes about doing their job and how they use questing to control the flow of the game and the pace of the players. It was an interesting read and got me thinking about my current problem that I happen to be facing with Mål. You see, I've been leveling him at a pretty decent pace (he just ding'd 34) thanks to the fact that I've really fallen in love with the Retribution Paladin's playstyle and his amazing survivability. In fact, I like it almost as much as my prot warrior. That said, he's currently hanging out in Eastern Kingdoms, having a really hard time questing.

I'm not sure what is making this section of leveling so hard. Could it be the increase in leveling speed that came with 3.0? Or maybe it is just poor quest design left over from Vanillia WoW. It's possible they didn't quite get it right when designing Hillsbrad Foothills and the surrounding area. Or, it could be that this just happens to be a slow level-range anyway and always has been. I just don't remember having this much trouble leveling Yrovi, although that was a very long time ago. Heck, it's probably a combination of all of those.

I have solutions open to me, of course. The simplest is to hop over the big water to Kalimdor and do quests there that fall in my current level-range. There is a problem with that solution, though, and it's kept me from doing it. Desolace. I'd have to quest in Desolace at this stage, and, frankly, that isn't an option. I despise Desolace. I consider it worse than the Barrens at this point, and that's saying something. Granted, I have a mount this time through, but I still refuse. It's grey, ugly, and everything seems to center around those flea-ridden Centaurs. So, no hopping over to Kalimdor (Unless I absolutely must).

I could run instances. Scarlet Monastery, for example. The biggest issue with this solution is the problem of finding groups. It seems like there is no one around my level anymore, at least, not when I have time to run something. It's hilarious how many whispers I get to run something 5 seconds before I'm planning to log off. Still, it's an option and a very viable one if you get the group together. In fact, Mål ran Library and Armory last night, which is what ding'd him to 34 and got him some shoulders to wear when he hits 37. It was an excellent group, too, with a Shammy healer (one Mål has run with before, during a rather... unique 3-manned Shadowfang Keep run... maybe I'll write a little short-story about it on my other blog), a fantastic Pally tank who practically ran us all through with a blazing pace, a frost mage who laid down some mean blizzards, and a rogue with poisoned blades filling in the other DPS slots. You were all awesome! I did get to play hero at one point:

So our tank was great, pulling large groups we aoe'd down, holding aggro like it was nothing and things were going great. We blew through the Library Wing so fast, I couldn't believe it. We decided to hit the Armory as well, especially now that we all had our little red keys, so we jumped down into the bowels of the Monastery to face Herod. On the way, our tank overpulled by a few and our Shammy healer couldn't quite keep up with the heals. I was being a DPS and didn't think to pull back to provide extra healing support, but knowing my pathetic little heals, I proably wouldn't have helped much anyway. So the tank fell, along with our mage. Wipe was looking probable, so I thought fast, laid down a Consecrate, cast Righteous Defense, used my taunt to gather up the remaining four or so mobs (damn adds that like to come into the middle of a brawl) and did all I could to hold aggro while praying to the light that I survived. Healer saw what I was doing and started healing me (which gave me a bit more mana, thank goodness... I have a whole new respect for Prot Pallys and their mana needs), the rogue payed attention and burned down the mobs and I tanked with a vengeance! Needless to say, I helped save us from a total wipe and we continued the instance after a quick drink and rebuffing with no issues. It was freaking awesome to team up with honestly good players in a PuG.

So back to the problem I was talking about up there... leveling in the mid-30's is a drag, yo. You see, it's not that there aren't quests available to me. I have quite a few in my log. But they're red. Bright red. I don't mind doing orange quests, or at least trying them, as I've found that I can do most of them with no problems. As a ret pally, I can take stuff down that I never could have on Yrovi. Of course, having several heals available to me help tons. I have my spells, my statues from jewelcrafting, bandages... plus I wear heavy armor and can put up an aura to help with that, too. Heck, I was taking on raptors for their hearts in Arathi that would occasionally land a crushing blow. I had to bandage up after each fight, but I was doing okay. Nevertheless, the quests are a pain in the behind and more or less undoable if they're red. The added issue of travel through the various zones for all these options is like straw on the back of a camel, and we all know what happens with that.

Still, through all that, and my QQ, I haven't gotten bored. I may find it hard, or occasionaly aggravating, but I keep coming back and that just proves to me that Mål isn't just some passing fad for me (like my rogue, who I haven't touched in a month... maybe I should watch Blind again to get in the rogue-ish mood *wink*). He almost has the making of a Main in him, if I wasn't so into Yrovi. It's possible that by getting to 34 and a learning a new spell, those other quests that were red are orange now. Maybe I can knock a few more out of the way. I'll give him some time to rest up, get blue XP, and I'll come back to him for more. Once I hit level 40, though, I'll have to focus on him a bit to get his gear up to snuff. Replacing everything for plate is going to be interesting, especially since his gear is already showing some age now.

One way or another, I'll push through the Lull of the 30's and hit the 40's and find my groove. Maybe I'll even get to save the day again in the process. ;-)

Holy Light on Horseback and Oracles

Mål has finally earned the right to run around Azeroth on the back of a Warhorse. He'll be taking a short break from adventuring to become accustomed to his new companion and to rest up until his next deployment. Once he sets out again, he'll be returning to Tarren Mill. The Battle of Hillsbrad may be finished for him, and Varimathras gave him a very nice sword that Mål assumes is just ceremonial, seeing as his axe is far better. And although he loves his ranseur that he created, he's decided to shelve it as well, except in very special circumstances or for Blood Knight ceremonies.

Yrovi has been hard at work as well in Scholozar Basin. She has switched sides in the ongoing tribal conflicts there. Surprisingly, she was sad to leave the puppy-men, especially right after becoming so very close to them all. Poor Rejek must have been very surprised when someone he thought was a friend turned on him to help a "big-tongue." Nevertheless, she now sits in the middle of the Oracle camp in the Basin, prepared to begin working for them against the Frenzyheart tribe. It is her fervant hope that everything goes as planned and she earns very good rewards from the Oracles quickly, so she can go back to the Frenzyheart again.

Netherwing, MacBook Pro, and the Cavalry

I finally got around to pulling out my WotLK disk and updating WoW on my laptop. I'll have to try out all those new add-ons I mentioned in the last post to see if they really take up less space/are lighter in general. I'm also looking at a different action bar called LunarSphere. It looks like HolyHope or Necrosis, but for everybody. It comes with either a blank template or a class template (or one where you can completely start from scratch) but I haven't gotten around to setting it up yet, aside from telling it to use the Warrior template on Yrovi. Messing with it on my laptop first will mean that I'll know exactly how I'll want it on my main computer when 3.1 hits. I still need to figure out how to tell it to hide the Blizzard bars.

I've been working for the Netherwing faction a great deal, and I'm friendly with them now. Hopefully I'll be exalted with them in two weeks. No one else is working on that rep right now on Gul'dan, it seems, so I pretty much have the whole floating island to myself. No competition is great for finding those eggs as well, for extra rep. So far, it looks like I'll average about 2 eggs a day. I need to do the Booterang quest still, to open up that daily. Looks like it will be lots of fun.

Needless to say, I'm doing this quest for the mounts. I love the way they look, even if they do remind me of BC rather than WotLK. Still, I wasn't able to do the grind when you're supposed to, at level 70. I have to admit, I can't imagine trying to do it at the correct level. All the mobs are level 70 and some of them hit pretty hard. The mobs that can see through your disguise would have been instant death at 70 (I'm able to kill them, but not without using a health pot and enraged regen, thanks to their huge health pool). I'm in no danger of dieing, of course, but I can just imagine how much of a pain the opening questline and these dailies were for those who did it at level 70. Props have to go to them, for sure.

I've filled the barn so now I'm trying to lead the cavalry. I'm doing pretty well, too. Gold is no object to me. I don't stockpile it. It's fake currency in a game and I only get it in order to buy up vanity items and other things I want. I'm no in-game millionare, nor do I wish to be. Eventually I'll use it for enchants and raid-related items, although buff foods I can make on my own at this point. I want that albino drake, though, so right now I'm working on getting lots of mounts. I currently have 29 mounts. Once I bought my epic flight training and my first mount, I took a look at how much gold I earned the next day and decided to buy a few more. I farmed and purchased the mats needed to craft my new roflcopter and outright bought two more wind riders. The yellow one is far less interesting, so I'll probably wait on that one. Once I get the Netherwing rep, I'll probably buy one of each of those as well, but my favorite will be the one I earn, just as my favorite wind rider was the one I first purchased and experienced epic flight with. :)

Finally, yet another guild-mate ding'd 80 yesterday (Grats War!) so raiding is coming ever closer on the horizon. I think the guild will probably start with something simple, like the Vault of Archavon or the Obsidian Sanctum. Obviously the Vault is the simplest level 80 raid instance in the game at the moment and might be a good way to get to know our members, how we work together, and our raid composition. Right now I think we have a few too many tanks, so we'll have to see how that will work, although that might just be a moot point with 3.1 and dual specs. The loot from there is all PvP gear, though, so it would really only be useful (in terms of progression) for us to practice together. Still, that's useful in it's own right, especially for me, who has never raided except as a joke. And as much as I hate to say it, I wouldn't want to have to be the one who switches to dps... I leveled prot. I haven't been in any stance other than defensive for about 8 months or so... maybe longer. Hopefully one of the other tank-spec'd folk are willing to switch to dps.

Needless to say, things are looking up. Stuff is about to get interesting. :D

The Daily Grind

I do many daily quests. I do them for reputation, for profit, and for fun. Some are easier than others. Some take more time than others. All of them have a purpose of some kind. You can do 25 a day and there was a time I thought I'd never ever have so many to do that I'd hit that limit. To be honest, I doubt I have time each day to do all 25, even with my increased travel speed. They take you all over Northrend, helping various factions and earning a nice amount of gold. I think I can get around 350 Gold a day thanks to dailies. Well, maybe not that much, as I often load up the AH and my income per day is increased thanks to the occasional letter from the Auction House. Still, it's no small amount. I'll need it all once I start raiding for enchants, material for my professions, and buff foods and scrolls. So what is my daily grind? Well... Check out a normal day for me below (along with my primary reason for doing the quest).

I usually start in Dalaran, thanks to the fact that my hearthstone is set there. Most days I do the cooking quest (gold), grab the daily PvP quest and then take off from the Landing to K3 in Storm Peaks to do Overstock (gold). Then I fly up into the mountains to talk to Gretta the Arbiter in Brunnhildar Village who will give me a random quest (a chance at a bear mount). I'm still waiting on that polar bear of doom, Gretta. From there, it's a quick flight down the Valley to the Sons of Hodir.

The Sons of Hodir give me several quests, especially now that I'm on decent terms with them. I complete the 5 quests available to me (reputation). My favorite is one that just opened to me, Thrusting Hodir's Spear. Yes, yes, we all get the innuendo. The fight with the Wild Wyrm is just epic, not to mention frantically fun, if occasionally frustrating.

From there I fly to Icecrown to do some regular quests for the Ebon Blade (reputation) along with some dailies. I generally pick up the daily from the Argent Crusade, and a few from the Vanguard, mostly the ones that focus on the central Vrykul village (reputation). When I finish up with those, I locate that little goblin and his mechagnome and jump to the top of the mountain and back down (gold).

My next stop is Scholozar Basin and the Frenzyheart. I do their three quests with Dajik in tow (reputation). I do a quick circut of the basin, mining all the saronite I see as well as vaccuming up the various steam clouds with my extractor. I love farming in the basin. It's very convienient.

Once that's done, I'll fly to the Borean Tundra to hang with the Wyrmrest Accord folk and hunt down a drake and ride another (reputation). The second one is fairly tough and I've eaten rez sickness before thanks to dieing at the top of the Nexus on a platform, so while I don't often skip it, if I'm feeling burnt out by now, I may think twice about it. From there it's a quick hop over to Dragonblight to Defend their temple (reputation).

Now, if my bags are full of worthwile stuff, I often run back to Dalaran at this point to empty them out. That's usually when I get a bit distracted and see if Winterspring is up soon. If not, I'll generally take care of the PvP daily (honor/gold). If Wintergrasp is up, I'll go help out and attempt to complete at least one daily there (gold). I'll often port from there to the old world, specifically Silvermoon City. It's quiet and deserted which makes it perfect for working the Auction House quickly. I've only been annoyed by one gold-begging noob there so far. Once everything is set up on the AH, I'm running to Undercity to take the zepplin or a bat to Stonard to head through the gate to Outlands. I fly directly from Hellfire to Shadowmoon to work on my Netherwing quests (rep). I collect extra ore and such if I have the time to make the next day easier, but by now I've usually been playing for way too long. I hearth back to Dalaran once I'm done and log out, ready to start the cycle again the next day.

That may seem like a lot of work, and not fun, but the daily quests are interesting enough to keep my interest. And if they don't... it's no big deal. They're just dailies. They'll be there again tomorrow. You may have noticed that I don't list the daily instance quests... I usually don't try for those except on the weekends. Weeknights are hard for me to get into a group and go through an instance reliably. Weekends have those included though, when I can get a group. :)

The Time Came!

I was giggling like a little schoolgirl last night as I finally hit my goal of 5200 Gold for my epic flying and mount. I had done some farming, specifically for ore and crystallized elements. My zapthrottle mote extractor is one of the best inventions ever. I emptied my bank, vowed to stop being such a pack rat, and dumped all my valuables on the AH over the weekend. Just about everything sold and I was a very happy panda.

I got the last mails from the Auction House as I was exploring Outlands for the achievement (which I got) and promptly flew to Shadowmoon Valley to train up and buy my new Green Windrider. He's gorgeous, and so much faster than my old flying mounts that it's absolutely no contest. While I'll no doubt start missing my roflcopter in a few weeks, right now the speed increase more than makes up for it. I started the Netherwing faction grind up to Neutral on Friday evening, so I'll start going to outlands each day to continue that grind. Zoya will be mine!

I'll be able to recoup my gold fairly quickly as well. Faster speed means faster dailies, faster farming, and faster quests. Doing all my dailies used to take hours. Hopefully I can cut that time in half now, especially since I'll be doing some Outlands stuff as well.

And speaking of dailies: I was able to get my cooking and fishing up to Grand Master level this weekend so I'm eligible for the cooking dailies in Dalaran (and theoretically the new Fishing dailies that are coming in 3.1). That opened up a whole slew of new achievements as well. I think the one I never thought I'd get this quickly was "Skills to Pay the Bills." My fishing is up to Northrend standards, but only barely. I'll have to use lots of lures at first until I get it higher or just wait for 3.1 where leveling fishing will be easier than ever. According to the patch notes, you'll be able to fish anywhere,  you just may fish up junk rather than a fish. Still, every catch (even junk) will count towards skill-ups. Regardless, I'm excited. More and more of the "endgame" is open to me as I continue playing, and only good can come from that. ;)

And as a last little note: we're a stone's throw away from raiding as a group. Several guildmates leveled up to 80 last week and this weekend, and we have another about to hit 80. This is awesome just because I've been having a really hard time with the heroic instances. I'm discovering (unfortunately) that my tanking skills are maybe a little sub-par. With more guildies hitting 80, though, I imagine the need to run heroics to gear up will be increased, giving me more opportunities to practice and improve. That said, I ran Halls of Lightning again on regular with one of our new 80s and finally got my coveted Seal. It's about freaking time, I'm telling you. I'll use it mostly to stay uncrittable at this point, but it's nice to have. I'm starting to stack more stamina now... maybe I'll actually see 30k raid buffed which would be nice. Also thanks to that run, I got Revered with the Wyrmrest Accord so I bought the boots and breastplate I've been wanting. Needless to say, I've upgraded. And it's a nice feeling.

Wintergrasp

Yrovi entered Wintergrasp yesterday. While it wasn't the first time I had done this, it was the first time I had managed to enter, stay connected, and really, REALLY enjoy myself. This was epic. This was fantastic in every way. I'm still not exactly sure what was going on (although I've done a little reading up on it now, and I think I'll be a lot more helpful next time around). This is what PvP should be in my opinion. A huge battlefield, lots of my Horde bretheren nearby, and a chance to really make a difference, even though I'm a tank (yay for siege engines!).

Also, as an engineer (and a Goblin engineer no less), I have access to two kinds of bombs that do siege damage. Next time I go to Wintergrasp I'll be sure to be well stocked with them. What can I say, explosions are fun. ;-)

Thanks to my joining on a whim, I was able to get two achievements as well: the obvious "Wintergrasp Victory" and the more surprising "Within Our Grasp." In the case last night, the Horde were on the attacking side and easily took the keep from the puny Alliance. It makes me feel really good inside knowing that I helped gain us the right to Stone Keepers Shards and opening up the raid instance inside the keep for our side. I might even work on getting all the Wintergrasp quests and work on them too. I even have half a mind to create a PvP spec when 3.1 hits with Dual Specs. Before now, I never thought about PvP very much, certainly not enough to get a spec or gear specifically for it, but with Wintergrasp it may be worthwhile.

For When the Time Comes

I want to be ready, for when the time comes that I finally get epic flying. I'm currently sitting with about 2800 Gold, which means I need at least 2200 to go, plus 200 for my initial mount, the Swift Green Wind Rider. I'm getting there, slowly but surely, thanks to working on quests I passed over (for example, I earned the questing achievement for Grizzly Hills last night and netted quite a bit of gold in the process from the quests). I'm also doing dailies, of course. I imagine I'll have the gold in a month or so. Once I do, I'll be aiming for all of these, not necessarily in this order:

I'm planning on doing the Netherwing quests so that I can fly around on Zoya in Northrend (he's the green one, pictured). There are a few other colors that I plan on purchasing as well, eventually, but Zoya will be my free one, the "earned" one.

I want to farm the mats rather than buying them all, so once I can fly fast I'll probably spend a few days farming in Outland to craft my Turbo-Charged Flying Machine. What engineer doesn't have one of these babies? ;-)

I've always planned to switch to the Oracles when I managed to get epic flying. Hopefully I get lucky and get the proto-drake from them fairly quickly. He's green (my favorite color, if you hadn't figured it out yet) and purple which makes him quite striking. Plus, all the proto-drakes evoke a sort of *Squeal!* "He's adorable!" reaction from me. I'd love to get the mini-pet as well, for a matched pair.

I'll get exalted with Wyrmrest Accord at some point, and the red drake is quite striking. Pity he's 2000 Gold, as I can't imagine collecting all that gold again, but maybe after getting a flyer that can really move farming won't be such an issue.

I already have the Blue Wind Rider, so I'd love to get the armored one from Mei Francis and pretend that he just "got faster with that fancy armor" but he's also 2000 Gold, so he's lower on my list.

Naturally any of the dropped (and therefor free!) flying mounts would be awesome. I have bad luck with such things, though, so we'll see. Most of them come from either extremely rare mobs that spawn in crazy, out of the way places, or from some Heroic dungeon or another.

Of course, all of these mounts being added to my collection get me closer and closer to the Albino Drake from the achievement. I've been wanting him for ages as well. In fact, if I had been smarter about all this mount collecting, I'd have had epic flying a great deal sooner. I purchased so many ground mounts as I hit exalted with the various factions without thinking about how much gold I'd need to finish training up my riding skill. Silly me. /sigh

Still, all of these things keep me playing and questing, and having fun in general. I've yet to get well and truly bored with this game and I can only imagine that Blizzard will continue to keep my interest with each new patch. It isn't (affectionatly) called Warcrack for no reason. ;D

Epic Purples

Yrovi got two new purples yesterday and this morning, plus a new companion pet.

She's now exalted with the Kalu'ak (finally!) and was able to purchase the epic fishing rod and a new friend, Pengu the penguin. He's very cute and evil looking with those red eyes. The rod is nice, with a +30 to fishing skill as well as underwater breathing while equipped. Plus, you know, it's a purple. Hopefully I'll get my fishing and cooking skill leveled up to Northrend levels soon enough. It takes time, though. Right now, it takes something like 10 fish to get one skill point. That's a lot of fish, and a lot of time to take. I'll do it, though, for the gold. Fishing can be very lucrative. Right now I'm fishing in the Barrens, for example, for Deviate fish. It's a pity I don't have the recipe to cook them, as they are worth even more that way, but I sell a stack of 20 deviate fish for about 17-20 Gold on my server right now, so it's not bad. I figure I have to level the skill anyway, why not make some gold while I'm at it?

The other purple came from completing the exploration achievement for Northrend. I was mailed a very brown tabard as soon as I finished it. Pity it isn't more interesting looking, as I'd love to have an epic tabard on all the time, but it doesn't really match my armor. ;)

Sin'dorei: Mål the Blood Knight Initiate

I ended up going with the paladin.

Mål turned out to be tons of fun to level. Self healing, with heavy armor, and fun lore behind him. What more can you ask for? I spent the weekend leveling him and exploring the mechanics of a Retadin.

He was sitting at level 11 when I first logged on to him. He was in Fairbreeze Village, happy as a lark, with full rested experience. I blew through the quests, taking care of the spire, and the trolls, looking at the pretty chocobos (that I won't get for him) and ran off to the Ghostlands. He doesn't have rested experience now, but leveling still seems pretty fast.

Let me start by saying that I love the Ghostlands. In fact, one reason why I may have so many darn Blood Elves is because I adore their starting area and quests. It's a great story, and Tranquillien is a pretty cool town, with the Sin'dorei and the Forsaken working together. The quests explain that the Blood Elves of Silvermoon are having a hard time convincing the Horde to let them join the club. You see, how can they help the Horde, when they are having problems dealing with a Scourge problem on their very doorstep? Dar'Kahn Drathir is an undead Blood Elf who leads the Scourge out of Deatholm, in the Ghostlands. The Farstriders and the people of Tranquillien are fighting the Scourge and trying to take Deatholm down. And you are needed.

As a Paladin, it was especially fun. Most of the mobs are undead, which means Exorcism is a huge boon (once you get it, of course). I really felt like I was helping out, more than any other time I've done these quests (and this is the 5th time I've done them). The only drawback was that most of the area was deserted by other players, which meant that certain quests were harder to do. A lovely Orc Warrior helped me take down Knucklerot and Luzran, so thanks to you. I soloed the rest.

Yep. I soloed everything else, including the final quest, the Traitor's Destruction. Dar'Kahn Drathir himself. I buffed up with what I had, and went after him. He killed me once, fearing me into some mobs that had respawned, but I learned from it and tried again. It was a thrilling battle. :D I temporarily switched to sword and board for the fight to use the quest sword to take him down a bit faster right at the start, used a health pot, my jewelcrafting healing statues, and my own healing, of course. I used the Tranquillien rep sword for my earlier leveling, but since I managed to take him down, even with his fears, I got a gorgeous sword that fits my look perfectly and a chance to visit Undercity and Orgrimmar and gain us full membership into the Horde (yeah, I know, lorelol). I felt like I had truly accomplished something, both for my character, and for my faction.

The Paladin quest chains are fantastic as well. I've done one and a half already, and am working on the next part of the second one. The first major one, at level 12, tests you against a surprise attack to see if you are ready to become a true Blood Knight initiate. You go to a cave in the Ghostlands, light a pyre, and fight another Adept, killing him. When you return, you discover the source of the Blood Knight's power. They had captured a Naaru, draining it by force, but had lost it when they were attacked. They now attempt to make up for the transgression. You are able to siphon some power that is left in the jailors and ressurect the Adept who had fallen to your blade earlier. You get the Redemption spell at the end. It's cool. :D

The second Trial deals again with your fighting prowess, this time against 4 different opponents. They come at you one after the other with no break. It was fun to do as well, but simpler in my mind. Unfortunately I had trained fully before doing this quest. The reward was supposed to be the Sense Undead ability, but I had it from training. It's too bad that Blizzard decided to do that.

Finishing that opened up the next step, which is the start of becoming an Adept and earning the Blood Knight weapon: A blood-tempered ranseur (nice looking polearm!). There are 4 rare items I have to collect. I have one already and only have to get the other three. They require some travel and some minor dungeon-diving, specifically Ragefire Chasm under Orgrimmar and Shadowfang Keep. No problem for me, I love both those instances, and I think if I'm careful I can solo my way through Ragefire. Shadowfang Keep happens to be my favorite Instance (so far, anyway) so as long as I don't have a terribad PuG, it will be fun.

Well, wish my little Light-wielding Retadin some luck, as I'll be messing about with getting those supplies for the Pally Polearm and questing some more today.

Glyphs and Mik Do a Warrior Good

How on earth did I function before Mik's Scrolling Battle Text? This Add-on is freaking awesome. :D It lets me know everything that is going on. I think the only other thing I need now is a way to easily see my rage and health in the center of my screen and I may never need to look anywhere else but the center of the screen ever again. Maybe Satrina's Digits (from TankSpot).

I've also glyphed up recently, and I'm noticing a definite difference in how quickly and efficiently I can take down mobs now. I'm running with:

Majors:

• Glyph of Blocking
• Glyph of Cleaving
• Glyph of Revenge

Minors:

• Glyph of Bloodrage
• Glyph of Thunder Clap
• Glyph of Charge

This combination is pretty sweet, I find. My major glyphs allow me to keep the bonus from Blocking up nearly 100% of the time, thanks to all my Sword-and-Board procs, and I've macroed Revenge and Heroic Strike together so that I don't really have to think about it. Of course, that being said, there is the occasional mix up with the macro, where it will attempt to que the Heroic Strike right as my auto attack happens or before the buff is actually applied. Still, it's working well so far and I've noticed the increase in DPS. I'm using PowerAuras to help me know what buffs/debuffs I've got on me at any given time, but it isn't perfect as you have to set everything up yourself, manually. Still, it's helpful. The Cleave glyph hasn't gotten a workout, yet, but I'm planning on running some instances this weekend, so it should get some use then.

I've already noticed the change to Charge. It feels like I can be miles away from a mob and still run right for it at top speed. Very fun, but I'll need to keep a better eye out for other players so I don't accidently tag a mob they are obviously going for. I find it frustrating when someone does it to me, so I attempt not to do it to others. Since CC isn't really used anymore in instances, I feel like the change to Thunder Clap will be beneficial, especially in fights like Violet Hold and such. We'll see how it works. I didn't use Bloodrage very often before, simply because I thought of better ways to gain some rage (Charge?), but now I can get some before a fight, maybe for buffing up party-mates. In terms of the other minors that are available to Warriors, this was my best bet after the other two I have.