Bleah

The Axis and Allies night was a snore fest. I got a total of one turn before I had to leave....4 hours and I get one turn. And at that, I had no idea of what I was doing!

I've come to the conclusion that I don't like that game either, Jay.

On the WoW front, I have to give a shout out to Joe, who singlehandedly provided the mats to get Daxie's jewelcrafting from 383 to 421, by cutting some gems and making rings for him to DE. Yay on her and THANKS JOE!!

Today, after work, I'm hoping to get back into the Heroic After Work Before Dinner pattern with Teurion. It'd be nice to start doing that again, M-F, to build up badges and have a shot at some nicer gear.

Speaking of gear, I've compiled another list of Heroic dungeon drops; I just need to put it in a post format and add some links. And, no, this is not the aforementioned project.

80....and nothing changes

Sorry, I couldn't help but reference a former post.

DV hit the big Eight-Oh last night on the last quest turn in of the night. Yay on him! I'm not sure what I'm going to do now (level engineering...run Heroics...level Smoochie, my Herbalist...level Daxie), but I've plenty to choose from. Oh, and grinding rep with dailies too....

But tonight is Axis and Allies over at a friend's house, so no WoW!

Don't Panic

Sometimes I get all wrapped up around the axle due to knowing something about WoW, but not knowing everything about the subject.

The case in point is the Oracle and Frenzyheart factions in Sholazar Basin. I knew I wanted to ally myself with the Oracles, and I assumed that it would be similar to choosing between Aldorks and Scrybabies in Shat. Wrong.

It turns out that you end up doing quests for both factions before choosing your allegiance. You start off doing quests (and earning rep) with the Frenzyheart Puppydogfaces; eventually, you get to a point where you save an Oracle Bigtongue and the Frenzyheart disown you. Whoops.

THEN, you do Oracle quests for a while (that's the point I'm at) and from what I've read, you finally get a quest where you have to choose which faction you'll kill (thereby allying yourself with the other faction). And, the quest is a daily, so you can switch factions at will (well, almost).

So, don't panic when you start down the Frenzyheart road; this is how the path was designed. Just go with the flow, enjoy the XP gains, and relax. You'll get to choose one eventually.

Hunter Rep Rewards

So, until I can figure out how to have two sidebars, I'll make this post and hope to convert it to a sidebar in the near future. This list does not include any craftable or Heroics gear, just Rep rewards.

Argent Crusade
Exalted
- Boots of the Neverending Path
- Polished Regimental Hauberk

Revered
- Zombie Sweeper Shotgun

Honored
- Cloak of Holy Extermination

Knights of the Ebon Blade
Revered
- Arcanum of Torment
- Spaulders of the Black Arrow

Sons of Hodir
Exalted
- Greater Inscription of the Axe

Kirin Tor
Revered
- Mind-Expanding Leggings

Honored
- Spaulders of Grounded Lightning

Wyrmrest Accord
Exalted
- Dragonfriend Bracers

Honored
- Fang of Truth

Oracles
Revered
- Toothslice Helm

Inflexible

I've always been behind the power curve - be it World of Warcraft or just life in general, so it's no surprise that I'm lagging in finding out that Blogger is not very flexible in new formats. I was looking to have two side bars and the main column for my posts, but it appears that I can't get that.

Well, now wait a minute! I just checked Two and a half Orcs, and THEY have three columns with Blogger...hmmm...hey Dammy or Wulfa, how'd you do that??

Where'd that week go?

I just realized that I hadn't posted in almost a week! Sorry 'bout that.

DV is on the cusp of 80; hopefully tonight, I'll fill up the remaining 13 bubbles to get him there. I'm so glad that I invested in epic flight and made my Turbocharged ROFLcopter.

Over my glorious 4 day weekend (thanks, President Bush!!), I also maxed out Herbalism and Mining. I got over the 400 hump of Inscription, bumped Engineering up to 425 (only 15 more points to my new goggles), worked a bit on Tailoring (3 more points to the new bags!), and did a little Jewelcrafting.

I'm working on a list of Hunter Rep rewards that I can start working on. It'll also serve me well as a guide for my other Hunters. Hopefully, I'll get that list posted - complete with Armory links and all!

I also have a new project.....more on that later!

An Inscription Pain

Daxe is at 397 Inscription, and his only orange recipe is the Northrend research that has a 20 hour cooldown on it. He has no yellow recipes and just a couple of green ones. AND, the next recipes aren't available until 400.

/sigh.

Adding to that situation is my own impatience in spending 80 gold on the regular WotLK ink and then finding out that the research costs the "special" Snowfall ink, which, on my server, is nowhere to be found on the AH. So, I have to make my own......and get the regular pigments while hoping for the specials. But I JUST BOUGHT A BUNCH OF THAT!!!!!1 Yeah, impatience is a bad thing.

So, now, I'm milling herbs and building up a huge supply of Ink of the Sea (I think that's the one - the WotLK one). I'll just hope that once I get to 400, I can start using it up for skill points.

On the bright side, Smoochie has been getting some sunshine to go pick flowers....

An Army of Alts

So, why have an alt?

For many people, alts provide enjoyment of a different type than their main. Perhaps they get the joy of DPSing rather than their regular job of tanking. Maybe they get the thrill of having nasty monsters beating on them instead of avoiding the beating. The same could be said for ranged vs. melee DPS alts, spell vs. physical (yeah, that's a weak one), squishy vs. armored. All of these issues are great reasons to start and play an alt.

Another motive to start an alt is more mundane - a bank toon. Early on in my WoW experience, I found that being able to consolidate all of my Auction House listings on one character was very valuable. Some people like keeping their alts' finances separate, so this becomes trickier; I am not one of those people, so all my money is in one big pot. This is not to say that my bank toon keeps all of my money; it's just that I feel free to take from one toon in order to finance activities on another.

Bank toons often become the defacto storage facilities as well and even are known to be in a guild of one in order to have even more storage at their fingertips. My bank toon is in such a guild, and yeah, it gets sort of lonely. As an aside, my bank toons have always been paladins - they have great....wait for it.....judgments.

Now, you might say, "But Rusty, (yes, my real name for the first time on the blog), you aren't looking for a different experience with 4 hunters! Why, I know you, and those hunters aren't even spec'd different!!"

True dat.

Of course, everyone who reads this blog knows that I want all of the professions covered so that I can try to take out one of the M's in the MMORPG that is World of Warcraft. Massive Online Role Playing Game is just fine by me.

So, to some end, I'm going to try to start beginning to somewhat communicate and chronicle (ENOUGH HESITATION ALREADY!!) some of the benefits, trials, tribulations, irritations, niceties, ravings, musings, rantings, and jello of alts. Of course, with the mere mention of jello, I'll gain scores of hits from people doing searches with nuts and jello in them. ....creeps...

That, or maybe I'll start posting my extreme right wing views. /shrug.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

It's single digits here in the wilds of Indiana; almost makes it feel like being back home in Alaska.

...almost....

Today is my oldest son's birthday - he's 19. I gratted him on the ding and asked what he was going to do in his twink year. He said he'd be hittin' up the BG's pretty hard...lol. I do know that we'll be going to PF Chang's to celebrate. Mmmmmmmm.....Chinese Bistro!

I did quite a bit of leveling over the weekend - DV and Daxie are both 75, and Nitro is up to 69. I worked a bit on engineering, leatherworking, inscription, blacksmithing, and enchanting. Finally, all of my primary professions are above 375 on all my toons.

Ah, work calls, so I'll have to cut this short. Laters!

Tagged

Joe over at Ramblings of a Learner tagged me. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do, but I think the assignment is to look up who were some of my first commentatorites and thank them (as well as tag them if they haven't already been tagged).

Well, surprise, surprise, TJ was the very first person to come out of the shadows and reveal the sad state of their choices of blogs to read. I mean, really, you guys must have better blogs to read than this one!

But, there's no accounting for some people's taste, so THANKS TJ and consider yourself tagged. I have comments on an earlier post from Rats Hag, but it was one hour later than TJ's. So close, yet sooooo far!

I also want to take the time to thank everyone who stops by to read my musings. I've been very busy at work as of late and haven't had the time to provide the quality posts that have never been a part of this blog. That or some other lame excuse - maybe you guys can make some up for me.

Done!...well...almost

So, yay on Nitrodax, who dinged 68 and is headed for Coldlands. I went ahead and pushed through the last of the level without the benefit of rest XP and expect that levels 68 and 69 will go even quicker with the larger quest XP rewards available in Northrend.

I've decided to hold off on getting her flying due to the fact that 1) She doesn't have any gathering skills and 2) She can't fly in Coldlands until, what 76? 77? Either way, a level that is a bit farther down the road.

Since Teurion has da burn to level, Daxie will probably be my first level capped toon. But, now that I'm done with Outlands, I will be concentrating more on my other hunters.

Recent Dings

Daxie at 74

Nitrodax at 66

That is all for now. Ok, well, maybe not.

I really need to add more diverse content, but I've been lacking the time at work. I'll get to cognizating on that.

Synergy

Teurion and Daxie haz it.

Daxie hit 73 and is about three bubbles shy of 74. Teurion is still trying to figure out what he's going to do as far as where to stop leveling and switch to leveling VA, but it really doesn't matter to me, I'll tag along either way he goes.

If Teurion, then Daxie.
Else if VA, then Daxe.
Else
Switch How do I feel:
Case "I feel like Ryst": Rysteranch;
Case "I feel like DV": Dwarfvader;
Case "Gimme a Smooch": Smoochie;
Case "Getter dun!": Nitrodax;
Default: Sleep;

From running with the big T, I've learned a couple of things about myself. One of them is that I actually like to read the quest text.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am enjoying the free ride on Teurion's coattails; it's just that my first time through a quest, I'd like to take the time to read and decipher what I'm supposed to do (as well as read the story!). There hasn't been a lot of that....lol. We do, however, get stuff done quicker...arguably...when we don't need directions....or quest helper isn't borked.

I reckon I'll just have to do that on Rysteranch or DV or whoever is my solo trailblazer...

Toon update

So it's been a little bit since I updated the status of my toons.

Rysteranch is now 73 and pluggin' away in Dragonblight. Still haven't seen much in the way of gear upgrades.

Dwarfvader is almost 73 (two bubbles left), finished up all of Borean, and pugged The Nexus last night (from which he got some nice boots). He's almost out of Addy Stingers, so he's in Nagrand, mining.

Daxie is 72, currently leveling with Teurion in Borean, and pugged Utgarde Keep yesterday as well.

Smoochie, Daxe, and Nitrodax are unchanged at levels 71, 70, and 65. Nitrodax is at least getting a number of Coldland items to DE and has gained an Enchanting skill point or two.

All in all, my plan is working out pretty good. I'm only playing on rested XP, and I'm able to level my toons concurrently as well as keep up with their professions. As soon as Nitro fills out this level with rest XP, I'll probably bump her up to 66 and keep with making her a priority to catch up to the others.

I've decided Nitro will be doing both starting areas due to A) Arriving in Coldlands at level 68, and B) Getting quest rewards for Enchanting mats. I still will only play her when she has rest XP.

So, the plan is continue to teaming up Daxie with Teurion, eventually team up Daxe with VA, and playing my hunters when Teurion isn't on. I'll probably get DV to 73 and then switch to Smoochie in order to finish up Borean with her.

VA Update

So, last Friday, VA had brain surgery to address a mass the docs found in the MRI. Thankfully, once the surgeons opened her up, they found the mass to be a mess of blood vessels and not cancer! Praise the Lord!

They were able to clean up the genetic miscue, and she's already gone home from the hospital. As an aside, this might be the cause of her frequent headaches over the past years, so that might be cured as well! Twofer!

With the specter of cancer gone and the trials and tribulations associated with it gone also, Teurion decided to renew his and VA's WoW accounts.

VA is still not able to play, so Teurion and Daxie have started playing together. Last night Daxie caught up to DV and Smoochie at level 71! Yay on her.

And, DV is two bubbles away from 72; now, if he can only get some play time away from Daxie....

No excuse now

Over the weekend, I accomplished my goal of catching Nitrodax up to the others...well, profession wise, that is.

She dinged 65 and picked up the Grand Master levels for Blacksmithing and Enchanting. She's earned a well deserved rest for a time while I start back with my other three hunters. DV has the nod to finish up Borean and try to get Engineering up to a level where he can make the next level of bullets and arrows.

With the last piece of the team finally getting up to the XPac level, I am pretty much self sufficient. Now all I have to do is level 6 toons to 80...lol.

No real decision

I got Rysteranch to 72.5, and he's done with Borean Tundra. I took the rest of the night "off" by playing Nitrodax, who is almost 62 and should hit it today.

I think I'm going to go ahead and push her to 65 so I can get the Northrend enchants. I'd really like to use my skill ups to enchant my other toons' gear, so that means enchanting a number of vellums. Which means Daxe needs to make some. Which means Smoochie needs to pick some flowers.

Ah....I love having alts!

A conundrum

Well, not really.

Last night, Smoochie hit 71 and Nitrodax hit 61. Now, I'd heard that the 60-70 xp requirements had been nerfed, and I'm pretty sure they have.

Firstly, the requirement for 61 was 290,000 XP; I'm pretty sure it was over 500K before the nerf.

Secondly, anecdotal evidence provides that I quested in HP from 58.75 to 61 and have not even finished half of the quests there. In fact, I have only done quests from HH, Expedition Point, Shatter Point, and The Front. I haven't touched the crashed zeppelin, the Longbeards, Telhamat, or the CE dudes.

Yes, it was a mix of rest XP and normal XP, but still, it seems really fast.

So, I'm boogieing out of HP and headed into Zangarmarsh! I hate HP anyways...lol.

EDIT: Haha! I didn't even present my conundrum before pressing publish! My issue is a desire to catch Nitrodax up to the rest of my toons, but she's almost out of rest XP. I want to be efficient, and that demands that I make the most out of rest XP on my other toons.

hmmm...what to do.....what to do.....what to do.....

I'll probably just do whatever I feel like at the time...lol.

Motoring along

Rysteranch: 71

Dwarfvader: 71

Daxie: 70.75

Smoochie: 70.5

Nitrodax: 350 enchanting

And, that last post must have been looking into the future, 'cause Smoochie died at the hands of the D.E.H.T.A. zealots. I didn't think they'd actually kill me because Dwarfvader (the gorilladin) had the Animal Blood debuff on him, and while the zealot quest giver did a lot of shouting, she didn't actually attack him. So, I figured I'd get yelled at and probably couldn't turn in quests, but I didn't figure they'd kill me. So much for thinking.

And as much as I hate the smelly hippies, I really like Borean Tundra better than Howling Fjord. I plan on doing both areas eventually, but it seems like the quest grouping is better over in BT. Daxie is committed to leveling in HF, so I'll get a better idea over the next couple of days. Oh, and the falconing quests...hated them!

And, speaking of Daxie, she's teamed up with...Teurion! Yeah, he renewed his account and has a limited amount of time to play. VA is hurting too much to play, so the plan is to level Teurion and Daxie, then level VA and Daxe together. This Friday is VA's surgery, so I'm not sure how much play time Teurion will have after that - he shouldn't have much!

And, finally, the scenery! I absolutely love it! As many of you know, I lived in Alaska for 17 years, so I've seen my share of northern latitudes. Blizz got it right for the most part.

I've walked on the grey sandy beaches of Homer.

I've seen the calving icebergs of Prince William Sound.

I've passed through the towering fjords of Resurrection Bay.

I've biked Resurrection pass through the high land tundra.

I've seen caribou, marmots, and orcas in the wild.

I tell you all this because I've seen all those things in game as well. Another thing Blizz got right are Native names. The wharfmaster at the walrus village in Borean is named Agloolik, which is a very Alaskan sounding name (reference the village of Shaktoolik). Of course...there's no penguins in Alaska, except in the zoo, but, hey, it's a game, right?

All in all, I'm very impressed with the new continent...and a little homesick....

Done, Done, and, Done!

Nitro's Blacksmithing: >300

Nitro's Enchanting: >300

Nitro's Level: 60

And, she's earned a well deserved rest in the inn at Honor Hold. I've completed a number of HP quests to get from 58.75 to 60, so the rest XP will come in handy.

In other news, Rysteranch got the nod for Northrend. I know I hemmed and hawed about who would go first and even said DV might go ahead, but in the end, I took my first 70 hunter. I'm over halfway through the level. I still plan on playing solely on rest XP from now on.

There are a lot of things that I'd like to discuss (ok, whine/rant/complain) regarding the new content, so prepare yourself accordingly.

Gear
Now, the best raid drops that I have on Rysteranch are from Kara with some badge gear. I actually found myself debating switching out for the new gear. In my eyes, it was that close. In the end, I opted to keep my current gear in most cases due to enchants. DV, Smoochie, and Nitro, on the other hand, will be ecstatic when they hit Northrend, even though DV will likely have to switch to bows for a while.../sigh.

Death Knights
Yeah, I made one yesterday - Vanco (let me know if you get the reference). I made the Scorpion (from Mortal Kombat) macro for Death Grip:

/s GET OVER HERE!!!
/cast Death Grip

It was pretty funny to yank my next mob to me and pummel them. I really didn't know what I was doing; I just hit buttons until the mob died. Eventually, I figured out two of them - the Yank button (for the aforementioned macro) and the Heal me button. I still don't have any clue about the others, so I just continue to spam them until I can't spam them any more. /shrug.

I really like being in the starting area and getting free on the spot rezzes. I saw the angel thingy swooping toward me the first time, and I thought, "I wonder what that thing is.." as I pressed the release spirit button. The next time I hung around and, voila! I got a free, on the spot rez!

What I didn't like.....was killing the innocents. Yes, yes, yes, I realize it's part of the lore and all that rot, and I understand why it's put in there. But I don't have to like it. I also don't like the whole idea behind the DK's - turn traitor to your faction to serve the Lich King and then turn traitor to him to go back to your faction. Also, using evil means to accomplish quests and the like just seems wrong to me. I'll probably continue to play him on occasion to get an idea of how they play, but I don't see myself playing one to end game.

D.E.H.T.A.
What a bunch of hippie hypocrites. I hate this faction. I'd really like to punch them all in their smelly hippy faces and then take their ears and turn them into Nessingwary for some good rep! I have yet to make the mistake of wandering into their camp with the smell of animal blood on me, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time before they kill me in their self righteous anger.

What is most upsetting about this faction is that it really feels like indoctrination. Animals = good; hunters = bad! I guess it wouldn't be so bad if there weren't groups that actually felt this way and actually condoned violence to remedy the situation. And, yes, I realize that this is just a game, but, unfortunately, Blizzard seems to be on the treehugging, liberal hippie side of the equation and not afraid to push some ideas on us. I wonder when the global warming quests start....

...oh, and, yes, I'm still doing their quests....I need the money and achievement. So, who's the hypocrite NOW!! HUH, HUH?? Oh...I am....

Ding 58

Yeppers, last night, Nitrodax dinged 58 right at the end of my play session. I haven't had a chance to run to the Dark Portal, but I should be able to get there tonight.

I've decided to finish off all the quests in my log rather than dropping them. I mean, it's all XP, and I have most of them completed, just not turned in. The one quest I might take the follow up on is the Yeti quest. I love running around scaring the little goblins!

I also have to get my primary profs up to 300, as well as cooking. I have the dumpling recipe from Silithus; I just have to grind out 10 (15 for the points from 285 -> 300) for the quest.

Blacksmithing shouldn't be too bad; I just have to mine the thorium. Enchanting, on the other hand, might require me to buy some mats. I did finally get the Enchant Cloak - Superior Defense recipe from Moonglade, so I have more options for the mats I've collected.

I also dinged Friendly with the Timbermaw dudes. I like the easier rep gains for the older factions (my first three 70's aren't even Neutral with them). So, I picked up the Oldlands 2 H agility enchant; I'm not sure if I'm going to put it on anything, but if I happen to have the mats, I might.

So, with all that said, I think tonight will be full of finishing off quests, topping off professions, and getting to Honor Hold. After that....I believe I'm finally going to start Borean Tundra with Rysteranch....muhuhuhahahahahaha.

Check that one off

The weaponsmith quest, that is. I spent a considerable amount of time mining Iron and Mithril on DV yesterday. For what it's worth, Alterac Mountains seems to be the best area for mining Iron. Badlands comes close, but Alterac has less people in it.

I also got Nitrodax up to 56; Outlands is only two levels away! I'll probably get there tomorrow night, as I can stay up late!

And, VA's surgery is scheduled for Dec 5th, and I know she'd appreciate all of your prayers. She's also wanting to get back into WoW afterward as she thinks it'll greatly help out in her rehab. So, things may be picking up in the guild. If it works out, great; I just hope she doesn't try to push herself too hard and do more harm than good.

If Teurion and VA do start playing again, they mentioned they'd like to start their DeathKnights, so I might leave the Outlands quests alone on Nitro so I can level with them. We'll just have to see.

Still playin' BC

As I've mentioned before, I wasn't done with the Burning Crusade XPac, so...I'm still playing it (as I'm sure you all are tired of hearing). For that matter, I'm still playing vanilla WoW for a bit also.

Nitrodax is a Blacksmith. I did this because

1) I don't have the profession covered.
B) I didn't have easy access to Enchanting rods
#) There is no ##, I just wanted to put that.

I was originally going to skip specialization, but after I read up on it, I saw that the BoP Axes are pretty nice! So, I'll be making her an Axesmith. I'm not really looking forward to grinding the mats for the Weaponsmith quest (I was an idiot and made armor to level up, then DE'd it). I haven't even looked into what I need to do for the Axesmith quest, but I'm sure it's not easy.

But...what's the rush? I mean, the new XPac just came out, my main playing partner (Teurion) is unable to play currently, and I have plenty of time to get my 6 main toons to 80. So what if it takes me a week to mine the mats (it probably won't, but...).

So often, I'm guilty of rushing through stuff to get it done. I get antsy and impatient. I really need something like this project to slow me down and force me to take it easy.

I know, it kind of seems contrary to the last post where I bragged about how fast I'm leveling my newest hunter. And that's why I constantly need to remind myself to be patient. To take it easy and not get too amped up about the game - this really helps me in my home life and keeping the game in perspective.

See, when I get all excited about playing the game and super motivated about leveling/crafting/raiding/etc, I lose perspective in real life, as you all have read about. By pressing the issue of patience and putting up roadblocks (goals that have little value but I'm compelled to complete them), I hope to temper my desire to geek out all the time in game. Rather, I hope that I'm able to drop it in a hot second when something more important (read anything in RL) comes up.

Does it work? Sometimes. This last weekend I had some success and some failure in this area. I opted out of going to a movie with my wife and son, but I did volunteer to cook dinner for my inlaws. (Not justifying either action, just reporting)

I have a burn to get to 58 and Outlands. I really wanted to make 60 by Thanksgiving, but I know that in order to get there I'll probably get sucked into the computer to my family's exclusion. Doh! Can't do that.

So, I come up with a goal that forces me to slow it down and keep perspective. I have a pretty easy time dropping what I'm doing when it's just mining. I can do that any time!

I didn't mean for this post to go the way it has, but I sure needed the pep talk and reminder. I'm not in a rush.....not....in....a.....rush.

Can't be in a rush....

The Jury is Back

...and gorilladins are all win AND overpowered!

Over the weekend, I got little Nitrodax up to 55. I've been doing quite a bit of AoE killing with DV the Gorilladin, and I'm very impressed with his ability to hold aggro on multiple mobs.

For the most part, I allow two Thunderstomps (TS) before I start with the Volleying. Before that, I hit DV's assigned target with a Serpent Sting and maybe throw out a Multi-Shot. Then it's VolleyVolleyVolley. I usually don't get that third Volley off before the mobs are dead, but it just sounds better as VolleyVolleyVolley.

Anyways, hunters, arguably the easiest class to level, just got easier! With Aspect of the Viper being available at...uh, 30?...20?....anyways, a lot lower level....and Steady Shot at 50(!!!!)....and Volley at 40....AND an AoE tanking pet, sheesh, I spend more time traveling between zones than actually killing stuff! I mean, yesterday morning, I did two entire levels (no rest XP - dinged 52 and 53) in 5 and a half hours.

But, before you think this is a whiney piney post for the olden days when you had to level with just a sharp stick and die 50,000 times before getting to the level cap, I absolutely love leveling this fast. I also love being overpowered and on easy mode. I can wait for the challenges in the end game, but leveling, I'll take the easy route. Of course I can always grab a mob that's 5 levels above me if I want a challenge.

And speaking of OP and challenges, yesterday, I grabbed three same level mobs to AoE down for questing purposes and...got a level 55 Devilsaur (elite) as an add! Whoops. I figured I'd try to at least kill the original mobs so I did waste my time and then feign death.

But, as the fight progressed, I saw that DV was doing ok with my Mend Pet and Gift of the Naaru. Suddenly, I thought, I just might be able to pull this off! I smacked an Intimidation to stop some incoming damage, then set off Beastial Wrath to prevent some fearing, and wha-la, dead Devilsaur! I was 53 at the time.

After that, I started pulling bigger groups. Mount up, gather up a bunch of mobs, Hunter's Mark one to dismount, allow DV to TS twice, and burn 'em down. And rake in the XP. While I still won't just grind for XP, it has become much faster to gather up quest mobs and complete quests this way.

Ok, this post has gone on long enough, but I have more to say, so I'll let you all read this wonderful prose and post something later. Cheers!

Not much

Just been leveling Nitrodax; she hit 45. I'm also dreading getting her Enchanting to 300 - it's at 230 right now.

Still haven't quested in Northrend, but at least I can spell it now.

I'm pretty sure I'll be playing Nitro right up to 60 and then start the foray into Northrend with my other toons. Of course, her primary professions have to be up to at least 300.

....and all these little guidelines that I'm making for myself might just get thrown out the window. I reckon we'll just have to see how it goes.

The temptation is getting harder to resist

The temptation to play in Northrend, that is.

I did resist, however, and Nitrodax is up to 40. I have Volley now....and a gorilladin....can you say AoE leveling? I can! Prior to getting Volley, I would round up three or so mobs, Serpent Sting each one, Multishot every time it was on cooldown, and burn them down one at a time. Now, with Volley, I'll be rounding up more, and Volley, Volley, Volley!! woot!

Now, I have to say, all 4 of my hunters love their PuddyTats, but I think, for leveling and soloing, I'm a true convert to my gorilladins. Heck, even Rysteranch has gotten into the swing of things and tamed one last night.

On the subject of apes, while all of my hunters' kitties are named PuddyTat, all of their gorilladins have different names.

Dwarfvader's ape is named PuddyTat. It goes along with his quirky, fun-loving, life is one big party personality. That and he's just plain lazy.

Smoochie was next to get one, and after declining to name it Dwarfvader to spite her "rival", she named it Elsee. Smoochie is a noble, serious Draenai that doesn't suffer fools....and doesn't want to name her pets after them....

Nitrodax got her simian and immediately named it....Dwarfvader. Since she hasn't had to compete with DV for leveling time AND since she relies on him to mine/smelt ore for her Blacksmithing, it's sort of a dig/respect thing for her.

And finally, as I mentioned, Rysteranch got his new gorilladin - a red one - and since he really misses his human tank, he named it Teurion. I'm sure Teurion will love to see that when he returns....lol.

Plan your work and work your plan

Well, WoW really isn't work, but....

I did exactly what I'd planned to do with Rash of the Itching.

I got all my prof caps raised.

I got Nitrodax's Darnasty rep to Exalted very soon after hitting 30.

I got Daxe's Inscription up to 350 and got the prof cap raised for that.

And, I got Nitrodax up to level 38.

The weekend was kinda ho-hum, except for Friday and Sunday nights. On THOSE nights, my wife and I went dancing! Friday was pretty cool - we learned a bit more about the merengue. But, Sunday night was the real deal at the Indiana Roof Ballroom.

The 5 (6 maybe) man combo really put out a great variety of ballroom music from foxtrot and cha-cha to rumba and swing, and of course, waltz. We danced and danced and danced! Toward the end of our time, we got to dance a slow single time swing, which I really enjoyed as it afforded me the opportunity to dance, uh, really close to my beautiful wife.....really close...heh...heh...

Now, I've made no secret of the fact that my wife is the most beautiful person on the planet, but I have to let you all know there was this one moment where she turned, the air caught her hair just right, and...../sigh. I was hit right between the eyes with a huge surge of ZOMGSHE'SBEAUTIFUL!!!

Just thought I'd share. And, no, she doesn't read the blog.

The End Is At Hand!!!!1!!!ONE!

Let me just say, "I'm not done yet."

I'm not done playing BC.

I have an Enchanter/Blacksmith hunter to level and max professions.

I have epic flight to buy for three of my 70's, not counting the aforementioned hunter.

I have rep to grind, gear to get, and recipes to discover.

I have my Alchemy mastery quest to complete.

All that, and more, will be put on the back burner. There's no stopping Rash of the Itching, so I'll be moving along. I've already reserved my copy.

I feel sort of like Ess in that I'd like a couple of more months to finish up some loose ends. And, I will hold off leveling my 70's for a bit just to let the dust settle and allow those quest mobs to go from a 1 second life span to a 2 second life span.

Oh, and I still need to check out the LW recipes, but I'm thinking that DV will get the nod to level first. He can be the Lord of War.

His tagline will be, "4 out of 7 of Dax's toons use some sort of ranged ammunition. The question is, 'How do we get ammo into the hands of the other three?'"

Happy Veteran's Day (belated)

I'd like to belatedly wish all of my military veteran readers a happy Veteran's Day and thank them for their service. As you may or may not know, I spent 9 years "in the rear with the gear" AKA in the Air Force. Both of my brothers served (albeit in a lesser service...*grunt* *grunt*), and my younger brother continues to serve full time in the Army Reserves.

So, Thank You for putting your life on hold to protect my freedoms.

Thank You for leaving your families to ensure my way of life.

Thank You for getting in harm's way in order to uphold this great country.

Thank You for sacrificing everything that you hold dear for everything that I hold dear.

Jesus said this, "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13 NASB. I thank God for Veterans that are willing to lay down their lives for people they don't even know.


Thank You.

VA update

VA is scheduled to have brain surgery in two weeks, and Teurion has decided to cancel their WoW accounts to save money. VA is home from the hospital, but she is very unsteady on her feet and has to be with someone at all times. Your continued prayers are appreciated.

Covered

So, I went to the AH to buy a Silver Rod for my little Enchanter....and there were none to buy. /sigh. I have every profession BUT Blacksmithing covered.

Well, since I hate relying on others and have the alts to prove it, Nitrodax dropped Skinning and picked up Blacksmithing. That little move required that DV get up off his dead butt and do some mining.

And, since I love getting two things done at once, DV get his exploration achievements for Redridge, Darkshore, Ashenvale, The Barrens, and...Durotar! Yeah, I got flagged for discovering Orgrimmar, but I was able to "RUN AWAY!! RUN AWAY!!!"

A little secret for ya: you can discover the Valley of Trials without going into it; just run up the mountains on the outside (SW corner, I believe).

Anyways, BS is up to 183, and I'm really glad that I picked up a manufacturing profession. It gives me plenty of junk to DE. I'm also making a nice profit from selling Silver and Golden Rods.

On another note, I've decided to try and get Nitrodax's rep with Darnasty up to Exalted before level 30 so I can train Kitty Riding. I've finished all the Draenai areas, which provided some crossover rep, and then did everything I could find in Teldrassil. Now I'm almost done with everything in Darkshore and am 6642/21000 toward my goal. I'm thinking that Ashenvale should put me over the top, but if I see that I'm going to hit 30 before I ding Exalted, I might run over to Loch Modan or Westfall to get the crossover rep from those areas.

I got an email from a movie producer (ok, not a professional one...but someone who produces movies IS a movie producer, right?) asking permission to use my songs in a PVE movie; I'll let you all know when it comes out and provide a link. I'm gonna be in a movie!!!

Back to WoW

Last night, I did some work on DV's Engineering. So much work (and AH buying) that DV dinged 375! I still have to collect some of the mats for my Turbo Charged Flying Machine...and 5K, but at least I can make it now. That, and a new gun.

Nitro is up to 18, almost 19 and has Enchanting up to around 82 or so. I need to gather up some more greens for DEing, and I broke down and enchanted an item over and over. The main reason I chose to do this rather than putting it on a vellum is that it only cost one strange dust. And I have plenty.

The closer and closer that Rash of the Itching gets, the more I'm leaning toward leveling DV first. He will be able to make arrows and bullets for the other two (three?) hunters and be able to mote extract as well, which I'm sure will play a big part in leveling all of my professions.

Of course, I'm sure that I'll do some hopping around to take advantage of rest XP, but when I run out of that on all my toons, DV will probably get the nod. Of course, Nitro needs to get to 35 in order to get Ench to 275.

I'm also thinking about WHEN I'll start leveling in Coldlands. I'll be getting all of my new profession caps on the first day, but I absolutely hate competing for mobs/quest items. So I may bide my time over in Outlands (or Oldlands with Nitro) for the first couple of days. I'll still get XP on whoever I play, so it won't be time wasted.

A serious note

Teurion's wife, VA, is in the hospital. It seems that she has some sort of stroke, that may be related to what the doctors have found in the MRI scan - a small mass in her brain.

Today she has a PET scan to further define what's there, and I'm sure they'd appreciate all of your prayers.

OK

Alright.

I have a full house now (Hunters over Priests - a little poker term for ya), so what's the state of their professions?

Smoochie(herb/alch), Rysteranch(skin/LW), and Daxie(tailoring/Jewelcrafting) have all maxed their primary professions.

DV has maxed mining and is 4 points shy of maxing Eng.

Daxe has maxed tailoring and has Inscription at 330 or so.

And Nitrodax is level 11 with Enchanting at 51 and skinning around 20.

What??? Nitrodax? Who's that??

Oops, let the cat out of the bag....

Ding 70 for the fifth time

That's right! Smoochie hit the big 7 oh, and she's rubbing it in DV's face.

phhhhhfffffft!

The big push

Smoochie hit 69 this morning, and I have nearly 6 bars of rest XP left. I'll probably just continue pushing to 70 after I run out of rested XP because Smoochie needs to fly. Period.

Daxe's Inscription demands that his gatherer be able to fly around collecting flowers. So, it's really him that's cracking the whip.

Elsee it is

Yeah, I know, that was quick.

Elsee

It was the God's promise thing that sealed the deal.

I never said that what I do make sense...

And with that in mind, I did 3 SSO dailies on DV, made one Khorium scope, and hopped on over to Smoochie...

....who hit 68 last night. As a little leveling present, I took her out to STV and let her tame a white gorilladin. I'm still playing around with figuring out the AoE tanking thing with the gorilladins (I still need to watch BRK's movie); one thing that I've found out is that you have to individually tag each of the mobs before starting Volley. I had a number of mobs die that I hadn't tagged and couldn't loot/herb.

I'm not the biggest role player out there, but I do enjoy keeping "in character" if it's convenient, which is why DV named his gorilladin PuddyTat. So, with Smoochie's new BFF, I'm having to really think up a good name. While PuddyTat has a nice ring to it, Smoochie definitely would not think that name would be appropriate for a gorilla.

Of course, she is sorely tempted to call it Dwarfvader, but that would just be spiteful. Gorilladin is another name that she's considered, but that's not too personal. And "Honky" and "Cracker" would probably just get me banned....

!!!Hey!!! I just realized that my wife suggested a name for DV's gorilladin (at my asking): Elsee. Or something like that. Now that would work.....El Cee? Ellcey? I reckon I need to look up how to spell that so I can then take the derivative of it and come out with a totally unrecognizable rendering of it.

What to do, what to do, what to do....

I am overwhelmed with things to do in game.

Since DV hit 70 on Monday, I have been playing him almost exclusively:
- Doing Dailies
- Mining
- Grinding Sunfury Bowmen for the Khorium Scope recipe (finally got it last night!)
- Playing around with PuddyTat the Gorilladin

The only reason I jump onto another toon, it seems, is to make something for or send something to DV for his goals. And he's just getting started. Still left on the todo list:
- Mine Addy and Khorium to make Khorium scopes to get my Eng to 375 so I can
- Make a Turbo Charged Flying Machine
- Continue grinding out SSO rep for the ranged weapon and necklace
- Get keyed for Kara
- Level PuddyTat the Gorilladin to 70 (currently at 68)
- Grind out Nagrand Ogres for Consortium rep (must hit Revered for Elemental Seaforium Charges)
- Make a regular Eng Flying Machine

I guess that's the big stuff...but that's just for DV. Daxe and Smoochie need work too....

...at least I'm not bored....haha

A slightly longer post

Last night, DV went out and got him a gorilladin. Now, he did this at the end of the evening, so I didn't really get a lot of time to play around with him.

BUT, I can say that at level 65, he has no problem taking on 4 Bladesfist (I think that's their name) Ogres in Nagrand. I waited to heal him, cast Misdirection on him, shot a Multi-Shot, and Volleyed to my heart's content. He did need a Mend Pet about half way through...he is only 65 ya know...

Now, DV never has been right in the head after the accident and although he's Beastmaster now, he was Survival for a long time, and he's got this weird affinity for engineering, SO it's no surprise that he was going to name his new friend Smoochie.

Of course, a certain Draenai in the house put her hoof down and said something about him "exceeding the patience of this Draenai!!" and threatening to gather up Haris Pilton, the Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftans, and that comic guy to "rectify the situation". What ever that means....

Anyways, he thought better of it and named it.....PuddyTat. I think he's off his meds....again....

....at least I don't have to change my macro.....

Ding 70

DV hit the big 7 oh just 1/2 hour ago. Yay on him!

'nother short post

DV hit 69 yesterday. Went to the Symphony and out to eat for Greek! mmmmm, baklava.....

Still sick

And DV hit 67 and 68 yesterday.

"Bring outcher dead! Bring outcher dead!"

"I'm not dead yet..."

Sick

Yeah, I was sick today, so, I'm just now posting something. Smoochie hit 66 last night and 67 today. She's out of rest xp, so time to start playing DV.

And...I don't feel so well.....*cough* *cough*

Puttering

So, I've been puttering around on Smoochie (who dinged 65 last night), collecting herbs for Daxe to smash up into various pigments. I've fully explored Winterspring, Felwood, Feralas, Tanaris, and Eastern Plaguelands in to process of gathering herbs for Daxe's Inscription habit.

I really like the exploration achievements and plan on completing them all eventually. The fact that I can accomplish two things at once really appeals to my personality. It doesn't even matter what those two things are, for the most part. Two things like, say, collecting herbs and discovering areas (and getting a bit of XP for it!) are more than enough to keep me interested.

Hmmmm...I reckon I'm a simple creature that's easy to keep entertained.....OH, LOOK, SHINEY!!!! What? huh?

I really need to get the vacation pics out of the camera tonight. So, if you all could just remind me....I'd be grateful.

Scuba

Ok, now that I'm at work and all motivation has left me, I'm pretty sure I'll just post a couple of pics and leave it at that.

I'm a PADI certified SCUBA diver (since, uh, last year) and in Cozumel, I went on my very first dive after getting my certification. It...was....COOL!!

I did a two tank dive, which means I did two separate dives with a surface interval in between.

The first dive went down to 80 feet, and we stayed there for 35 minutes, which was 5 minutes over the No-decompression limit. We made sure to include the mandatory safety stop at 15 ft on the way up.

After a surface interval, we went down again to 45 ft for 45 minutes - the No-decompression limit was not exceeded for this dive, and we only had to make a quick 3 minute safety stop at 15 ft.

All of these pics are from the first dive. Enjoy!

The trip down to Houston

We left Friday afternoon at 3:30 pm after my youngest son got home from school. Our plan was to make it to Blytheville, AR to stop for the night. It was approximately 400 miles.

Our route took us through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and finally to Arkansas. Of those states, AR was the only one that I hadn't visited before, so I got to add that to the list of states I've been to.

The next day took us through Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. I'd never been to Ole Miss, so that got added to my little list as well.

In Houston, we stayed with some old friends from Alaska. We stayed with one set of friends, but also got to see another set of friends that lived there as well. The two sets of friends are a couple of brothers (twins) and seem to have to do everything...uh...similar. Including having houses right next to each other with almost identical floor plans. Yeah, they're identical twins...for the most part.

Unfortunately, one of the twins (Brian) was in the hospital, so I didn't get to visit with him very much, but I did spend all day Sunday with his brother - Dane, who I actually knew much better than the hospitalized brother. Dane and I sang together for 7 or 8 years in various iterations of a men's ensemble at our church.

And, on Monday, we set out on the cruise! We sailed on the Carnival Ecstasy with my wife's Aunt and her husband...and his sister.....and my wife's 4 cousins (who are our kid's ages and are good friends with our kids)....and THEIR 4 friends...and our two kids. Whew! There were 15 of us in all.

Blogging while in flight

So, everyone knows that I usually don't blog when I'm not at work (and currently, I'm not at work), but I figured that I'd do a bit of flying around today to complete the Trick or Treat stuff for at least my leveling toons, and probably my 70's.

So, that means flight path city for me and a little blogging for you. yay...I think.

I have several things I'm thinking about, so I'll just eat a lot of Tricky Treats and regurgitate them for you in no particular order.

I like the new achievement system. Yes, there are things that I'll never achieve, but I think I'll have fun doing the ones I can. I'm a very goal oriented person, so this fits in nicely with my bent.

Is it just me, or have the graphics been updated? I'm noticing a lot more detail in the scenery, my spell effects, and...erm...the scenery.

I'll be blogging about my vacation, but I don't want to bore you with a long post (with pictures!), so I'm thinking about boring you with a lot of little posts that I'll schedule in advance so they automatically appear. We'll see if THAT happens.

I felt something this morning that I haven't felt for over a week: hunger. I didn't have time between meals on the cruise ship to get hungry.

I like the new storage system for pets and mounts. I also like the relaxed rules on where you can mount - on the ships, FTW! AND BOOTY BAY TOO!!!

I didn't do any playing around with the new talent trees before the patch, so I reckon I'm coming up to speed now..../shrug. Rysteranch didn't think too much of the Exotic Pets thing, but Smoochie did.

Daxe did officially drop Mining and picked up Inscription. He's doing ok leveling it, but I'm sort of distracted with the Trick or Treating now...But at least I get to pick flowers for him while I do that!

Ok, that's enough for now. I think I'll start working on those vacation posts.

Hmmmmm...

....It seems as though a new patch has been put out....hmmmm....

10 days...

...with no nutjob! So, how was it? Did you survive? Do you still check every minute for a post from me? Well, the wait...is over.

I'll be uploading vacation pics, stories, and illegal shellfish!

But not tonight....laters!

Couldn't do it

Daxe stood there in Honor Hold looking at the Mooncloth Vestments and couldn't drop his PMC suit. /sigh.

So, while I will be dropping mining on him, he'll probably stay a tailor the rest of his life. He's crying softly in the corner of the HH inn...

I'll eventually level another hunter for enchanting, but in the mean time, VA will continue to get pesky emails from me with items and requests for DEing.

On another note, I need to use up some of DV's rest XP so that I get the most out of not playing for a week. I started this morning...and found three Khorium veins in about 40 minutes! Yay on me!


Oh, and Rathskeller's was.../sigh...GREAT!!! ...nom nom nom nom....

This and that

Smoochie hit 64 last night, and I'm losing motivation to level her. But!, I need to get into Mana Thistle and Netherbloom areas, so, ONWARD HO!! erm...not Onward, Ho!....ONWARD HO!! nevermind...

I made my first Primal Might this morning. I might have to make more of them instead of the meta gems.

I leave this Friday for Houston and leave Houston on Monday on a 5 day cruise. The Internet is available on the cruise ship....for $.40 a minute! Suffice to say, I won't be blogging or playing WoW.

I think the time for splitting play between DV and Smoochie has arrived. I'll probably play out Smoochie's rest XP then switch to play DV the rest of the night. We'll just have to see.

Daxe is going to pick up Inscription, and I'm toying with the idea of picking up Enchanting as well. I'd have to give up my PMC set, but at least I have the T4 shoulders, so I'd just have to find a nice chest and belt.

My father-in-law and his wife come in today, so I'm sure I won't be getting very much WoW time for the rest of the week. /shrug. Tonight, we get to go to Rathskeller's. Mmmmm....

/gquit...again!

Yeah, Teurion finally couldn't stand it any more and /gquit last night. I told the guild that he and I were friends IRL, so, no hard feelings, but.../gquit.

So, now Teurion is in charge of our own guild - The Wolfpack (yeah we have the same name over on Ravencrest for our Hordies). We are shooting for resuming raiding some time after WotLK hits, and we all get to 80, of course. I'm pretty sure we'll be focusing on the 10 man content.

On another note, I'm pretty sure you guys know that I have almost all of the primary professions covered, and I'm sad to say that I've come a little late to the party on making some nice money from them. That Alchemy is a nice money maker if you can get the Primals and gems to make Meta gems, which I can do now.

DV mines up the Primal Earth, Addy ore, and Fel Iron ore, as well as sucks up the Motes of Water in Zangar.

Daxie prospects the ore for the needed gems.

Smoochie combines all the mats into a nice meta gem and sends it to Daxie.

Daxie cuts the gem and sends it to my bank toon to sell.

The down part is that I can only make Tanking meta gems right now. And the market seems to be...uh....soft. As in, I haven't sold one yet. Yeah, just missed the boat on that one, I think. But, then again, I'm behind the curve due to not playing before BC came out (ok, 1 month before BC came out) and really not getting up to speed until this year.

So, I guess I'm looking forward to being on the leading edge for WotLK for getting the most out of my crafting professions. I'll need it for DV and Smoochie's flying mounts!

God is gracious

The title says it all. And every once in a while (when I'm paying attention), I get a little wake up call from the Lord. This weekend was one such incident.

Many of you know the struggles that I've had balancing my WoW life and my real life, especially my relationship with my wife. I can be obsessive and single focused in an unhealthy way; I am a man of extremes, either hot or cold, but almost never lukewarm. My wife is VERY longsuffering...lol.

So, we are planning on going on a cruise next week (yay on us!), and my wife has this dress that she wore on our last cruise (2004 or thereabouts). The dress....is......it, uh ..... oh ....my .... goodness. ...

Words tend to fail me when I see that dress on her. I get all droolly, slack jawed, and generally can't take my eyes off her. That dress was made (not literally it's off the rack) for one person - my wife! It fits her like a glove, and she looks radiant in it!

Just seeing her try the dress on reminded me of her incredible beauty. And when we had to try out some dance moves to see if she could dance in it (she could), I fell in love with her even more. I can't wait to have her wearing that dress and hanging on my arm on the cruise. All of the other women will be green not only with seasickness, but also envy! All of the guys will wonder how a slack jawed loser like me could snag a knockout like her.

And I will smile...and smile...and smile. If you guys are lucky, I'll post a picture, but I'm warning you now, I'm not responsible for any feelings of despair or suicidal thoughts because she's taken....with me!

I really am fortunate to have her love, despite my boneheadedness. God is so gracious.

On to Terokkar

Smoochie is now 63 and has finished HP(for the most part) and Zangar . Yeah, I still have to kill the Rockflayer Matriarch, but I'm planning on skipping the Colossal Menace quest. I'm already Honored with HH, so I grabbed the Greater Agility Elixer recipe, and I'm not using the Scout's arrows from CE because....

....So, Dwarfvader has the Addy bullet recipe, but Smoochie uses bows and there were no good guns available on the AH.....

...What to do, what to do...hmmmmm....well, those Sunfury Archers drop the Addy Arrow Machine recipe, and they're only, what - level 67-69? I'm betting DV can (slowly and carefully) farm these guys.

And off to Netherstorm I run (on DV of course, silly!). I picked up the Toshley's Station, Ruuan Weald, and Area 52 flight points on the way and arrived at Mana Forge Coruu. I found a little archer, sicced PuddyTat on her and....got two. Whoopsie.

Alrighty, I'm a Survival Hunter, let's see how does this thing work? Oh yeah, Wyvern Sting. Right. I trapped, slept, and feigned death, and, of course PewPew'd my butt off! In the end, I survived! So I loot one of the mobs and the recipe is right there! Yay on me. I looted the other and hearthed.

I had enough ore to make the Addy Arrow Machines, so I shipped them off to ole Smoochie. Yay, she doesn't need CE rep for the Warden's arrows or the HH rep for that ammo either. Cool!

I did some other alting around so that Smoochie could transmute her first Meta gem. My plans for self sufficiency are coming to fruition!

Herb Smoochie and the Zangarmarsh Bash

Just want to remind my viewers that this blog is a record of my characters' progress so that my swiss cheese brain doesn't have to keep track of it.

I messed around in HP and Zangar yesterday. I need Zangar stuff so I can get Unidentified Plant Parts so I can properly grind Cenarian Expedition rep. Also, there are a number of easy quests there for a level 60 toon.

I need HP for Honor Hold rep in order to get the Greater Agility potion recipe. I need to be honored to buy it.

So, I'm bouncing back and forth between the zones as I feel like it. I've completed almost all of the quests available to me at Telredor and have spent quite a bit of time in the Dead Mire killing and herbing the withered giants and bog lords. I have found that I really do enjoy that! AND, I get some nice herbs as well as the aforementioned Unidentified Plant Parts!

Speaking of herbs, I finally made some pots yesterday and....discovered a flask!! The Flask of Pure Death! From what I've heard, it's a highly sought after recipe...for another month or so...lol.

And lastly, Smoochie hit 61 and was able to turn in a crapload of Bog Lord Tendrils for Sporeggar rep.

So far...

Preliminary tests show that I may be spending some time grinding out the Withering Giants and Bog Lords of the Dead Mire. Motes of Life, Outlands Herbs, Unidentified Plant Parts, and Sporeggar rep are all great reasons to kill those things, not to mention getting XP at the same time!

I was surprised to get Dreaming Glories, Felweed, and Ragveil off the herbing process as well! I might just have to level my Alchemy by killing these guys as well. Sweet!

EDIT: Oh, yeah, and Smoochie did hit 60 last night and got her epic Elly!!

Hellfire Penn. still stinks

Yeah, I really can't wait to get to the cool, refreshing atmosphere of Zangarmarsh, but, although Smoochie hit 59 last night (and 300 in both Cooking and First Aid), I will still be in HP for a while longer.

I am considering, once I hit 60, grinding on Withered Bog Lords for Unidentified Plant Parts and Motes of Life....as well as Sporeggar Rep. I have 110 of the UPP, so I'd need 250 more in order to properly grind Cenarion Expedition rep. I'll just have to see how quickly "herbing" the Withered Bog Lords gets old, but working on two reps and getting Motes of Life as well as XP is pretty appealing....

The "more later"

Yes, Smoochie hit the big five eight last night and made her way through the Dark Portal. I still have some Oldlands stuff to do - namely First Aid (259) and Cooking (285), but after tonight, I should be in Outlands full time. I have the cloth to get to 300 First Aid and am poised to head to Silithus for those last 15 Cooking points.

An interesting side note is that I was able to level my Herbalism to 375 without picking a single herb in Outlands. That's right, I leveled Herbalism solely in Oldlands! Now, I didn't just grind the skill, but I did go out of my way a couple of times to pick some flowers. So, for the most part, I leveled it while I was attaining my character levels.

I also got my Alchemy up to around 310 or so. I can't wait to get some Felweed and make some cool pots! That Onslaught pot looks pretty sweet!

Picture = 1K words

More later.

Just for the record

I want to be the first one to go on record (that I know of) with my designations for each of the main areas in World of Warcraft. I have already used:

Azeroth (including Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor) lands: Oldlands.

Burning Crusade lands: Outlands.

And now, introducing:

Wrath of the Lich King Northend lands: Coldlands.

There you have it, dispense as needed.

Closer and closer

Last night Smoochie gained two levels to 48 and should hit that magical level 50 before Monday. This means I need to get my Alchemy up to at least 275 so I can train as soon as I hit 50.

It has been a nice thing to have my Herbalism cap raised to 375 as I've been getting skill points off some of the herbs I've been picking. It would be nice to have the same thing for Alchemy - getting skill points above 300 with Oldlands recipes.

Hmmm....That gets me thinking.....I could get some nice skill points above 375 by collecting the mats for a couple of Outlands items and waiting until WotLK to make them. (As an aside, I did read a good strat like this for leveling - complete 25 quests in Outlands, but don't turn them in until after installing WotLK)

So, I may have some gathering/hording to do before WotLK of other mats....

More prep work

So far, Smoochie is averaging a level a day, which is what I was hoping (yeppers, dinged 45 last night). I also engaged in some spoiler activity (WotLK spoiler alert for my faithful reader) in scoping out Inscription.

LEAVE NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT THE SPOILER INFO!!

Ok, now that I've chased away all of my readers, I'll jot down a note or two.

It turns out that Inscription will most likely pair with Herbalism, as it takes combinations of herbs to make the different inks (as of yesterday anyways). If nothing changes, it also looks like it will take combos of 4 or so different herbs, which means that the Herbalism market should get a significant bump due to Alchemists getting some demand competition.

I'm glad that I rolled an Herbalist now instead of later! Since I read that, I've started hording herbs (all of them) in anticipation of a bull market soon after WotLK is released. I don't think it will start the day that it is released, but certainly by that weekend, the market should show a significant upward trend as players flush with cash start leveling Inscription.

In order to store all of these Herbs, I finally created a guild for my bank toon. I've purchased one tab and will likely purchase one or two more before Nov. 13th.

I think that Inscription is going to do for Herbalism what Jewelcrafting did for Mining - namely, the market will see a big spike that will last for month or two and then settle down to a higher level than today. Yes, we will see a lot more Herbalists, but I don't think that they will provide an even counter to the demand.

So, which one first?

Assuming that I get everything done before WotLK comes out, which 'toon am I going to level to 80 first? Each of my characters have compelling reasons....

Daxe, my Holy Priest, is going to be my inscriptionist. Assuming that tailoring will still be a must for clothies, I can probably level his Inscription to max without leveling him and level his tailoring by feeding him cloth from a hunter. Daxe will probably not be first.

Daxie, my other Holy Priest, is my jewelcrafter. Assuming the same stuff as Daxe, I can't see Daxie being the first to 80 either.

Rysteranch, my Hunter, is my leatherworker/skinner. This is the best geared hunter that I have and can easily blow through the first couple of levels. Unfortunately, leatherworking is not as useful as it was pre-BC, so I'm not sure if he should be first. On a side note, this is my favorite hunter, so I may pick him for sentimental reasons.

Dwarfvader, another Hunter, is my miner/engineer. The hunter has a very good reason for getting to 80 first - his professions. He is able to supply my other two hunters with ammo and possibly weapons.

Smoochie, another Hunter, is my herbalist/alchemist. This hunter also has a very good reason for getting to level 80 - HER professions. She would be able to provide elixers/potions/whatevers to ALL of my toons.

Of course....none of this factors in leveling another hunter for enchanting.....

Productive night

Nno, not provocative!....Productive!


Last night, Smoochie did well in her quest to catch up to my 70's.

She attained level 44.

She got her Herbalism to 300 and picked up the new cap to 375 at Honor Hold.

She killed not one, but TWO rare spawns in Swamp of Sorrows. And, yes, one of them was a level 45 elite that she took down at level 43 (have I mentioned that I love hunters?). One of the rares dropped a level 40 green quality plate "of the Bear" helm...oh yeah!

She opened up a chest and lo and behold, "Heaven's Light", a level 40 blue quality one hand mace was in it! I sold it for 160 gold!

Not bad....not bad!

Preparing

Ok, so the Blog Azeroth shared topic for "What are you doing to prepare for WotLK?" was a couple of months ago. I've never claimed to be on top of things.....or even current.....or not subject to massive amounts of procrastination (not that I ever intended to write about that topic anyways).

So, now that the ship has sailed...the train has left the station....and the horse is out of the barn, I'll write about what I'm doing, or want to do, before the XPac comes out.

Firstly, I have switched back my focus to my Alliance characters, so everything I'll be talking about is related to my toons on Kael'thas.

Currently, I'm leveling Smoochie, my Herbalist/Alchemist. I'd like to get her to the mid 60's before thinking about my other toons. At the very least, I'd like to get both of her professions up to the 375 cap. I do need to research which specialty I want her to be.

After I'm happy with Smoochie, I'd like to balance leveling her and DV to 70 by taking advantage of the built up rest XP. I'm pretty sure that I won't be able to get both of them to the cap before it moves up to 80, but I'd really like to give a good try.

While I'm leveling DV, I'd also like to max out his engineering (I believe mining is already maxed). And, if the next patch includes Inscription, then I'd like to drop Daxe's mining to pick that up and get it leveled.

So, there you have it. I seriously doubt whether or not I'll be able to accomplish all of that, but sure will keep me busy. I have given notice that I won't be raiding until after WotLK comes out, so that will free up Tue/Thu, but, of course, I'm sure that once I tell my wife, she'll find something for me to do on those nights....lol.

Smoochie is HOT!

I got Smoochie up to level 43 this past weekend, and I think that she might be my next 70. It'd be nice if I could get her there before the XPac discombobulates everything. Of course, I'm not planning on going to Northend the first couple of weeks just to let things settle out.....and, I do have 3 70's to level anyways!

And speaking of 70's, Daxie got out and healed the Brewfest seasonal boss. We summoned him 3 times but didn't see any loot we could use. Oh, an Epic mount dropped, but I lost the roll. After that, I went over to Dun Morogh and got wasted fighting the Dark Iron Dwarves. My screen was totally fuzzy when I was done. Good Times!!

Epic Kara

Last night was the fastest Kara run that I've ever been part of. Now, we skipped the two dragons, so I'm not bragging about a full clear, but, from the first horse to killing Prince, we spent 3 hours in there.

We cleared Lower Kara in 1 hour and 10 minutes and had Curator down by the 1.5 hour mark. No, Maiden did not drop Teurion's gauntlets...lol, but two bosses decided to drop some hunter loot! I got the Helm off Shade and a pair of (leather) shoulders off Chess.

RysteranchNE also hit Exalted with Violet Eye...finally!

Oh, and Smoochie, the Ally Alchy, is up to 38.

The Monday Morning Hunter Update

...on Tuesday. Oh, yeah, I had yesterday off, so no update.

RysteranchNE got his first bit of T4 (as noted last Friday) and went to ZA as well as Gruul's. I didn't get much done in Gruul's except incur some wife aggro..whoops! And I had been doing so good as of late in that area.

RysteranchTR hit 65 some time last week...and remains there.

Daxen is now 33. Yeah, I guess I've been playing her a lot. Mining is up to 181 or so and Jewelcrafting is at 118. Man that JC leveling stinks.

Daxe has left Anvilmar and made her way to Ravencrest.

HEY, HOW'D THAT PRIEST GET IN HERE???? THIS IS A HUNTER UPDATE!!!! shesh, impertinent priests!

T4 Baby!!

Last night, RysteranchNE finally got his first piece of T4 gear - the gloves. I also collected my one hundreth Badge and picked up the 100 BoJ pants from the vendor. Luckily, I had the cash or mats to get them up to speed on enchants and gems, so I'm looking forward to testing them out.

On another note, even though I topped the damage meter last night, Murali gave me a run for my money...in his blues! I probably need to invest some time in actually paying attention to efficient shot rotations. My "if it isn't on cooldown, mash the icon" style just might not be the best DPS that I can be providing. Sure, my DPS might go up, but it probably won't be as much fun....

Steady...auto....steady....auto.....steady.....auto.....

vs.

ArcaneSteadyKillCommandMultiSteadyAutoSteadyArcaneKill... hey, how'd that auto get in there???

/shrug

On Raiding...again

First of all, let me apologize for misspeaking in my last post. It seems that although Daxe and Daxie have both been to ZA, Rysteranch had not...until last night that is.

So, last night, Rysteranch the NE became a ZA raider, and I got to see my first ZA boss go down. We had three tries on the boss before the timer expired, and unfortunately didn't get it done. We did eventually kill him even though we were tankless at 2%.

We went on to the eagle boss. The first time through the gauntlet (yeah, we did it later in the evening too...), we did a great job! We had no deaths! That gave us about three tries on the eagle dude, and we all learned a lot about the fight. After respawns, we cleared the gauntlet again and tried two more times before the raid was called. Our best attempt got him down to 37%, and next week, I think we're going to him first, so LOOK OUT!!

As far as my place on the damage meters, I thought our awesome Ret Pally was going to give me a run for my money for first place after the first couple of pulls. I settled into my button mashing routine, though, and soon I was topping the meter. I ended up providing 19% of the raid's damage and remained the number one damage dealer.

Thursday is Kara, so I'm hoping to get those last 6 badges that I need for the 100 badge legs. Of course it will suck gemming and armor kitting them, but they should be a significant upgrade to my D3 Beast Lord legs.

And, on a sad note, it appears that Deathrender has deleted his blog..../cry.

Hunters, hunters, hunters

I have come to the conclusion that I love playing hunters. Yes, I still enjoy healing, but I rarely do it any more. So, with that in mind, I am going to make a snapshot post about my hunters.

Rysteranch
Race: Night Elf
Spec: Beast Master
Level: 70
Profs: Skinning/Leatherworking
This is my highest level hunter and my raider. Currently, he is in Kara and ZA.

Dwarfvader
Race: Dwarf
Spec: Survival
Level: 66
Profs: Mining/Engineering
This is the odd uncle of my hunters. I enjoy the SV spec in that I have to play a different way than normal. While Super Traps is awesome, I really can't wait until I get some Beast Lord stuff to make it totally ridiculous! I can see him becoming my non-pally tank choice for instances.

Rysteranch
Race: Troll
Spec: Beast Master
Level: 64
Profs: Skinning/Leatherworking
Here is my very first toon, who has enjoyed a bit of a resurgence in attention and leveling. I had to do quite a bit of "fixing" my learning mistakes. The latest error that I had to correct was getting his PuddyTat leveled from 50 to 62; I had switched my poor kitty out for a pig, but have since had a change of heart and went back to my cat.

Smoochie
Race: Draenai
Spec: Beast Master
Level: 32
Profs: Herbalism/Alchemy
I rolled this hunter in order to have an herbalist/alchemist. What I have found so far is that Gift of the Naaru ROCKS! Her PuddyTat is REALLY a PuddyTank!

Daxen
Race: Blood Elf
Spec: Beast Master
Level: 27
Profs: Mining/Jewelcrafting
This is my first Blood Elf hunter. I really like the Mana Tap (not as much as Gift of the Naaru). I recently ran out of rest XP, so she's chillin' for a bit.

Daxynn
Race: Blood Elf
Spec: Beast Master
Level: 18
Profs: Herbalism/Alchemy
This character is tasked with leveling with Teurion's and VA's Blood Elves, as well as getting two profs covered for my Horde team. It's both fun and frustrating playing as a team - fun, in that we can do some interesting things as a trio. Frustrating in that I don't have all of my tools (*cough* Feign Death*cough* *cough*).

So, I have 5 leveling hunters, all of whom have their very own PuddyTat!

Ennui

Yep, I has it, and not in an "Ennui ole cuss" way either! I logged onto my Troll yesterday to wait for Teurion and VA to run our Hordies, but they didn't show. So, I did some quests, but just generally felt bored with the whole thing. I ended up turning it off and watching TV with my wife.

I really don't know if this is a result of WotLK or just boredom with the game. I reckon I'll find out sooner or later.

4 Day weekend!

Yep, just got back from a four day weekend. Got in some WoW, went to the Creation Museum down in Kentucky, and enjoyed the last concert of the summer at Conner Prairie, which featured the wonderful music of the River City Brass Band.

On the WoW front, I didn't do too much. I cleaned up my Horde list (which I'll be updating soon), leveled my hunters a bit, and tried three manning Wailing Caverns. The WC run didn't turn out so well; we ended up wiping a couple of times, but did manage to down three of the serpent lords before we had to call it. Of course, we were trying to do it at level 17/18, so we didn't have a number of the tools to play our toons like we've become accustomed to playing. We may try again at level 19 or 20.

The Creation Museum was pretty neat. Most of the museum is dedicated to comparing "big idea" or broad concept differenes between the theory of evolution and Biblical creation. I would have preferred to have more examples of specific designer lifeforms (things that could not have evolved to work the way they do), more emphasis on the dearth, nay, the absolute void, of transitory fossils, and more scientific hard data that supports creation over evolution.

One display did highlight the wealth of information that the eruption of Mount St. Helens provided to creation scientists in the formation of canyons, coal beds, and those mysterious upright fossilized trees. It also showed how fossils can be formed quite rapidly given the right circumstances.

On Sunday evening, we trekked up to Northern Indianapolis (Noblesville/Fishers area) to see the River City Brass Band. It was absolutely fabulous!!! The tuba solo was one of my favorites, as well as one of the 12th Street Rag, which featured the trumpet section. The thing I liked about the ragtime piece was the trombone section standing up and answering the trumpets during their little solo time. It gave the appearance that they were questioning the trumpets or trying to steal the spotlight. In the end, after their last interruption, the WHOLE REST OF THE BAND stood up, and turned to the trombone section to "answer" them! It was hilarious!!

The evening ended with fireworks and the band playing the best military service song ever! "Off we go, into the wild blue yonder!", yeppers, the Air Force theme song! My friend that had given us the tickets was perturbed....he's a Marine....heh heh.

So, there you have it. A very nice weekend, if I do say so myself!

Yay on Sarah Palin

As a former resident of Alaska, I'm very encouraged by McCain's selection of Gov. Sarah Palin for his V.P. Yay on her!

In WoW news, we got our Horde toons to level 12, have collected all the Ragefire Chasm quests, and are primed to three man RFC.

But tonight is Kara on the Alliance side, so I reckon it'll have to wait.

For the Horde, part II

With apologies to Deathrender, we decided to roll Horde toons on Ravencrest because I already have a small Dax army over there. So, last night we got things rolling -

- We got up to level 7.
- We picked up our professions.
- We got a guild together - The Wolfpack

Tonight, I'm not sure how far we'll get due to RL stuff, but Thursday night we might be able to get a little RFC in! I really am hoping that we can three man most of the instances to maximize our drops and XP, but we'll just have to see.

For the Horde!

I logged onto my Horde toons yesterday just to see how they were doing, and I was surprised to find myself guildless. It appears that Kruel was disbanded (I couldn't find it on the armory at all). I guess that not logging in for 140 some odd days took its toll on the guild, and they couldn't handle life without me. OH THE HUMANITY!!!!

One of the reasons I logged on was that Teurion, VA, and I are thinking about leveling alts together on that server just for giggles and it helps to have a sugar daddy around (thanks Rysteranch!).

In other news, Smoochie hit 33, and one of our guild leaders quit the guild. I'm pretty sure the two aren't related because the guy quit BEFORE Smoochie dinged, so you all can stop worrying that I'm causing undue drama....again....

On the rise

My little alchemist turned 32 over the weekend. Smoochie doesn't care about taking her time and enjoying the ride...she has a goal of 340 alchemy. Of course that requires level 50 in order to train the Master level, so she's burning through the levels as quick as she can. Currently, both Herbalism and Alchemy are over 200, so she's sittin' pretty for level 35 and the Artisan level.

One thing that I've done differently on Smoochie is that I swapped out PuddyTats! I let go my starting level black tiger striped cat and tamed an orange one from Stranglethorn. And...Ohhhhhh, she's sooooooo purdy!

Last week (Tue/Thu) in Kara, Teurion solo tanked the entire thing! Good ole PuddyTat (Rysteranch's, not DV's or Smoochie's...) got to Growl as a Hateful Bolt soaker and Gouge recipient. Rysteranch did top the Damage meter both Tue and Thu, although he took his time getting there on Thu. He got the Fiend Slayer Boots for his troubles, oh, and a number of badges. His total is 73 (maybe 72) and is saving up for his 100 badge pants.

Interesting....

Hmmmm....looks like BRK left AC.

Not making any implications, just noting some news.

EDIT: Got an email from Stephi. She says the Armory is acting wonky and that BRK is still part of AC. So, false alarm!

On raiding

So, I've taken up raiding on Tue/Thu nights with the blessing of my wife. I'm really trying to put the game into it's proper place on the priority list, while still accomplishing what I'd like to do in game.

Currently, Blood for Blood (B4B) has two teams in Kara and is working its way toward 25 mans. We took on Gruul's lair last week, but didn't make it past High King. Also, there are a couple of people who have a toon in each of the two Kara raids, so we still don't have the bodies to fully fill out the 25 man raids. So, right now, we're still in the building/gearing phase of progressing out of Kara and into the big leagues.

This week was the first time that we've done the Tue/Thu Kara thing. We're shooting for 2.5 hour sessions with an end time of 9 server, which is very firm. The start time is a bit soft due to people not logging on or forgetting about the raid, so it takes some time to form up. Once we get formed up, though, we kick some serious tail!

On Tue, we cleared Lower Kara (Attunmen to Opera) in about 1.5 hours, and last night cleared from the back door all the way through to Prince (skipped the two dragons) in about 1.5 hours. We then had about an hour to work on Nightbane, which resulted in 4 wipes.

Hopefully, once people get committed to the schedule, we can clear to Curator or Shade on Tue and finish up the rest of the bosses on Thu. At the very least this sort of time table will allow us quite a bit of time to work on the two dragons for progression kills.

And, it is my hope that once we have Kara on farm, we can switch the raid on those days to either ZA or 25 mans. Personally, I'd rather go with the 25 mans because there is so much more content down that road, but of course that depends on making 24 best friends that don't mind repair bills, wipes, and discouraging fights.....oh fun!

Nuttin'

DV cranked out the last XP required for level 66 and has all of this level stored up in rest XP.

Smoochie finished up her starting areas and has moved on to Redridge. She's level 22. Today, after work, I believe Teurion will be running me through WC for drops. Yay!

Rysteranch went to Gruul's and Kara - had a great time, didn't get any drops. Did see Legacy, but lost the roll for it.

Daxie healed Kara on Saturday night but could only stay through Opera. No drops.

Dax and his son went to GenCon on Saturday. We saw the largest collection of geeks, nerds, and wasteoids that we've ever seen. I met up with Deathrender, and he showed me how to play Magic: The Gathering. Good times!

Gruul's Lair

On Friday night, my wife went scrapbooking with her mom, so I got to go to Gruul's Lair! We are still trying to get our stuff together as a raid, so expectations weren't very high. And it turned out that we couldn't make it past the second guy in the kill order. But, each attempt went a bit smoother, and we did progress a little bit even if we didn't down the High King.

Oh, and I was very happy with the DPS meter.

Reckon I'll need a /ginvite

I like hunters for the gathering professions. I also like to pair up the complementary professions on a single toon instead of splitting them up.

So, instead of jackin' around with my current 'toon's professions, I made a Draenai Hunter Herbalist/Alchemist. Smoochie is 10 and will get her PuddyTat today after work.

The plan is to balance her and DV's rest xp to make the most of it, but we'll see. As always, the new toon is like a breath of fresh air and motivation to play her is high. Whereas the older toon is in a harder area, and the grind is a bit more daunting. Add to that the desire to level my Herb/Alch and poor DV gets extra drinking time in the inn. /shrug.

Oh, and yes....this one is definitely an alt.....

I've been thinking...uh oh....

So, while everyone else has their panties in a bunch about the plethora of information that is swirling around regarding Wrath of the Lich King some of which will not make the final cut, other of which will be nerfed heavily after player outcry, and most of which I could care less about, (How is THAT for an introductory sentence!!), I am not through with the game as it is right now.

I like being self sufficient. As a three year veteran of Runescape, I had trained every skill/profession into a decently high level on my one character. When I started playing WoW, I was very disappointed that I was limited to two primary professions, and almost immediately created alts to pick up all the other ones. It was the Ryster team, Horde side, on Spinebreaker.

When I rerolled Alliance on Baelgun, I decided to level just a couple of toons (a priest and a hunter) that I really enjoyed playing. Of course, this limited my options for professions, and I had to choose what I thought would be most useful. Eventually, though, I started rolling alts to cover the other primary professions.

Then I transferred to Kael'thas. Once again, I had to choose which toons (and professions) to transfer and which ones would get left behind. I ended up transferring my three 70's and along with them tailoring, mining, skinning, leatherworking, and jewelcrafting. I switched my little hunter alt to Engineering from skinning and had 6 professions covered.

The only other professions that I really cared about were Herbalism and Alchemy, so I created a druid to cover those. But I am having a very hard time leveling her due to my dislike of melee fighting.

And FINALLY, I get to my point. I thinking about rolling another hunter...to be my Herbalist/Alchemist. We'll see....lol

Oh Lordy

I just realized that my blog turned one year old this week. I think it was Sunday the 10th. Well....Happy Freakin' Birthday to me!

EDIT: Uh, I really need to check my facts...it was the 9th....

The weekend that was

I'm running out of wrap up titles. Just remember, this is not only a drama laama blog, but also a personal record of what the heck I've been up to in game.

So, DV hit 65 and 375 mining.

Rysteranch went to Kara on Saturday and topped the damage meters by a good amount (21% of the damage done for the Raid). We did Attunmen, Moroes, Maiden, Opera (Oz), Curator, Shade, and Prince.

Daxie helped out in Kara on Friday for Curator, Shade, and Chess. We tried Prince a couple of times, but couldn't get it done.

And, yes, Rysteranch and Daxie have different Raid ID's, but both went in mostly all guild (Blood For Blood) runs. Unfortunately, there were at least two of us that had toons in both runs, so it's not like we have 20 unique people, just 20 available toons. So, 25 man Raids aren't as close as they may appear. Once Teurion gets back, we'll be looking into getting a Tue/Thu Kara clear together with a possible transition to 25 mans on those days. The Mrs. is ok with two nights of raiding; it's just when it seems to be all the time is when she feels like I'm sucked into the computer.

And speaking of.....the Mrs. and I went dancing Sunday evening. The band was ok, but tended to play way too many Foxtrots (which I don't like) and Swings (which are ok), and didn't play enough Rumbas (Oh....YEAH!) or Cha-Cha's (I like them too!). They did play two Tangos, but we don't know that dance yet...sad for us. On the upside, we did get to wear our new dance shoes. They're definitely better than the regular shoes we've been wearing, but I think they'll take a bit of time to get broken in.

And Kyle Busch won another race. Personally, I don't like the guy (arrogant and snot-nosed IMO), but I will give him props for gettin' it done.

Oh

...and DV hit 64 yesterday, ran SP, UB, Ramps, and BF, and was sick all day with stomach cramps.

I learned'd something

I finally got around to putting a meta gem in DV's goggles. I figured I'd get at least the socket bonus (+4 agi) even if I didn't have the combination of gems for it to work.

Now, I had four gems socketed in various parts of my clothing:
2 purple
1 yellow
1 red

In order for my meta gem to work, it requires at least:
2 red
2 blue
2 yellow

So, I wasn't too surprised that when I looked at my goggles, I needed 2 yellow.....wait a minute! The reds and blues were already covered! That meant that one of the purples was being counted for both a red AND a blue! So all I had to do was replace my red one with an orange one.....yes, that's right, I could make my meta work with just 4 gems socketed!

I switched over to Daxie, cut up an orange gem (and another red one just in case my theory fell through), sent them to DV, and socketed it. Sure enough, that +12 agi/+ 3% crit gem lit up! /hampsterdance.

So, it turns out that dual color gems (orange, green, purple) count as BOTH colors for meta gem requirements, while they count as EITHER color for socket placement. Stop the presses!

Leveling in Outlands

Yesterday, DV hit the big six three. I'm trying to do several things, regarding rep grinds, with him to make end game easier but have to balance that with making the trip palatable as well.

So, I didn't start questing in Outlands until I was Friendly with Honor Hold; I also happened to hit 60 before I started questing.

One of the keys to easier leveling is to start the next area well before you are done with the current area. I did a number of Honor Hold quests, and when they started to get to the more difficult ones that involved lvl 61 & 62 mobs, I ran over to Zangarmarsh to pick up the lower level quests there.

I had collected quite a number of plant parts, so DV was able to hit Honored with CE right off the bat. And, for some reason, a level 61 in Zangar seems to be easier to kill than a level 61 in Hellfire, so the quests in the marsh seemed to go quicker than their counterparts in the peninsula.

At level 62, I ventured into Terokkar Forest to investigate what was going on with the druids. I completed all of the quest chain up to getting the box from Tuurem.

So, that made three active zones that I had quests in that were all appropriate level. I don't know about you, but I think that Oldlands trains a person to finish a zone before moving on. Ok, that might just be my hang up - I like to finish a zone before I move on. But, I'm finding the going much easier by seeking out the beginning quests for the next zone when the current zone's quests start getting harder - even if it means I have things to do in three different zones.

After I dinged 63, I went ahead and finished up all of my Hellfire quests (and dropped one that I really wasn't interested in). I'm back down to just Zangar and Terokkar for my current zones, but when I hit 64, I might just have to see what Nesingwary is up to....

/shrug

I know that it's probably not healthy, but I tend to cut things off after a certain point. The situation with Sidhe Devils, Pox Arcanum, and the like being the case in point. After I saw that I was in a no win situation, I chose, last Friday, to be done with the whole thing - there is only so much grief that I'll put up with.

So, I've moved on. My new guild, Blood for Blood, who picked up Teurion and VA last week when they quit SD has been great to play with. I've been in on a couple of runs with them - even went to ZA on Daxie on Sat. evening. So far, we're getting along and getting to know each other.

Dwarfvader got some play over the weekend as well; he's almost up to 63. Teurion is over in Ohio for the next couple of weeks or so and has terrible lag at his hotel. So, we probably won't be running anything together. One of my new guildies, Cam, also is an awesome pally tank, so I've been getting my fix from him...lol.