Rogue Thoughts

Currently, Jay and I are leveling our rogues in the Blood Elf starting areas; last night we completed Eversong Forest and moved on to Ghostlands.

During our time together, we built campfires under water (building fires levels your Cooking until skill point 80 or so), we fished our way to the 100 fish achievement, and we killed a whole lotta bad guys!

We have sort of settled on a method for taking down the single (and some multiple) target pulls. Jay usually pulls with a Throw while I move toward the mob's path. After the mob passes me, I've already turned around and positioned myself for a Backstab; Jay, on the other hand, has started toward the mob in order to engage it in melee.

If we time it right, I get off a Backstab and aggro the mob, then Jay can get off a Backstab. It usually varies who tanks from there, but it really doesn't matter as the mob doesn't last much longer. We almost never have to stop between pulls for healing due to our 1337 dps.

Most of the time, I try to Backstab the mob as it nears Jay, but unfortunately, there are times when I jump the gun and have stopped the mob well before it reaches Jay. Our little strategy doesn't work as well when I do that....

One thing that will help out here soon is getting Feint so we can actually trade aggro at certain times. Between Gouge, Evasion, and trading aggro, we should be able to take down some much higher level or elite mobs with some good coordination. We'd probably need to get the WoW chat or some Vent going for that.

Pretty soon (we're currently level 13), I'm looking forward to hittin' the Battlegrounds. As a team, I'm thinking that we can do a lot more disrupting and just plain killing than we could separately. I also think we'll have a much higher survival rate as our enemies hopefully won't be expecting a second rogue. Two Saps, oh yeah!

I'll have to see where we're at, but I'm thinking that the Tranquillien Exalted rep cloak might be a good substitute for the Sentry cloak. The rep isn't that hard to grind, especially since we can turn off XP and continue questing. There are also two repeatable quests that can be completed with items that can be bought off the Auction House or collected by other toons.

So, Jay lucked out the other day, and I lucked out last night as the poison vendor in Tranquillien had the twink throwing knives in stock. +2 agi is nothing to sneer at! Now we just have to hit level 14 to equip them.

Sarah Palin has a new book coming out, Going Rogue; I'm wondering if reading that would help me out....

Caught!

Well, Jay, over at Fuzzy Soup, tracked me down last night.

Now, I've been pretty much playing by myself (not with, you sicko!), and I was really surprised by my elation at his whisper. I guess I'm not that anti-social.

Anyways, after some chit chat, we decided to level some toons together for the 19 or 29 bracket in the Battlegrounds. So, we hopped over to Andorhal and started our rogues. We got to level 6 by the end of our play time.

I've decided to level my Leatherworker over there (she's a hunter) in order to provide some armor, and my DK is running Wailing Caverns for some drops. I figured I'd get lots of cloth for leveling First Aid, some useful greens, and the Deviate Scale Belt pattern for my leatherworker.

I'm also planning on running Jay's rogue through WC, Deadmines, or SFK for the Bind on Pickup rogue gear, and I think he's planning on doing the same for me. I'm glad that we can turn off XP gains now, so we can run the heck out of these instances until we get what we want. I might even convince him to run my hunter through WC to better collect up the Deviate Scales (hint hint).

I'm not sure if we are going to be able to get the Best in Slot head gear (Stranglethorn fishing contest hat), so I'm thinking that I'll pick up Mining for the extra Stamina and Engineering for the sweet goggles. Of course, Skinning would also be nice for the extra Crit....and Herbalism for the free heals and extra healing from pots.

It looks like once we turn off XP gains, we'll be competing solely with others who have turned off XP, ie twinks, so we need to get geared up pretty good before we start runnin' with the big boys. It looks like a lot of work, but in the end, I'm thinkin' it's gonna be a blast!

The New Server Experience

I decided to roll a toon on a new (to me) server. The main reason I picked Executus (spelling?) was that one of my son's friends from Alaska rolled on the server, and he and I have gotten to know each other pretty well over the last year and a half that he's been playing over on Kael'thas.

But the secondary reason I was interested in rolling on this PvP server was the opportunity to replay WoW from level one with all the knowledge I've accumulated over the past (almost) three years and no support from my higher level toons. Well...from more established toons. I mean....level 80's.

First off, let me say that I don't just make toons on a new server; I create empires. So, when I decided to roll a mage, I had only played it to level 7 or so before I rolled my first alt - a DK.

A quick aside: The availability of DKs on any server has forever changed the way I go about building my army of characters on any server. Once I'm out of the DK starting area, even if I never level the toon, it serves as a workhorse in gathering linen, greens, and other starting craft materials. I'm not sure how many times I've run RFC on my new serverwith my DK...

Let me also say that it wasn't my goal to be as efficient as possible with selecting my professions, but I did want to be efficient in leveling my professions. So, while picking up Tailoring/Enchanting for my little mage wasn't the most cost effective move, having a DK to collect up cloth and greens to get started was.

Now once I got rolling on putting together professions, I added Mining/Jewelcrafting for my DK. I almost went with Skinning instead of JC, and looking back, I really wish I had done that in order to collect up a good amount of material for my rogue, who is a Skinner/Leatherworker.

Speaking of rogues, my third alt was a rogue. By this time, I was wanting to start playing some of the classes that I hadn't really played before (pretty much anything other than a hunter, priest, or DK). I'm seeing this aspect of WoW for pretty much the first time, which helps with the feeling of replaying WoW afresh.

After a couple of days of toon hopping, I decided to make a bank alt and consolidate my AH and storage. I haven't made a guild bank yet because I just haven't made a whole lot of money, but it's on the todo list.

One of my biggest struggles has been the cash crunch; this is not a bad thing as it adds to the challenge! Since I didn't have any well developed professions to make money with, I resorted to running RFC for money as well. I would send the useless greens to my mage and AH the more sought after greens (mail "of the bear", leather "of the monkey", etc).

Once I got a little scratch built up (and I wanted to boost my Leatherworking), I invested about 9 gold in buying Light Hide and Light Leather to make Fine Leather Tunics, which I've been selling for around 2.75 gold each. So far, I haven't been challenged in this niche, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to continue filling the need for a while. I've already made back the money I invested, so the rest is pure profit.

Another struggle that I've had is my teeny tiny bag space; OH what I would give for some free (to me) Netherweave bags! Uh, wait a minute...if I give something for them, then I suppose they aren't free....ANYWAYS, right now, the aforementioned bags are going for around 10-13 gold, which is just too rich for my blood right now. And the mats aren't too much cheaper, so getting a tailor to make them for me (+ tip) isn't really a good option.

Please don't mistake this all for whining and complaining; on the contrary, I am really enjoying seeing my empire grow bit by bit. I was ecstatic when I could finally make Woolen bags. I was very happy when both my Tailoring and my Leatherworking had caught up to my respective toons' levels. I'm looking forward to starting another alt!

Now....the next time I start on a new server, I'll probably do two things a little different.

For one, I'd pick up gathering skills on my DK in order to boost my little toons' along. I might even switch professions once or twice in order to gather up more mats; it's pretty cheap to get a new gathering profession.

Secondly, I'd make a bank alt first to better establish my empire with a central banking/Auction House character so I won't waste time running back and forth to the city on my new babies.

I'll try to post more on my experience, if I run into anything useful, that is. Or I may just post updates on my progress in recreating my empire on this new (to me) server. Either way, I'm still having fun and still gettin' my money's worth out of my $15 a month.

I haz a rogue

So, I went ahead and made a rogue on my new server (more on the new server bit later).

Now if I thought that I had to be careful in the number of mobs I pulled with a mage, it's even more important with a rogue! At least with a mage, I can kite mobs with frostbolt; with the rogue, I'm using a lot more health pots, gouge + bandage, and just plain running away.

So far, I used a mix of stealth attacks and ranged pulling for single mobs, depending on pats and the proximity of nearby mobs. For multi-mob humanoid pulls, I sap one and then deal with the other as best I can. I have yet to try a three+ mob pull, but I would be hard pressed to be successful.

Survivability is an issue for me. Evasion, Sprint, and Gouge all help, but it still ends up I'm tanking in leather while having a so-so health pool. And don't get me started on casters...grrrr. Suffice to say, I can't wait until I can stun-lock.

And what kind of rogue would I be if I didn't do some PvP? Well, I did some firsts in my WoW playing - I picked up the Battleground daily (Warsong Gulch) and actually entered WSG as a rogue. My very first (and only) game of the night turned out to be pretty well with my getting "An Honorable Kill," "Warsong Perfection," and "{I forgot the name of Warsong Victory achieve...maybe Warsong Victory?}." Anyways, it was pretty fun sneaking around and Backstabbing the Alliance.

I picked up Skinning/Leatherworking for my rogue....what a pain. It took some grinding and some Auction House buys to get my Leatherworking skill up to where I could make level appropriate stuff. Fortunately, there was a good buy on Light Hide and Light Leather, combined with a void in the market for Fine Leather Tunics, so I expect to make my money back on what I bought.

Overall, I like the rogue. It's definitely a change from the mage, and the stealth aspect presents its own set of options. I'm not sure which spec I'm going to go with (for now, I've picked talent points that I figure all rogues would want - more crits!), but I am leaning toward Subtlety. Suppose I should look up some specs to see what each tree is geared towards....

I haz a mage

I started a little mage while I was on vacation (hey, I have to do something while my wife is sleeping).

It's pretty fun! I've avoided any mage blogs so I can "discover" the class as I level (Pyroblast ... is .... the .....BOMB!). With my experience as a hunter, I'm pretty comfortable with kiting, but for the most part, the mobs die before they get more than one or two hits on me.

The one big difference in this class is healing between fights. With a hunter, healing entailed making sure my pet was healed up (and rarely food/bandage/pot myself). As a priest...well, duh, I healed myself. And on my DK, I made sure that I healed up while I was fighting with whatever that strike is that heals yourself.

As a mage, I have no self healing outside of food, bandages, and pots; I find I'm much more reliant on bandages than I have been on any other toon. Add to that the fact that I'm only wearing a thin layer (of very attractive clothing), and it becomes much more important to stay outside of melee range. Frost Nova, oh how I love thee!

I also find myself doing a lot more clearing in an area to avoid adds as well as pondering a bit more strategy to only pull single targets. I may pull groups once I get farther down the frost tree and get the improved Blizzard, but for now, I pull singles. If mobs are connected, then I usually sheep the caster (if there is one) and deal with the other one(s) with a combination of Frostbolts and Frost Novas. CCing a mob near the end of a multiple mob pull is key to getting in a quick bandage.

I've also found out why mages are the ones who can create drinks...cause I'm drinkin' like a fish! I can usually go 2 or 3 single mob pulls before I have to drink, but if I get any resists/misses or extra mobs, then I find my mana quickly depletes. I'm finding that I look forward to the next X0 level not for the new spells, but rather for the improved water!

So, I have two mages - a level 26 Human on Kael'thas (the 10th toon on that server) and a level 11 Blood Elf on a new server (more about that later). I've decided to try to level the Human as fire (which I suspect is the most common spec for leveling) and the BE as frost just to experience both specs and the strengths/weaknesses of each.

Already, I have different spell rotations for each spec when doing single mob pulls; both of which are probably fairly standard:
For Frost(at level 11):
1. Frostbolt. This slows the mob, and with a talent, has a chance to freeze it in place.
2. Frostbolt. Every Frostbolt has the chance to freeze the target in place, so I choose them over Fireballs.
3. Frostbolt. By this time the mob is almost or is in melee range. If it's almost dead, I'll take a hit and use Fire Blast. If it still has significant health:
4. Frost Nova. And straf away to a safe distance.
5. Fireball. Yeah, I like the harder hitting spell after a frost nova cause I have time to cast it and if the mob doesn't die, it still has a bigger chunk taken out of it.
6. Fire Blast or Fireball. It depends on how low on health the mob is at this point. Sometimes, I substitute wanding if I'm low on mana.

For Fire(at level 26):
1. Pyroblast. The 5 second cast time on this spell (and its huge damage) make this a pretty good choice for initiating combat. After the first cast and in the absence of a tank, its effectiveness is not good due to the long cast time.
2. Frostbolt. Again, the slowing effect is the major reason I cast this second.
3. Fireball. Ah luv da smell of burnin' flesh....
4. Fire Blast or Fireball or Frost Nova. Depends on where the mob's health is, but by this time, it shouldn't be much.

That's about it. I'm really enjoying the different playing aspect of this class, and it's got me thinking that I might want to try out some of the other classes that I didn't really enjoy when I first tried them out (*cough *cough rogue *cough).

And back to work...

I got back to work on Monday, but I haven't had time to post until now.

So....how's it goin'....?

I've been up to some different stuff as of late, and I'm not sure if I'm going to make different posts or just regurgitate it up all in this post. I suppose we'll just have to see together!

Here are the topics that I'm thinking of writing about:

1. Personal finances are getting put in order!
2. I haz a mage.
3. Starting fresh on a new server.
4. Reflections on the Thomas Sowell book Basic Economics.

If you have a preference, let me know in the comments.

In other news, my wife and I went to a formal dinner and ball last Saturday that was put on by our dance studio. I was really happy to see that we could dance pretty good in the aftermath of my wife's vertigo issue. Of course, we had to keep the spins and turns to a minimum, but still, we did a decent job of cutting the proverbial rug. Now we have to check into getting back on a lesson schedule.

....and it looks like I'll be making separate posts - yay!

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/sigh.