Wednesday (17 Nov) - Javajoo Steps to the Plate

Wednesday (17 Nov) - Javajoo Steps to the Plate

It took some time, but an alliance cousin of the Wild family finally got a chance to participate in the pre-Cata events. Says Java, "Tanks fer nuttin'." If Java was a little irked, it had to do with the timing. The horde side of the family completed the fifteen quests of the first three phases before the beginning of the elemental invasion (Phase 4).

The majority of these quests are given, completed, and turned in at principal cities that have become extremely dangerous to be in for repeated periods of time. Java was about to find out just how dangerous that can be. Note that only four family members among Wild's horde clan have completed all four phases, the lowest level being Mery at level 56. Level 80 JB was killed during one of the invasions, and Wild came close to dying as well. Java, at level 29, is the lowest level toon to date among the family facing those level 80 hostile elementals.

Java wasn't really thinking about hostile elementals when he left the safe confines of Exodar and traveled to Stormwind to report to Captain Anton, the Alliance officer tasked with dealing with the cultists and other nuisances. Although things have progressed into Phase 4 already, every quest from the beginning "Prophecies of Doom" are still available. And Java needed to do them all.

In general, the alliance version of the quests were the same as the horde version. Differences were cosmetic and/or geographic for the most part. So Java had at least some idea what he was getting into. What did add to the time was that while most of the quests took place in Stormwind, there were several in Ironforge, which required taking the Tram between the two cities.

Initially, the hardest part of the quest chain for Java was just finding his way around in Stormwind. It's a beautiful, quaint city lined with cobblestone pathways, small shops, and innumerable blind alleys and dead ends. From the map it might look like there are half a dozen easy ways to get from point A to point B, but in reality there was generally only one way, and that one was the most torturous to navigate.

Java got a few of the quests done, and reached the quest taking him to Ironforge. Java knows where the tram is from an earlier quest chain, and had no trouble getting to it, safely arriving at the IF tram station a few minutes later. There was a quite nasty looking elemental at the station, though, with five alliance guards struggling mightily against it. An attack on Ironforge was in progress.

Java tiptoed past the battle and into the center ring of IF. Here there were elementals everywhere, and nary an alliance player in sight. All of the elementals seemed to be engaged against the alliance npc guards, though, so Java decided it was best to tiptoe past all of them to find the quest giver he needed to meet up with. Java didn't get a hundred yards before one of the elementals noticed the juicy level 29 trying to sneak past. Java lost twenty yards and 75% of his health when the elemental swatted him back the way he had come. And he wasn't done. The big rock with fire leaking from it's cracks came right after Java. Java had some tricks, and he played them, but it only delayed the inevitable. Java died.

A soberer Java resurrected at the graveyard and made his way back into IF. By that time a strong alliance force had moved in and was systematically blasting the elemental incursion into dust. Java hoped to capitalize on that by "being in the neighborhood" when rifts were closed. Unfortunately, he was too far behind the wave of alliance attackers, didn't know IF well enough to find his way to them, and there were still the occasional elemental roaming about and forcing unwanted detours. Java got no credit for rift closures.

Once the city was successfully defended, Java completed the quests in IF and then took a break. When he returned later Java grabbed the tram back to Stormwind - and found elementals outside the tram station. Not again! This time, however, there were other alliance around and they seemed to be getting the upper hand. Java watched the battle for a bit, but hey, who can resist taking a few shots at these beasts. What really delighted Java was that while his attacks missed almost every time, his stun actually seemed to work on the elementals. Java was going to get credit for at least one rift closing. That is, until he wandered a little too close to an elemental to get a stun on it, and instead got hit with some kind of murderous Stomp. "Murderous" was the right word, too. Java died instantly.

It's a pretty long run from the graveyard back into the front gates of Stormwind. And it was longer still to get to the far, opposite corner of the city where Java's corpse lay. By the time Java got back to his body and rezzed, the battle was already over. No credit for Java.

Java has a word of advice for low level players wanting to get the achievement. Don't run around by yourself - stay with the bulk of the player army. Don't attack the elementals. Keep a wary eye on the elementals and stay a good distance away from them. In fact, stay mounted and watch the battle, and then bring up the rear when the army of players moves to the next battle. Do that, and you might live long enough to get credit for the rift closures.

Java did get those fifteen quests done for the first three phases, and leveled from 29 to 30 (and more than halfway to 31) in the process. Java admits that he could have done without the elementals, but in the same breath hoped he'd still get a chance to earn that rift closing achievement.