Thursday (4 Oct) - The Durnhold Challenge

Thursday (4 Oct) - The Durnhold Challenge

Fist started her day at level 27. She had a number of quests still to do in Hillsbrad Foothills. After waiting for a 10am cross realm reboot (which cost her an hour by the time I meandered back to the computer), Fist set out to chase fawns, kill furry beasts in the yeti cave, etc. She did meet up with Kingslayer Orkus on the Southshore. The Southshore used to be alliance territory, but since Cata (or maybe before that) the horde has had a post there and it is no longer the dangerous place it used to be for young twenty-somethings. The Kingslayer Orkus set of quests, though, is an original that I believe goes all the way back to Vanilla WoW. Orkus is a bit if a klutz, has a very nice dragon to ride, and aided Fist in stealing some important plans from the alliance. Poor Orkus doesn't survive, however, but it's a cool quest series. Glad they kept it around.

Not so good was a quest series called The Durnhold Challenge. Durnhold Keep is an old castle that used to be a significant quest hub filled with hostile mobs. The Keep has been cleared of the rabble. It's denizens now consist of five elite monsters. Fist's Challenge was to take on each level 25 elite, one at a time.

Fist got a little confused after sneaking into the Keep. Her first challenge should have been Zephyrus, but Fist mistakenly tagged D-1000 instead. It was a tough battle, and Fist came very close to dying, but she managed to finish off D-1000. Too bad she got no credit for the kill, since it was out of order.

Fist went looking for Zephyrus, and found the elemental already in combat with a druid in bear form. The druid was level 29 and probably could have beaten Zeph solo, but he was very grateful to get some help from Fist. After the kill he thanked Fist and said that the fight had been "tight."  Around the corner was the second challenge, Teracula. Fist helped the druid kill it, too. By that time Zeph had respawned, and the druid hung around to help Fist kill Zeph, and then Teracula as well. We both then headed over to the third elite, Bloodvenom. We killed Bloodvenom together, but only the druid got credit for the kill. That sucked. The druid went off to get the next elite, Infernus, but Fist stuck around to take on Bloodvenom again. Fist killed Bloodvenom solo this time - and still got no credit. By then the druid was on the fifth and final elite, D-1000, and was in deep trouble. Fist weighed in, tipping the scales to the druid and the elite died.

Unable to complete the Durnhold Challenge, Fist took a break and worked on her first aid. She doesn't have much healing ability, and could use it for in between fights. Fist is hoping to get some healing spells to help out her DPS spec, but for now she only has one, and it consumes half her energy so can't be used frequently.

Later that evening, Fist was again out and about. She returned to the Keep and was able to finish off Bloodvenom again, this time getting credit. She then tackled and killed Infernus and D-1000. All three battles took Fist down to very low health, but she has two "save me" spells and a "die bitch!" spell that instantly kills the attacker if all the conditions are right.

Fist graduated from Hillsbrad Foothills to the Arathi Highlands. She reached level 30 and collected her dual spec. Fist's main spec remains Windwalker (melee DPS), but she now also has Mistweaver, the healing spec. I haven't really tried to do much with the new spec yet. Fist has accumulated some healing gear, but it is far from very good. And at level 30 she still only has two healing spells as a mistweaver.

Fist had to compete for kills with some other questers in the Arathi Highlands. Although Fist does not have a ranged attack of any kind, she can use her roll for a burst of speed, a Kick that let's her fly through the air for a short distance, and a Provoke spell that has a nice long range, which not only brings the mob to Fist, it tags the mob so that the competition couldn't take it away.

Overall, playing a monk is a lot of fun. After a few Arathi Highlands quests Fist is now level 32.

One other bit of news: Thanks to Fist's leveling and Sis's contributions, the guild reached Level 3.