Thursday Plus (14 Oct) - Wee Hour Grinding

Thursday Plus (14 Oct) - Wee Hour Grinding

Note: This is quite long. I thought about cutting it up into separate posts ... but I decided it would be better to down it all in one big gulp.

It was a busy Thursday, and Fist got very little time. It was after midnight before Fist dragged herself back to Tanaris for more grinding. The questing at Bootlegger Outpost was a bit frustrating because the quest giver would offer only one quest at a time, so there was a lot of back and forth and lost time. Rested xp is completely shot, too. Fist had collected more than 20k in rested xp by being out of action most of the day, but that was wiped out after the first three quests. Might as well eliminate the bonus if that is all the benefit there is. Anyway, the quests themselves were pretty ho hum as well, but Fist finally made it to level 49.

With Tanaris exhausted of quests, Fist took a flight to Felwood. That is a rich zone for questing, and Fist will likely spend some time there. Her initial purpose, though, was go take the tunnel connecting Felwood to Winterspring. The flight path system seemingly arbitrarily decides what flight paths are available. In this case, the Winterspring Flight Master was not offered, and Fist needed to get to the town of Everlook to pick up a cooking recipe.

With that done, Fist angled back to Tanaris and headed into Un'Goro Crater. It was supposed to be just a stopover as I figured the Crater would be a bit of over-reach at level 49 ... but a couple of quests beckoned and Fist was soon fully engaged. Fist intends to stay with the Crater until/if the quests get too difficult, but she got a lot done and finished a very late evening at level 50.

Fist has been trying to get three levels per day, but this time got only the two. I want to make a push for level 58 over the weekend (a goal, not a necessity). I need to look this up to see if it still applies, but toons on the same account who had earned the flying mount ability were allowed to buy that ability and provide it to another toon at level 58, two levels before the normal level 60. Maybe that was for druids only, though, but I do think Wild did that for JB when she reached level 58. Anyway, if I can confirm that, then getting to level 58 is a priority. Level 58 also opens up the Outlands continent as well.

Fist would be grinding away already, but once again a cross realm restart is holding things up. Sigh.

Saturday - I was convalescing on Saturday. Why was I convalescing? That's a separate post, but the short answer is that I went to a fantasy baseball camp on Friday, which pretty much put the ka bosh to Fist for the day. The important point, though, is that I decided that the best place to convalesce on Saturday was at the computer.

Fist, woman that she is, changed her mind again about where she wanted to quest. Instead of going back to Un'Goro Crater, Fist went to Felwood instead. Fist was very much at home in Felwood. She started at the southern camp, where the furlbog grinding is done. Fist was not after reputation, though, just questing. One change from Wild's days was that there was a strange obelisk near the furlbog camp in which the final quest required Fist to dance and laugh maniacally. No, I don't really know what that was all about, but it was good for three easy quest completions. There was an addition to the furlbog quests - bees. Steal some honey, douse yourself in a pond to get rid of the bees. Fun. The rest went pretty routinely and was much as Wild remembered things. Fist worked her way north, but did not make it all the way to the tunnel going into Winterspring before taking a break.

When Fist returned, she made for Un'Goro. Un'Goro Crater questing wore Fist out. There seemed to be an endless stream of them. No matter how many Fist completed, more kept being offered. The main hub that Fist was getting quests from were at the Mossy Pile, which had a flight path. Wild had never heard of it, but it was a real hotbed, surrounded by wooden stakes and pits to capture dinosaurs that wandered too close. The base that Wild remembered was Marshall's Refuge. Fist kept trying to work her way to the Refuge but kept getting tangled in more and more quests.

One of the more clever quest strings was a new one where Fist had to swear allegiance to a paladin who wanted to slay dragons and rescue maidens. Actually, the paladin wanted to ride along and take credit for the dragon slaying and maiden saving while Fist did all the work. Finding the maidens was a bit of a pain, but the quest series was well worth it.

Finally ... Finally! Fist made it to Marshall's Refuge. The somewhat hidden entrance no longer had a quest giver at it's front. The path that led up into the hills was familiar, but the rock robots were new. Fist noticed that the flight path was gone! In fact, there was little left of the Refuge. Fist found a box of discarded supplies - ah, at least here was something for a quest she had. The rock robots had ignored Fist - until she picked up a box. Then they attacked. Ah well, things had changed. Fist cleared out the 'bots, completed the quest, and decided that she'd had a good day. It was time to relax for the evening.

Late Night Saturday - Mercurial Fist decided she was tired of the heat, mud, and humidity of Un'Goro Crater. She headed back to the northern end of Felwood at a base called Whisperwind Grove. Run by goblins, the quests were many and they went quickly since Fist was a couple levels above the hostiles she was killing. The XP wasn't as good, but then the Tigers-Yankees baseball game was taking up a lot of my attention.

When she finally called it (Tigers WIN! in 12 innings), Fist had improved from level 50 to level 55. Her chances of making it to level 58 over the weekend seemed a lot more likely ... 

Sunday - Even Felwood was too hot for Fist as the day dawned on Sunday. She made her way to the town of Everlook in snowy, mountainous Winterspring. There were a lot of furlbog killing and riding back and forth between the two camps, while stealing kills from the other players out doing the same thing. The quests were familiar and straightforward as Fist battered through them. Her one true ranged spell, Crackling Jade Lightning (which she got at level 55, I think) was awesome! It has a forty yard range and a knockback if the mob reached Fist before the channeled spell ended. The lightning strike burned about 40% health from a 50+ mob before it even reached Fist. Fist's arsenal of abilities continue to grow.

Game 2 of the Tigers-Yankees playoffs was starting soon, and Fist pushed hard to wrap up the latest group of quests she was on. As the pre-game commentary was also wrapping up, Fist made it level 58. Go Tigers!

Sunday Later - Fist quickly learned that there was no longer a Tome of Flying available. Fist would not be able to acquire a flying license until she was level 60. So, it was back to the grind in Winterspring. There were dozens and dozens of quests, and they all started to become something of a blur. It was cold, everything was white with snow, and the only color seemed to be the gallons of blood Fist was spilling. I'm sure everyone would want to know that the Tigers beat the Yankees again, 3-0. Tigers are up 2-0 in the best of seven series.

Wild was in Winterspring the night he reached level 60. He had completed every quest he could find, and his last quest had been a kill quest of yetis. After turning that quest in, he still had a ways to go. Wild stayed in game way past midnight, killing yeti after yeti for the kill points, until level 60 finally came.

Fist had killed her fair share of yetis, but Winterspring held a lot more quests than in Wild's day. Fist was well out into the countryside, at a hunters camp, and it was birds and bears she slaughtered until she reached level 60. Fist smiled in satisfaction. She'd passed a major milestone.

Back in Org, Fist collected her flying licenses. She'd come a long way. However, the way forward would be even more difficult and treacherous. Fist had achieved completion of Vanilla WoW. Ahead of her was ten levels to climb in Burning Crusade in the sky continent of Outlands. The Wrath of the Lich King promised ten more levels of even grimmer glory in Northrend. The Cataclysm would squeeze Fist even harder with five more levels to scale. And if she survives all of that, Fist will enter where not even Wild has gone - Pandaria, and five more levels to 90. I'm tired already, just thinking about the THIRTY more levels Fist still has to go.