Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Tormmok Runs Amuck

Tormmok Runs Amuck

Well, I guess it had to happen sooner or later. Tormmok may be a giant, but he has a pea for a brain. Jocy took Tormmok for a walk through the middle of the enemy, daring all comers to stop us, just to prove we could. Somewhat astonishing, the two of them walked all the way past the Dark Portal and into the Iron Horde, one of the daily quests, killing as we went. Jocy knew the place well and directed Tormmok to take out the mobs in front of a building that had a treasure Jocy was after. It started well, with Tormmok killing the mobs in the immediate vicinity. Jocy was stunned, though, when Tormmok went after more mobs, and then more, and then, holy enrage! the two were in the middle of a deluge of  mobs.

Of course, Tormmok eventually died. That's at least partly Jocy's part, she would have to admit. There were many riflemen in the enemy mobs. One rifleman would hit Tormmok, and he'd run after the mob, gathering more mobs around him. The riflemen went down fast, but by the time he'd killed them all there was a lot of angry mobs surrounding them both. Ranged bad guys are just too enticing for Tormmok to resist. Jocy had no trouble finishing off the last of the dregs around her, but she was without her bodyguard for the next hour. At least she got her treasure. Jocy admitted to missing the big lug - just a little.

As an aside, I wish I could figure a way to see Tormmok's health bar so Jocy could heal him. Wait! I just found an addon called BodyguardHealth. Installed it and it looks like this will work. Hurry up, Tormmok, and get back to the Barracks so we can check it out!

The new addon works just fine, displaying Tormmok's health, making it easy for Jocy to heal him. Jocy and Tormmok tore through Rumble in the Jungle (in a group) and barely took a scratch. Then Jocy helped a player two-man the third and final boss - Eyepiercer - while still tangling with one of the monkey elites. It took a little while but we took Eyepiercer down and the guy got his quest done.

Jocy has developed a final plan to complete Pathfinder:

Master Treasure - This is a grind it out by the end of the week to locate the 14 treasures she needs.
Saberstalkers - Next week she'll earn another 3500 rep for Rumble in the Jungle, which is only 475 rep short. She can get that done by killing 19 elites. That's five sweeps along the Fangrila shoreline killing the crabs there. (Actually, no, see below)

Awakened - Everthing hinges on Jocy's ability to find ten apexis fragments each day for the daily Unseen Influence quest. If she can get that 1500 rep per day, it will take her five days to complete. I'm just not sure Jocy can find fifty more of those things. Elites do occasionally drop them (all three Rumble in the Jungle elites drop a few) but it is not near enough. Jocy is worried about this one. There is also the Medallion of the Legion, which grants 1,000 rep - but that entails doing four dungeon runs, which isn't very likely.

Progress Toward Draenor Pathfinder:

Vol'Jin's: Revered (DONE)
Master Treasure: -> 86 -> 97 (need 100)
Awakened: Honored -> 4500 -> 6000 toward Revered (need 12,000)
Saberstalkers: Honored -> 4425 -> 8125 toward Revered (need 12,000)

Things don't stay sane, though. For whatever reason killing the elite trees or the crabs no longer give 25 rep. It seems Jocy now only has the rare spawns and the monkey elites to hassle. Monkeys do die rather nicely, but they take their time about it, sigh.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Tormmok the Giant

Tormmok the Giant

Jocy's new bodyguard is Tormmok. He earned level 100 on Friday morning. Jocy had saved up a few gear upgrades which got him to i633 (weapon) and i627 (armor). He only has one additional attribute besides bodyguard, which is Taunt. Figuring there had to be something better, Jocy rolled the dice with her one retraining certificate to see if Tormmok got a better ability. Taunt was replaced by Recklessness. Recklessness is essentially an enrage, good for quicker kills but it also increases the chances of pulling aggro. Jocy hopes that she can maintain aggro on whatever they're killing, and that Tormmok's Enrage doesn't get him killed.

Jocy is committed to keeping young Tormmok around. No more merry-go-round with his bodyguards. Tormmok's best attribute may be his size. Jocy isn't going to lose sight of him under any circumstance. The man is HUGE. Time will tell how well he'll work out, but the pair have the whole weekend to get used to each other.





Jocy and Tormmok
Jocy and Tormmok Mounted

 Happy finally relented on the cost of upgrading Jocy's trinket. Mostly. Jocy was able to cover almost 16k gold in crafted gear needed for the stage 5, i700 trinket. The stage 6, i715 upgrade costs 30k all by itself, and it will take Jocy a little more time to build up her mats to buy that last upgrade. Happy will likely split the cost with her. Even so, Jocy's ilevel went from i684 to i687.

Jocy wanted Tormmok to see some real action - a test to see if he is any better than the other light weights Jocy has tested - and failed. The best place to do that is Fangrila, land of the elites. It was a new week, and a new "Rumble in the Jungle" quest to conquer. She also had to get Unseen Influence done as well, a daily she has failed to complete for two straight days, setting her even further back.
Before Fangrila, though, Jocy had an open quest to kill 25 enemy mobs near the Vol'Mar base. A pre-test, I guess, to see how Tormmok handles himself. Fifteen minutes later 25 enemy soldiers lay slain. Jocy pushed the fight, too, aggroing six at once . . . and Tormmok took it and asked for more.  Jocy growled at him for getting in the way a couple of times, but all in all - Jocy was silently pleased with what she'd seen so far.

Jocy was ready, with Tormmok at her side. Ack! A new danger! The Mrs is calling . . . I have to go to my accupuncture appointment. Sigh.

Ok, now that I'm back from the puncture palace, Jocy and Tormmok can continue their "get to know each other" phase in Fangrila. There is an elite in the swamps called a Night Haunter. Jocy has seen it twice, but when attacked it flies away, leaving behind a nine minute count down counter. I had to look the thing up. If Jocy gets another chance at it, she hopes the two of them can take it down. It's a level 101 elite with a steadily growing enrage (didn't know levels went over 100!).

No Night Haunter showed up, so Jocy hit the beach to kill elite crabs. They killed five, taking half the time it normally took for Jocy to kill them solo. Tormmok can do some pretty serious damage, and unlike the other three bodyguards Jocy tried out, Tormmok has yet to die even once. With Tormmok at her side, Jocy even took on an enemy fortress that she had not attempted before. Lots of battles and lots of treasures, too! Jocy will have and Unseen Influence quest to turn in, finally.

Tormmok is working out quite well so far. 

Progress Toward Draenor Pathfinder:
Vol'Jin's: 8200 -> 8700 -> 9700 -> Revered (DONE)
Master Treasure: -> 86, no change (need 100)
Awakened: Honored -> 4500 toward Revered (need 12,000)
Saberstalkers: Honored -> 4425 toward Revered (need 12,000)

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Scraping By

Scraping By

Well, Monday has come and gone and Happy has failed to provide the gold for Jocy's trinket upgrade. Jocy even offered to craft truesteel and steelforged essences for Happy to sell (at about 2400 gold per item). The gold from those sales could then pay for the ensorcelled tarots she needs. Unfortunately, ensorcelled tarots cost about 3700 gold. There are only two crafters selling them and both seem intent on keeping the price exceptionally high. It didn't help Jocy's cause that sales were quite poor on Monday. Prices are falling all over the place - except for those tarots. Happy's money bag is jingling, but only because Happy is buying up bargains. 

Jocy did get in some work last night, but didn't have much to show for it. She tried going to the Soulslicer area where rapidly respawning "mobs" could be killed. What the tip failed to say is that the "mobs" were elites. Jocy hung around and killed a couple of them, but nobody else was around. This tactic requires a group. The other tip wasn't much use, either. The strategy is for Jocy to lather fel sludge all over her, up to nine stacks. This increases the damage dealt by up to 40%, but there's a catch. Jocy would also take an additional 40% in damage, too. The kicker is that if Jocy hits ten stacks - it's instant death. Again, Jocy is dealing with elites here, many of them, often close enough to aggro more than one at a time.

Almost two hours of galloping around Draenor looking for treasures turned up almost nothing. I have an addon that shows Jocy where they are, but no addon that tells Jocy she has already collected it before (you can only collect once).

Tormmok, Jocy's new bodyguard in training, reached level 95. Leveling him is taking an irritatingly long time, mostly because the missions that have been available suck, don't offer much, and each mission has been taking ten hours.

Does Jocy sound frustrated? She is.

Progress Toward Draenor Pathfinder - such as it is:

Master Treasure: -> 75 -> 86 (14 more required)
Vol'Jin's: 8200 -> 8700 -> 9700 -> Revered (DONE)
Awakened: Honored -> no progess, 3000 toward Revered (need 12,000)
Saberstalkers: Honored -> 2775 -> 4325 toward Revered (need 12,000)

Monday, September 21, 2015

The Saberstalkers

The Saberstalkers

The Saberstalkers faction is the most difficult of the three factions required to meet the Draenor Pathfinder achievement, particularly for Jocy, who primarily works solo. The most important quest is "Rumble in the Jungle" which is available only once a week. Three elite bosses have to be cut down. Jocy did group up with some random horde also needing to complete the quest, and with that help Jocy completed the quest and got the 3500 rep reward. Jocy also takes advantage of a random daily quest called "Tooth and Claw" which generally appears about once a week. That, too, Jocy completed. There are a select few randomly appearing elite's that are a step more difficult to defeat solo, but Jocy has to be at the right place at the right time in order to take one down. They don't respawn that often, so I spend a lot of time circling through Fangrila - mostly I find elite corpses, or the empty spot where one might spawn. One idea that Jocy hasn't had a chance to try out is camping at the spot where Soulslicer spawns. There are supposedly a number of mobs that can be repeatedly killed for rep in that area.

The Awakened faction is actually the one I worry about the most, though. As mentioned in other posts, there is only one daily quest, "Unseen Influence," and it's difficult to find the needed ten items required. Jocy hasn't been able to complete the quest every single day, and is falling behind. Still, there's been decent progress overall.

Weekend Draenor Pathfinder Progress Summary:
Master Treasure: 64 -> 67 -> 75 -> no change (25 more required)
Vol'Jin's: 8200 -> 8700 -> 9700 -> Revered (DONE)
Awakened: Reached Honored -> 1500 -> 3000 toward Revered (need 12,000)
Saberstalkers: Reached Honored -> 2775 toward Revered (need 12,000)

Jocy's plan to upgrade her trinket using a Scribe's Quarters in Fist's garrison is a bust. Fortunately Jocy only had the one structure built, first level only, but Fist is really pissed off. Jocy didn't do her homework. The trinket upgrades Jocy wanted aren't available through the Scribes, which seems stupid because they do craft the trinket. The whole garrison thing is stupid, was Fist's assessment, wondering what she would do with the unwanted building.

That didn't stop Jocy. She's now leaning on Happy for the 33k gold it will take to buyout her trinket from i655 to i715. Happy says NO, not until the weekend take is assessed. Maybe the prices will be lower on Monday. Jocy isn't happy. Happy doesn't care.

Jocy has also decided to try out a new bodyguard. So far she's fired three (Vivianne, Leorajh,  and Aeda) She didn't like any of them, each one worse than the one before. Jocy did additional research and found her another one. This one is called Tormmok. He's only level 93, so he'll have to be leveled. He's an arms warrior so he should be fairly hard to kill and should stay close and out of trouble. It'll take him a few days to level, but Jocy already has a full set of gear for him once he reaches 100. One thing I wish I could do is include the bodyguard follower in a group so that I could more easily keep track of him.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Befudled Again About Gear

Befudled Again About Gear

Disclaimer - Jocy rants below, then has to retract her fury. No one in the family would rat on whoever let this post go through, but they did get a laugh at Jocy.

In Draenor, every piece of gear can be crafted by one profession or another. The gear starts at i640 and can be upraded six times (called "stages"), to i705. The catch is that only three items of crafted gear can be equipped. I ran into this issue by accident with Wild, who wanted to make and entire cloth gear set - no can do, three equipped is the max.

Jocy was frustrated with this rule. She'd picked up (ie, she bought) a new +strength trinket to replace a less useful one, not realizing it was a crafted trinket that had already been bumped up two stages. She equipped it. Wait, she can't, Jocy already has three crafted items, and all three are equiped: an i705 weapon, an i705 shield, and an i685 chest (stage 4).

What is Jocy to make of this? Holler "Woo Hoo!" and hope its not a bug? I can't find anything online that even mentions the possibility of equipping more than three. I have two guesses: (1) Jocy's three pieces are all crafted by Blacksmithing. The trinket is crafted from Inscription. Does that make a difference? I don't know. (2) Two of the four crafted pieces are maxed out at stage 6. Maybe they don't count as part of the three if they're maxed?

Oh, wait, never mind. Jocy's shield has six stages, BUT it isn't a crafted piece. Hmm, Jocy never noticed that. Oops. Never mind the above.

Jocy still needs that trinket upgraded. Instead of being patient and waiting (Jocy, waiting? Ha), she decided she could get her upgrades by building a Scribe's Quarters in the garrison. Problem was, Jocy had no room for another building. She asked Fist to put one in her garrison, instead, but Fist had no room, either. That started the bartering, and Fist agreed to build one only if Jocy paid for it. Fist had to tear down her Salvage yard first. They agreed.

AND, added Fist, "there's a couple of things on the Auction House I'd really like for YOU, Jocy, to buy for me."

Jocy gritted her teeth. "Ok," Jocy told Fist. "But I won't forget. We're even." With Jocy's gold, Fist raised her gear level from i627 to i631.

Jocy didn't shirk her real duty, though, and after getting Fist's Scribes Quarters started, she was back in Tanaan killing things. She also made another trip to Bladsespire Citadel and managed to scrounge up 8 more treasures that she'd missed despite crawling over that monilith at least five times. Jocy is Revered with Vol'jin's Headhunters now, completing one of the four remaining tasks left to earn Pathfinder. The treasure hunting is particualrly frustrating. She killed a pair of elites trying to find a path to a treasure that is hanging from an unscalable ledge. The only way to reach it is through a gauntlet of elites. She couldn't get to it. That's par for the course.

Friday Draenor Pathfinder Progress Summary:
Master Treasure: 64 -> 67 -> 75 (25 more required)
Vol'Jin's: 8200 -> 8700 -> 9700 -> Revered (DONE)
Awakened: Reached Honored -> 1500 toward Revered
Saberstalkers: 1625 -> 1650 -> Friendly -> 2250 -> 5250 toward Honored

PS - Happy talks a lot about the Auction House, but rarely reveals specifics of the amount of gold he handles. He's made a concession this one time to share a singular accomplishment. On Saturday morning Happy earned 30,605 gold. It's his largest one day haul of gold ever. Even more remarkable is that it comes despite a market that keeps bleeding and lowering prices. The dropping prices have encouraged prospective buyers to put their gold on the table, and while sales aren't exactly brisk, there is a pretty steady stream of buying.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Still Tilting at the Pathfinder

Still Tilting at the Pathfinder

JB's recent adventures in Pandaria provided Jocy a small holiday from grinding out the Draenor Pathfinder achievement. Somewhat refreshed, Jocy is re-acquiring her groove and focus. Getting that achievement is still her primary goal.

For Master Treasure Hunter, the pickin's are slim and scattered. Jocy has already picked over most of the treasure in all zones but Shadowmoon Valley. The addon, Handynotes, has been helpful in locating potential treasures, but its coming down to the point where just finding them isn't good enough. Jocy has had to spend as much as a half hour hunting down paths, jumping ledges, and clamboring over about every type of terrain there is to get each one. Last night Jocy spent almost an hour after treasures and collected only three. Jocy's next move is to focus on Shadowmoon Valley, which is Alliance territory. Jocy fully expects to engage in pvp in order to reach some of those treasures.

The Vol'jin's Headhunters progress has been uneven, and the daily quests mind-numbing, but they're consistent and I expect this part of the achievement to be completed soon. Jocy gained 1,000 rep toward Revered last night.

The Awakened progress comes almost entirely from one daily quest, Unseen Influence, which requires finding ten unique items that can be looted only once. They were easy to find at the start, but since Jocy reached Honored the items have really been diffcult to locate. Jocy has five of the ten she needs to turn in the next quest.

The Saberstalkers progress got a boost when Jocy was able to complete the weekly group assault in Fangrila to kill three elites. That one weekly boosted Jocy to Friendly rep. She added four elite solo kills as well. There isn't much else Jocy can do to speed things up. She still has two rep levels to climb.

Current Pathfinder Progress Summary:

Master Treasure: 64 -> 67, 33 more required
Vol'Jin's: 8200 -> 8700 -> 9700 toward Revered
Awakened: 4500 -> Reached Honored, 0% toward Revered
Saberstalkers: 1625 -> 1650 -> Reached Friendly, at 2250 toward Honored

Monday, September 14, 2015

JB Shakes Things Up

JB Shakes Things Up

Happy was busy processing herbs marked for sale on the Auction House when one of his many spies passed along a tip that Jezzibel (aka "JB") was stirring up trouble in Orgrimmar. Jocy, busy in Draenor, was furious and sent word that she was to desist all activity and return to the Alchemy shack or her own tavern and stay out of the way.

JB is the Wild family Shaman and herbalist/alchemist currently maxed out at level 85. Jocy took over JB's alchemist duty (against JB's wishes) when she went to Draenor, but later tossed the function back to JB when Jocy got too busy. As far as Jocy is concerned, that was the end of the matter.

However, JB now wants more responsibility, and she wants Jocy to consider her ideas. Jocy is quickly learning why Wild passed the baton to her and wanted to reconsider that decision, but Wild was taking a nap and wouldn't be disturbed.

Relenting, and knowing she'd regret it, Jocy reluctantly asked JB what she had in mind.

Well, JB definitely has a few things on her mind. First of all, she wants to see Pandaria. Orgrimmar is far too boring. Noting the trouble she'd already gotten into, she bypassed Jocy and went to Grommash Hold to ask Warchief Vol'jin if she could possibly help out.

"You talked to our Warchief!?" Jocy sputtered.

"Sure," JB replied, "although I don't think he understood that all I wanted was to gather Pandaria herbs for the family, and I need to be level 86 to do that. Warchief Vol'jin gave me a very strange grin when I told him that. General Nazgrim then handed me a scroll titled "The Art of War" and I think, somehow, I might sort of be in the Army now. Or the Navy, I'm not quite sure. What should I do?"
"Whatever you do," Jocy told her through gritted teeth, "don't open that scroll!"

Well, JB didn't think it was up to Jocy. It was very tempting to open that scroll. On the other hand, should she accept that scroll, JB might find herself on a combat troop transport flying into a war with no way to back out.

Jocy pressured JB. "Are you prepared to go into combat?"

Annoyed and defensive, JB slammed her pair of maces together and yelled "Hell, yea!" She then added, "but all I had in mind was to pick a few flowers."

"The gods of WoW protect us," muttered Jocy. JB isn't up to this. "What's the state of her gear?" Jocy asked Tiphaine, who has control over all unused family gear.

"Nothing in storage fits JB," Tiphaine said.

JB reinserted herself into the conversation. "Hey, my gear may be old by your standards, but it's still top-of-the-line for entry into Pandaria." JB had already checked the Auction House, and she was wearing the best you could buy already. Her gear included the three piece Spiritwalker Gear, and her gear level was i422. Most early Pandaren gear is below i400. JB pointed out that she can also take advantage of Meitha guild's leveling percs.

A more complicated process involved getting access to heirloom gear. After considerable research, JB learned that in Patch 6.1 all heirloom gear went into the Collections tab. JB was able to get all six pieces of her heirloom gear, but could only use Level 1 (of 2 levels). JB hasn't been able to figure out how to upgrade to Level 2. For the moment this is what she is stuck with.

JB was less than happy that the heirloom gear reduced her gear level from i422 to i403, but she'll accept that for the 25% increase in leveling speed. Jocy's biggest fear for her sister, however, has nothing to do with gear or level. Jocy is a vetted combat veteran with a practiced skill set. JB is going to be very rusty, and it will take considerabale time, time she might not have, to hone those skills.

Another major hurdle is that many things have changed. JB is TWO expansions behind. When JB last went into combat she could still use windfury on her weapon. That essential buff no longer exists in either Pandaria or Draenor (a huge surprise). JB's combat rotation is complicated, to say the least, with exceptions to every exception to the point JB hardly knows which spell to cast. There is a large learning curve.

Even Fist had to get into the act. No one was selling good combat food for Pandaria level recipes on the AH, but Fist knew how to make them. She dished up a dozen Valley Stir Frys that provides an Agility boost. That emptied Fist's cubbard, though, and Fist told JB she'd have to do her own fishing if she ran out of food.

The more obstacles Jocy put in JB's path, however, the more determined she became to get into the action. Ignoring all Jocy's advice, JB saluted General Nazgrim and joined the war. Will she survive?

Answer: Not only did JB crash the party in Pandaria, she took no prisoners. Her combat rotation is still pretty screwed up, but despite that JB survived and completed all of the initial quests to get herself set up in Honeydew Village in Pandaria. Wary of a problem with portals Wild had on his first trek into Pandaria, JB made sure she completed enough quests to be able to go back and forth.
JB wrapped up her first foray at 46% of the way to level 87 and actually complained that she hasn't yet gotten a gear upgrade. Jocy rolls her eyes and let's JB have her fun. For now.

Update: JB improved to 69% but found herself stranded at Strongarm Airport, which is mostly destroyed. JB was forced to take shelter there since her only other choice was to go all the way back to Honeydew. I forgot how difficult it was to get around in the early phases. In addition my quest tracking isn't working for some reason - finding quest beginnings and - even harder - quest endings is truly frustrating.

JB is stubborn, though. She discovered to her utter amazement that her powerful Stormstrike macro had been misspelled and was shooting blanks all this time. Things got easier once she figured that out. JB took her annoyance out on her targets and reached level 87.

After her latest run, JB arrived at the little town of Grookin Hill where, at last, she connected flight paths that would allow her to go back and forth to Honeydew and Orgrimmar. JB is 67% of the way to level 88, but her initial enthusiasm is waning, and this little foray may be short-lived.
Jocy certainly hopes so.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Of Heatwaves and Feathers

Of Heatwaves and Feathers

It rarely gets truly hot in the area we live. When it does, though, all of us weenies who live in houses without air conditioning (that would be us) truly suffer in the swelter. We're on our fourth day of 90+ degree heat. The cats sleep through it, but we get don't any relief until well into the evening. My man cave is upstairs, and coupled with the heat from the computer . . . well, Jocy paces and frets, waiting for the temperature to fall far enough to entice me up the stairs and release Jocy to her work.
I did promise to show off new bird, however, so I'll brave the sweat long enough to provide some pics. Jocy is wearing a simple, blue skintight to match the colors of the mounts.




Jocy on Raven Lord

Jocy on Dread Raven

I went back through the blog and found this link.

Winning the Raven Lord Mount

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Raven Lord Upgrade

Raven Lord Upgrade

When I bought Warlords of Draenor (WoD) I didn't get the digital deluxe version because of it's $70 price tag. Now that we are looking toward the next expansion, Blizz is reducing prices.

Wild's favorite ground mount of all time is the Raven Lord. I love the big feathery bird for two reasons - Getting it required a lot of patience and time because the chances of it dropping were very low. It didn't matter how uber your gear was - you could try once a week, and winning it was a random roll of the dice. Wild probably lost that roll over a thousand times (ahem, memory being what it is, I may look it up at some point. I know I have the details buried in my blog somewhere). The other reason is that the Raven Lord fitted Wild perfectly. Wild has to turn sideways to enter some doors on foot, and usually has to get off his mount to get through normal sized entries. Put Wild on the Raven Lord and there isn't a door big enough for us to hop through. And it can't fly. Ever. It's gangly, funny looking, and impractical, but I love him.

That $70 price is now down to $20, and I gifted Wild the upgrade to the Raven Lord - the Dread Raven. This one can fly (well, still not in Draenor) and so far has been able to pass through normal doors. The bird also came with its own Dread Hatchling pet, too. I was so delighted I made Happy give up his Iron Skyreaver and ride the Dread Raven instead. At least for awhile.

Oh, and one other note. The deluxe version includes a free boost to level 90. Tiphaine just might get her boost ahead of time after all.

Monday's Pathfinder Progress:
Master Treasure: 64 -> no change (need 36)
Vol'Jin's: 8200 -> 8700
Awakened: 4500 -> Reached Honored
Saberstalkers: 1625 -> 1650

The above are not very good numbers, but Jocy had a number of problems that slowed her down. The Iron Front quest was bugged and it took three times as long to finish, and she ran out of time to do the other two dailies that would have increased the Vol'jin numbers. The expletive elites in Fangoria were out for blood and came in bunches. Jocy was harried constantly, finally killing one, but with three elites on her ass Jocy decided to call it an evening.

Monday, September 7, 2015

A Losing Proposition

A Losing Proposition

Yes, it's September, and Blizzard promises that there'll be a beta release of the next expansion, Legion, before the end of the year. Such announcements always have an impact on the Auction House. Happy is feeling that already. For the second week in a row AH prices have not only dropped, they've plummeted. For the first time since the last expansion, Happy (can he say it?)  has LOST money. He blames in part the maddening player named Qwertylock who floods the AH every single day with stupidly low priced embersilk mats and bags. Happy grudgingly gives credit to the guy (or gal) for completely owning that market. Either there are bots involved or the guy spends most of his day farming embersilk. Whatever, Happy can't match those prices. Happy is still competitive in frostweave bags, and can make nice profits with hexweave bags. Enchanting mats, though, are under water, and will not likely recover their full value. Happy is re-evaluating and will likely focus on savage blood and felblight, which have maintained their value. Jocy's essences also fetch a nice price, but she can only make a limited amount at a time.

In a left-handed way, the good news is that the falling prices on the AH really don't matter much to anyone but Happy. Jocy now has her i705 weapon to go along with her i705 shield, and her overall ilevel is now i682 (up from i673). There isn't anything gear-wise left to buy, so she's pretty much maxed out. Neither Wild or Fist are expected to need anything any time soon.

On the other hand, I "may" consider a real money upgrade - I'm thinking about Boosting Tiphaine from 72 to 90. It would give me something to do - ie, level Tiphaine to 100. On another hand, maybe I should wait until the next expansion, and then Boost Tiphaine directly to 100. Decisions, decisions.

Something to do? Really? What about Jocy's mission to get the Draenor Pathfinder achievement so she can go flying? Having the 6.2.2 patch released has admittedly taken some of the wind out of her sails. It's also become obvious that she probably no longer has enough time to complete it. Here's the math:

Vol'jin's Headhunters: Religiously doing all of the dailys gets Jocy 1,000 rep per day. She has to earn 13,800 more rep to reach Revered. To get that will take 14 days (two weeks). Okay, that doesn't sound quite as bad as I thought it would.

Order of the Awakened: The requirements for this faction is very unstable. There is only one daily quest, "Unseen Influence" which requires collecting 10 fel-corrupted fragments - those fragments are acquired by killing rare elites and finding one-time lootable treasures. There are guides on how to find these treasures and Jocy has found many of them, but - obviously - they get harder and harder to find since you can only loot them once. Jocy has had trouble getting a full ten each day. IF she manages to complete the quest each day it will take 18 days to reach Revered.

The Saberstalkers: Things get even more troubling. Jocy gets 25 rep for each elite she kills. If that's all she does, she'll have to kill around 400 (23 elites per day for 18 days). Once a week she can earn 3500 rep for Rumble in the Jungle. "Sometimes" there is a second quest available for 1500 rep. SO - If Jocy earns 3500 for the weekly, 6000 for daily (1500 x 4 days), she could conceivably reach Revered in two weeks. There are some big IFs here.

Well. Coming into this post I was prepared to take pity on Jocy and admit that it would take too long to get through the reputation grind in any reasonable amount of time. Now, it actually seems possible to do, but a lot of things have to fall her way. Jocy is shaking her head, but . . .  Come Monday, be ready, young lady, to push hard.

Sunday's Progress:
Master Treasure: 52 -> 64
Vol'Jin's: 7200 -> 8200
Awakened: 3000 -> 4500
Saberstalkers: 1600 -> 1625

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Already Bored

Already Bored

The grind is beginning to take it's toll. The same four battles, the same daily quests, for barely useful gain. Over and over and over. The Fangrila elite battles are marginally more interesting. Slaughtering elite monkeys, though only get 25 rep. A new elite was challenging, a big rock monster thing I forgot to get the name of. Jocy found herself in a swamp wanting to kill elite swimming snakes, but all she came across were normal ones. There is a regular three boss elite fight for groups, and Jocy did that one, too. The elite in this case was Rendd. Jocy was able to join the fight and get credit even though she wasn't even in the group. Maybe that's how it works out in Fangrila land.

Jocy may be looking for a break. She has to pile up enough stuff to get the last upgrade for her sword, and that is going to take some time. The Arrakoa and Vol'jin's still clamor for blood and reputation. Right now, though, she just isn't all that interested.

Officially, hear is Jocy's standing with Draenor Pathfinder:
The below are COMPLETE:


Still Working on it:
Master Treasure Hunter - 52 treasures (need 100)
Reputation Grind - All three must reach 21,000
The Saberstalkers - 1,600 (7.3%)
Order of the Awakened (Arrakoa) - 3,000 (28.6%
Vol'jin's Headhunters - 7,200 (74.8%)

Patch 6.2.2 Arrives

Patch 6.2.2 Arrives

The big news about this patch is that it opens the door for flying mounts. Prior to the patch, only ground mounts could be used in Draenor. Don't expect the skies above Draneor to be flooding with flyers just yet, however. The Draenor Pathfinder achievement must still be completed before leaping into the air.

For Wild and Jocy its pretty much business as usual. The patch doesn't change much. Windwalker Fist, though, gets an upgrade to her DPS thanks to adjustments from the patch. Improvements include: Blackout Kick +10%, Rising Sun Kick +10%, Tiger Palm +20%, Fists of Fury +20%. DPSing as a monk must have been really tough, seeing all these upgrades. Fist can attest to that. Grinding her way from level 90 to 100 was a perilous journey. Note that these changes often get readjusted should the gods of WoW decide that the upgrades were TOO good and get scaled back. If Jocy wasn't taking up everyone's time, Fist could pound faces while these buffs are available.

Don't expect Jocy to give up her time, though. It's back to the grind. By the time this post hits the street Jocy will have made some very strong upgrades to her most critical gear. Jocy's shield and sword are "staged" gear, meaning the gear can be upgraded up to a maximum of six stages. Just prior to the patch, Jocy finished all six stages on her shield, with is now i705, maximizing her armor (which, of course, is what keeps her alive).

For a weapon, Jocy was using an i650 baleful blade that served her nicely. Jocy wanted more, though, so she crafted her own six stage blade, which starts at i630. When Jocy "advised" Happy that she planned to upgrade her new sword all the way to stage six, Happy clutched his satchel of gold and threatened to close the doors of the Auction House. Happy was somewhat assuaged when Jocy helped her own cause by selling truesteel essences to help cover the cost (over 2k gold went back into Happy's pocket, with potentially more to follow). Her sword, Steelforged Saber of the Deft,  is now at i690, with one upgrade left. She's literally preening over her "Made by Jocelyne" blade. However, Jocy runs into a problem Happy's gold won't fix. Jocy's blacksmithing can only produce a fiinite amount of truesteel a day, and its all soulbound. Jocy has simply run out, and will have to wait until enough is acquired. That, at least, will allow Happy to be mor selective in buying the prodigious amount of felblight and sorcerous air needed for the last upgrade. Many hours of fishing and mining by Wild and Jocy gathered only two felblight. Only bots can collect these in quantity.

Jocy hit another obstacle in Arak last on her latest foray to collect treasures. Now that 6.2.2 is live a lot of would by flyers have suddenly taken interest in the Draenor Pathfinder achievement. Out of twelve treasures Jocy attempted to gather recently, all but one had already been sacked. Jocy even moved to a different area and found nothing but empties. The competition for treasures is likely going to get worse as more and more players seek the flying ability.

Well, at least Jocy can continue grinding rep, and with her upgraded sword hopes to cull the herd of elites for the Saberstalkers.