From Stormwind City to the Blasted Lands and Beyond

From Stormwind City to the Blasted Lands and Beyond

Java began her new journey at level 61. Her gear is what it is - functional but no frills. Following in Jocy's footsteps, she picked Protection Paladin to level in. There was just one little problem with that - her weapon is a two-hander. The sword and board standard would have to wait until she could find a one handed weapon to go with her plain shield. Without the protections and gold of the Horde Wild Family, all they could bestow on her was good wishes. The rest she would have to earn herself.

Java spent a good bit of time knocking the rust off her gear and practicing her combat skills. She also wondered where she should start, as there were no quests lined up and no particular task to take on. She hopped on her flying mount (Java was very happy she wasn't bound to the ground) and played tourist until a quest finally popped up. Now she had a job. She happily flew from Stormwind all the way to the Blasted Lands. [On an aside, Java found alliance mounts pretty gaudy compared to horde mounts. Something she'll have to get used to]

At level 61 she had no trouble in the Blasted Lands. She killed things and did easy quests (the quests were like little bees, once you see one, more and more start showing up). She saw Nethergarde Keep from the perspective of the Alliance for the first time. When the Wild family worked the Blasted Lands, the battles around Nethergarde were pure nasty. Java also got a look at Surwich, an Alliance town the Wild family will likely never see from the Horde side. Java was having a lot of fun. She eventually made it back to Stormwind and decided to take a room at the Gilded Rose Inn in the Trade District. Her bags were packed with junk - 14 and 16 sized bags are so tiny compared to the size of the bags at the higher levels. It was all she had, though.

Java did a few more quests and made level 62. She hit the Auction House for some upgrades. Happy would have dropped his gavel at the sticker shock. That 16,000 gold in the Tea Green bank suddenly looks like a very, very small amount. PvP and battlegrounds are the likely cause of the outrageous prices for low level gear. The reason doesn't really matter. It means, though, that Java won't be able to buy her way to better gear. She'll have to grind it out the old fashioned way.

For a bit of nostalgia, once upon a time when both accounts were open, Java could have turned to Jocy or any other level 100 and run dungeons and raids with her to collect great gear. I don't have that kind of computer setup anymore . . .

Toward the end of the week Java reached level 63 in Hellfire Peninsula. She also killed her first elite since her return, Arzeth - although it wasn't a true kill since a poison had been given the elite making it easier to kill.

Helffire Peninsula is a well remembered land. With every quest Java found similarities to horde and alliance actions. Almost as often Java would run into the Alliance twist on the story Wild had seen from the horde side. This part of the leveling was fascinating.

On the other side of the story, being on a flying mount that can only fly at 270% speed when I've gotten used to speeds over 450% mean huge gaps where all Java is doing is getting from one place to another. Java also dislikes the blacksmith at Honor Hold who won't stay still long enough for her to dump the garbage she collects.

At last Java picked up a one handed sword, "Skettis of the Curved Blade" or something like that to accompany her plain shield. Java lost some weapon speed but the shield definitely improved her protection and kill rate. And by the way, kills are still coming pretty easy. That will certainly change as the mobs begin to out gear Java's gear. It's slow going in a world much larger than the shrunken Draenor I'm used to. And Hellfire Peninsula is only the first of many such  lands she'll have to conquer.

Java Finds a Friend