Two Fer Tanaan

Two Fer Tanaan

Philly is ready to take the plunge into the Tanaan Jungle. Before she hops a flight to the Iron Horde docks, she sought out JB for guidance given that she is the most recent family member to make that journey.

JB couldn't help her, because JB hasn't done it, either. That came as a big surprise to Philly. JB's explanation was straight to the point. She wasn't interested. However, now that Philly is reaching for that goal, JB offered to pair up and do the drill simultaneously. The two will take turns completing each step with the goal of getting at least as far as setting up camp at Vol'Mar.

Both girls will bring their versions of Vivianne for a bodyguard. Philly's Vivianne is named Pizazz (P for Philly) and JB's is named Jive (J for JB).

Philly got out of the starting block first. She took the flight path to the Iron Docks and landed inside a small, defensive encampment. For the first time she got to try out her full arsenal of weaponry, including her level 100 talent, Clarity of Power, which improves both Mind Blast and Mind Spike spells. In the early going the talent upgrades made a significant difference.

Philly has to maneuver around the level 100 elites that fill the area, avoid the air assault Hunter's Mark constantly tracking Philly's movement, and not over-committing in a target rich environment thick with enemies. She was a little timid at first, but she quickly realized timidity would get her killed. There were far too many mobs to be selective. She started DoTing up groups of enemy soldiers and they died in small bunches. Philly had heard all of the complaints about the uselessness of the bodyguards, but Philly was happy to have Pizazz. Pizazz has only one useful trait, Blizzard, and she used it effectively, mostly by delivering the final blows to mobs that Philly DoTed. In fact, having only a minimum of traits allowed Pizazz to focus exclusively on killing things. Pizazz took some hits but handled herself well. They got through the initial throes and completed the early quests feeling pretty good about themselves. And no one died.

JB was perhaps a little over confident, but she certainly backed it up with those dual blades of hers. She has her lightning bolt to draw mobs, but the range is shorter than Philly's "come and get me" spells. JB has to get uncomfortably close in order for her lightning bolt to reach. Jive, however, made it a moot point because she kept running in front of JB and planting her Blizzard spell, forcing JB to move into melee range to protect her and drawing many unwanted mobs. There were some touchy moments of near dying, but shaman have some nice heals even in the heat of battle. No one died, but JB was not nearly as happy with Jive as Philly is with Pizazz.

Combat Information: JB's gear is slightly better than Philly's (again, dual i705 blades are awesome), and it showed in the stats below. The first DPS numbers are from the Obstacle Course quests that results in raising the encampment of Vol'Mar in Tanaan. The second results come from a single quest to kill 25 enemy soldiers. In both cases JB's DPS beat Philly's by a respectable margin. The final results, though, were the same. No one died and the quests were completed.

Just as an aside, Philly had her own extra side show with an Alliance player who was on the same quest as her. We poached each others targets and tried to draw enemy fire at each other. Philly claimed victory when the alliance player strayed too close to a foursome of the more feared mobs and wound up dead. Philly knew better than to engage, having barely survived a similar group that Philly took on just to see if she could beat them. Note that Draka is an extra toon that helps with the Obstacle course.

Philly: Gear - i615, DPS - 19,912 with Draka; 13,106 killing 25 enemies
    Pizazz: Level 100,  940/10,000 xp
JB: Gear - i626, DPS - 25,313 with Draka;  17,811 killing 25 enemies
    Jive: Level 100, 580/10,000 xp

Philly and JB both now have shipyards and the opportunity to expand their garrisons.

Final Note: JB intends to bring Tormok as her bodyguard in the future.