The Revival of Wildshard

The Revival of Wildshard

Has anyone noticed that the character who laid the foundation for all that has happened in the World of Warcraft has all but disappeared from view? Among all of the current active players, Wildshard has fared the worst, particularly in the new lands of Boralus.

Having barely reached Level 110, Wild's Artifact Power (AP) is barely visible at AP Level ONE! and is still short 32% to reach level 2. This is the Druid that's fought and triumphed over hundreds of dungeon runs and raids and is still standing in this fourteenth round of world building.

How far ye have fallen, someone once said. How did this happen? Somewhere along the line Wildshard and Guild Leader Tiphaine departed ways. Wild had it in his mind that he would start his own guild. What happened to that goal is buried somewhere in the past. Wild himself can remember little of it and is still searching the records for facts.

It's time to bring Wildshard back into the light. Sure, Wild will continue to help out the guild. But he has his own aspirations as a guild leader. He wants to revive that goal in his own way. Think of it this way, Wild told Tiphaine. Wild has always been a loner, more comfortable in the shadows instead of at the head of the march, so to speak. Wild's first attempt to bring that to fruition fell short. Wild became frustrated with a process that seemed determined to see him fail.

Wild is going to try again. He will revive his moribund guild aspirations with a new kind of liberty. Wild still wants his own guild, and he now thinks he has a way. The new dungeons, raids, and scenarios may not be what Wild wants, but he has his eyes on the three man runs that are new. Island expeditions they are, and require only three players. So what if he sucks at it? The worst that happens is he'll get kicked. So what? Try again with another group. Get better at it.

At the same time, keep asking random strangers to join his guild, and then they can stay or leave once it's firmly in place. Wild only needs four players to give him a helping hand.

For all of that above to become true, Wild has to greatly improve all aspects of his game. No one will take him into a three man island expedition with such a poor set of gear. Get to work.

Wild's "in process" guild is called BloodNtheWater. Wild wasn't sure his charter was still valid since it has been months ago when he applied. So Wild went to the Dalaran Visitor Center to find out. He spoke to Guild Master Matthews and confirmed that the charter was still valid.

"You need signatures," he told Wild. "Four of them. How you get them is up to you."

How to get a signature - (1) Find the guild charter in your bag. (2) Right Click the charter and request signature. (3) The charter should show up on the person's screen and he can then sign it. (4) Note that a player must be guildless in order to sign a guild charter. Obvious, but just saying. Once the guild has the four signers and the guild is officially recognized, the signees don't have to stay. In fact, Wild will thank them, pay them if gold is involved, and remove them. Wild plans to accost low level players in Stormwind hoping to get them to sign the petition. If gold is asked for, Wild will sweeten the pot.

NOT SO FAST - Oh My.

Sometimes expectations go beyond reality. And sometimes one wants something so bad that wishes seem true. Wildshard is Level 110. Repeat that - Wildshard is LEVEL 110. The lowest rung on the ladder.

Wildshard thought he was already at level 120. That has to hurt. No one is going to join a fledgling guild with a guild leader that hasn't even taken the first step toward level 120.

Okay, reality check. It really is time to get to work.

The Limits of Gear

The Limits of Gear

Sista recently earned a piece of gear rated at i340. That is the largest single item of gear that the Tiphaine family has earned.

Ever wondered what the max limit is? Theoretically, there is no limit. Checking on that, Keya has seen high end players with gear levels in the i900's. Keya's own gear is i311. Among that gear are two pieces of i340 gear. As a practical matter, there is really no limit, since the Tiphaine family does not raid.

Sista is determined to improve on that score. Think of it this way. The higher level of skill, the faster Sista can farm the mats she needs. Farming mats entails not just picking flowers and rocks. In the world of Boralas, killing humanoids drop tons of mats such as tidespray linen and many others.

BUT . . .  with a gear level currently at i302, and competitors with gear as high as i900s, Sista is at a huge disadvantage. Sure, she can still farm, and will continue to do so. It's a fantasy that Sista could ever challenge the big players.

However, if she works at it, she hopes to carve out a niche that would at least help the guild prosper and move forward. That is why Sista keeps pushing and continues to press the big players in the market.

Tiphaine has also accepted that buying gear is now acceptable. Keya has the record for a piece of gear - 100,000 gold. Most likely, though, such purchases are rare. The "reasonable" priced gear is too easy to get and already in use. The truly good upgrades can run in the millions. It's Chiatee's job to pick and choose gear that will help the guild without breaking the bank.

Here is a real life example. Sista's current weapon is an i325 two-handed staff. At the Auction House, Sista is looking at an i340 two-hander she can afford at 10,000 gold. As a practical matter, this is a no-brainer. Sista bought the gear, a two-handed mace. The next best piece of gear for sale had an asking price of 50,000 gold. Chance plays a huge part, which is why Sista pounced on that two-handed mace. The mace is ugly, but functional and will help keep her alive. The downside is that an hour from now Sista might win a battle and EARN an i340 two-hander, which is a lot more fun than just buying one. You take your chances.

The final tally is that Sista's gear score has risen from i298 to i304, and she has become a bit more deadly. Even though the weapon you rely on is ugly ugly. 

The UGLY Mace

The Pretty Staff

 

Market Price Fixing and a Change of Subject

Market Price Fixing and a

Change of Subject

Marketeers Gloras and Sincow have effectively cornered the market on a wide swath of goods. Chaitee and Sista have been fighting a losing battle against the two behemoths. They are determined to continue the fight despite the heavy odd against them.

Silkweave Satchel - (24 slot) - 300 gold.

The latest assault from the Marketeers is Silkweave satchel, maintaining control of a 300 gold price for the bag, and watched with glee as the cost of mats to make the bags reach new highs. The price for shal dorei silk is now at 5 gold on the auction house, well above the cost to make the bags. So the Marketeers hold the monopoly.

Embersilk Bags (22 slot) - price varies depending on availability and price of other bags.

Sista has a small foothold on this decent seller with 22 slots. Farming mats are easy (Twilight Highlands farming) but there's a twist. Hypnotic Dust is required, which uses - guess what - embersilk. So half of the mats farmed must go to making hypnotic dust first. The result is that only limited amounts embersilk bags can be produced in quantity and are subject to large swings in price.

Frostweave Bags (20 slot) - The cheapest of general bags, they are easy to farm at Naxramas. Sista, Wildshard, and Atkar can farm it once a week. The pricing of frostweave depends largely on the big sellers. For some weeks Sista has held on to a 220 gold price for the bags. That changed this morning when Gloras/Sincow suddenly dropped the price to 150 gold to chase off other bidders. They'll accept the temporary losses until the thinning competition fades away and will then pump the price back up for their advantage. So - Chaitee will not be selling frostweave bags until the prices go back up. Sigh.

Hexweave Bags (30 slot) - Crafted over a period of days, the price for these have been relentlessly falling since new bags came out. The price has recently dropped below 1,000 gold and will likely stay around the price of the new bags as long as someone wants to craft them.

Deep Sea Bags - There are two types - (1) The new 30 slot bag will eventually eliminate the current hexweave bags. (2) The new embroidered 32 slot deep sea bag is ridiculously hard to craft due to cost and time to gather the required mats.

The 30 slot deep sea bag pricing is still in flux. Today it sells for 1400 gold, but that price will fall as mats get more plentiful. The 32 slot deep sea bag has a very steep price of over 9000 gold, and there are players willing to pay that price for two extra slots. Unfortunately, the pricing and the difficulty in gathering mats for this ultimate bag is out of range of Tiphaine's coffers. Note - as this is being written, the price of the 30 slot deep sea bag fell to 1298 gold, a drop of 200 gold.

Change of Subject - The new view of leveling is becoming more comfortable, and in fact seems to be working pretty well. Before Boralas and the new continents splattered onto the world, character leveling eventually ended. Permanently. Level 120 is as high as it goes. But now, the world has Artifact Power (AP). Gear is now improved by collecting AP. Though similar to the old leveling process, the new process has no forced limit. Sista's AP is at Level 19 and will continue to grow indefinitely as far as we know. Simple. Which is how we like it.

Sista Hits Mythic Dungeon Wall

Sista Hits Mythic Dungeon Wall

Sista has been looking over the mats that she will need to craft higher level gear for her guild. It didn't take her long to realize that all of the faults from Legion regarding crafting are still alive and killing the crafting market in Azeroth. Key elements, such as Hydrocore, can only be gathered in Mythic Dungeons, and are rare enough that no regular player outside a large guild could every get the required mats.

In summary, Sista and other players that need crafting mats will have to have guild support to progress.

Once upon a time a single player could level and excel without needing massive support from major guilds. Once upon a time . . .  but not anymore.

Sista plans to go as far as she can at improving her gear. She'll continue to provide such mats as she can, but crafting higher end gear is simply not possible under the restrictions Blizzard has set.

Sista's crafting level is 102/150. Enchanting is 3/150. She will put more effort into Enchanting, since she can still craft Ring and Glove enchants for the guild.

That also means that Chaitee has to pay more attention to Gloom Dust, which is used to make enchants. Sista now has both ring and glove enchants. The rest of the level 120 guildies will get enchants as gloom dust is available.

Gloom dust is currently posted at 24 gold apiece. Chaitee needs to get that cost down. One enchant costs 288 gold at the current price.

Sistaphilia - Will she reach iLevel 120 today?

Sistaphilia - Will she reach iLevel 120 today? 

Here's How it all Fell into Place. PS - And no thanks to the nasty Anathema. Grrr!

She began the morning as an iLevel 119, XP adjusted to 29% toward the goal.

Then she moved up to 50% toward the goal, pausing only to rinse off the blood.

Her next push got her to 55%.

She then left Kul Tiras and sailed to Nazrim. Targets were few, but her destruction still rose to 69%.

She caught on with a loose group and took down another elite - She reached 76%.

Back in Boralas and then Anytown, Sista was hard pressed but ground her way to 93%.

On her last mission as a level 119, Sista pulled two elites (one at a time, of course) and crushed them!

Sista is now officially ranked as an iLevel 120! Guardian Druid.

Finally!

 

Her gear score went from 271 to 278 to 282.

Her AP (artifact power) reached level 17 and is 98% of the way to the next level.

Her two-handed staff was upgraded from 263 to 290!

Oh, and who is Anathema? She is the elite all of the family have had trouble surviving. Not because she is that deadly, its because she surrounds herself with multiple mobs of varying types, mixing in with other quests to cause bedlam. Sista has yet to kill her, but swears she'll go back and finish the job.

PS - Sorry for the lack of pics, but in the heat of battle its hard to remember to stop and say "Cheese!"

Cheesy Pics

The Nicest View in Nazmir

The Not-SoUgly Side of Nazmir

Sista at the Bar

 

Slamming Down iLevel 118 !!

Slamming Down iLevel 118 !!

Sista is feeling frisky, indeed. Now at iLevel 118, she has only two more rungs to climb to reach the highest level. A wary Tiphaine kept things quiet, wondering why Sista hadn't come back from her trek yet. She was still pushing forward, happy and gore soaked. Her gear score increased to 267, decent, but still short.

On the other hand, Java is livid. She was supposed to get some work. Instead, Sista simply refused to come back from the wilderness. Java, still fuming, asked to take over so she could take her turn. Sista failed to show up. It wasn't until Sista dropped in at the flight pad did Java learn that Sista had reached iLevel 118, two levels ahead of Java.

The Boat in Nazmir

  Hating Nazmir - Sorry, but this is likely going to turn into a rant. Nazmir is one of the three islands in Zandalar, the others being Vol'Dun and Zuldazar. Don't get confused (everyone does) - Zandalar encompases all three islands, and Zuldazar is one of the islands.

Nazmir is full of these winding aireal ramps

  Anyway, the rant is about Nazmir. It's a nasty place of limpid pools, mushy earth, and decay. The decay is everywhere. Everything is wet and icky. None of that is a problem for Sista, who has finally gotten around to entering Nazmir. The main base is near worthless. There is a flight path but little else. Oh, there is a small boat that only goes to Boralus.

Most starting areas provide guidance to get started, but she got little help there. She struck out on her own, following squishy pathways. She did well early on, getting kills and learning. The central area is in multiple layers. There is ground zero, which is deep in the earth, a middle area that looks almost normal, and then there is a crazy profusion of twisting paths that rise into the sky, all of which have huts and enemy denizens. Seriously, Sista has to fight constantly and respawning is almost constant. She once counted killing the same groups three and four times while trying to figure out this maze.

Sista took all this in stride, and had soon earned a few quests. The problem that Sista suddenly found herself in is that the quests done are done in one area, but they must be turned in at another area. Remember those three levels mentioned earlier? There is no sane way to get from where the quests are completed and where they must be turned in. Sista has died three times now trying to find out how to get to where the quests are turned in.  

Sista is persistent. Her bloody battles faced level 118 killers in bunches that had her struggling to stay alive. Then she had a prescient moment. All this time she has been fighting as a bear for defensive reasons, and completely left out the other half of the battle - her healing! In two following battles that would have killed her, Sista went Healer, earning time with heals so she could kill her attackers. It took some work to re-remember her defensive skills, but now she will make good use of them.

Sista is 42% of the way to iLevel 119. However, she has yet to improve on her gear, still stuck at 267. Not even Chaitee could find proper gear upgrades for her.

Update - Sista is 50% of the way to iLevel 119.

Sista Gets Fired Up

PS - The below is a long post covering two posts added together. Sista wanted to be sure her successes weren't going to over shadow Atkar's troubles, which are also included. Hope that isn't too confusing.

Sista Gets Fired Up

Sista has been trying out some additional gear to determine which gives her both the best damage dealing and the best protection.

Her standard setup is a two hand i232 Polearm that averages 149-278 DPS.

She also recently earned an i254 off-hand to go with an i233 fist weapon. As much as she wanted to use that off-hand, it just didn't deliver the damage she needed. Too bad.

Being the ornery type, she decided that a two-hand staff was what she really wanted, being a druid and all. She paid a bargain price off the Auction House, which she paid for out of her own pocket (1,700 gold). She is much happier now with the i239 staff, which deals 194-263 DPS. 

Things may look slow, but Sista has actually been very busy. She rolled over another level and is now LEVEL 116!  She is 36% toward the next level.

Her gear score is now 257. Her AP is Level 7, 48% toward the next level.

Now for "The Atkar Situation"

Atkar is a mess. She was forced into picking up two professions, Tailoring and Alchemy, both of which she hates. Her single room at the Snug Harbor Inn is anything but snug. She has yet to fully unpack from the move from Dalaran to Kul Tiras. Atkar has little to do other than complete the once a day tailor crafting and whenever Sista decides to make an embersilk run and needs a potion to boost the take. Atkar is lobbying for a pool table at the inn so she'll have something to do.

She did manage to make some progress sorting through her junk. She still needs to do a thorough cleanup and sell/destroy. Chaitee offered help, and Atkar might take her up on it. Her reagent bank is 90% full of stuff from her time as a jewel crafter - another failed profession foisted on her that she didn't want. Chaitee chimed in again that she could help sell off the mats and get something back from the Auction House.

As far as her leveling goes, here is where she's at: Still stuck at Level 110. Which really sucks. Her gear score is i177. She is living with an i180 two-handed mace.

[WHAT? Yep, Atkar seems to have forgotten the type of gear she needs, which is a sword and shield]

She's a Protection Warrior (did I forget to mention that?) and she keeps getting mail gear tossed into her room. One day it might even be useful [no, it won't, she needs plate gear].

She has some random plate gear crushing a box full of unused cloth gear somewhere. Oh, to make things really clear - Tiphaine hasn't offered any gold and won't, not until Atkar becomes useful. She has less than 5k gold to her name.

She still has a shortage of space and will have to keep up the de-cluttering. Tiphaine wanted her to make a gold run, but she only has 77 slots free, not enough space to warrant a run.

What she really wants is the time to at least reach iLevel111. She made her first foray into Dustvar to see how she would do.

WARNING! This will be embarrassing.

Atkar with a Two-Hander? Really!

  There is an elite at the bank in Dustvar that is very hard to kill. All of the family who have taken it on have won that fight. Atkar arrived in Dustvar and saw that a player was already engaged with the elite and having a tough time of it. Atkar weighed in. Between the two of us we killed the elite, but we both knew that neither of us would have survived had it been a solo fight.

Simply stated, Atkar needs practice. But it's worse than that. Some of her weapons can't be used because she doesn't have the right gear! Shield Slam requires a shield duh! Revenge requires a one-handed melee weapon! Devastate also requires a shield! How Atkar managed not to die is a mystery, given the situation. Atkar needs better gear, but she won't likely get much stuff until she gets to level 111. Quite a conundrum. Nobody knows what happened to the original gear she owned. It's apparently gone.

What she has now is a two-handed mace - which is worse than worthless in the hands of a protection warrior.

Okay, Atkar is finally getting her act together. She now has a simple one-hand sword (i186) and a decent shield (also i186). Finally, all of her spells and gear are in working order. And the price was cheap, too.

Atkar's overall gear is now i178.  She's barely started leveling at 14% toward level 111.

She has a Level 1 Artifact and is 36% of the way to the next level. She has a long way to go. But at least she's wearing the right gear. Sigh.

Atkar Shines with Correct Gear

Another Day Another Level Sista Progress Report

Another Day Another Level - Sista Progress Report

Sista is now Level 112. She is 34% of the way to level 113. Her gear score is a very nice i232. Her enemies are a lot more cautious now. At least the smart ones are. She finally had some news about her Artifact Power, which is now AP Level 3, 20% toward the next level.

Sista also made progress on her Tailoring. She is now 76/150 and has learned to craft a key item: embroidered deep sea satin, which is used in virtually every pattern. Farming deep sea satin will be a high priority.

Wait, Sista hasn't finished for the day. After further review, here are her new stats.
Sista is now Level 113! 6% of the next level. Gear score is still i232. No change there. But she's made it to AP Level 4 now, 63% toward the next level.

Snow and Ice. Sista is now Level 114! Gear score raised to i237. AP level 5, 41% toward next level.

Back to the Auction Grind - Chaitee is clamoring for more bag production. A small window opened with higher than normal pricing. It won't last long.

Sista is the bag maker, but she has to have the mats to get started. Silkweave bags (24 slots) were first, listed at a rare selling price of 299 gold each. She only had a limited number and hoped to get them sold quickly. Java can farm the silkweave but it's boringly slow work and she hates it. She refused to go, knowing that Tiphaine was off somewhere else.

Frostweave mats and bags (20 slot) are at the other end of the scale. The cloth is cheap, as low as 1g per piece, and can be easily farmed in the Naxxramas raid. Being cheap, Chaitee even bought a few hundred frostweave cloth, expecting to still earn a profit. Wildshard even took a turn farming the place. There's a story behind that somewhere.

Wild's "abode" is a disaster. It's even worse since he is still without a guild and therefore has no access to storage that a guild would have provided.

That didn't stop Wild, though. He even volunteered to make a Twilight Highlands run as well as spend a long hour farming the endless hordes flowing out of the Maw to get embersilk cloth.

Even Atkar finally got into the process. The mats Java gathered (cinderbloom, from Deepholm, which is a lot easier to farm than silkweave) went to make potions that increase the loot from the hordes coming out of the Maw.

Most of the above materials is "old tech," despite that they're still worth farming and making. However, the Battle of Azeroth compression by the "dumbing down" of almost everything is getting felt across the gathering and bag production business. A prime example is that while this report was being written, the 299 gold price of Silkweave Bags dropped to 200 gold. Just like that. Suddenly, the market for bags, whether silkweave, embersilk, or frostweave, became useless. At least until the next belch from some farmer dumping goods on the market.

Sista Prepares to "Hit the Islands"

What Do I Do Now?

What Do I Do Now?

Chaitee 's work on the Auction House takes no more than five minutes or less these days. There just isn't much activity. Sista did make a large haul of frostweave that produced 14 frostweave bags, but she has little to else to sell. Embersilk is all but forgotten, and the hexweave still takes days to craft. There is also rampant dumping, forcing prices below the profit margin.Sista finally had to make a decision. She could continue to try and scrape up old content materials to make old content bags, or she could see how she might be able to farm the new mats that are making all the gold.

Sista wished Keya could do some of that farming, but she is not a Tailor. Well, Sista groaned, it seems she'll have to go out and farm mats herself. She pictured herself riding around the countryside, collecting mats while earning Artifact Power toward getting to level 120.

So, what mats should she focus on getting? That was an easy question to answer - she needs to collect Deep Sea Satin and Tidespray Linen. Then came the kicker. Both of those mats can only be gained by killing enemy humanoids, not creatures, not flowers, not rocks, no. Humanoids only.

Sista is still Level 110, and is only 29% of the way to level 111. Her gear score is a so-so i189. She'll be killing things in bear form. Her experience in Tailoring is 61/150. Fortunately, she gets to keep her Cloth Scavenging, which includes humanoid kills.

Both Keya and Java immediately complained at the lost questing time, but Tiphaine stood firm, giving Sista time to work on much needed materials collecting.

Later in the Day - Sista got off to a rough start, but after a grind of killing and questing she could say with confidence that she was making progress. Sista collected 35 tidespray linen (she only needs 15) and 5 Deep Sea Satin (she needs 30). Sista wished the number was the reverse - she needs 30 Deep Sea Satin and 15 tidespray linen to make a deep sea satin bag. Farming these mats will remain part of Sista's leveling since the best farming areas are in the islands, and Sista doesn't have access to them yet.

Sista is getting used to killing in bear form, and she's starting to like it again. It's been awhile since she'd been out and about. Her gear score is up to 191, which included a small upgrade. She is on the verge of hitting the next level, but she stopped the killing before she realized she was that close. She has to go find something to kill, like NOW!

Update - Sista is Level 111! Sista already had a plan for this day. She went to the Trade District, opened a ticket on the Auction House, and bought a new weapon. The new two-hand staff jumped her gear score from 191 to 197! Sista didn't bat an eye when paying the 2,200 gold it cost. AND, Keya volunteered to craft a set of i225 gear to go with the staff. Keya sent 7 pieces of gear, which torpedoed her gear score from 197 to 217. Sista is ready to rock-n-roll!

Sistaphilia Rocks!

Battle For Azeroth Pathfinder, Part One

Battle For Azeroth Pathfinder, Part One

Yes, there is a new Pathfinder for Keya and family to sort out.

(1) Battle for Azeroth Explorer.

Note that any family member can be used to get parts done. In fact, three of the first six requirements are already done.

Explore Drustvar                            100%

Explore Stormsong Valley            100%

Explore Tiragarde Sound               100%

                                                                To Do

Nazmir                                                  66.7%    Primal Wetlands, Nazwatha, The Frogmarsh

Zuldazar                                               66.7%    Blood Gate, Atal'Gral, The Sliver, Zeb Ahari         

Vol'Dun                                                 100%                          

                                               

Keya continues to work on her gear. She has reached AP Level 16 and 20% toward the next level. Her gear score is now i294.

Gear Update: Keya took a chance on a weapon upgrade from the Auction House. She loves her warglaives and had hoped to get a better set of the same type. She had to settle on a more powerful, but ugly, replacement for her i281 warglaive. She kept that weapon and replaced the other with an i325 fist weapon. Like Keya said, it's an ugly combination, but it increased her weapon level from i294 to i298, an improvement of five levels. 

Okay, since the family is asking, Keys spent 17k on the upgrade. And that's a bargain. Most of the prices were in the 30K plus range.

Keya and Her New Gear

The Arathi Highlands Doubled

The Arathi Highlands Doubled

Keya has been getting bloodied and muddied. She was given six quests and sent out to collect at least 20 items from each list. This is not a world for solo work. But that is what Keya is doing. There may be a few guilds romping across the scenery and taking out groups of elites, but what Keya saw was mostly small, unafiliated bands of players. Sometimes Keya managed solo, sometimes she had random help, and other times she ran for her life. Every encounter included an elite or multiple elites, as well as the major ELITE to bring down or GROUPS of elites. Pick your desired bloodbath.

Keya has died three times now, and she considers that good progress. Despite being out there solo, she has helpers. Keya is not shy about pulling enemies and playing the temporary role of tank while still dealing damage. Sometimes she even gets heals. Sometimes she runs her tail off when she loses her help and sometimes she gets away . .  and other times she doesn't.

 Keya isn't stupid. She doesn't just run in to every fight. As always she checks the circumstances and makes a determination if this situation or that situation is worth engaging in. Sometimes she starts things herself when it seems safe to do so.

She still has two quests to finish in the Highlands. Her gear score is now i285. Her AP is Level 12 and is 82% toward the next level.

The above is yesterday's news. Keya is out of quests in the Arathi Highlands now. Early this morning she encountered an in progress battle with a powerful elite. The battle was already joined, the loose group of combatants wrestling the monster they fought. Keya literally leaped into the fray. The beast we fought had a knockback that made it hard to hit. Keya turned the tide by using her Infernal Strike to leap into the middle of the fight. Every time the beast threw her out, she leaped back in. The elite beast went down.

Zidormi's Bridge to the Old World

Keya's stats budged slightly, gaining a gear score of i287. Her AP is now Level 14, 11% toward the next level.

There are no more quests now in the Highlands. Keya roamed all the way to the great bridge and talked to Zidormi, who maintains the Highlands. Beyond the bridge is the original world of Azeroth. Keya wandered around, fascinated to see the world in it's original creation. But there was nothing to earn there, only memories.

The Battle for the Highlands

The Battle for the Highlands

As for progress, Keya and Java now keep up with their Missions. The others will have to level further and complete certain quests before the Missions table is available.

Keya has been going back and forth between islands trying to find a thread that would guide her to better loot, better quests, and better information about what to tackle. Frustrated by the whole thing, she was mouthing off about how messed up the things were when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Raiston Cairn, Recruitment Officer for the 7th fleet, at your service."

Keya stared at him.

"You want action?" Cairn asked.

Keya swallowed, suddenly wary. "I'm not much of a joiner," she said.

"We don't care. Fight with the army, fight with friends, fight solo, we don't care."
 Keya growled. "I'm doing that already. There's nothing here for me."

Cairn shrugged, then said, "Then why not see what the rest of world looks like beyond the islands."

Perhaps it wasn't as simple as that, but that was how Mahakeya joined the 7th fleet army.
A few moments later a loud explosion rocked the town. Keya died with the rest of 7th fleet recruiters.
Other troop ships were still in the harbor, and the 7th fleet soldiers dug out of the wreckage and already began rebuilding.

"This is war," Keya told herself, hardly believing herself. Keya boarded the next troop ship and sailed to the Arathi Highlands. She was going to war against the Horde.

The Castle

This is the first time Keya has been to the Arathi Highlands. Wildshard sometimes talks about the time when Azeroth was the whole world. It's not something Keya understands. To her, there has always been other worlds.

Keya was fascinated, though, and actually looked forward to telling Wild the things she saw and did, and what memories he has, when she gets back.

Once she was at the castle and inside the walls of the Keep, she had some time to look around. She is without flight here. And she's alone.

The Alliance Gets Organized

After a few curt words Keya was cut loose to do whatever took her fancy. She located a corner of the castle where several quests awaited. Keya took the first one, got on her felsaber mount and roamed the country. The Highlands are spider infested, but were a minor irritant. More important was the house and barn on the property . . .  and the swarm of horde soldiers that had taken up residence there. At first she was the only Alliance around. Testing the strength of the enemy, Keya tagged a group of three. Immediately, two of the soldiers advanced on her. Keya fought them off, but she kept taking damage. It was then she saw the arrows from the third soldier. Keya was confident that she could kill all three, but the group was far more organized than expected. More soldiers arrived, and they took notice of Keya.

She tried several times to breach the security but she faced near death several times. Each time she thought she'd cleared a spot to gain some ground, more soliders arrived and drove her back. The goal she'd been given was to kill 20 of the soldiers. She managed just six, at great peril.

 Soon after, though, other alliance contingents began to arrive both solo and in groups. Where  possible, Keya waded in with the groups and helped in the kills while filling her own kill numbers. It wasn't organized, and nobody grouped up that she could see, but eventually Keya got her quota and returned back to the castle.

She was a bit stunned when she saw her reward. She gained a level 340 pair of leggings that jumped her gear score from i282 to i285, which is a significant upgrade.

She'll surely want to try her hand again later on. One thing she won't be doing is hanging around the recruitment table. That could be fatal.
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Living Without Addons

Since the latest crash of the Jarte Plus program I use (and stubbornly intend to keep using) Chaitee has had to get used to things like a Mailbox that is nothing but, well, a mailbox. Oh sure, one can still send and receive things through the mail, and Chaitee is getting used to it. She is also using the plain vanilla Auction House. Chaitee had to brush up on her arithmetic to ensure her figuring was correct when making buys and sells. It takes more time and more back and forth to ensure good deals are made, but it's functional. She is also getting used to 24 hour bids and buys instead of 48 hour blocks. Otherwise she is leaving things alone to see just how it goes over a few days. There is at least the possibilty that addons aren't really needed.

Get Back in the Saddle!

Get Back in the Saddle!

Keya is frustrated. Quests are becoming harder to find in Baralas. The Islands are kind of hit or miss. Once past the initial quests and settling of flight paths, the available quests are pretty slim. She thought she had a good one in Zandalar, but the quester later admitted that he wanted her to learn Archeology! That's a fine thing to do, but it isn't on Keya's agenda, at least not for now.

Keya has footprints on almost every island now and is still unhappy at how few quests are available. She even tried running amok among the enemies that are strung all across the islands. No quests turned up and she left maybe a hundred attackers to out pace before she ended the foolishness.

Now that Keya has finished leveling to 120, she will focuse on gathering azerite to get AP.

Keya will have to get up to speed on The War Campaign. That seems to be the focus of the 8.0/8.1 patch.

One of the Lousy "Bases"

Keya did find a few battles to join in on Vol'dun. There are special groups gathered specifically to farm Azerite, the be all item, the basis for all the Artifact Power (AP) that fuels the worlds, or so it seems. Whenever such a flow of azerite pops up, so does the players go after it.

Keya is now at AP Level 10, 49% toward the next level.

Her gear score inched up to i281. Then she decided to get cute. Keya had some extra gold laying around and decided to do something about her weapons. She has a pair of wargaives, a level 281 and a level 241. She checked the AH and decided to buy another warglaive that is level 266. All went well, except that when she equipped the new warglaive, her gear score only went up by one, from 281 to 282. What did it cost her? 1,100 gold. Sigh.

Dinosaurs!

 

Now Keya has a funny tale to tell. She'd noticed the quests in the darkened areas of the wharf. She'd had encounters with some of the riff-raff on those piers. More than a few were not happy with Keya winding her way into areas out of bounds for such as her. A few tried to purswade her to go back to safer places. Keya killed a few to show her intentn. Others tried the whirling warglaives with no better luck. The dead were hauled away, stripped of their meager belongings. Eventually she was left alone. When she ran out boardwalk she slipped into the water and found a ladder that led up to the high hull of a large ship. At last she had found her target.

Keya leaped onto the deck of the boat . . .  and then stopped. Confused. Then she realized what she had done. She'd fought and swam her way to her target, only to find that the target she was hunting was the very ship she was on! Keya was pretty embarrassed. No one ribbed her for it, though. One look and anyone nearby made sure to get far away from those fiery eyes.

Keya Loves Her Warglaives

Reset Warcraft Failure

Reset Warcraft Failure

This morning I reset Warcraft following Blizzard's direction. The reset DID NOT fix the frozen state of Missions. Note that every character is in this state (all 9 of those with a Missions tab). When/if a Bliz tech gets to me I'm sure I'll  be told to do the same process AGAIN and then we'll see what we see. The game is still playable, at least. The bare bones Auction House looks forlorn. Not sure what other factors Keya and family may encounter before this gets straightened out. And then I'll have to wonder if I can even use the addon Auction House. Would it freeze up the Missions again? That's a scary thought.

Horde retribution paladin Jocelyne asked if she could help. She's Level 110 but has not yet started "The War Campaign." Jocy is to "Report to Nathanos Blightcaller aboard the Banshee's Wail in Zuldazar."

NOTE: At this stage there is no "Missions" shown in the upper right. One is guessing that Missions will appear once the War Campagin quest is begun.

Jocy has not started the War Campaign yet but she has done some questing. She also still has a Garrison Hearthstone.

Jocy hopes things clear up soon. She is 76% of the way to iLevel 111. Her gear score is 194, which is pretty darn good. Of course, as a "Boost baby" her gear score started at an elevated 176.

Well. The answer to the Missions problem has finally been solved. The "Table" that Keya kept coming to was the wrong table. That table was at the prow of the idled ship. The table Keya never even saw was all but hidden by other characters, ship workers, and other quests.

When Keya finally got to the "right" table she was able to complete the Missions Quest. Keya asked Java to test it out as well. The Mission quest was completed without a problem. Note that Tiphaine also tried it but she is not far enough along. There was no table for her. She still needs to go to the Map and get the quests there.

The bottom line is that the first two techs who tried to help just gave me the usual run of the mill. The third tech figured out the problem was not understanding a process in the game. He immediately knew what my problem was, showed me how to fix it, and then made sure it worked. Super Kudos for that tech.

The reset was never really needed. Now I have to wonder whether to re-install the addons.

A New Challange Awaits

A New Challange Awaits

Keya hasn't had time to stay in one place for long, but as the time comes for her to finish her leveling, she'll need a place to call home. Dalaran is always available, but she is looking for something closer to the action. Almost against her wishes, she went ahead and took the Sun Harbor Inn at Baralas as her official home.

Keya continued to plow through everything that came her way, from battling elite giants throwing boulders, to nearly dying from masses of rats almost as large as Keya, to her final battleground against an old enemy, the water wraiths that populate almost every shoreline.

And then Mahakeya turned the page and earned iLevel 120. At last. At a pig farm, of all places.

There is no rest for the weary, though. Keya immediately went to check if her Missions had come online now that she is Level 120. Unfortunately nothing has changed. It has also been confirmed that all ten of of those level 100 to 120 have the same problem with Missions. This being Saturday, a Bliz tech expects to me sometime tomorrow. But she has a ticket, and they do always, eventually, get to me.

Later. Sigh. Game Master JyaDairia got back to me on my ticket regarding problems with Missions. The supposed answer? Clear your interface and update your addons.

The issue is that I had already done that before I even contacted Blizzard. I'll dutifully do it again tomorrow (what else can I do?) and if it still isn't working Keya will ping on the Game Master again. All I have is Auctioneer, Postal, and TomTom. Plus, I don't see how Missions affects addons. Sigh again.

Here is the specific addons as listed. I of course have my Cache, Interface, and WTF files. Under Interface is Addons. Auctioneer has ten elements, plus BeanCounter, Enchantrix, Informant, Slidebar, and Stubby. Independant addons are Postal and TomTom.

Having a Dark Moment

I love playing Warcraft, and leveling and improving my character is the #1 thing I like about the game. The second most fun for me is playing the Auction House. Take that away and much of the fun goes away with it.

As Wildshard (and me) get older there are things that once were easy to comprehend and do and now have become harder. Changing computer settings, locating and installing addons, etc, add a layer of difficulty Wild did not expect. On the other hand, I think Blizzard itself has discovered it has limits. The Tech working with me doesn't know WHY the game is stuck where it is, all the tech can do is wipe the slate and have poor Wild try to fix things based on the advice of the tech.

The Dreadwake

The Dreadwake

The Dreadwake is a flying ship. It arrived this morning as a bonus for being such a good customer. Unfortunately, it doesn't do anything and can't carry anything. It's also relatively large, good for getting in the way. Pretty, but useless. Oh, and the thing sinks when taken over the water. One would think that with all these ISLANDS! Keya has to contend with she should at least have a boat that doesn't sink. Unless one is pretending to be a submarine. The Makers of WoW should get more creative developers.

Keya is now iLevel 119. She's begun her final leveling, now at 12% toward iLevel 120. Her gear score is now i271, and she's weilding an i281 warglaives.

Back at Fort Victory in Nazmir. She found Nessingway, which was quite a trip that included large pools of ravenous level 120 fish. Dinosaurs are back in vogue. A large swath of territy was mapped out. Too bad that most of the terrain was lacking quests to kill them, even with five flight paths discovered. Overall, Nessingway was a disappointment. Hopefully he'll come up with something better.

Quests in general are lacking as well. Despite at least two hours of aggresive hunting, Keya was only able to improve her progress from 15% to 21%. That makes it still a long way from reaching her goal.

A huge chunk of the area is spread across The Necropolis. The area is swamped, literally, with enemies. But currently Keya has none . . . zero quests available. The same lack of quests haunts Vol'Dun as well.

Sorry, there was a crash today and much of what was written can't be retrieved. It was all stuff about the islands, which Keya hates anyway. More to say if other issues pop up.

Keya had to go back to Dustvar in Baralas to find more quests. She did have two very entertaining but scary confrontations. It was late into the evening and Keya was getting tired. She'd been trailing a number of mobs, killing as she went, and started to get nervous when the targets turned on her and attacked. Her killing spree turned into an escape when mobs descended on her and she realized she had attacked a Horde sanctuary. She managed to escape, and yelled epithets as she smartly retreated.

 The second confrontation took place at  a deep cavern where heavy mining was in progress. Keya fought off enemy miner's in droves, each time going deeper into the mine to find lost miners and disrupting the enemies that flooded in. She tried several times to at least free the miners, but the odds were overwhelming. Apparently she needed outside help and there was no one else around.

Still, Keya made progress. She is now 51% of the way to iLevel 120. Her gear score is a fine i275. Artifact Power is Level 9. Lucky for her that ALL of her new armor was still intact when the crash occured.

PS - No pics this time, having a little trouble with that. Should have it rectified next time around.

Where Will It End

Where Will It End

Another Island . . .  And Another . . .  And Another . . .

Keya gave up keeping track of the inummerable islands that she has flown to, swam to, dug beneath the earth to reach, etc, and the list never seems to end. Add further confusion that every damned place starts with a Z in the name, such Zan, Zun, Zig, Zip, etc etc. Mostly Keya has no idea where she is and mostly doesn't care as long as there are quests to finish and things to kill.

PS - One might notice that Keya roared past iLevel 117 without a single by your leave. Those islands made her crazy and she's now stalking iLevel 118.

Her one great fear is having nothing to do. She's 35% of the way to iLevel 119 now (yes, she did another blow by at iLevel 118). Her Artifact Power (AP) is Level 9. How many levels are there? Keya doesn't know. All she knows is that her Missions now have a third Follower but no quests and she still can't figure how to use her War Resources.

Keya finally forced herself to take a break, though. Maybe if she does some mundane work her juices will jump start her into something worthwhile. After getting drunk . . . dang it, she wasn't going to do that . . . .

Later, and more sober, Keya took another look at her bulging bags. Yes, Keya knows about transmog and the like, but she's always favored having the actual gear in her bags. Even when she was trying out transmoging she was never happy with what the "Appearances" showed her than what the actual item showed. Wildshard was the first to figure out that there was no reason to keep gear that wouldn't be mogged, such as rings, trinkets, etc, anything that wasn't visible when equipped. That idea has expanded in the family to keeping only those things that you can use, and keep only the best version of an item. That's the general idea. Legendary and similar type gear for keepsakes also have a place. Even with that culling Keya still has way too much gear laying about.

Island Expedition and Other Things

Keya Matches Java

Given full rein by Tiphaine, Mahakeya has made blistering progress. She is now iLevel 116, the same as Java. Her gear score is i242.

There is a bit of sadness as well as frustration. The sadness comes from the fact that the legendary shoes "The Sentinel's Eternal Refuge" may be retired soon. The i240 shoes have competition with a drop "Anglin' Arts Treads" at i245 that also sports fishing skill. Keya loves her fishing. The rub is that her current legiondary shoes also has a special gadget - with every kill Java increases her speed up to five times. Keya can't give that up, so the legendary will remain in service. For now.

It does warrant a comment. Keya has always had a leg up (get it?) by earning two legendary pieces of gear far earlier than anyone else in the family, plus her fishing legendary. All of that was earned, but still, it kept her ahead of the rest, gear-wise. She no longer has that advantage.

Java, who reached iLevel 116 BEFORE Keya, should be given a chance to step ahead of Keya. But Keya is so much fun she'll get special treatment. At least until the rest of the family start thinking about murder.

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Island Expedition and Other Things

Keya set sail from the docks at on a expedition to an island to collect more goodies needed for the war effort. It was a fast sail and assault. Keya ripped through the unprepared islanders. They never had a chance. There was no leveling, but Keya did increase her War Resources. She has 286 (max is 300). Keya still can't figure out how to use it, though.

Hey! Yells Keya! Why is Java's picture on MY comments!?
Tiphaine weighed in. Because Java was first to iLevel 116. Keya, you were second. Get over it.

Keya smoulders. She's utterly tired with Boralus. How can she get back to the other lands out there? Okay, so she went back to Vol'Dun. In Zandalar. Shatterstone Harbor is dead. Well, everything out in that wasteland is level 120 and nodbody was carrying any quests to follow.

There's a flight path - but it only goes to one place - The Sancuary of the Devoted. She's been there, too, but maybe something has changed. There are only these two flight paths. So, the enemy is still battling, but not against Keya, unless she gets in the way. Again, there is nothing to do and nowhere to go. Sigh. Nazmir is a dud, too. Keya will have to go back to Boralus and try again.

Oh wait. I forgot about Fort Victory. On the other side of the coast. Been there, Nasty place. But I bet there are quests. DOT DOT DOT ... Nope, no quests. Looks like Keya will go exploring.

PS - One thing concerns Keya in these island worlds. She had left the shelter of the Flight Path and trotted out to see what there was to see in the neighborhood. She decided to test her strength against a lone, i120 critter that grinned evily at her. Keya struck. Five minutes later Keya had stopped trying to kill it and was struggling to keep it from killing her. For the first time in recent memory, Keya had to flee. And the critter wasn't even an elite. Sobering.

Keya moved on to other things that still included killing. She spent way too much time on an island heavily populated with mechanical monsters that seemed to spawn as fast as they could be killed. After awhile she more or less gave up with her quests still unfulfilled. At least she was still in the world of Boralas and not in some far away world.

Burial of a Weapon. Keya tends to say prayers over her special weapons and gear, particularly when she knows she'll miss them. She weeped over a burial recently, this time over her Legendary Cinidaria, the Simbiote, a level 240 waist. Her replacement is an i271 belt that raised her gear score to i248. Keya has only two major pieces of gear to upgrade, a 225 shoulder piece which Keya can't seem to find a replacement for yet, and her beloved Aldrachi Warblades, which are rated only 212.
The good part is her determination to reach the next goal.

She is 36% of the way to level 117.

Keya Frustrated (Part One)

Keya Frustrated (Part One)

Keya is stuck in Boralas, unable to gain further progress until the monolith called the "Blizzard App" finishes it's arcane processes. It should have finished an hour and a half ago. More ominous is a report stating that an "authentification maintenance" should have already ended, but the world still waits for a conclusion. A new deadline reports that the maintenance will end by 8am.

No sooner than the maintenance ends, an impatient Keya tells the world she reached iLevel 113. And apologies for the long post.

Keya Crosses the Line (Part Two)

"So what?" Chaitee says from the Stormwind Auction House. "I'm making gold here! Wait your turn." At least she's trying to make a buck. The silkweave bag market has fallen again, with a poor asking price of 243g. And the price continues to fall. Chaitee is on firmer ground with frostweave bags, for sale at acceptable price of 171g. Chaitee hopes that price can be sustained and maybe even improved. The 24 slot silkweave still dominates the bag market, but it's a soft market fraught with peril.

At the high end, prices are falling, but not by much. Hexweave and imbued silkweave have eroded from 1500g down to 1300g. With literally hundreds of crafted hexweave bags choking the Auction House, further erosion is inevitable.

Some competitors are pushing the Royal Satchel with a 1000g price tag. But that bag is deceptive because it has only 28 slots instead of the expected 30 slots. Still, some buyers might not notice the difference.

Then there is the Deep Sea Bag with a full compliment of 30 slots. It is for sale at 1300 gold. The bag is new and the pricing is still in flux - but falling. Sellers should consider selling and buyers should consider waiting for a lower price.

There's one in every crowd. The largest general bag is now on the market - the Embroidered Deep Sea Bag with 32 slots. The embroidered version costs - get this - 30,000 gold. The price is falling and will keep falling, but for those who MUST have the biggest bag, that's what it will cost.

Keya has a Question - Is it worth dropping Skinning to take Alchemy knowing that Keya is sitting on 305 soulbound Blood of Sargeras? She would be getting at least ten Broken Isles Potion of Prolonged Power which Keya could use. But then the family would have two Alchemists and no skinner. Decisions decisions.

Keya is back on Boralas. She's carpeted two of the three main areas in Zandalar with the blood and gore of fine killing. Keya is now iLevel 114. Here is her most recent update in the Shadow War:

Her gear score is now i237
Her Artifact Power is Level 5, needing 436 to next level

Keya's followers have found their way back to Keya. She now has two: John Keeshan and Magister Umbric. Kaya immediately dubbed one of her followers as "John J" and is quite taken with the bulging muscles of his shirtless chest. Missions are now set in the upper right. She also assumes that all Mission requirements will come from there. A third follower is available but not activated yet.

Special Report - The Shadow War

There is still confusion about the missions. Keya went so far as to check with Java, who is two levels ahead of Keya (growls softly). What RESOURCES feeds the missions? A short view of each of us. There are War Resouces shown in Currency. How are they used?

Chaitee - This is a shock. She has two followers and three troops (2/5). They have one mission but no power to send them out. Most likely all in the family will be this way.

Java - She has two followers.

Tiphaine - 2 followers and three troops and three missions.

Keya - 2 followers. She had enough power to finish the Shadow War Mission. It also said to return to your War Campaign Ship. What does that mean? Keya also has 151 War Resources.

Sista - FOUR Followers! 8 Missions available!

Wildshard - FIVE followers. 11 missions available.

Atkar - 3 followers. 4 missions available

Jocelyne - Nothing there yet.