Island Expedition

Island Expedition

Wildswench left Orgrimmar for Zandalar this morning. This time she was not interested in either the Highlands nor Darkshore. There were a few quests still laying around, but she wasn't interested in them, either.

Instead, she went to the Grand Bazaar where one signs up for an Island Expedition. These expeditions are designed for three players. The goal is to earn azerite while fending off the deadly critters that live there as well as combating an opposing force to defeat.

Since this will be her first time to attempt an expedition, she gets to start with a kind of practice run. She will do the run alone to get a feel for how things work. Once she completes that Wench will be able to sign up for expeditions. On a real expedition, however, Wench will be in a three person group that includes combat with the opposing force - ie, Wench on the Horde side vs Alliance on the other side, ie, PVP. It's the pvp part that concerns Wench, but she it going to give it a go. She thinks.

In case things go very badly, she is laying her current status:

i350 gear, AP 39 plus 89% . . . she is hoping to get at least one piece of upgradeable gear from this run. Wish her luck.

Well. It seems that Wench went right into a Island Expedition without trying it out beforehand. Wench was certainly the anchor of the group, always trying to catch up. The other two players could kill things much faster, but Wench did feel like she held her own when it came to taking a pounding while the others killed things. She died only once, and for a first time that was pretty darn amazing! 

So now she has been blooded.

So, what great treasure did we get? Well . . . Wench earned four dubloons. Dubloons? It took Wench a few minutes just to find them - aha, they are listed under "currency."

The good part of this first run is that Wench was able to keep track of where the other two were if/when she got separated. All in all, this was a pretty easy run. The expeditions are weekly. Wench will attempt a second run just to see if she gets one, or it she truly has to wait a week for the next run. It was fun!!

Oh yea, Wench did made some progress, too, going from 89% to 95%. Okay, that's pretty tiny. But she'll take it. 

PS - Still no joy on getting pics. Grrrr!

Reliving Wildshard

Reliving Wildshard

Wildswench wasn't very happy with the latest headline. Wench found herself back in Kul Tiras, still trying to figure out the Brideport Investigation. She flew to Dustvar hoping for help there, but the fine welcome that Wildshard spent some time at was lacking with Wench. The place was mostly empty, with little more than the flight path.

She made better progress in the far northeast. All of the questing she accomplished followed in Wild's footsteps. Despite some gains, the shadow of Wildshard followed her everywhere. It seemed that Wench could feel Wildshard's presence wherever she went. "Wild was here," the grass soughed, the wind breathed, and the very dirt sought a way to say, "Wild walked this path."

Her gains were small, but she did make progress. Her artifact power is now AP 37, and her gear score is i349. Wench smiled slightly, 95% toward AP 38. She really wants to get to AP 39 and even more importantly, gear score i350.

She'll have to go back to Zandalar soon, where there is better work, but even with that the possibilities have been getting more and more repetitive. The Highlands can only be pawed over once a day.

Wench hated Darkshore the first time she tried it. She's visited there several times now and it's becoming familiar. Like the Highlands, it's now just another land to tame.

Over all, though, there is little new, whether Highlands, Darkshore, or any other land. It all seems to be the same.

Wench did get to AP 38 plus 63%. Her gear score remains at i349.

Getting Cocky

Wench went on a powerful run, finally knocking off a nasty elite that she has been working on for several days. Four quests went down, along with getting a dinosaur for a temporary pet.

She pushed her AP to AP 38 AND . . . AND raised her gear score to i350 !!

Fishing in Battle For Azeroth

Fishing in Battle For Azeroth

In summary, it's boring. In some ways that is a good thing. Fishing poles no longer have to be equipped to be used, all that's needed is the pole is in your bag. That saves time and fishermen no longer have to go into combat mode when fishing. That said, the types of fish are boring and there is no new pole to go after.

Wench has been tinkering with the idea of earning the Underlight Angler, the best fishing pole of all time. Mahakeya was the first - and so far the only family member to earn that masterful fishing pole. On the positive side, all the work is done in Aszuna and she can fly there (I think Wench can fly there - yes, she can) , but even so it took Keya hundreds of hours to earn it. So the Underlight Angler is available if she wants to go after it.

Oh, and Wench has now paid for the gear upgrade she got (earned by fishing) and is now back at 101,000 gold of her own money and is not beholden to Happyface. And then she bought two hexweave bags and is back to only 50k gold again.

Gear Update: Gear 343. AP 34 plus 30%

What Replaces Dungeons and Raids - Note, this post is for those of us who will never see the inside of a raid or dungeon. In a word, it's GOLD. Wildswench seems to be one of the few "I don't Raid" who understand that the only way to progress is to build up enough gold to purchase the items you specifically want. The advantage is that you get exactly what you want instead accepting what some random component drops that may or may not be worth anything. Too many players shun the idea of buying gear. For Wench, it's just business. Time will tell if Wench's approach is a sound one.

Darkshore Flying

Wench returned to Darkshore determined to get a hold in those wet, messy forests. She could already fly in the Highlands, and she quickly learned that she could fly in Darkshore as well. With flight available, Wench powered her way through quests and the occasional elites.

Happy with her progress, she broke her silence with Wildshard and asked him to compare gear progress.

Wench : Gear 317, LvL 23 plus 16%

Wild    : Gear 353, Lvl 35 plus 17%

Even with the help in quests at Darkshore, Wench is still a long way from catching Wildshard.

Darkshore Flying? Not so fast. It seems that flying in Darkshore isn't  always available. Her latest foray would not allow flying. Wench was annoyed at first. However, as her skills improve she has less need to use flying as a crutch. So, her latest conquests have raised her powers again: Gear Lvl 331, AP 26 plus 59%.

PS - Wench has not been able to fly in Darkshore since that first time. She has joined Darkshore assaults three times so far and has next to nothing to show for it. The process is to sign up for Darkshore and when enough players show up, a raid is established and a leader assigned. All of this is normal. However, Wench seems to have a problem keeping track of what is going on. When the battle begins everyone is going in the same direction, but almost immediately the group seems to scatter. Wench can see on her map where groups are but try as she can she never manages to get the location of the battle. This latest attempt was the worst yet. There was a full cadre of players - the only player who was not at the raid was Wench. Embarrassing. She kept riding in the direction of the rest of the group but that direction moved and spread constantly.  She never got to the battle.

Wench understands the Highlands. She is lost in Darkshore. And that means she's not gaining gear or skills. Sucks. 

 Latest Gear score: 347, AP 36 plus 93%

The Bridgeport Investigation

The Bridgeport Investigation

Wench is angry and frustrated. Tired of Zandalar, she decided to work on improving her position in Kul Tiras and fortifying her property to defend against the Alliance forces. There is a bridge crossing to keep watch on and there is an Alliance town on the other side of the river to be wary of.

Wench has killed the Alliance on her side of the bridge. Now she must traverse an Alliance haunted area that is very dangerous and heavy with Alliance forces.

[There are two cutscenes involved required to complete this part of her mission. Both require reaching two spots where there are not only Alliance enemies very close, PvP players are also close enough to could trigger the enemy Alliance defenders. The obvious intent is to cause players flag for PvP. Wench has been killed twice now by PvP players who are clever enough to cause the PvP to flag. Wench can see them waiting for Wench to make that small mistake. This violates the rules of play by forcing non-PVPers participate in PvP against their desires.]

Wench surprised herself the first time she tried her hand at the Auction House. She admitted that her first sale was a bit of coincidence. A highly priced weapon had had come into her hands that she could not use for herself. It was being auctioned for 100,000 gold. Wench thought that was plain crazy. There were only two for sale. Potential buyers came and went and the price kept dropping. Wench didn't know how low it would go before someone bought it. but she was sure happy when she finally got a buyer. How much did she get from the sale? 46,000 gold!! Wench went from having 57k gold to 103,000 gold!  Not five minutes later she sold her cache of fish and raised her gold total to 105k gold. Happyface  is now wondering if he should take back the 50k gold stake he gave her.

By the way,  there has been some criticism of Wench regarding her clothing - or lack of clothing. There is certainly more flesh showing than the everyday gear laden bear.

Not that it's anyone's business what she wears or what she doesn't wear, Wench chided her critics. Her response was a simple one, stating that she will wear the best gear she can get, and will add to that gear if it gives her an advantage. She doesn't wear a tabard because she does not belong to a guild. She doesn't wear a shirt because it gives her no advantage. "Practical" is her motto.

Special Section: Wildswench has a history that not even Wildshard knows much about. Her mother . . .  well, the full story of that period may never be told. However, some recent  sketches have come to light that may or may not shed some light. Take from it what you will

A Recent View of Wench

 

Wench at Work

Hard to Watch but that's her with the whip

This is Wench Being :Taught"

Testing For Pics

The Gods of WoW have nothing to do with adding pics to enhance the posts that get published. That job goes to the writer who writes the blog and provides the pics.

Part of the problem is that there are literally thousands of pics to choose from and many are scattered over many places. There needs to be one place where captured pics can be stored as well as a method to copy or move the pic to this blog. That's the challenge. To date there have been some successes, though they could not be replicated.Testing is required.

Test # 0 - Pictures Library. This library is in two locations: My Pictures and Public Pictures. The default is My Pictures. No changes are being made to either location for the moment.

Test #1 - Local Disk E: Warcraftpics - this is a folder on the E: drive that has some warcraft pics on it. Can those pics be copied/moved to the Blog?

First, I have to click on the Insert Image tab. What I get is the entire list of every pic in that warcraftpics folder. Wa-la! No, not really. There are thousands of pics in there in no usable method to search for the right pics. Several attempts to define a way to tell has failed before.

What is needed is a folder that has only the pics needed. So one question is how to tell "insert image"  to pick the right folder to choose pics.

It appears that there is only two ways, neither of which will work.

Okay, maybe I'm on to something. I went into through the Progam file to Screenshots. I then did a cut and paste of the screenshot. And it worked!

Succsefulpaste to the blog 

Local Disk /programfiles /world of warcraft /retail /screenshots

Now I will try it with a post including a pasted pic.

NOPE - it didn't work.  The screenshot did post, but the pic was too large and was clipped and it wouldn't adjust itself - which it would if it were working right. So SIGH, still trying to figure this thing out.