Tuesday (30 Oct) - Done With Dalaran
Fist considered her plan to return to Northrend's Sholozar Basin to continue her leveling. Then she un-considered it. Fist ignored the cheap Wrath gear she was wearing and headed for the greener pastures of Cata's Mount Hyjal. Fist quickly proved to herself that she was a match for the new zone, and gathered up quests that were well known and dear to Wild. Fist picked up a shadow as she worked through a quest stream that had Fist going back to the quest givers again and again. Actually, Fist was probably the shadow. The only other quester Fist saw in the zone was one quest ahead of Fist. This early in the zone, there weren't any quests that warranted grouping up, so we killed and collected side by side much of the time.
Fist's xp came in big chunks, too. She still had the use of all her heirlooms, she had a big pocket full of rested xp, and she had two full hours of the monk buff. In a relatively short time Fist leveled to 81.
She had a decision to make. She was already collecting gear far better than what she had. That included a green chest piece with three times the stats as the heirloom chest. The heirloom chest still gives her the 10% xp buff, though.
Fist has been trying to keep all of her gear crammed into one 26 slot bag (the largest general purpose bag she can get). She has melee gear, and healing gear, and towny gear. And after doing well and having fun in Alterac Valley the other day, Fist may also be looking for pvp gear. It's reached the point, though, that she is out of carry around bag space for gear. Fist has enough trouble keeping her bags from filling to overflowing with quest junk, so it looks like Fist is going to have to put away her towny gear for now. That probably gives Naithipe one less thing to worry about her daughter, not to mention her prudish cousins fussing over revealing (Fist shakes her head) clothes (or lack thereof). All the boys of Orgrimmar are going to be sad, though. Fist is done with the boys, though, she decided. She would have to think up a new outfit - for the men.
For the most part the quests in Mount Hyjal appear to be the original quests without any nerfing. Fist has killed two elites solo. One of them, Sethria, Fist had to fight the first part alone, and then she got help for the rest. The other elite kill was fairly tough, and it, too, had a trick to make the fight easier. Fist ignored the trick, though, and took the elite down anyway.
The only nerfed quest Fist has run into involved an egg that Fist had to protect from incoming dragonkin. Wild's memory of that fight involved up to half a dozen near simultaneous attackers. Fist's battle involved just two, spaced out so that she could kill them individually. Ah well.
Fist gooned up one of the more fun quests, too. Everybody remembers the quest where baby bears are stuck in trees and have to captured, and then tossed from the tree to the trampoline on the ground. Fun and easy xp. Fist got stuck in the tree holding on to a baby bear. The quest was bugged, I guess, because nothing I did would clear it. I even tried abandoning the quest. Logging out and logging back in did free Fist, but the quest was no longer available. Another ah well.
Fist is used reporting each new level she reaches. With the longer and more extensive leveling needed in Cata, all Fist can report now is progress - Fist is 91% of the way to level 82.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Monday (29 Oct) - Fist in Alterac Valley
Monday (29 Oct) - Fist in Alterac Valley
On Monday morning I got a nice surprise. My AMD brand video card got an installation upgrade, a rather significant one, that I am hopeful will take care of the screen locking problem. Time will tell, but the update has already improved refresh speed and a few other bothersome things. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Fist is level 80 now, and feels she needs a plan to tackle the last ten levels. She will most likely spend more time in Sholazar Basin as there are a lot of quests that should go fairly fast. Fist hopes she can get to level 82 before leaving Wrath for Cata level zones, but if not she will likely jump to Cata anyway, as she's pretty ho hum about the other Wrath zones.
There are five Cata zones and five levels to achieve (81-85). Mount Hyjal is the obvious choice, as it's the starter zone for level 80s (I don't count Vashj'ir, as Wild never liked it much). The question is whether Fist can continue to pound out a couple of levels per zone, or if the new five level expansions (versus Burning Crusade and Wrath being ten levels) will force Fist to go zone to zone for each new level. Deepholm and Uldum are both fun to do, but I doubt I'll be able to skip the last/highest zone, Twilight Highlands, which has some good quests, but is not a favorite.
The jump from Wrath to Cata gear-wise is also a concern. At level 81 Fist will lose a lot of the heirloom experience boost, dropping from a 35% buff to just 15% (level 1-85 heirloom gear is only available on head and back). That 1-80 heirloom gear will no longer improve with level, either, so Fist will have to find gear to replace her shoulders, chest, trinkets, and weapon. That means major changes in how Fist collects her gear, which up to now has been updated almost entirely from quest rewards. The rest of her gear will also need a complete overhaul, since the gear stats of Cata level gear is much more powerful than Wrath level gear. Wild entered Cata with raid-level gear which helped him get through the early going. Fist is entering with quest level gear and that will be painful.
How painful? Consider her mistweaver healing staff: no +int, but a nice (I thought) 250 spell power. The AH has a level 77 mace that has +65int ... and 871 spell power. Gulp. Even her "best available" questing agi gear doesn't come close to measuring up: Her heirloom +68agi staff is laughingly bad against an AH level 80 one-hand axe with +233agi on it!
More pain from the AH is that pricing for Cata level gear is stupidly high. Fist has a green light to buy whatever she wants off the AH, but how much should be spent on gear that will too soon be replaced? How much gold is Happy willing to throw at Fist?
Fist could get royally murdered out there in Cata land.
Monday Night - Naithipe heard about Fist's mutterings and swung by to see how Fist was doing. Naithipe's advice (demand, more like) was that she stop wringing her hands and start practicing her healing if that's what silly girls do at level 80 these days. Naithipe, of course, would rather be cutting opponents down than healing, but if that's what Fist is interested in, she'd better work at being good at it.
Fist doesn't want or get much advice from her mother, but she took the blunt advice seriously. She got her healing spells in some semblance of order and put herself in the queue for a random battleground. She got Alterac Valley. AV is a large group BG and was ideal for Fist to blend in and see what she could do.
It turned out better than she expected. She barely knew her spells, and having to track two different kinds of heals (those that use mana and those that use chi) had Fist pulling her hair. She learned a bit at a time, but mostly just pounded keys hoping some actual healing was getting out there. There were many small group battles that Fist helped with, and her confidence grew.
Fist died only four times, which is fewer than usual for a Wild family pvper. It was just coincidence, though, that she didn't draw focus fire much, because she was certainly squishy and easy to kill, with her modest health and absolutely no pvp resilience to provide protection. She did DPS a little, too, but mostly she healed.
The horde team also won the fight! At least until the next BG, Fist can brag she's never lost a BG match.
Considering how randomly Fist was dropping spells, it's a wonder her numbers were as good as they were. Here is the BG Summary from the fight:
Not bad, if Fist does say so herself. She was third in horde healing, and fourth overall. Her DPS didn't amount to much, but at least she got some numbers on the board.
After the battle Wild helped Fist get macros set up (like his) so that next time she can mouseover heal instead of click targeting. Fist had a lot of fun.
On Monday morning I got a nice surprise. My AMD brand video card got an installation upgrade, a rather significant one, that I am hopeful will take care of the screen locking problem. Time will tell, but the update has already improved refresh speed and a few other bothersome things. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Fist is level 80 now, and feels she needs a plan to tackle the last ten levels. She will most likely spend more time in Sholazar Basin as there are a lot of quests that should go fairly fast. Fist hopes she can get to level 82 before leaving Wrath for Cata level zones, but if not she will likely jump to Cata anyway, as she's pretty ho hum about the other Wrath zones.
There are five Cata zones and five levels to achieve (81-85). Mount Hyjal is the obvious choice, as it's the starter zone for level 80s (I don't count Vashj'ir, as Wild never liked it much). The question is whether Fist can continue to pound out a couple of levels per zone, or if the new five level expansions (versus Burning Crusade and Wrath being ten levels) will force Fist to go zone to zone for each new level. Deepholm and Uldum are both fun to do, but I doubt I'll be able to skip the last/highest zone, Twilight Highlands, which has some good quests, but is not a favorite.
The jump from Wrath to Cata gear-wise is also a concern. At level 81 Fist will lose a lot of the heirloom experience boost, dropping from a 35% buff to just 15% (level 1-85 heirloom gear is only available on head and back). That 1-80 heirloom gear will no longer improve with level, either, so Fist will have to find gear to replace her shoulders, chest, trinkets, and weapon. That means major changes in how Fist collects her gear, which up to now has been updated almost entirely from quest rewards. The rest of her gear will also need a complete overhaul, since the gear stats of Cata level gear is much more powerful than Wrath level gear. Wild entered Cata with raid-level gear which helped him get through the early going. Fist is entering with quest level gear and that will be painful.
How painful? Consider her mistweaver healing staff: no +int, but a nice (I thought) 250 spell power. The AH has a level 77 mace that has +65int ... and 871 spell power. Gulp. Even her "best available" questing agi gear doesn't come close to measuring up: Her heirloom +68agi staff is laughingly bad against an AH level 80 one-hand axe with +233agi on it!
More pain from the AH is that pricing for Cata level gear is stupidly high. Fist has a green light to buy whatever she wants off the AH, but how much should be spent on gear that will too soon be replaced? How much gold is Happy willing to throw at Fist?
Fist could get royally murdered out there in Cata land.
Monday Night - Naithipe heard about Fist's mutterings and swung by to see how Fist was doing. Naithipe's advice (demand, more like) was that she stop wringing her hands and start practicing her healing if that's what silly girls do at level 80 these days. Naithipe, of course, would rather be cutting opponents down than healing, but if that's what Fist is interested in, she'd better work at being good at it.
Fist doesn't want or get much advice from her mother, but she took the blunt advice seriously. She got her healing spells in some semblance of order and put herself in the queue for a random battleground. She got Alterac Valley. AV is a large group BG and was ideal for Fist to blend in and see what she could do.
It turned out better than she expected. She barely knew her spells, and having to track two different kinds of heals (those that use mana and those that use chi) had Fist pulling her hair. She learned a bit at a time, but mostly just pounded keys hoping some actual healing was getting out there. There were many small group battles that Fist helped with, and her confidence grew.
Fist died only four times, which is fewer than usual for a Wild family pvper. It was just coincidence, though, that she didn't draw focus fire much, because she was certainly squishy and easy to kill, with her modest health and absolutely no pvp resilience to provide protection. She did DPS a little, too, but mostly she healed.
The horde team also won the fight! At least until the next BG, Fist can brag she's never lost a BG match.
Considering how randomly Fist was dropping spells, it's a wonder her numbers were as good as they were. Here is the BG Summary from the fight:
Not bad, if Fist does say so herself. She was third in horde healing, and fourth overall. Her DPS didn't amount to much, but at least she got some numbers on the board.
After the battle Wild helped Fist get macros set up (like his) so that next time she can mouseover heal instead of click targeting. Fist had a lot of fun.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Weekend Part Two (28 Oct) - Waylaid By Minutiae
Weekend Part Two (28 Oct) - Waylaid By Minutiae
Saturday Morning - Fist encountered a few hiccups getting started on Saturday morning. She had hearthed back to the Filthy Animal Inn at Dalaran, and when she rose the next morning, the entrance to the inn seemed to have disappeared! Fist didn't think she'd had anything alcoholic to drink, but then, if she couldn't remember drinking, that could be one sign she'd really drunk herself silly.
After a little investigation, however, she discovered the truth. Someone thought that it would be hilarious to block the entrance to the inn with a giant. That giant was apparently kited into the city and killed at the entrance to the inn. The poor fellows name was Gymer, King of the Storm Giants. Further research unearthed more information, no kiting was involved. Gymer, apparently, has been known to wander away from wherever he is in Dalaran. There have been no eyewitness sightings of anyone killing him, but numerous sightings of Gymer dead at various places around Dalaran. Gymer was once also found in the inn, quite alive, but unable to find his way out. One wonders what that is all about.
After letting that puzzle go, Fist got ready to head back out to Grizzly Hills. She still had choked bags to clean up, but even after clean up she still had too much stuff. Fist plodded over to the bank to drop off the mostly leathers of various types she has been collecting - but the bank was full! Not a single spot left open. Gah, now what? Fist had already dumped a bunch of leathers on Mery, and Mery said No Mas! Mery was annoyed enough that she was doing crafting for Fist that she could get no skill credit for because she needed to be level 65 to go above the 375 skill that Mery had maxed out at. Fist was none too happy hearing that, worried that she might be sidelined so that Mery could level from 60 to 65. That wasn't going to happen, both JB and Philly told Mery. The leatherworker in this family is going to be Fist. Sorry, Mery.
Fist was having trouble skilling up her leatherworking do to severe shortages of heavy leather. Fist had already made a trip to Dustwallow Marsh to farm the dinosaur packs and den of dragons (favorite spots to get heavy leather), which helped, but that takes time, and she needed a LOT of heavy leather.
Another approach would be to get some high end leatherworking bags to store all that leather stuff, making room for non-leatherworking items. Mery was tapped to check it out. Mery could make a 20 slot bag, but there was also a 28 slot bag that a vendor in Nagrand had the recipe for. Hoping to settle an unhappy Mery down, Mery was given a chance to get out of Orgrimmar and show off her wonderful towny outfit (complete with matching mount and pet, she always added) in Nagrand's Garadar. Mery enjoyed the trip, but unfortunately came back empty-handed. The vendor who had the recipe was in the Mag'har faction. What has that got to do with anything? Mery has not done the quests in Nagrand where the Mag'har are rediscovered and friendships made. The vendor was hostile to Mery.
So, what should have happened, is that Fist should have gone herself and then sent the recipe over to Mery to make. Sigh, the day is getting away from Fist and she hasn't earned a single experience point yet. But if you have to get something done, Fist sighed again, it's best to just do it yourself.
Fist took the portal from Dalaran to Orgrimmar, then the portal from Org to the Blasted Lands, and then the portal from the Blasted Lands to Hellfire Peninsula. She then hopped on her mount and flew to Garadar, where she had spent a lot of time getting friendly with the Mag'har. Fist found Provisioner Nasela easily enough (since Mery had already located her for Fist). After an "oh no!" moment when it looked like the recipe wasn't there, Fist found it. She got not only that recipe, but four others as well.
Feeling she was getting back on track, Fist sent off the recipe to Mery so she could make the 28 slot bag. Well, she thought she would send off the recipe. It was soulbound. Fist wanted to scream. She had another conversation with Mery, who had already said she had a recipe for a 20 slot Leatherworker's Satchel. The mats for it, though, would cost Fist a 100g off the AH. Pay it, Fist said, gritting her teeth, I'm good for it. Fist got her bag, and managed to shoe horn all of her "stuff" into the bank.
Fist had one more bungle to confess. When she is finally able to make that 28 slot bag, it won't be for leatherworking stuff. What? She just assumed that a bag made by a leatherworker would be for leather stuff. She completely ignored the name on the bag: Reinforced MINING Bag. Fist should have gone to bed earlier Friday night.
There was yet another delay to follow. Fist knew that she would quickly be stuck with overloaded storage again, given the amount of skinning she was doing. She needed that skinning to skill up her leatherworking, so she couldn't not do it. It appeared that Fist would have to go back to Dustwallow Marsh. But Wild came to her rescue, sort of. Wild was at the AH on other business, but, knowing Fist's plight, he checked on the price of heavy leather. To his surprise a good bit of it had been posted at prices way below what the seller could easily have gotten. Wild quickly snapped it up, cheap even by Wild's stingy standards (or he wouldn't have spent his own gold on it).
That, most unfortunately, created yet a new challenge. Wild has not organized his bags, like JB and Philly had been pushing him to do. Wild could not retrieve the leather from the mail because he had absolutely no where to put it.
Fist, who was getting more and more frustrated and antsy, picked on poor dead Gymer, loudly complaining to anyone who would listen - Would SOMEONE find a way to get Gymer's corpse out of the doorway! Yes, the giant's corpse was still draped over the entrance to the inn. There was nothing to do but make Wild tidy up his bags enough to be able to send Fist the leather. The whole morning shot.
Wild figured he could blow the whole afternoon, too, re-organizing his bags, in between naps. Once he got started, though, he kept at it. The first things to go were things he could vendor or destroy immediately - essentially, any gear that was not part of the current MoP set or under consideration for transmogging. That opened up a few slots in Wild's bags, but not many, since Wild had way too many ideas on what he wanted to do with mog sets. Sure, Wild could have probably sent along that leather Fist wanted at that point, but then Fist would have run off to play. Wild had gotten interested, and now Fist had to wait. It was a bit astonishing just how much gear Wild had held on to! Some of it went all the way back to vanilla WoW, such as trinkets, rings, etc, that were special rewards with no sale value, but made for good memories. Of all of that stuff (unsuitable for mogging), Wild decided to keep only the Tier 1 Cenarion set along with the Staff of Dominance which goes with that set. Wild also likes the Cata Tier set called Deep Earth, and has full sets for both healer and moonkin. Those will be kept. After that, though, things got a lot messier. Wild finally decided that it was a good time for a nap, sent Fist her leather, and made for his hammock. A good thing, too, because Wild has two bags in his bank full of feral gear that he hasn't even gotten to yet.
Once Fist heard that Wild had started snoring, she and Mery emptied every bag they had and managed to get enough heavy leather. It didn't take long to run that down, though, and Fist started on the gear made with thick leather. With Mery's help that held out a long time, but there was still not enough thick leather, now, to keep skilling up. Even with Mery's bank bags starting to look unusually empty, Fist had to call a halt. Fist's leatherworking is at 240, still well behind Mery's 375. Given how much time has passed, Fist decided to take Sin's earlier advice to let rested xp grow, wipe it out right before the baseball game, and then farm thick leather during the game.
Fist went at her leatherworking again after a trip to Un'Goro Crater. Fist didn't think she had much of an AoE attack for farming mobs, but she came upon a method that worked extremely well. She used her Crackling Jade Lightning spell, which has a 50yd range, to tag mobs. The spell is channeled, so Fist would just break the channel right after tagging the mob. Fist could then run around, tagging mobs, until she had gathered a crowd. Since the mobs were pulled from every direction, Fist had to get them lined up facing her, so she would do a fast roll to get ahead of them, turn, and as soon as the they got to her, she slammed them with Fists of Fury. Those that survived that melee range AoE assault were treated to another one, Spinning Crane Kick (which, incidentally, heals Fist). None of the various level 50-55+ mobs survived that. Fist is up to 260 skill in leatherworking, but is again out of leather. Now it's rugged leather that she is short of. I know engineering is tough to level, but the leatherworking profession is a serious pain. Fist is starting to wonder if Mery set her up, letting Fist do all the hard work so Mery could find an easier profession.
Later - The fog of leveling seems to have settled around Fist and it is getting very tough to keep track of day, zone, and quest. The notes written to jog the memory don't seem to help much. So, the following covers what dim memory there is, and the few things that stood out.
Fist remembers it raining in Un'Goro Crater killing things while the Chargers plowed through the rain and mud in Cleveland in a more hopeless adventure (San Diego Chargers debacle - losing to a 1-4 team with a final score of 7-6).
Fist loudly proclaiming that Leatherworking SUCKS! when she ran out of rugged leather at skill 270.
A level 55 paladin in the Crater, visiting from another server, who asked Fist if she could help him with the Lar'korwi quest. Fist had recently done the quest, but it had already become just one more blur of hundreds. But, sure, what else did she have to do? The paladin not only needed help, he needed someone to hold his hand. He had apparently never heard of wowhead, and was completely clueless. But it was a sincere cluelessness. After letting the paladin lead Fist around in circles for a few minutes, Fist called a halt. She checked on where Lar'korwi could be located, and led him to it. Fist waited for the paladin to do the ritual that would invoke Lar'korwi, but nothing happened. Finally, Fist asked him if he had the ingredients required. More long pauses. Fist suggested that there was meat involved. The paladin must have had much larger bags than anyone in WoW, because it took an endless time for him to look. When he finally acknowledged that he didn't see anything that might be what was needed, he mumbled, "I must be really stupid." Fist sighed, but, she's been there before, baffled by what was supposed to a simple quest. Fist then remembered that the meat actually came in a pouch. She asked the paladin to look for that. Another long wait, and then the paladin exclaimed, "I found it!" Fist then had the paladin place the pouch on the handy rock there for that purpose, and low and behold, Lar'Korwi came. Fist waited for the paladin to tag the beast so that he would get credit for the kill. When he did get it tagged Fist was going to help kill it faster, but for some reason the beast did not grey out like it should have, and Fist did not want to mess up a proper kill - which would force the paladin to have to do the whole darn thing over again. Instead, Fist played healer from his limited arsenal of such, mostly popping a healing bulb on him when necessary. I don't know what gear he was wearing, but it took him a good while to finally finish off the level 52 non-elite and collect the head. The paladin was extremely grateful, and Fist rather enjoyed the break from killing endless dinosaurs and losing football.
Somewhere along the way Fist went back to the Grizzly Hills to continue questing. It's a big zone with several quest hubs. The one quest that stands out - due to Fist's fuzzy ineptitude - was the Ursoc quest. Usroc is a monstrous elite bear. The quest provides a bearish helper to aid in the fight, but unlike the modified quests that gutted every other elite quest Fist has tackled, this one appeared to be the original. The helper (yes, he has a name, but who ever remembers the "helper?") can be asked to help DPS or heal. Fist chose DPS, and the two other trotted down a mountain lane to the dead end where Ursoc appeared. Fist mangled up a first attempt, not fast enough or smart enough at using his limited healing abilities. Fist got Ursoc down to under 10%, but Fist died.
On the second attempt, Fist did great, and while it was a tough fight, it was Ursoc who died. Ecstatic, Fist automatically skinned him, like she does without a thought on every beast she kills. The problem was that Fist needed the carcass to complete the quest. Sigh.
For the third attempt, Fist opted to make the helper a healer, just for something different. That turned out to be easier, and Fist finally got both the kill and the quest completion. It was nice to find a quest that put up a bit of a fight.
Somewhere in there Fist reached level 79.
Sunday was bracketed by another sporting event - Game #4 of the World Series. At least the Tigers put up the semblance of a fight, taking the lead twice before eventually bowing out of the contest. The 4-3 loss completed a string of personal losses that may never be broken (but could be extended): over the past few weeks I have seen the San Diego Chargers put together a string of three straight losses. I saw the St Louis Cardinals lose three straight, ending my hoped for trip to see a World Series game, and then watched four straight losses by the Detroit Tigers. For those counting, that is TEN straight sporting event losses. Somehow, it's probably my fault that the National Hockey League is on strike from fear that no team could win a game with me alive to jinx them. At least I can't jinx the Chargers game at home on Thursday night - I'm sure that game will be blacked out due to lack of interest by San Diegans after that miserable Browns game.
Fist, meanwhile, had to put all that sports stuff behind her and keep working. Grizzly Hills kept her fully occupied a very long time, but the gold mine finally petered out with Fist still a little short of her goal.
It was a little serendipitous, then, that Fist found herself heading for the Nessingway Base Camp in Sholozar Basin for her next stop. The Nessingway Camp is where Wild made it to level 80.
Along about midnight on Sunday, Fist also made level 80.
PS - When Fist got back to Dalaran after reaching level 80 - Gymer was STILL stuffed in the doorway of the Filthy Animal Inn. Fist patted the fat giant on the rump and went to bed.
Saturday Morning - Fist encountered a few hiccups getting started on Saturday morning. She had hearthed back to the Filthy Animal Inn at Dalaran, and when she rose the next morning, the entrance to the inn seemed to have disappeared! Fist didn't think she'd had anything alcoholic to drink, but then, if she couldn't remember drinking, that could be one sign she'd really drunk herself silly.
After a little investigation, however, she discovered the truth. Someone thought that it would be hilarious to block the entrance to the inn with a giant. That giant was apparently kited into the city and killed at the entrance to the inn. The poor fellows name was Gymer, King of the Storm Giants. Further research unearthed more information, no kiting was involved. Gymer, apparently, has been known to wander away from wherever he is in Dalaran. There have been no eyewitness sightings of anyone killing him, but numerous sightings of Gymer dead at various places around Dalaran. Gymer was once also found in the inn, quite alive, but unable to find his way out. One wonders what that is all about.
After letting that puzzle go, Fist got ready to head back out to Grizzly Hills. She still had choked bags to clean up, but even after clean up she still had too much stuff. Fist plodded over to the bank to drop off the mostly leathers of various types she has been collecting - but the bank was full! Not a single spot left open. Gah, now what? Fist had already dumped a bunch of leathers on Mery, and Mery said No Mas! Mery was annoyed enough that she was doing crafting for Fist that she could get no skill credit for because she needed to be level 65 to go above the 375 skill that Mery had maxed out at. Fist was none too happy hearing that, worried that she might be sidelined so that Mery could level from 60 to 65. That wasn't going to happen, both JB and Philly told Mery. The leatherworker in this family is going to be Fist. Sorry, Mery.
Fist was having trouble skilling up her leatherworking do to severe shortages of heavy leather. Fist had already made a trip to Dustwallow Marsh to farm the dinosaur packs and den of dragons (favorite spots to get heavy leather), which helped, but that takes time, and she needed a LOT of heavy leather.
Another approach would be to get some high end leatherworking bags to store all that leather stuff, making room for non-leatherworking items. Mery was tapped to check it out. Mery could make a 20 slot bag, but there was also a 28 slot bag that a vendor in Nagrand had the recipe for. Hoping to settle an unhappy Mery down, Mery was given a chance to get out of Orgrimmar and show off her wonderful towny outfit (complete with matching mount and pet, she always added) in Nagrand's Garadar. Mery enjoyed the trip, but unfortunately came back empty-handed. The vendor who had the recipe was in the Mag'har faction. What has that got to do with anything? Mery has not done the quests in Nagrand where the Mag'har are rediscovered and friendships made. The vendor was hostile to Mery.
So, what should have happened, is that Fist should have gone herself and then sent the recipe over to Mery to make. Sigh, the day is getting away from Fist and she hasn't earned a single experience point yet. But if you have to get something done, Fist sighed again, it's best to just do it yourself.
Fist took the portal from Dalaran to Orgrimmar, then the portal from Org to the Blasted Lands, and then the portal from the Blasted Lands to Hellfire Peninsula. She then hopped on her mount and flew to Garadar, where she had spent a lot of time getting friendly with the Mag'har. Fist found Provisioner Nasela easily enough (since Mery had already located her for Fist). After an "oh no!" moment when it looked like the recipe wasn't there, Fist found it. She got not only that recipe, but four others as well.
Feeling she was getting back on track, Fist sent off the recipe to Mery so she could make the 28 slot bag. Well, she thought she would send off the recipe. It was soulbound. Fist wanted to scream. She had another conversation with Mery, who had already said she had a recipe for a 20 slot Leatherworker's Satchel. The mats for it, though, would cost Fist a 100g off the AH. Pay it, Fist said, gritting her teeth, I'm good for it. Fist got her bag, and managed to shoe horn all of her "stuff" into the bank.
Fist had one more bungle to confess. When she is finally able to make that 28 slot bag, it won't be for leatherworking stuff. What? She just assumed that a bag made by a leatherworker would be for leather stuff. She completely ignored the name on the bag: Reinforced MINING Bag. Fist should have gone to bed earlier Friday night.
There was yet another delay to follow. Fist knew that she would quickly be stuck with overloaded storage again, given the amount of skinning she was doing. She needed that skinning to skill up her leatherworking, so she couldn't not do it. It appeared that Fist would have to go back to Dustwallow Marsh. But Wild came to her rescue, sort of. Wild was at the AH on other business, but, knowing Fist's plight, he checked on the price of heavy leather. To his surprise a good bit of it had been posted at prices way below what the seller could easily have gotten. Wild quickly snapped it up, cheap even by Wild's stingy standards (or he wouldn't have spent his own gold on it).
That, most unfortunately, created yet a new challenge. Wild has not organized his bags, like JB and Philly had been pushing him to do. Wild could not retrieve the leather from the mail because he had absolutely no where to put it.
Fist, who was getting more and more frustrated and antsy, picked on poor dead Gymer, loudly complaining to anyone who would listen - Would SOMEONE find a way to get Gymer's corpse out of the doorway! Yes, the giant's corpse was still draped over the entrance to the inn. There was nothing to do but make Wild tidy up his bags enough to be able to send Fist the leather. The whole morning shot.
Wild figured he could blow the whole afternoon, too, re-organizing his bags, in between naps. Once he got started, though, he kept at it. The first things to go were things he could vendor or destroy immediately - essentially, any gear that was not part of the current MoP set or under consideration for transmogging. That opened up a few slots in Wild's bags, but not many, since Wild had way too many ideas on what he wanted to do with mog sets. Sure, Wild could have probably sent along that leather Fist wanted at that point, but then Fist would have run off to play. Wild had gotten interested, and now Fist had to wait. It was a bit astonishing just how much gear Wild had held on to! Some of it went all the way back to vanilla WoW, such as trinkets, rings, etc, that were special rewards with no sale value, but made for good memories. Of all of that stuff (unsuitable for mogging), Wild decided to keep only the Tier 1 Cenarion set along with the Staff of Dominance which goes with that set. Wild also likes the Cata Tier set called Deep Earth, and has full sets for both healer and moonkin. Those will be kept. After that, though, things got a lot messier. Wild finally decided that it was a good time for a nap, sent Fist her leather, and made for his hammock. A good thing, too, because Wild has two bags in his bank full of feral gear that he hasn't even gotten to yet.
Once Fist heard that Wild had started snoring, she and Mery emptied every bag they had and managed to get enough heavy leather. It didn't take long to run that down, though, and Fist started on the gear made with thick leather. With Mery's help that held out a long time, but there was still not enough thick leather, now, to keep skilling up. Even with Mery's bank bags starting to look unusually empty, Fist had to call a halt. Fist's leatherworking is at 240, still well behind Mery's 375. Given how much time has passed, Fist decided to take Sin's earlier advice to let rested xp grow, wipe it out right before the baseball game, and then farm thick leather during the game.
Fist went at her leatherworking again after a trip to Un'Goro Crater. Fist didn't think she had much of an AoE attack for farming mobs, but she came upon a method that worked extremely well. She used her Crackling Jade Lightning spell, which has a 50yd range, to tag mobs. The spell is channeled, so Fist would just break the channel right after tagging the mob. Fist could then run around, tagging mobs, until she had gathered a crowd. Since the mobs were pulled from every direction, Fist had to get them lined up facing her, so she would do a fast roll to get ahead of them, turn, and as soon as the they got to her, she slammed them with Fists of Fury. Those that survived that melee range AoE assault were treated to another one, Spinning Crane Kick (which, incidentally, heals Fist). None of the various level 50-55+ mobs survived that. Fist is up to 260 skill in leatherworking, but is again out of leather. Now it's rugged leather that she is short of. I know engineering is tough to level, but the leatherworking profession is a serious pain. Fist is starting to wonder if Mery set her up, letting Fist do all the hard work so Mery could find an easier profession.
Later - The fog of leveling seems to have settled around Fist and it is getting very tough to keep track of day, zone, and quest. The notes written to jog the memory don't seem to help much. So, the following covers what dim memory there is, and the few things that stood out.
Fist remembers it raining in Un'Goro Crater killing things while the Chargers plowed through the rain and mud in Cleveland in a more hopeless adventure (San Diego Chargers debacle - losing to a 1-4 team with a final score of 7-6).
Fist loudly proclaiming that Leatherworking SUCKS! when she ran out of rugged leather at skill 270.
A level 55 paladin in the Crater, visiting from another server, who asked Fist if she could help him with the Lar'korwi quest. Fist had recently done the quest, but it had already become just one more blur of hundreds. But, sure, what else did she have to do? The paladin not only needed help, he needed someone to hold his hand. He had apparently never heard of wowhead, and was completely clueless. But it was a sincere cluelessness. After letting the paladin lead Fist around in circles for a few minutes, Fist called a halt. She checked on where Lar'korwi could be located, and led him to it. Fist waited for the paladin to do the ritual that would invoke Lar'korwi, but nothing happened. Finally, Fist asked him if he had the ingredients required. More long pauses. Fist suggested that there was meat involved. The paladin must have had much larger bags than anyone in WoW, because it took an endless time for him to look. When he finally acknowledged that he didn't see anything that might be what was needed, he mumbled, "I must be really stupid." Fist sighed, but, she's been there before, baffled by what was supposed to a simple quest. Fist then remembered that the meat actually came in a pouch. She asked the paladin to look for that. Another long wait, and then the paladin exclaimed, "I found it!" Fist then had the paladin place the pouch on the handy rock there for that purpose, and low and behold, Lar'Korwi came. Fist waited for the paladin to tag the beast so that he would get credit for the kill. When he did get it tagged Fist was going to help kill it faster, but for some reason the beast did not grey out like it should have, and Fist did not want to mess up a proper kill - which would force the paladin to have to do the whole darn thing over again. Instead, Fist played healer from his limited arsenal of such, mostly popping a healing bulb on him when necessary. I don't know what gear he was wearing, but it took him a good while to finally finish off the level 52 non-elite and collect the head. The paladin was extremely grateful, and Fist rather enjoyed the break from killing endless dinosaurs and losing football.
Somewhere along the way Fist went back to the Grizzly Hills to continue questing. It's a big zone with several quest hubs. The one quest that stands out - due to Fist's fuzzy ineptitude - was the Ursoc quest. Usroc is a monstrous elite bear. The quest provides a bearish helper to aid in the fight, but unlike the modified quests that gutted every other elite quest Fist has tackled, this one appeared to be the original. The helper (yes, he has a name, but who ever remembers the "helper?") can be asked to help DPS or heal. Fist chose DPS, and the two other trotted down a mountain lane to the dead end where Ursoc appeared. Fist mangled up a first attempt, not fast enough or smart enough at using his limited healing abilities. Fist got Ursoc down to under 10%, but Fist died.
On the second attempt, Fist did great, and while it was a tough fight, it was Ursoc who died. Ecstatic, Fist automatically skinned him, like she does without a thought on every beast she kills. The problem was that Fist needed the carcass to complete the quest. Sigh.
For the third attempt, Fist opted to make the helper a healer, just for something different. That turned out to be easier, and Fist finally got both the kill and the quest completion. It was nice to find a quest that put up a bit of a fight.
Somewhere in there Fist reached level 79.
Sunday was bracketed by another sporting event - Game #4 of the World Series. At least the Tigers put up the semblance of a fight, taking the lead twice before eventually bowing out of the contest. The 4-3 loss completed a string of personal losses that may never be broken (but could be extended): over the past few weeks I have seen the San Diego Chargers put together a string of three straight losses. I saw the St Louis Cardinals lose three straight, ending my hoped for trip to see a World Series game, and then watched four straight losses by the Detroit Tigers. For those counting, that is TEN straight sporting event losses. Somehow, it's probably my fault that the National Hockey League is on strike from fear that no team could win a game with me alive to jinx them. At least I can't jinx the Chargers game at home on Thursday night - I'm sure that game will be blacked out due to lack of interest by San Diegans after that miserable Browns game.
Fist, meanwhile, had to put all that sports stuff behind her and keep working. Grizzly Hills kept her fully occupied a very long time, but the gold mine finally petered out with Fist still a little short of her goal.
It was a little serendipitous, then, that Fist found herself heading for the Nessingway Base Camp in Sholozar Basin for her next stop. The Nessingway Camp is where Wild made it to level 80.
Along about midnight on Sunday, Fist also made level 80.
PS - When Fist got back to Dalaran after reaching level 80 - Gymer was STILL stuffed in the doorway of the Filthy Animal Inn. Fist patted the fat giant on the rump and went to bed.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Weekend Part One (26 Oct) - The Grizzly Hills
Weekend Part One (26 Oct) - The Grizzly Hills
Santa Anna winds came at us Thursday night and it was stifling hot. It will hopefully blow itself out in a few days. This tome will be getting rather long rather fast, so expect the weekend progress report to be in more than one piece.
Friday - Fist kept herself busy with quests in Grizzly Hills, and then got a chance at some dungeons with level 90 priest Lao. The two slaughtered their way through Gundrak and Drak'Theron Keep with no difficulties other than getting a little lost a couple of times. It had been a long time since the doors of those dungeons had been cracked open. Fist's bags were bulging by the time they were through. She picked up four pieces of gear upgrades.
Fist specced as mistweaver/healer for the run. She remembered to switch to her healing gear set ... but it took a few battles for a confused Fist to figure out why none of her healing spells worked. Monks have stances, and Fist was using the wrong stance. With that corrected, Fist could play around with her healing and DPSing against mobs that hardly lasted long enough for Fist to get in trouble with - Lao is a very efficient killer.
Fist first worked with the spells that provided dps healing: any dps other than auto-attacks generate healing for those nearby; using Blackout Kick every thirty seconds maintains a healing buff as well; and then there is Fist's statue which also generates healing, but which Fist didn't drop because they were never in one place long enough for it to have any effect. These are all relatively low level melee range AoE heals, taking care of low level incoming damage while allowing the monk to dps.
Fist also picked on mobs that weren't already quaking against Lao, and worked on spells to keep herself alive - which was immediate once they aggroed on her. Fist's main goal was just to start recognizing the spells and what they did. That's still a work in progress. Fist did teeter with death at least twice by taking chances in order to learn how things worked ... which wasn't so bad since both of them could rez if necessary - not that there was any chance of Lao dying.
Fist is hoping to have time to make a lot more progress over the weekend. Is level 80 a possibility? Maybe not, but it's a nice goal to go after. With Lao's help, Fist is now at level 76.
Friday Night - Fist had a big night prowling dungeons with level 90 druid Sin. Fist and Sin were up until the wee hours of the morning (after 1am), so Fist will have to be forgiven if she can't exactly recall where they went. As best as she can remember, though, the two took on the Halls of Origination (84-85 level), and two others, Halls of Lightning and Halls of Stone, I think. They did one of those dungeons three times and would have done more but Sin maxed out the number of dungeon runs he could do in a single day. If that restriction hadn't been placed on them, they might STILL be dungeon crawling.
It was crazy fun. Fist died a few times, but she happily whaled away, and even soloed a few elites that were too terrified of Sin to engage him. On the last run, Sin attempted, and perhaps achieved, a maniacal plan to aggro every single mob and boss in the entire dungeon. Fist stayed well out of the way of that, at least until the tsunami of hostiles followed Sin back to where Fist was hiding ... uh, waiting to engage. Engage Fist did, and it was blood and guts spilled all over the place.
Fist had a good head start on getting to level 77 when they started the dungeon runs, and by the end of the night Fist had reached level 78.
Santa Anna winds came at us Thursday night and it was stifling hot. It will hopefully blow itself out in a few days. This tome will be getting rather long rather fast, so expect the weekend progress report to be in more than one piece.
Friday - Fist kept herself busy with quests in Grizzly Hills, and then got a chance at some dungeons with level 90 priest Lao. The two slaughtered their way through Gundrak and Drak'Theron Keep with no difficulties other than getting a little lost a couple of times. It had been a long time since the doors of those dungeons had been cracked open. Fist's bags were bulging by the time they were through. She picked up four pieces of gear upgrades.
Fist specced as mistweaver/healer for the run. She remembered to switch to her healing gear set ... but it took a few battles for a confused Fist to figure out why none of her healing spells worked. Monks have stances, and Fist was using the wrong stance. With that corrected, Fist could play around with her healing and DPSing against mobs that hardly lasted long enough for Fist to get in trouble with - Lao is a very efficient killer.
Fist first worked with the spells that provided dps healing: any dps other than auto-attacks generate healing for those nearby; using Blackout Kick every thirty seconds maintains a healing buff as well; and then there is Fist's statue which also generates healing, but which Fist didn't drop because they were never in one place long enough for it to have any effect. These are all relatively low level melee range AoE heals, taking care of low level incoming damage while allowing the monk to dps.
Fist also picked on mobs that weren't already quaking against Lao, and worked on spells to keep herself alive - which was immediate once they aggroed on her. Fist's main goal was just to start recognizing the spells and what they did. That's still a work in progress. Fist did teeter with death at least twice by taking chances in order to learn how things worked ... which wasn't so bad since both of them could rez if necessary - not that there was any chance of Lao dying.
Fist is hoping to have time to make a lot more progress over the weekend. Is level 80 a possibility? Maybe not, but it's a nice goal to go after. With Lao's help, Fist is now at level 76.
Friday Night - Fist had a big night prowling dungeons with level 90 druid Sin. Fist and Sin were up until the wee hours of the morning (after 1am), so Fist will have to be forgiven if she can't exactly recall where they went. As best as she can remember, though, the two took on the Halls of Origination (84-85 level), and two others, Halls of Lightning and Halls of Stone, I think. They did one of those dungeons three times and would have done more but Sin maxed out the number of dungeon runs he could do in a single day. If that restriction hadn't been placed on them, they might STILL be dungeon crawling.
It was crazy fun. Fist died a few times, but she happily whaled away, and even soloed a few elites that were too terrified of Sin to engage him. On the last run, Sin attempted, and perhaps achieved, a maniacal plan to aggro every single mob and boss in the entire dungeon. Fist stayed well out of the way of that, at least until the tsunami of hostiles followed Sin back to where Fist was hiding ... uh, waiting to engage. Engage Fist did, and it was blood and guts spilled all over the place.
Fist had a good head start on getting to level 77 when they started the dungeon runs, and by the end of the night Fist had reached level 78.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Thursday (25 Oct) - A Look at Mistweaver
Thursday (25 Oct) - A Look at Mistweaver
Fist spent a little time cleaning up a few last quests in Borean Tundra. She had completed the Coldarra area earlier, and all she had left were the murlocs, which didn't take very long to wrap up. She had a few choices for her next target. Wild took the time to go to the other starter zone, Howling Fjord, in order to see the new zone. Fist had no interest in a zone that maxes out at level 72. Dragonblight would be the next zone in terms of level difficulty, and that is where the city of Dalaran is also located. Fist said "ehh" to that idea, too. Looking for something moderately more challenging, and a zone that was fun to do, Fist pointed to level 73-75 Grizzly Hills.
The main horde encampment in Grizzly Hills is Conquest Hold. Fist was able to fly directly from Dalaran to Conquest Hold. Fist is level 75.
Fist had every intention of banging out a bunch of quests after the baseball game (LOSERS! oops, did I say that out loud? Tigers lost 2-0). However, having mentioned that Fist was considering using the mistweaver healing spec the next time she could do a dungeon run, Fist figured she'd better at least get the basic UI, spells, glyphs, etc taken care of. Fist had this hope that the mistweaver spells could be compared to druid spells in order to help learn what they did faster. Ha. Mistweaver spec has TWELVE new spells related to healing that Fist had never seen when in windwalker spec. TWELVE. Oh my.
The Icy Veins website did a good job of breaking things down, but this is a really new way to heal. Unlike a druid, who uses mana in healing spec (like every other healing spec) and energy in feral spec (or whatever, Wild couldn't find his feral spec if it leaped from stealth and raked him). Monks have to use both mana and chi to heal. Monks also DPS to heal, which is truly novel, so not only does Fist's spell bar have to have room for all those healing spells, she still needs her main set of dps abilities in order to function correctly as a healer. No other class heals at melee range, and no other class is expected to DPS while performing the healing role.
This is pretty interesting. Complicated, weird, but enticing. Spell casting is very conditional and interlocking, involving heals, dps, and a number of buffs and cooldowns that interact. Fist spent the evening reading up on them and getting a logical user interface setup in place; ie, finding homes on her buttons and bars for all those spells in a way that made sense. And then playing with those spells.
I'm afraid to say, though, that Fist never managed to get out of Conquest Hold to do any questing. She'll be back at the grind tomorrow.
Fist spent a little time cleaning up a few last quests in Borean Tundra. She had completed the Coldarra area earlier, and all she had left were the murlocs, which didn't take very long to wrap up. She had a few choices for her next target. Wild took the time to go to the other starter zone, Howling Fjord, in order to see the new zone. Fist had no interest in a zone that maxes out at level 72. Dragonblight would be the next zone in terms of level difficulty, and that is where the city of Dalaran is also located. Fist said "ehh" to that idea, too. Looking for something moderately more challenging, and a zone that was fun to do, Fist pointed to level 73-75 Grizzly Hills.
The main horde encampment in Grizzly Hills is Conquest Hold. Fist was able to fly directly from Dalaran to Conquest Hold. Fist is level 75.
Fist had every intention of banging out a bunch of quests after the baseball game (LOSERS! oops, did I say that out loud? Tigers lost 2-0). However, having mentioned that Fist was considering using the mistweaver healing spec the next time she could do a dungeon run, Fist figured she'd better at least get the basic UI, spells, glyphs, etc taken care of. Fist had this hope that the mistweaver spells could be compared to druid spells in order to help learn what they did faster. Ha. Mistweaver spec has TWELVE new spells related to healing that Fist had never seen when in windwalker spec. TWELVE. Oh my.
The Icy Veins website did a good job of breaking things down, but this is a really new way to heal. Unlike a druid, who uses mana in healing spec (like every other healing spec) and energy in feral spec (or whatever, Wild couldn't find his feral spec if it leaped from stealth and raked him). Monks have to use both mana and chi to heal. Monks also DPS to heal, which is truly novel, so not only does Fist's spell bar have to have room for all those healing spells, she still needs her main set of dps abilities in order to function correctly as a healer. No other class heals at melee range, and no other class is expected to DPS while performing the healing role.
This is pretty interesting. Complicated, weird, but enticing. Spell casting is very conditional and interlocking, involving heals, dps, and a number of buffs and cooldowns that interact. Fist spent the evening reading up on them and getting a logical user interface setup in place; ie, finding homes on her buttons and bars for all those spells in a way that made sense. And then playing with those spells.
I'm afraid to say, though, that Fist never managed to get out of Conquest Hold to do any questing. She'll be back at the grind tomorrow.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Tuesday (23 Oct) - Spiders!
Tuesday (23 Oct) - Spiders!
Fist enjoyed her Burning Crusade dungeon runs (up to level 70) with JB, and was eager for more opportunities. With Lao's assistance, Fist moved up to the dungeons of Wrath of the Lich (up to level 80). They chose the spider dungeon, Azjol-Nerub (level 74), in Dragonblight. Wild remembers this dungeon mainly for having to scramble about on large nets of spider webs, hunting for hard to see holes that pass for passageways to deeper levels.
Early in the run, Fist, at level 73, figured she could help by doing a little dps. Her healing abilities in windwalker spec were almost nil, made worst by the fact that one of her two healing spells required Chi, which could only be generated through combat. After getting swatted and bitten a few times, Fist decided her best approach was to stay out of the way as level 90 Lao cut a swath of death through the mobs and bosses.
No matter the level, some boss fights can be tricky. There was the bug boss, for example, that would burrow underground and then pop back up in random places. Fist had to stay on her toes to keep from finding a big bug bursting out of the ground under her feet. Lao wisely kept a shield up around Fist during that short battle.
The dungeon run did finish off the three bosses, but their plan to do more than one dungeon had to be curtailed due to real life intrusion, and Fist had to leave. Fist had started the dungeon 18% of the way to level 74, and the dungeon kills doubled that number, to 36%. Later on, Fist returned to the dungeon to turn in the three quests she had completed. With help from the monk buff, Fist's xp leaped from 36% to 65%. Fist also gained two fine pieces of gear.
Much later in the evening, Fist was able to return to Borean Tundra to hammer out a basketful of more quests. Like Outland, the Northrend questing seems to be unchanged from when Wild did them. It's still early, though, Borean Tundra being a "starter" zone for level 70s, and Fist has yet to encounter a quest with an elite to defeat (ie, to see if elite quests had been dumbed down to non-elite like the Nessingway quests in Outland).
Fist hearthed back to Dalaran, having reached level 74.
I think for future dungeon runs Fist will switch to healing spec (mistweaver) so that she can more easily take care of her own health and still do some DPS. That is one of the great advantages of being a monk, and Fist needs to spend more time working on that. Her mistweaver gear is not as good as her windwalker gear, but it's as good as the quest rewards she has gotten, which is not bad.
As Fist continues to pursue ever higher levels, the length of time to complete each level gets longer. Fist started with an average three levels a day, slid to two per day when she hit the 60s and has slowed to a single level per day now that she is in her 70s and in Northrend. Fist will try to at least maintain that, but even that pace is not likely possible once she transitions out of Wrath and into the Cataclysm expansion, levels 80-85. At least there are only five levels instead of ten.
Steady as she goes, as the Navy would say.
Fist enjoyed her Burning Crusade dungeon runs (up to level 70) with JB, and was eager for more opportunities. With Lao's assistance, Fist moved up to the dungeons of Wrath of the Lich (up to level 80). They chose the spider dungeon, Azjol-Nerub (level 74), in Dragonblight. Wild remembers this dungeon mainly for having to scramble about on large nets of spider webs, hunting for hard to see holes that pass for passageways to deeper levels.
Early in the run, Fist, at level 73, figured she could help by doing a little dps. Her healing abilities in windwalker spec were almost nil, made worst by the fact that one of her two healing spells required Chi, which could only be generated through combat. After getting swatted and bitten a few times, Fist decided her best approach was to stay out of the way as level 90 Lao cut a swath of death through the mobs and bosses.
No matter the level, some boss fights can be tricky. There was the bug boss, for example, that would burrow underground and then pop back up in random places. Fist had to stay on her toes to keep from finding a big bug bursting out of the ground under her feet. Lao wisely kept a shield up around Fist during that short battle.
The dungeon run did finish off the three bosses, but their plan to do more than one dungeon had to be curtailed due to real life intrusion, and Fist had to leave. Fist had started the dungeon 18% of the way to level 74, and the dungeon kills doubled that number, to 36%. Later on, Fist returned to the dungeon to turn in the three quests she had completed. With help from the monk buff, Fist's xp leaped from 36% to 65%. Fist also gained two fine pieces of gear.
Much later in the evening, Fist was able to return to Borean Tundra to hammer out a basketful of more quests. Like Outland, the Northrend questing seems to be unchanged from when Wild did them. It's still early, though, Borean Tundra being a "starter" zone for level 70s, and Fist has yet to encounter a quest with an elite to defeat (ie, to see if elite quests had been dumbed down to non-elite like the Nessingway quests in Outland).
Fist hearthed back to Dalaran, having reached level 74.
I think for future dungeon runs Fist will switch to healing spec (mistweaver) so that she can more easily take care of her own health and still do some DPS. That is one of the great advantages of being a monk, and Fist needs to spend more time working on that. Her mistweaver gear is not as good as her windwalker gear, but it's as good as the quest rewards she has gotten, which is not bad.
As Fist continues to pursue ever higher levels, the length of time to complete each level gets longer. Fist started with an average three levels a day, slid to two per day when she hit the 60s and has slowed to a single level per day now that she is in her 70s and in Northrend. Fist will try to at least maintain that, but even that pace is not likely possible once she transitions out of Wrath and into the Cataclysm expansion, levels 80-85. At least there are only five levels instead of ten.
Steady as she goes, as the Navy would say.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Monday (22 Oct) - Another Milestone for Fist
Monday (22 Oct) - Another Milestone for Fist
First off, the St Louis Cardinals completed their self-dismemberment by losing a third straight game and failing to return to the World Series. I will not be watching the World Series from the stands in St Louis. I considered a trip to San Francisco, instead, but, honestly, the point was to see the game with my uncle, and he's not able to make it to either San Francisco or Detroit. I can't be too down, though, my Detroit Tigers are in the World Series!
Now, on the Warcraft front:
Fist didn't mean to drown. It was a simple quest to kill a beast named Leviroth. (1) Fly to the location of the sea monster, (2) take a quick swim, (3) stab the beast with the conveniently provided trident, and (4) kill it and return. Parts one, two, and three went swimmingly. Part four ... well, another computer lock left Fist still holding the trident jabbed into the beast, and Fist still underwater. Fist couldn't say for sure whether it was Leviroth that killed her, or she simply drowned, but dead she certainly was when I got the computer back up. Now it's happening in Northrend as well as in Outland. These lockups are getting worrisomely serious.
I switched to the backup computer and will stay with that one long enough to see if the problem crops up again. I kind of hope it does, which would tell me it's a WoW problem, and not a computer problem (ie, my problem).
Fist kept busy in Borean Tundra. There are a lot of separate quest hubs, which made for steady questing. They were all familiar and Fist felt right at home. Fist rolled over to level 72 during the evening. She was in a zone and barely paid it any attention.
Along about midnight she reached level 73.
Naithipe made a point to congratulate her daughter Fist. Naithipe doesn't generally talk about her own status or proficiencies, but this was a special case.
Fist has now passed her mother. There is no one left ahead of her other than Wild, JB, and Philly.
First off, the St Louis Cardinals completed their self-dismemberment by losing a third straight game and failing to return to the World Series. I will not be watching the World Series from the stands in St Louis. I considered a trip to San Francisco, instead, but, honestly, the point was to see the game with my uncle, and he's not able to make it to either San Francisco or Detroit. I can't be too down, though, my Detroit Tigers are in the World Series!
Now, on the Warcraft front:
Fist didn't mean to drown. It was a simple quest to kill a beast named Leviroth. (1) Fly to the location of the sea monster, (2) take a quick swim, (3) stab the beast with the conveniently provided trident, and (4) kill it and return. Parts one, two, and three went swimmingly. Part four ... well, another computer lock left Fist still holding the trident jabbed into the beast, and Fist still underwater. Fist couldn't say for sure whether it was Leviroth that killed her, or she simply drowned, but dead she certainly was when I got the computer back up. Now it's happening in Northrend as well as in Outland. These lockups are getting worrisomely serious.
I switched to the backup computer and will stay with that one long enough to see if the problem crops up again. I kind of hope it does, which would tell me it's a WoW problem, and not a computer problem (ie, my problem).
Fist kept busy in Borean Tundra. There are a lot of separate quest hubs, which made for steady questing. They were all familiar and Fist felt right at home. Fist rolled over to level 72 during the evening. She was in a zone and barely paid it any attention.
Along about midnight she reached level 73.
Naithipe made a point to congratulate her daughter Fist. Naithipe doesn't generally talk about her own status or proficiencies, but this was a special case.
Fist has now passed her mother. There is no one left ahead of her other than Wild, JB, and Philly.
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