Jocy and Fist Challenge Part 2 [Challenge Accepted]
Jocy had revenge on her mind when she checked in the day after Fist took the lead in their one-upmanship girl fight. Fist wagged her fingers at Jocy, parading her improved score, now at 65%. Jocy was again behind with a score of 61%.
Glaring thunderclouds, Jocy spent an hour cleaning, shining, and honing weapons, then donned her sparkling heavy plate armor. She ignored the path of destruction Fist had taken. Instead, she went on a rampage closer to home, right in her own neighborhood of Frostfire Ridge. When she returned to her garrison, half frozen with mud and blood caking her gear, she greeted Fist with a sneer.
"Teased elites, did you say, Fist? Try harder. I killed Gondo, a level 90 elite." She shook the grime from her logbook and shoved it in Fist's face. "Feast you eyes on this. Read it out loud!"
Fist glanced at the log. Jocy's score had jumped to 81%. Fuming, Fist turned, grabbed her gear, and started out of the garrison without a word.
"I'm getting a bath and breakfast," Jocy told her followers. "Wake me when Fist crawls back - if she survives."
As soon as Fist stomped away, Jocy smirked to herself, gathered the reins of her mount, and headed north.
Jocy returned that evening quite pleased with herself. Her accomplishments:
Killed level 91 elite Gutsmash
Killed level 90 elite Icemaw
Killed level 91 elite Matriarch Dragon
In the interest of honesty, Jocy admitted that after killing the dragon she dawdled a bit too long enjoying the victory and scorched her gear standing in dragon flames. That'll cost her some gold for repairs.
Jocy decided to go into Talador where she hoped to gain building plans to improve her garrison. On the way she enlisted another follower, Morgath Bladefowl. Bladefowl has promised Jocy he'll get her the needed plans, but so far no go. Bladefowl knows his life is on the line to get her those plans.
The result to date? Jocy swept past level 94 and is now level 95 +57%, more than halfway to level 96.
Fist has yet to return.
Monday, April 27, 2015
Thursday, April 23, 2015
About Nat Pagle
About Nat Pagle
Nat Pagle is the pre-eminent fisher in Warcraft. Wild is the family's #1 fisher at the max skill level of 700. Over time many of Wild's family practiced fishing (when forced to). JB was the most persistent, getting her skill to 525. Others have tinkered with it was well: Philly reached 422, and even Mery at level 60 got her fishing up to 225. Tiphaine, surprisingly, fished her way to 318 while her daughter, Fist is currently at 425 and considering the trade. "Skinning fish is sorta like skinning hides, so I might like it," quips Fist.
Wild thought that Pagle was his friend, but he recently learned that the entrepreneur has a price tag on on being a friend. In Pandaria Pagle charges for friendship, which is required to get the goodies Pagle sells. Even that comes with more baggage, for to be truly a master fisherman Wild must also earn special fishing rights by joining the Angler's Faction.
Grumpy Wildshard says he's giving up fishing, but Pagle continues to plague him to return to the rivers and the sea. Wild has two fishing trophies he want's to earn. Wild's thinking about it, but he doesn't like having to go to the end of Pandaria every day for what is usually no more than ten minutes work.
On the other hand, Jocy seems content with her daily ritual of mining and alchemy work, particularly because she is much closer to reaching level 95 than Fist is. Wild got a laugh at that - the two women currently get almost all of their leveling from mining, which adds just 2-3% per day. Jocy is 60% of the way to level 95, while Fist is 52% of the way.
Tired of Jocy's "laggard" jabs, Fist flew off the handle last night and proclaimed she was going exploring just to get away from Jocy.
"Don't forget to pick up some quests while yer sulking, girl!" Jocy jeered.
"No quest'n for me, Miss Paladin Hide Behind Your Armor, I'm gonna make my way to the sea in Shadowmoon Valley!"
Even Wild had to smile at that. Fist would have to cross Gorgrond and then Taladar before she could hope to get to distant Shadowmoon Valley, through vistas she's never seen before. "Which is exactly the point," Fist states.
The flight path from her Garrison ends at Beachwatch in Gorgrond. From there she is on her own, on a ground mount, in mostly hostile territory. Much of the route is rural with many open paths, fields, streams, and of course a plethora of creatures. Fist killed whatever got in her way and skinned anything that came in reach of her blade. Fist dashed through an enemy encampment once, escaping with her gear bristling with arrows tangled in her leather armor. Then, just for fun, she ran back through them again, laughing, though she was careful not to attack, as that would trigger PvP. Killing alliance soldiers would have been fun, too, but she had better things to do.
Fist climbed cliffs, swam rivers, teased a couple of elites, and had a wonderful time meandering across three zones. She reached Shadowmoon Valley and the horde town to the north. Plenty of plains animals for her to fill her pack with caged beasts, a bounty she might go after more often now that she's seen the size of their herds.
And for the icing on the cake Fist finished her evening 61% of the way to level 95 - and ahead of Jocy. "Let's see if you can top that, Jocy," Fist challenged.
Nat Pagle is the pre-eminent fisher in Warcraft. Wild is the family's #1 fisher at the max skill level of 700. Over time many of Wild's family practiced fishing (when forced to). JB was the most persistent, getting her skill to 525. Others have tinkered with it was well: Philly reached 422, and even Mery at level 60 got her fishing up to 225. Tiphaine, surprisingly, fished her way to 318 while her daughter, Fist is currently at 425 and considering the trade. "Skinning fish is sorta like skinning hides, so I might like it," quips Fist.
Wild thought that Pagle was his friend, but he recently learned that the entrepreneur has a price tag on on being a friend. In Pandaria Pagle charges for friendship, which is required to get the goodies Pagle sells. Even that comes with more baggage, for to be truly a master fisherman Wild must also earn special fishing rights by joining the Angler's Faction.
Grumpy Wildshard says he's giving up fishing, but Pagle continues to plague him to return to the rivers and the sea. Wild has two fishing trophies he want's to earn. Wild's thinking about it, but he doesn't like having to go to the end of Pandaria every day for what is usually no more than ten minutes work.
On the other hand, Jocy seems content with her daily ritual of mining and alchemy work, particularly because she is much closer to reaching level 95 than Fist is. Wild got a laugh at that - the two women currently get almost all of their leveling from mining, which adds just 2-3% per day. Jocy is 60% of the way to level 95, while Fist is 52% of the way.
Tired of Jocy's "laggard" jabs, Fist flew off the handle last night and proclaimed she was going exploring just to get away from Jocy.
"Don't forget to pick up some quests while yer sulking, girl!" Jocy jeered.
"No quest'n for me, Miss Paladin Hide Behind Your Armor, I'm gonna make my way to the sea in Shadowmoon Valley!"
Even Wild had to smile at that. Fist would have to cross Gorgrond and then Taladar before she could hope to get to distant Shadowmoon Valley, through vistas she's never seen before. "Which is exactly the point," Fist states.
The flight path from her Garrison ends at Beachwatch in Gorgrond. From there she is on her own, on a ground mount, in mostly hostile territory. Much of the route is rural with many open paths, fields, streams, and of course a plethora of creatures. Fist killed whatever got in her way and skinned anything that came in reach of her blade. Fist dashed through an enemy encampment once, escaping with her gear bristling with arrows tangled in her leather armor. Then, just for fun, she ran back through them again, laughing, though she was careful not to attack, as that would trigger PvP. Killing alliance soldiers would have been fun, too, but she had better things to do.
Fist climbed cliffs, swam rivers, teased a couple of elites, and had a wonderful time meandering across three zones. She reached Shadowmoon Valley and the horde town to the north. Plenty of plains animals for her to fill her pack with caged beasts, a bounty she might go after more often now that she's seen the size of their herds.
And for the icing on the cake Fist finished her evening 61% of the way to level 95 - and ahead of Jocy. "Let's see if you can top that, Jocy," Fist challenged.
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Singing The Blues
Singing The Blues
Wildshard looked out on his Garrison and saw that it was good. Life is pretty easy these days for Wild. The stress of raiding is gone - has been gone for, literally, years. The acerbic JB, once a risk taking, axe wielding shaman, has been banished to Orgrimmar, having lost everything of worth to her, including her profession of Alchemy, which once helped sustain Happy’s gold mine. That task has been given to another. Philly is in even lower esteem. No one wants what she has to sell, and the once realm hopping priest no longer has a flock. Both JB and Philly languish at level 85 with no prospect of ever advancing further.
In their place is Jocy, a no nonsense paladin who took a shortcut from level 27 to level 90, and her opposite, Fist, the daughter of still dangerous Tiphaine. Fist worked her way from level 1 to level 90 in one long, grueling climb. Jocy is now at level 94, and Fist at level 93. They both have their own Garrisons and contribute goods that go into Happy’s pocket.
On a typical day, all three - Jocy, Fist, and Wild - follow a nearly identical routine.
1 - Collect Garrison stores
2 - Do daily profession chores
3 - Collect completed work, do more work orders
4 - Collect goods from the mine, to include working the mine
- this includes work which helps leveling, and is very slightly dangerous
5 - Take a nap, watch a movie, whatever, and do it over again tomorrow
Wild does the above plus the following:
6 - Picks herbs from the Herb Garden
7 - Sometimes goes fishing at the Fishing Shack
Jocy and Fist argue about which one of them should start working on raising their level to the max one hundred, but Wild isn’t sure if the issue is demanding time to level, or demanding that the other do the leveling. Jocy has a very slight head start over Fist, but neither seem eager to jump into action.
Early on in Draenor Wild and family thought that leveling their professions and making amazing things would help keep things interesting. That soured with Fist after she crafted her first 36 slot Draenor leatherworking bag, which cost over 2,000 gold in materials to make. She proudly placed it in the Auction House for sale, only to discover that there was another 36 slot leatherworking bag, one that cost under 500 gold to make, and didn’t require leather working to make. She eventually sold it at a steep loss.
Wild had a similar come down when he actually did some work gathering materials to make a Creeping Carpet, the ground mount that Wild thought would be really cool to have. Wild soon learned, however, that the Creeping Carpet was exactly the same as the other two carpet mounts that Wild already had. The “new” mount was the same in every way but the name.
How about Jocy? An alchemist, she had made a steady income selling healing potions in Pandaria and expected to continue crafting the new healing potions for Draenor. Jocy found out the hard way that making those new potions had nothing to with Alchemy. The potions were lumped in with “bandages” and were crafted - get this - by fishing. Jocy doesn’t fish.
Life is good . . . well, okay . . . sort of . . . slow, boring, static . . . snoooooze.
Wildshard looked out on his Garrison and saw that it was good. Life is pretty easy these days for Wild. The stress of raiding is gone - has been gone for, literally, years. The acerbic JB, once a risk taking, axe wielding shaman, has been banished to Orgrimmar, having lost everything of worth to her, including her profession of Alchemy, which once helped sustain Happy’s gold mine. That task has been given to another. Philly is in even lower esteem. No one wants what she has to sell, and the once realm hopping priest no longer has a flock. Both JB and Philly languish at level 85 with no prospect of ever advancing further.
In their place is Jocy, a no nonsense paladin who took a shortcut from level 27 to level 90, and her opposite, Fist, the daughter of still dangerous Tiphaine. Fist worked her way from level 1 to level 90 in one long, grueling climb. Jocy is now at level 94, and Fist at level 93. They both have their own Garrisons and contribute goods that go into Happy’s pocket.
On a typical day, all three - Jocy, Fist, and Wild - follow a nearly identical routine.
1 - Collect Garrison stores
2 - Do daily profession chores
3 - Collect completed work, do more work orders
4 - Collect goods from the mine, to include working the mine
- this includes work which helps leveling, and is very slightly dangerous
5 - Take a nap, watch a movie, whatever, and do it over again tomorrow
Wild does the above plus the following:
6 - Picks herbs from the Herb Garden
7 - Sometimes goes fishing at the Fishing Shack
Jocy and Fist argue about which one of them should start working on raising their level to the max one hundred, but Wild isn’t sure if the issue is demanding time to level, or demanding that the other do the leveling. Jocy has a very slight head start over Fist, but neither seem eager to jump into action.
Early on in Draenor Wild and family thought that leveling their professions and making amazing things would help keep things interesting. That soured with Fist after she crafted her first 36 slot Draenor leatherworking bag, which cost over 2,000 gold in materials to make. She proudly placed it in the Auction House for sale, only to discover that there was another 36 slot leatherworking bag, one that cost under 500 gold to make, and didn’t require leather working to make. She eventually sold it at a steep loss.
Wild had a similar come down when he actually did some work gathering materials to make a Creeping Carpet, the ground mount that Wild thought would be really cool to have. Wild soon learned, however, that the Creeping Carpet was exactly the same as the other two carpet mounts that Wild already had. The “new” mount was the same in every way but the name.
How about Jocy? An alchemist, she had made a steady income selling healing potions in Pandaria and expected to continue crafting the new healing potions for Draenor. Jocy found out the hard way that making those new potions had nothing to with Alchemy. The potions were lumped in with “bandages” and were crafted - get this - by fishing. Jocy doesn’t fish.
Life is good . . . well, okay . . . sort of . . . slow, boring, static . . . snoooooze.
Monday, March 2, 2015
Baseball Again?
Baseball Again?
Every now and then my passion for baseball gets in the way of World of Warcraft. You have been warned. The below is the letter I sent to the sports desk of the Union-Tribune newspaper here is San Diego. (Sigh, the results tables didn't turn out very well here, but at least they are still readable)
To: Letters Editor (Sports):
HEADLINE: The San Diego Padres will have a winning season in 2015, but won’t make the post season. That’s my prediction, and I can back it up with the numbers.
The Assumption: The pitching will match their 2014 production in 2015, although a diminished defense will cost the team in unearned runs.
The Question: Given the above assumption, how good does our revamped offense need to be for the Padres to field a winning team?
I know the answer to that question. Getting to that answer required a couple of steps. Step (1) Using a statistical modeling program, I ran a series of simulations based on the 2014 season statistics and the projected roster for 2015. Step (2) I ran a second series of simulations based on predicting improvements by key players. I call it The “Will” Factor. In a moment it will be obvious why.
Simulation One used only the 2014 statistics. The results show what impact the changes to the roster have on the offense.
Simulation Two goes a step further. The “Will” Factor - Wil Myers (2013), Will Middlebrooks (2012), and Will Venable (2012) - were selected for upgrades, using the statistics from the selected years. A fourth player, Jedd Gyorko (2013), is widely expected to make a comeback, so he also received an upgrade.
Would either simulation be enough to lift the Padres to a winning season? Here are the results.
San Diego Padres RESULTS
Part 1 - Based on 2015 roster and 2014 statistics.
Record Standings BA Runs/HR SB ERA Errors
70-92 4th .224 521 54 3.55 x
83-79 2nd-tie/SF* .239 605/129 48 3.23 x
75-87 4th .235 595/119 77 3.19 116
81-81 2nd .245 634/124 63 3.35 116
79-83 3rd .220 516/117 68 3.15 137
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
78-84 .233 574/122 62 3.30 123 <-- br="" final="">* Possible post season chance
Answer - If the new roster plays at the 2014 level, the Padres will not have a winning season.
Part 2 - Based on improvement by four key players.
Record Standings BA Runs/HR SB ERA Errors
86-76 2nd* .249 592/145 67 3.36 131
78-84 3rd .240 612/155 50 3.59 124
81-81 2nd* .251 652/149 62 3.40 99
74-88 4th .257 635/140 64 3.56 124
90-72 2nd* .243 638/152 65 3.27 123
------------------------------------------------------------------------
82-80 .248 625/148 61 3.44 120 <-- br="" final="">* Possible post season chance
Answer - SUCCESS! It is a marginal victory, but the Padres go over .500 in 2015. For the most optimistic, there is also a 3 in 5 chance that the Padres could win their way into the post season.
Note: The program I use for the simulations is from the Strat-O-Matic game company. I played five seasons for the two simulations and then averaged the results.
A baseball fanatic since 1968, and a Padres season ticket holder since 2013, I hope you found the above interesting.
Every now and then my passion for baseball gets in the way of World of Warcraft. You have been warned. The below is the letter I sent to the sports desk of the Union-Tribune newspaper here is San Diego. (Sigh, the results tables didn't turn out very well here, but at least they are still readable)
To: Letters Editor (Sports):
HEADLINE: The San Diego Padres will have a winning season in 2015, but won’t make the post season. That’s my prediction, and I can back it up with the numbers.
The Assumption: The pitching will match their 2014 production in 2015, although a diminished defense will cost the team in unearned runs.
The Question: Given the above assumption, how good does our revamped offense need to be for the Padres to field a winning team?
I know the answer to that question. Getting to that answer required a couple of steps. Step (1) Using a statistical modeling program, I ran a series of simulations based on the 2014 season statistics and the projected roster for 2015. Step (2) I ran a second series of simulations based on predicting improvements by key players. I call it The “Will” Factor. In a moment it will be obvious why.
Simulation One used only the 2014 statistics. The results show what impact the changes to the roster have on the offense.
Simulation Two goes a step further. The “Will” Factor - Wil Myers (2013), Will Middlebrooks (2012), and Will Venable (2012) - were selected for upgrades, using the statistics from the selected years. A fourth player, Jedd Gyorko (2013), is widely expected to make a comeback, so he also received an upgrade.
Would either simulation be enough to lift the Padres to a winning season? Here are the results.
San Diego Padres RESULTS
Part 1 - Based on 2015 roster and 2014 statistics.
Record Standings BA Runs/HR SB ERA Errors
70-92 4th .224 521 54 3.55 x
83-79 2nd-tie/SF* .239 605/129 48 3.23 x
75-87 4th .235 595/119 77 3.19 116
81-81 2nd .245 634/124 63 3.35 116
79-83 3rd .220 516/117 68 3.15 137
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
78-84 .233 574/122 62 3.30 123 <-- br="" final="">* Possible post season chance
Answer - If the new roster plays at the 2014 level, the Padres will not have a winning season.
Part 2 - Based on improvement by four key players.
Record Standings BA Runs/HR SB ERA Errors
86-76 2nd* .249 592/145 67 3.36 131
78-84 3rd .240 612/155 50 3.59 124
81-81 2nd* .251 652/149 62 3.40 99
74-88 4th .257 635/140 64 3.56 124
90-72 2nd* .243 638/152 65 3.27 123
------------------------------------------------------------------------
82-80 .248 625/148 61 3.44 120 <-- br="" final="">* Possible post season chance
Answer - SUCCESS! It is a marginal victory, but the Padres go over .500 in 2015. For the most optimistic, there is also a 3 in 5 chance that the Padres could win their way into the post season.
Note: The program I use for the simulations is from the Strat-O-Matic game company. I played five seasons for the two simulations and then averaged the results.
A baseball fanatic since 1968, and a Padres season ticket holder since 2013, I hope you found the above interesting.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Wild’s Guild Starts Raiding
Wild’s Guild Starts Raiding
Wild’s Meitha Guild began their attack on Highmaul (normal mode) this past week. On their first night they brought down Kargath Bladefist and The Butcher, the first two of the seven bosses in this raid. On Thursday they will go at it again. Wild wasn’t there, and I didn’t have Teamspeak set up to listen in, either. I did listen in on guild chat during the selection of guildies for the raid. That brought back some old memories of waiting restlessly just prior to the raid, hoping that Wild would get the nod and I’d get my chance to raid.
Wild was curious enough to check the Looking for Raid (LFR) on Highmaul. At first I was confused because the raid finder did not show Highmaul. Then I remembered from past LFRs that raids were split into smaller, multiple raids in the LFR. In the LFR Highmaul, there are three: Walled City, Arcane Sanctuary, and Imperator’s Rise. I read the game guidance for Imperator’s Rise. There is only the final boss in that piece of the raid, but it’s a significant one - there are five phases in that one encounter, making it a challenging battle even at the LFR level.
Wildshard knows he must do several things if he really wants to raid: get his gear level up; win the Proving Grounds at least the Silver level, and, I think most importantly, learn the fights and start doing the LFR. The LFR is necessary to gain better gear and practice the mechanics of the fights. Wild did take one small step: Wild’s gear is now i633, meeting the minimum i630 requirement for normal mode raiding. Wild’s good friend BK is running a new toon, a brewmaster monk in the raid. He is a great tank regardless of what toon he plays. His gear level is i638.
Wild continues to putter about, seeming a bit lost now that he’s at level 100 and no longer needs to level grind. Wild thought it would be fun to use his enchanting follower to enchant an illusory Power Torrent enchant on his fishing pole. The enchant is just for show, but it looks cool. Alas, the spell doesn’t work on fishing poles, even though they are considered weapons. Wild is also doing a lot of fishing lately while his Garrison languishes. I think Wild is living too much in the past these days.
Jocy and Fist spend much of their time with their professions, although the urge to start leveling again seems to be growing with Jocy.
Happy is feeling very unloved and despondent. The great barterer and wheeler and dealer has little to wheel and deal with. Everything in Draenor is dirt cheap. Prices barely change, and when they do it’s downward. That may sound like a good thing, but it could be the death knell for Happy’s business. Happy depends on price fluctuations and the law of supply and demand. Well, the supply is endless and the prices keep going down. He’s barely making ends meet by selling embersilk and frostweave bags, but the profit margin on them gets thinner and thinner. There is money to be made in weapon enchants, but the buy in is pretty steep. Happy was trying to sell the mats for the enchants, but the prices are almost flat lined. It appears Wild will need to craft the enchants for Happy to sell.
The bottom line, though, is that the production of goods from the Garrisons undercuts all Happy’s efforts to turn a profit. The Wild family better start wondering where the gold is going to come from if Happy isn’t able to replace all the gold spent recently.
Wild’s Meitha Guild began their attack on Highmaul (normal mode) this past week. On their first night they brought down Kargath Bladefist and The Butcher, the first two of the seven bosses in this raid. On Thursday they will go at it again. Wild wasn’t there, and I didn’t have Teamspeak set up to listen in, either. I did listen in on guild chat during the selection of guildies for the raid. That brought back some old memories of waiting restlessly just prior to the raid, hoping that Wild would get the nod and I’d get my chance to raid.
Wild was curious enough to check the Looking for Raid (LFR) on Highmaul. At first I was confused because the raid finder did not show Highmaul. Then I remembered from past LFRs that raids were split into smaller, multiple raids in the LFR. In the LFR Highmaul, there are three: Walled City, Arcane Sanctuary, and Imperator’s Rise. I read the game guidance for Imperator’s Rise. There is only the final boss in that piece of the raid, but it’s a significant one - there are five phases in that one encounter, making it a challenging battle even at the LFR level.
Wildshard knows he must do several things if he really wants to raid: get his gear level up; win the Proving Grounds at least the Silver level, and, I think most importantly, learn the fights and start doing the LFR. The LFR is necessary to gain better gear and practice the mechanics of the fights. Wild did take one small step: Wild’s gear is now i633, meeting the minimum i630 requirement for normal mode raiding. Wild’s good friend BK is running a new toon, a brewmaster monk in the raid. He is a great tank regardless of what toon he plays. His gear level is i638.
Wild continues to putter about, seeming a bit lost now that he’s at level 100 and no longer needs to level grind. Wild thought it would be fun to use his enchanting follower to enchant an illusory Power Torrent enchant on his fishing pole. The enchant is just for show, but it looks cool. Alas, the spell doesn’t work on fishing poles, even though they are considered weapons. Wild is also doing a lot of fishing lately while his Garrison languishes. I think Wild is living too much in the past these days.
Jocy and Fist spend much of their time with their professions, although the urge to start leveling again seems to be growing with Jocy.
Happy is feeling very unloved and despondent. The great barterer and wheeler and dealer has little to wheel and deal with. Everything in Draenor is dirt cheap. Prices barely change, and when they do it’s downward. That may sound like a good thing, but it could be the death knell for Happy’s business. Happy depends on price fluctuations and the law of supply and demand. Well, the supply is endless and the prices keep going down. He’s barely making ends meet by selling embersilk and frostweave bags, but the profit margin on them gets thinner and thinner. There is money to be made in weapon enchants, but the buy in is pretty steep. Happy was trying to sell the mats for the enchants, but the prices are almost flat lined. It appears Wild will need to craft the enchants for Happy to sell.
The bottom line, though, is that the production of goods from the Garrisons undercuts all Happy’s efforts to turn a profit. The Wild family better start wondering where the gold is going to come from if Happy isn’t able to replace all the gold spent recently.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Jocelyne's Elixir Kick
Jocelyne's Elixir Kick
Jocy, as we all know, is a "boosted" child, skipping her formative years/levels from 27 to an instant 90. There are many advantages in taking that route to adulthood (skipping the leveling process for 63 levels being a major one). There are disadvantages, too.
Jocy had tinkered around with mining and gems for her professions, but she lost what training she had when she was boosted. She wasn't too concerned, since she really hadn't figured out what she wanted to focus on, anyway.
Meanwhile, Happy and Wild were chiding JB, the family alchemist, to get to work on raising her skill level for the new expansion, Warlords of Draenor (WoD). Sure, JB had level 600 skill, but she needed to work on getting to level 700 skill. The problem was that JB was still living in the days of Cataclysm, two expansions behind and stuck at level 85. She would need to climb the five levels to 90 just to begin the process of raising her skill in alchemy, and Wild didn't want to wait for JB to level up.
Jocy decided to volunteer. She was willing to learn both herbalism (so she could collect the herbs needed by alchemy) and alchemy from scratch. Go for it, Wild told her, wondering if Jocy had the will and the stamina to find and collect literally thousands of herbs from all over the worlds of Azeroth, Outland, Northrend, Pandaria, and Draenor.
She had the advantage of being level 93 and having a flying beast to speed the travelling, but there were still some surprises along the way. She started strong with such simple herbs as peacebloom, silverleaf, mageroyal, and other low end herbs. Her fingers grew sore and her eyes bleary, but she persisted. The more herbs she collected, the farther afield she had to go to find new ones.
Some were easy picking, but there were many, mostly older, herbs that took time and patience to collect. Goldthorn was so hard to farm Jocy had to beg for help from Happy by buying a few to help her over the hump. Those old herbs can be pricey, too. Many players are too lazy to farm them the old fashioned way. Jocy did her best, but when confronted with the underwater world of Vash'jr she balked at the "old fashioned way." Wild encouraged her to try (he would, since he could simply shapeshift into a fish), but the prospect of deep sea diving in all that heavy armor wasn't much to her liking. Pulling stranglekelp from shallow waters was as close to the deep end of the pool as she wanted to get. Happy relinquished a little more gold to get her past that hurdle.
Jocy also ran into some travelling restrictions by being a boosted girl. For example, the only portal open to the lands of the Cataclysm was Deepholme. The portals to the others, like the Twilight Highlands, had no active portals for Jocy because she had skipped past all the quests required to open them up. Still, she made do. She took advantage of the zeppelins in Org. When there was no other option, she simply hopped on her flying mount and flew to her next destination. That didn't always work out quite like she expected. There was the time Jocy forgot that flying too high would separate her from her mount - it was a long fall, and a long walk on foot to find the spot for a resurrection. At least twice Jocy accidentally sent her mount away while still in the air. That didn't kill her, but the fall was still frustrating and scary.
One of the more complicated journeys was trying to find a way into the Outlands. The huge Portal in the Blasted Lands was the only way Jocy knew of to get there. Going through it (yes, Jocy flew into it to see what would happen) deposited her at Ashran in Draenor. Eventually Jocy learned that a new Outland portal had been added in the Orgrimmer Drag.
Along the way Jocy had fun with a lot of the elite monsters she encountered. One-shotting elites that once spooked the poop out of her family was a fun payback. Her scariest moment, though, oddly enough, was back at that portal in the Blasted Lands. Jocy had been part of the great battle when the portal to Draenor was opened, but she didn't realize that the battles were still ongoing! Jocy was picking flowers in the middle of a battlefield in the Blasted Lands well away from the portal when she noticed she was getting hit by a couple of armored hostiles. Usually, one swing was enough to turn a mob into dead mush. The hits kept coming, though, as they say, and Jocy started to take damage. What the . . .! Jocy finally took a look around and found that she had landed in the midst of an enemy camp full of level 90 elites.
Jocy is level 93, and no pushover. She could take an elite or five and still keeping picking flowers, but the skirmish was attracting others and the danger level started to rise. For the umpteenth time Jocy wished she had a fast get away spell. Without that, at least she could stun a few, and, staggering a bit, finally broke free of the gang of hostiles, but it was an ugly retreat.
It took Jocy three days to raise her alchemy from level 1 - 600. Draenor herbs are very cheap, so she'll likely just buy them to continue her leveling to skill 700. The herbs are so cheap Happy won't even offer them for sale. He just hands Jocy bags full whenever she needs them.
All that effort also got Jocy a small bonus - She went from level 93 + 1% to level 93 + 30%.
On the raiding front there is the hint of a possibility of Meitha Guild attempting a Highmaul raid on the 29th (that's tomorrow from the time of this writing). I assume they will start with Normal mode. Wild isn't ready. Still too rusty, still needing things, still not sure I really want to get back into that. Still, Wild prepares. He's happy he will start getting Draenor level potions and flasks soon from Jocy. He's raised his gear level to i624, and if pressed could steal a few more bags of gold from Happy and buy his way to level i630. Wild has succeeded at the Bronze level in the Proving Grounds, and is going to take his shots at the Silver level. I have addons to install, though far fewer these days. I also need to install Teamspeak. I'd like to listen in to the raid even though Wild won't likely be in it. Wild's biggest drawback is he hasn't even attempted the Looking For Raid (LFR) version of the raid. I just hate doing LFR. The day Wild steps into LFR raiding again is the day Wild gets serious about raiding.
Jocy, as we all know, is a "boosted" child, skipping her formative years/levels from 27 to an instant 90. There are many advantages in taking that route to adulthood (skipping the leveling process for 63 levels being a major one). There are disadvantages, too.
Jocy had tinkered around with mining and gems for her professions, but she lost what training she had when she was boosted. She wasn't too concerned, since she really hadn't figured out what she wanted to focus on, anyway.
Meanwhile, Happy and Wild were chiding JB, the family alchemist, to get to work on raising her skill level for the new expansion, Warlords of Draenor (WoD). Sure, JB had level 600 skill, but she needed to work on getting to level 700 skill. The problem was that JB was still living in the days of Cataclysm, two expansions behind and stuck at level 85. She would need to climb the five levels to 90 just to begin the process of raising her skill in alchemy, and Wild didn't want to wait for JB to level up.
Jocy decided to volunteer. She was willing to learn both herbalism (so she could collect the herbs needed by alchemy) and alchemy from scratch. Go for it, Wild told her, wondering if Jocy had the will and the stamina to find and collect literally thousands of herbs from all over the worlds of Azeroth, Outland, Northrend, Pandaria, and Draenor.
She had the advantage of being level 93 and having a flying beast to speed the travelling, but there were still some surprises along the way. She started strong with such simple herbs as peacebloom, silverleaf, mageroyal, and other low end herbs. Her fingers grew sore and her eyes bleary, but she persisted. The more herbs she collected, the farther afield she had to go to find new ones.
Some were easy picking, but there were many, mostly older, herbs that took time and patience to collect. Goldthorn was so hard to farm Jocy had to beg for help from Happy by buying a few to help her over the hump. Those old herbs can be pricey, too. Many players are too lazy to farm them the old fashioned way. Jocy did her best, but when confronted with the underwater world of Vash'jr she balked at the "old fashioned way." Wild encouraged her to try (he would, since he could simply shapeshift into a fish), but the prospect of deep sea diving in all that heavy armor wasn't much to her liking. Pulling stranglekelp from shallow waters was as close to the deep end of the pool as she wanted to get. Happy relinquished a little more gold to get her past that hurdle.
Jocy also ran into some travelling restrictions by being a boosted girl. For example, the only portal open to the lands of the Cataclysm was Deepholme. The portals to the others, like the Twilight Highlands, had no active portals for Jocy because she had skipped past all the quests required to open them up. Still, she made do. She took advantage of the zeppelins in Org. When there was no other option, she simply hopped on her flying mount and flew to her next destination. That didn't always work out quite like she expected. There was the time Jocy forgot that flying too high would separate her from her mount - it was a long fall, and a long walk on foot to find the spot for a resurrection. At least twice Jocy accidentally sent her mount away while still in the air. That didn't kill her, but the fall was still frustrating and scary.
One of the more complicated journeys was trying to find a way into the Outlands. The huge Portal in the Blasted Lands was the only way Jocy knew of to get there. Going through it (yes, Jocy flew into it to see what would happen) deposited her at Ashran in Draenor. Eventually Jocy learned that a new Outland portal had been added in the Orgrimmer Drag.
Along the way Jocy had fun with a lot of the elite monsters she encountered. One-shotting elites that once spooked the poop out of her family was a fun payback. Her scariest moment, though, oddly enough, was back at that portal in the Blasted Lands. Jocy had been part of the great battle when the portal to Draenor was opened, but she didn't realize that the battles were still ongoing! Jocy was picking flowers in the middle of a battlefield in the Blasted Lands well away from the portal when she noticed she was getting hit by a couple of armored hostiles. Usually, one swing was enough to turn a mob into dead mush. The hits kept coming, though, as they say, and Jocy started to take damage. What the . . .! Jocy finally took a look around and found that she had landed in the midst of an enemy camp full of level 90 elites.
Jocy is level 93, and no pushover. She could take an elite or five and still keeping picking flowers, but the skirmish was attracting others and the danger level started to rise. For the umpteenth time Jocy wished she had a fast get away spell. Without that, at least she could stun a few, and, staggering a bit, finally broke free of the gang of hostiles, but it was an ugly retreat.
It took Jocy three days to raise her alchemy from level 1 - 600. Draenor herbs are very cheap, so she'll likely just buy them to continue her leveling to skill 700. The herbs are so cheap Happy won't even offer them for sale. He just hands Jocy bags full whenever she needs them.
All that effort also got Jocy a small bonus - She went from level 93 + 1% to level 93 + 30%.
On the raiding front there is the hint of a possibility of Meitha Guild attempting a Highmaul raid on the 29th (that's tomorrow from the time of this writing). I assume they will start with Normal mode. Wild isn't ready. Still too rusty, still needing things, still not sure I really want to get back into that. Still, Wild prepares. He's happy he will start getting Draenor level potions and flasks soon from Jocy. He's raised his gear level to i624, and if pressed could steal a few more bags of gold from Happy and buy his way to level i630. Wild has succeeded at the Bronze level in the Proving Grounds, and is going to take his shots at the Silver level. I have addons to install, though far fewer these days. I also need to install Teamspeak. I'd like to listen in to the raid even though Wild won't likely be in it. Wild's biggest drawback is he hasn't even attempted the Looking For Raid (LFR) version of the raid. I just hate doing LFR. The day Wild steps into LFR raiding again is the day Wild gets serious about raiding.
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Wildshard Ponders the Proving Grounds
Wildshard Ponders the Proving Grounds
Wild can’t help but scratch that raiding itch. Today he finally put away
his Moonkin spec and activated Restoration/Healing. Wild is and always will be
a healer in groups. Healing is what he loves to do. He was a bit worried that
he would have to relearn druid healing from scratch, given how long it had been
since Wild had entered a dungeon or raid. There must be a lot of changes. Well,
on his first look, Wild was pleasantly surprised that nearly all of the basic
healing spells were still there, a comfortable set of spells that Wild knew
very well. Rejuvenation, Nature’s Swiftness, Lifebloom, Regrowth, Wild Growth,
Swiftmend, Tranquility, and Wild Mushrooms. If they didn’t all fit exactly like
a glove, Wild came close to it. Wild mushrooms was only a novelty to Wild, but
its simple mechanic – set it and forget it – was easy enough to remember. There
were some changes in how some other spells worked, but nothing dramatic.
More challenging will be to integrate a number of new and changed talents
that Wild will also need practice with.
He has to get his mind around managing his mana again, protecting the tank and
keeping the rest of his group alive. It wasn’t just Wild now. Wild got so
excited he grabbed his Mission Specialist, Warmaster Zog, and told him he
wanted a chance in the Proving Grounds.
WHAM! Just like that, Wild was there. Trial Master Rotun welcomed Wild into
the round chamber of the White Tiger Temple dungeon. Before Wild had time to
even think about what he was about to do, the Scenario began. Wild’s group ran
in and the first wave of foes attacked.
The first wave was a baby wave of hostiles, but it got Wild’s combat juices
flowing and he began casting heals. Pretty easy at first, but as new waves came
things got hotter and hotter. I’d forgotten to see who the tank was, but once
the poor tank started taking heavy damage, Wild caught on and laid the healing
on him.
The fourth wave brought on the real heavy DPS which struck all players at
the same time. Wild was up to it, though, casting Wild Growth and maintaining
his Lifebloom on the tank – well, most of the time. The fifth wave doubled down
and Wild forgot about how rusty he was and simply did his best not to let
anyone die.
To Wild’s great surprise, Wild and his group defeated the White Tiger dungeon.
I hadn’t provided Wild any prior testing, he had no addons to aid him, and I
hadn’t set up any of the many talent spells that could have been used. It was
back to basics healing.
Wild earned the Proving Yourself: Bronze Healer rank.
Wild’s guild noticed, too. Wild got a Gratz! in guild chat from Grrbaby,
who I believe is the man working on Meitha’s plans for raiding. Coincidentally,
the guild just announced that they are planning a Highmaul raid next week. It
would be the guild’s first WoD raid, I believe.
Wild is going to work on getting the rest of his healing preparations
completed. Could Wild meet the challenge of the more difficult Silver Rank?
Stay tuned.
Update: Wild was so excited with his early success he made an unauthorized
withdrawal from Happy’s bank to improve on his gear. Just to see what’s
available, Wild told himself. Wild needed to reach gear level i615 for the LFR.
I’m not sure what minimum is needed for a guild Normal run, but I think that there
isn’t a minimum anymore and so it would up to the raid leader. Maybe Almond can
fill Wild in on those details.
Wild also learned that the very nice i640 crafted gear was limited. Only
three pieces of crafted gear can be equipped. That required a little bit of
shuffling, but the end result is that Wild purchased a new cloak, a necklace, a
pair of gloves, and a ring. Believe it or not, Wild managed to spend less than
half of the gold he stole – uh, borrowed – to get the gear, including enchants.
Happy hasn’t noticed the missing gold, yet, but Wild is holed up in his
Garrison now, where Happy can’t get at him. By the way, Wild started the day
with an i602 gear score. Now it’s i619.
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