PvP

So Kaewhy and Himhotepp have taken the plunge. We have decided to create a 2v2 arena team. And so, Two Unlive Crew is born. And we did ten runs in the arena, and got our arses handed back to us, neatly carved up and in some cases, charbroiled. In ten games, only one came close. It was against a mage and a pally, and we both ganged on the mage while we cc'd the pally. It came down to me and the pally and well, the pally can heal. All I can do is pray for mercy.

One strange issue we have found. Against a hunter, Himhotepp simply freezes, blinks, and the pet is out of commission for a few seconds. In the arena, not a single pet froze in place. Not one. We came up on four hunters, and of course, their pets. If he can't take the pet out, the mage is out of commission. Is this a spec'ing thing that 70 pets have? Or is it an arena glitch? I can't imagine every single one of those hunters being spec'd the same way. Even assuming they resisted, there shouldn't be that high a resistance rate.

So it was a learning process, and continues to be. We will be arena battling a couple nights a week and hopefully we will get better. Fingers crossed!

Grinding away

Kaewhy has finally completed all the quests in Netherstorm do-able by one person. I now wait for guildies to catch up, or anyone who is looking for a group. Shouldn't be hard. Of course, I decided to do some Skettis quests to grind for the purple Nether Ray. Can you imagine Kaewhy on that baby? Giggidy giggidy.

I also to Barbaracue into WSG again, since I am having so much fun with her in there I decided to make a break for the level 28 Outrider's bow. Saturday's numbers:


(Note the gratuitous shot of Sauce, my pretty kitty.)

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And finally a question for the readers:

I love reading general chat. I enjoy the banter, and even all the bad Barrens Chuck Norris jokes and slams at ones mother do not bother me. I came across this conversation in Netherstorm:



The person in red is a 66 warrior, Prot spec'd complaining he can't complete quests on his own because he isn't tough enough. He has been asked to be prot spec'd by his guild and now is trying to quest and can't get it done. How is this possible? How does a warrior, wearing plate, able to take all kinds of damage, not be able to kill some Sunfury magic users? Can someone explain this to me?

Which brings up another question. Any thoughts on guilds demanding certain specs? I feel if a player knows their class (and I certainly hope that if one is over level 60 they do), they should be able to play the spec of their choice. I have seen shadow priests be more effective healers than holy priests (and vice versa), and rogues out tanking warriors. It all depends on the player. So what are your thoughts?

And finally... a review

So I have managed to pull myself away long enough to write a good review of the BC expansion. I have now tried out a few characters for various possibilities, and I know you are all waiting for my thoughts.

Of course you know I would create new characters. I lasted about 15 minutes in the Outlands with Kaewhy (fyi - this link is saying she is still 62 - I dinged 63 yesterday. I don't know why it hasn't updated.) and saw what kind of quests I was getting and buggered off to create a blood elf.

And so Schokti was born. I have talked about her mage abilities already, and yes, I am totally in love with this character, which is why she is 29th level. Plus I have the ability (and the desire) to completely pimp her out. Levelling in the elven area is super easy. The only thing that is a bugger is on the first map one is running everywhere - I mean everywhere. I think I spent days running back and forth. Now, granted, once I learn where all the quests go I can be more efficient in the future, so it will be no less horrible than running from UC to the Sepulcher.

The big issue I have with the elves is of course, the ugly turkeys. But I have blogged about that before and I will now leave it alone.

But they are ugly.

Moving on. In the spirit of fairness, I created a Draenei hunter, Daenae. It took me a while to realize the draenei have goat feet and are a bit Pan-like characters, which causes them to run funny (a la with a perfectly straight posture). The Draenei have a special ability to heal themselves fairly quickly and as a low level hunter learning to do things without a pet, this came in very handy. The quests are super easy, and someone had way too much fun with some of the names of the quests. For example - "Tree's Company", where one dresses up like a tree, and "Show Gnomercy", in which one kills a gnomish traitor. My personal favourite comes not from the title but from the quest rewards. "The Kurken is Lurken" directs one to kill the nasty dog in the cave, and return with its hide, from which you can choose one of two items - the Kurken Hide Jerken or Kurkenstoks. Which, of course, are fashionable shoes. Way too much time on their hands. Way too much.

On to the Outlands. As I have mentioned Kaewhy is now 63. It took for bloody ever to get her there. I know that it should take a while, but I like the power levelling of a lowbie. What can I say? The quests are standard - kill 10 buzzards, collect 30 flowers, etc. There are the odd kill the boss quests which in themselves are easy right now since everyone wants to party up and get them done. No one seems to be picky over who shows up in their party.

The loot is incredible. I am at least 10 times tougher now than I was at 60 before the expansion, and the reason is I have completely re-outfitted myself. I have all new gear that is outstanding, where some of the greens that drop from pigs are better than some epics I have seen before the expansion. Which is the reason, I suppose Blizzard did this. So many characters have been at 60 for so long that they have had nothing to do but build up their epic gear and now they need things that are better, hence the better drops. Which only bodes well for us who did not grind to get the epics and are pretty much getting the same thing for free.

Getting a few pieces of great gear is easy in the outlands as well. One gets marks of Thrallmar for various things - marks for capturing the towers in the maps (this is repeatable) and for killing the alliance in PVP areas. The marks can add up quickly. For as little as 16 marks, one can get a new weapon.

All in all I am glad to have gotten the expansion. I don't know how I am seeing level 70 draenei or blood elves, but then others have more time and dedicatation than I. And probably fewer characters.

58!

Scott and I are now neck in neck. What grand fun! I am spending my time in Easter Plaguelands and grinding scourge stones and all the that other fun stuff one can collect there for the Argent Dawn. My goal? The pretty knife the quartermaster carries! Drool! Of course, I may just save it all up for the epics.

As a celebration of levelling, I spent some gold in the AH and bought the Assasination Blade.

So wandering around in EPL Scott and I decided to go grind together. We didn't get far. We were attacked by a 60 rogue & warrior. They left, we rezed and vented on a 60 mage who was sitting having a drink. My first 60 kill! Of course, we paid for it dearly since it turns out he was partied with the rogue and warrior. Go figure. We left to the other side of the map to grind.

Onward to 59!

Ding. Ding. Ding.

Is that a bell? No, that is Kaewhy at 57. It is unbelievable how quickly this is going. And I am only 5 bars from 58. There are a couple of factors that are pushing me up this quickly:

- a three month hiatus resulted in almost 6 full levels of restedness. It happens quickly when each kill is 700 xp.
- killing all those darn furlbogs! I had picked up two totems from them in Winterspring and Felwood, and they both were quest items, which I could not cash in until I was at least neutral with the Timbermaws. That is 6000 rep points. Each kill 5 points. Each stack of feathers or beads is another 150. That was a lot of killing.

These last few days of gaming has really driven in that I do not have a grip on effective PVP. I got my behind handed to me in Winterspring from a 53 druid. Those damn heals! And faerie fire - aaaaaaarrrrggg! If I can't stealth, I am toast!

Ah, well, that is something I can focus on at 60. Once I have beaten Scott to the end. And I am only 8 bars behind Himhotepp.

I won't even start today about the latest patch and what it has done to all our add-ons. Purists of the game would be pleased. I am not.

The pretty colour of Blue

Holy crow, will it ever stop? Three blogs in a row? Gadzooks! What can I say, I only get at chance to play on weekends.

Yesterday I did a little bit more grinding, killed a couple of allies to try and get back into practice. Turns out three months away from the game kind of hurts ones rank. And apparently it hurts one practice as well. I was wandering around and ganked a 49 priest. Let's face it - a properly spec'd priest level for level will hand my buttocks to me on a silver platter. The night elves will kiss it first. So I have to kill those lower than I. Anyways, I did so twice to the same priest who was obviously frustrated. The third time he got wise and hit his fear thingy that makes me run all over the place. And what do I do? I click on my Will of the Forsaken to stop that nonsense and grab it off my bar!!! So while I am running around like a fool trying to place it back on my bar, the whole time cursing & swearing, buddy takes off. Eh, who can blame him, really?

Anyways. A friend came on later and offered to grab his 60 rogue and take me into BRD and try and get me the Barman's Shanker. We went in 5 times, got the Mixologer's Tunic, three copies of Goblin Jumper Cables schematic and a pair of Mystical Boots of the Owl. Except for the armor, the rest are pretty much useless to me. I am sending one of the jumper cable things to my engineer, and the rest are going into AH. Where hopefully I can pick up some other blue armour since I am SERIOUSLY lacking.

Ding... again

54! Seems to be going a tad quicker now. Now that I know where I need to grind to level, etc. I spent some time yesterday clearing off some maps and doing some quick easy quests in Felwood and wandered into Winterspring.

In Winterspring I was welcomed with a wave from a warlock, whose wave was actually a dot on me then he proceeded to fear me and laugh at me since I was mounted and could neither dismount nor Will of Forsaken to stop it. I am sure I provided hours of chuckling afterwards. Very nice and quite ingenious. Kudos to you, unknown ganker.

Ding

Kaewhy made it to 53 last night. Finally. Let me tell you - Un'Goro is by far the hardest place to get anything done for all the allies roaming around the place. Let's just say I added up to a few HKs for a few characters. Including one kill that took place while I was AFK. I suppose I should know better than to walk away while not in the city. It took me far too long to kill pteradactyls, apes, and far too long to collect spores! Then in triumph I left and was looking over my quest list and discovered I had missed two quests. Arg!

In my frustration I vented on a NE rogue hanging out in Ratchet. It was fun. A lvl 16 Troll something or other whispered to me asking me what level this ?? rogue was. Instant stealth mode and I go look - 40. The troll had the presence of mind to say "farewell" just before he hit the dirt. Beauty! Pay it forward, I say.

So for all my whining...

... two days ago, I dedicated Saturday to levelling Kaewhy. And I have. Some of our guildies are reaching similar levels and we ran RFD and while I didn't get fantastic xp from it, being too high, it did help to level the guildies. We did discover, too late, that a 47 and 37 rogue backed up with a 42 priest is not enough to kill Amnennar. Go figure. We almost did it, though. Next time.

So I have been running around, getting ganked, trying to finish quests. I have managed to do so, out of shear persistance. Of course, any Allies I can take on the way meet their end. But then it runs both ways. Most memorable was I was stealthing through the badlands (mostly because I don't feel like encountering any creatures. I realize a higher level Allie can see me, but if they are higher level I am most often dead anyway - except for those warlocks. heh.), and a ?? hunter rode by me. He stopped, backed up, waved, dismounted, and proceeded with the ganking. I had enough time to lol. What the hell else am I going to do?

Anyways... I am now 6 bars (rested) to 48 and actually bullying my way through this. Perhaps that was all that was needed in the first place.

Random wanderings

Kaewhy is now officially doing quests I have never seen before. I wandered into Desolace for the first time this week, paranoid because I have never been there. I was envisioning ?? creatures and allies, so I stealthed in all the way to Ghost Walker Post, and again to Shadowprey Village. Then I grabbed a clue and realized I was just fine on this map. So 6 quests later I now have to get a bloody advanced target dummy (why do I always need to find a bloody engineer?).

Desolace seems to be a better map for hitting allies than Hillsbrad. I get ganked regularily in Hillsbrad, and I only go now in the morning when the allie count is low. Desolace, however, has many low level allies - the kind I like.

A statement about the verb, to "gank". I akin this term to "rape", "total and clear annihilation", etc. This is most often performed by a 60 on a 30. However, it can happen in other, special cases. I was shaking my head the other day at the general defense chat in Hillsbrad. Someone mentioned a 29 allie rogue was "ganking" a 34 cave yeti. That, my friends, is not ganking. That would be a little boy too big for his britches trying to make up for some missing phallic symbol.

Last night, I ganked. I wandered around and came upon a 32 Warlock. Yes, he was only 1 level lower than me, but when one doesn't even get a shot off, it's a gank. Poor little gnome. I couldn't help but laugh - both at him and his inaffectual minion. Rushed with power, I wandered off to kill Kohlkars - and found a 31 Warlock just conjuring her minion. Sad waste of a soulshard, that. She actually managed to cast a spell. Unfortunately for her, I am undead, and only four words need to be said - "Will of the Forsaken". So not only did she waste a soul shard, she also wasted a perfectly good fear. I notice she didn't release her soul until after I left. Heh.

A Moment of Silence, Please....

It's official. Vebjorg has been laid to rest. Sadly most of her goodies were soulbound, so no passing on of the really good weapons. But, from what we could salvage went mostly to Kaewhy and a few of Scott's characters. The decision was made easier when Kaewhy completed a quest Vebjorg never could. That could be because Kaewhy rocks, or it could be because I have played a rogue enough that I can better use my abilities.

Speaking of rocking abilities - Kaewhy got her first two honourable kills last night. WOOOOOT! Skulking around in Ashenvale I came accross a lvl 22 NE Hunter (sans pet - yeee haw!)- she was so oblivious that I managed to ambush her - that never happens! I dispatched her without difficulty and then discovered I was getting hit from somewhere else - she had a lvl 28 partner. I turned around and saw a lvl 30 undead rogue doing a bit of business with him. My one hit granted me credit for the kill. Very cool. Only now I have this weird blood taste in my mouth. Yum! I may have to hit the battleground soon.

Quick update

Last night I dinged 26. Woot! Now I have all the cool little rogue tricks I got used to with Vebjorg. So, I will be re-outfitting Kaewhy with Vebjorg's stash and deleting the character.

I am at the point with most of my quests that I am not tough enough to go at it alone. That in between stage where one more level and I can handle it, but just not right now. So, I have been doing a lot of killing slightly tougher creatures (which of course means I spend some time in Tarren Mill getting ganked by some ?? NE Druid).

One thing I have not been doing with this character and have shot myself in the foot with - I haven't been keeping my lockpicking up to date. I went into Durnholde Keep and couldn't pick the locks of the guys chained there (which I could with Vebjorg), so, *gasp*, I actually had to kill the jailer. And got ganked by a ?? NE Druid immediately following. But - I got the key, managed to lift enough practice boxes to boost my lockpicking and managed to open every lockbox in the place. My lockpicking is much better now. Hee.

Which brings me to a question - why on earth can we not stay in stealth when picking locks? Picking locks is a basic Rogue thing, along with stealth. One would suspect that if you knew how to do either of these, we could do them at the same time. We can apply poisons in stealth, why not pick locks? Perhaps this is something we learn at higher levels? I doubt it but I hope so. Maybe on a future release of the game....