WoW

Monk Adventures Continue

stargrace March 28, 2016 0Comment

The Noblegarden world event is taking place right now and runs from March 28th until April 4th. This is a combination spring / Easter type event and I always have a lot of fun with it. This year I ran around collecting 100 chocolates so that I could get the Mystical Spring Bouquet companion pet (you can’t level this pet up, it’s just for decoration). The Noblegarden area was relatively empty, I saw a handful of bunnies bouncing around as we ran after eggs but there seemed to be enough to go around. I’m still missing a few of the achievements from the event, but after collecting 100 eggs I was ready to move on. One of those achievements requires another 100 eggs and you’re supposed to eat all of the chocolate. That means I need 200 eggs. No thanks!

My monk tank is now sitting at a lovely level 48. The monk tank I was playing with decided to level ahead and is now over level 70. I decided to slow things down, and instead of running dungeons I turned to questing. I’ve seen very little of Azeroth since.. well, pre-cataclysm era, and I wanted to see how things had changed over the years. I started out in Thousand Needles, a land that used to be nothing but desert, and is now a giant lake. The quests here were fun, you get an under water buff so you’re able to move about quickly, and you even get a boat that you can summon at will. This comes in handy when you want to get to Tanaris, the next zone on my list. Down at the southern end of Thousand Needles is a path through the water. You can swim it, but that would go pretty slow.

Being back in WoW is nice and relaxing and I’m pleasantly excited about Legion even though it’s still a ways off. Unfortunately the cost for tokens has skyrocketed these past few weeks – probably with the excitement of the latest movie trailers that have been released. A few people coming back here and there who would rather use in-game gold to pay for their subscription (and rightly so). My account is paid for the next year so for now I don’t need to worry about such things.

I should be able to get the little monk to level 50 early this week, and we’ll see how things go from there.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Overpowered Lowbie Monk Tanks

stargrace March 24, 2016 0Comment

After reaching level 33 with my troll warrior, I suddenly decided that I wanted to try out a monk instead. See, I have an alliance monk, but it was one of those boosted characters that I rarely played so even though she’s level 92 I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. Compared to my other characters she feels like she’s made of tissue paper. I die on practically every WoD quest.

I decided to make a Tauren this time around. Getting to level 12 was pretty easy – and then I had a thought. I wanted to catch up to the other 33 monk I’ve been playing with and I wondered if I could go and solo Ragefire Chasm. Once again my character was wearing heirloom (pants, shirt, shoulders, hat, charms, necklace, cloak, weapon) but would that be enough? I was pretty certain that my warrior would not have been able to solo it at that level, I could barely hold my own at level 33. Maybe monks were different. I decided to go down the tank spec, one I’ve never played before. I’ve always WANTED to tank, I keep saying I am eager to learn and then when it comes time to queue for dungeons I completely freeze.

I was still too low level to pick up the quests, but that was alright. I’d do a run or two to get some levels and then snag them – IF I could complete the zone.

Turns out I could. Easily. I went from 13 to 19 in a matter of minutes, I think I cleared the place twice. I was excited to hit 20 because monks get a daily buff that grats 50% more experience from kills and quests. I filled my bags with some green loot to sell on the AH and by the time I hit 19 I had already fallen in love with the class. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Ragefire Chasm was a breeze – could Wailing Caverns go just as smooth?

It was a bit more difficult, but by then I had a heal that I could use on myself and it was just a matter of spamming some attacks, regenerating some chi, and healing myself if the damage got to be too much. The zone was certainly harder than Ragefire, but just like the first dungeon I was able to solo it with no deaths.

Since I had my 50% bonus buff, I actually went from level 19 to 25 in one run of the dungeon.

Nice.

Now I’m debating Blackfathom Deeps. So far the monk tank is incredibly fun – even though I’m sure it can’t last. Playing through the game this way is exciting, and it’s a break for me from doing the usual garrison runs every single day. It’s exactly what I need to renew my interest.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Lowbie Shenanigans in World of Warcraft

stargrace March 22, 2016 1Comment

I’ve been playing both alliance and horde for most of WoD, between two servers. Over the weekend I decided to create a brand new horde character on the server where I had no horde, and level up by doing quests and exploring the post-cataclysm world, something I had not done for many years.

My troll warrior, Moglette, is outfitted in heirloom for the slots where I have the gear (I think I’m missing some of the more uncommon items, like rings) and in a duo set out to explore the lands. On a whim we decided to try dungeons, just to see if they could be done as a duo when there was no healer present. My warrior is down the DPS line, with tank as a back up. The duo consists of a monk playing alongside my warrior, and they decided to go tank for now too. So one DPS, one tank, and lots of mean mobs, starting with Ragefire Chasm.

The dungeon was so easy, and so rewarding, that by the time we had completed it we set out for Wailing Caverns. That was completed in a duo pretty easily too and we got some black fang gloves that sold for a whopping 4,000 gold! At level 20 playing a new faction that didn’t have any cash, this was a big huge bonus. I immediately upgraded bags.

After Wailing Caverns it was time to head to Ashenvale, completing quests along the way. Basically I skipped the barrens because I leveled through them too quickly. Ashenvale quests are… frustrating. I didn’t have fun working through this zone at all. I continued my way up the coast and eventually ended up at Blackfathom Deeps. All of these dungeons have been revamped since I was in them last, and so it was as if I was doing them all for the first time. I had fond memories of the old versions, but the new ones are not that bad.

Next up was Scarlet Halls, which is completely different than what I remembered, and the first dungeon where we had a death or two in the duo. Mobs hurt without a healer, and the bosses had mechanics that couldn’t simply be ignored by brute force. I did get a few levels there and my little Moglette is sitting at a pretty respectable level 31. I picked mining and blacksmithing as my professions, along with the usual fishing / first aid / cooking / archaeology.

It has been pretty fun so far and I’m eager to see more of Azeroth this way – without rushing, without power leveling, without buying in to level 90 (or 100).

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Druid Dings 100, and Other Ramblings

stargrace February 16, 2016 0Comment

My night elf druid FINALLY made it to level 100 over the weekend, and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve had this character for ages now but I just never found the time to level her, instead I would focus on … well, anyone else. The amusing thing is that I LOVE playing druids. It’s the character I originally started out with in EQ2 and then decided to give up because at the time pretty much everyone and their dog was playing a druid. I moved on to other characters, and deep inside continued to long for the heal-over-time way of life.

Now that I’m at the level cap, it’s time to decide what comes next. Since I can already fly in Draenor that cuts down a lot of the grinding that I would normally have to do. I also managed to stock up a nice supply of leather baleful gear, not a huge amount, but enough to get started. What I’m lacking is the garrison resources to upgrade my town hall to rank 3, which is top of my list. Once that’s completed I’ll move towards Tannan jungle and unlocking my docks.

I also completed the Proving Grounds on silver as a healer, eventually I’d like to do them as DPS. I’ve started my legendary but I need to collect all of the cores as well as apex crystals. My professions are slagging behind so that’s also something I’ll want to concentrate on.

New end game characters are exciting. There’s just so much to do that it almost feels like an entire new game for me. Of course, I also want to level someone else up now, so I’ll have to start thinking about alts. I do love my alts.

That brings my total characters at 100 to 5 (one of them being the free one you get when you pre-order Legion). On the horde side I have a priest, paladin, and hunter. The alliance side is my shaman, and druid.

Maybe I’ll level up my rogue next, or even better, my warrior.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Field Photographer

stargrace February 10, 2016 0Comment

When World of Warcraft came out with the S.E.L.F.I.E. camera, of course I thought it was one of the weirdest gimmicks added to the game in a long time. Your character poses as though they’re taking a picture of themselves, and you get to choose from a number of filters before taking the shot. There’s even an achievement for doing this in various locations, and that’s what I’ve been working on lately. You get the title “Field Photographer” if you complete them all.

When I talk about “other things to do” in an MMO – this is exactly what I mean. Sure, it’s fun to go around defeating the evil creatures of the world, but sometimes you just want to play the game and relax while doing it. Sometimes that means crafting, harvesting, doing houses (not in WoW), or flying around getting updates for random achievements that offer very little ‘progression’ to your character. These little advancements are what keep me gaming when I’m done my dailies, and they’re essential to my gameplay.

I believe I only have one or two more locations to hit before I’ve completed them all. I’ve posted all of the screenshots in an album over on Google Plus for anyone who wants to take a peek.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!