WoW

Ding 80 – A little Disappointment

stargrace July 9, 2010 5 Comments

I finally hit level 80 yesterday on my first ever character in world of warcraft. I was pretty excited to get there – and then once I was there I looked around wondering ‘what now?’ The thing is I don’t know anyone on my server. Thanks to the LFD tool there’s no reason to actually talk (or even group) with anyone, and there’s rarely anyone in my dungeons from my own server any how. I don’t belong to a raid guild, and I don’t know anything about ‘end game’ in world of warcraft, aside from it being a gear grind. Manos has been 80 for a little while now, and had a few suggestions for me. I’m obviously not geared well enough to go jumping into heroic dungeons, even though I do have some available to me.

What we did for the majority of the night was run the Trial of the Champion instance, which is a three part ring event that rewards one epic loot the first round, two the second, and two the third. It’s notorious for it’s trinkets – and bad groups. It seems like after 2am EST all of the groups went significantly down hill. I suppose that’s to be expected on a Thursday night, but I wasn’t prepared for it.

There was the group that wanted to vote someone out simply because they had never been there before. One incredibly impatient person started the event before the new 80 even had time to know what was going on, and then he spent the next little while dying through no real fault of his own. The impatient person screamed for him to be voted off, and in fact a second member of the group /spit on the new player. I decided this was not a group I wanted to heal for, because lets face it I’m just as new, and I left.

The first event can be confusing for any new player. You’re required to grab a lance from the sidelines of a huge arena, and then mount up on a warhorse. The main event is jousting, and you’ve got to run around charging the enemy and knocking them off of their mounts. If players know what they’re doing it can be quite fun, and it’s relatively painless. If you notice your mount is dying the best thing to do is to move to the sidelines and grab a fresh one. A few times I didn’t get there in time and once my mount ‘died’ I was pummeled to death by the enemy, which wasn’t fun. The revive point is very close by, thankfully.

The second event compromises of two different names, it’s random which one you get. The female encounter is the more difficult of the two, but the male is quite simple, you just have to face the other way while he’s blinding everyone. Literally, look towards the wall.

The last encounter is great if you’ve got the dps, and painful if you do not. Since this is one of the entry level dungeons for level 80, you’ll end up with a lot of under geared players very easily.

Needless to say, I started the evening with a gs (gear score) of 2700 and ended with a 3250 or so. Ideally, I’d like 4-5k – and higher than that requires raiding. I ran the instance 6-7 times, and obtained three pieces of gear. A huge upgrade over what I had been wearing, though it quickly became too late for me to test it out and see if dungeons were any easier. I’m attempting to gather shards for both gear (myself) and heirloom (the alts) and in the mean time I’m pondering creating an alliance character on another server simply to experiment with that side of things. I’d rather it not be on my ‘regular’ server because – well because (for those who don’t know, I play on Ravenholdt). That will require some research on my end, maybe I can find myself a good home.

Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself.

Ding, 79 – and no, I don’t heal stupid

stargrace July 7, 2010 3 Comments

The Lich King is a scary sounding guy. I love every quest that brings him out to talk to his failed minions – it’s pretty exciting. Almost as exciting as me finally reaching level 79 on my priest, and 50% through. That’s right, I have less then one level to go before I will have my first ever max level world of warcraft character. This may not seem like that big of a deal, but to me it is. I’ve played since release, and never come close to the cap. Of course I’ve also never stuck with the game for more then a month or two at a time before growing bored, so that has certainly played into things as I just started my 3rd consecutive month of playing yesterday.

Now. I did two new (to me) dungeons using the LFD tool last night. One was The Oculus, and the other was Halls of Lightning (not to be confused with the easier Halls of Stone). You will hear this a lot from WoW healers – we don’t heal stupid. That means, if you’re in the Oculus and you stand IN the lightning, expect to die. I’ve noticed that for the majority of named fights there will be some AoE that goes off that you’ll want to avoid – as long as you’re looking at your screen you’ll see it coming so it’s just a matter of moving out of the way. For example in the Oculus (lightning mentioned above) the warlock lived. The paladin and druid died. The warlock being a cloth class already had points against him – but he was smart enough to move OUT of the lightning. Just take a few steps OVER THERE.

One thing I’ve had to come to grips with is that I can’t save everyone. My job is to keep the tank alive first – and everyone else alive second because without a tank we’re going to die anyhow. If people are being smart and managing their aggro (hey, we have threat meters for a reason) and watching where they’re standing, it makes my job a billion times easier.

Halls of Lightning is not an especially hard zone – but fill that group with a bunch of *ahem* people not paying attention to what they’re doing, and suddenly there are deaths all around. The tank never dropped, and neither did I or the mage in group – but the DPS spec’d druid who kept meleeing the dwarves as they whirlwind sure did. So did the DK who pulled before the warrior tank was prepared. Or the druid (again) who walked right up to the named while he was stealthed, not realizing that the named could see him. It’s really easy guys. Just pay attention. Let your tank do their job, and you do yours which is to assist (did you know the F key is the assist button by default?) and dps the mobs and be a little responsible for yourself.

As a healer in a dungeon I come well prepared. I always put out a fish feast for players before we start, I group buff, I use an int scroll if there are no mages around, and I use a guardian and battle elixir to up my spirit and spell power. I come well supplied with mana potions, and I really try to bring my “A” game. When people die I typically blame myself for not being able to save them in time (just a knee jerk reaction) but the more I do instances the more I realize that 90% of the time someone dies it’s because they’re doing something they shouldn’t be. As long as everyone is paying attention and doing their job, I rarely have a death in group.

Now, lets see what 80 brings. I’m very nervous to hit this level, as I’m certainly not geared for it (my GS is 3,000 or so) and I don’t have the faintest idea about anything ‘end game’ – but I do pride myself on being a quick learner, and I expect I can pick it up before too long.

Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself.

Finally, I Can Craft Again

stargrace July 3, 2010 No Comments

I really dislike that WoW has caps on crafting based on your adventure levels. I wouldn’t mind it quite so much if you could choose multiple professions on your one character, but since you can’t that means that any alts who craft will eventually also have to level in order to maintain their crafting. If you happen to be a heavy crafter (as I am) this presents a problem. Even more so if you don’t have heirloom gear and leveling tends to be slow. I have four other characters who craft alongside my priest. The priest does tailoring and enchanting (a typical rout for cloth wearers) and is pretty close to 450 (460 in enchanting due to being a blood elf) in each. I also have an alchemist / herbalist (the Death Knight), a jeweler / inscription (the Shaman), and a skinner / leatherworking (the hunter). Then there’s my low level warlock who does mining / engineering. This craft has barely been leveled so I don’t really count her. The DK and shaman have been at their caps of 375 for quite some time while I attempt to catch up in adventuring in order to raise it. I need 65 in order for that to happen – and in the case of the DK I need 68 so that I can specialize.

Thankfully, it’s not such an impossible task. Burning Crusade dungeons reward a lot of experience, and Manos has been kind enough to run me through them. The Death Knight managed to reach level 65 yesterday, and with the help of a few hundred pygmy (fish) as well as some sarnite bars, I am resting at a comfortable 430 alchemy. I love the potions I can create, and I go through a lot of them. Wrath also introduced some neat items that each craft class can make specific to their own craft, typically for self use only. In the case of the alchemist these were endless potions of mana and health, as well as some really neat trinkets. The tailor makes some neat items to use on her pants, enchanting grants some ring enchants that are self only. I haven’t raised the jeweler / inscription high enough to discover what they make, but I’m excited about it. The shaman is resting at level 61 right now, so that’s four more levels before I can raise her current cap.

Whether or not I’ll level either character past 65 I’ve not yet decided. I tend to wander through each of my characters simply because I’m trying to avoid burnout in a game that leaves little for me to do aside from questing and dungeon running. Unlike EQ2 where I can take a ‘break’ from things by decorating or finding some other small task to do (working on aa, etc) there’s very little for me to do in WoW. I’ve found a few things that hold my interest when I don’t want to do the ‘regular’ grind, like working on harvesting craft items, and doing achievements, but eventually after playing and doing the same thing over and over I need to step away to another game for a short bit. This is the longest I’ve stuck with WoW consecutively, and I think that speaks volumes about how dedicated I am to eventually reaching level 80 on at least one character.

I’ve been taking a little break from the priest since she hit level 77, but once she earns some more rested experience I’m sure I’ll be back at it. Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

I Believe I can Fly

stargrace July 2, 2010 No Comments

Yesterday was a holiday for us here in Canada (it was Canada’s 143rd birthday – so young!) and to avoid the millions of people down town hoping to get a glimpse of the Queen I stayed home safe and sound, watching episodes of LOST (I just made it to episode 13 season one, it’s my first time watching), knitting, and generally relaxing. Evening came and I decided to make the final push for 77 so I could drop another 1,000 gold on my final flying skill. Being able to fly in Northrend is something I have really missed. Especially since all the level 80’s keep swooping out of the sky when I’m running on the ground and killing me.

I meandered my way (with the help of Manos) through a few dungeons I had never been to before in order to get those levels. I picked up as many quests as I could (they give huge amounts of experience) and did the Halls of Stone (my first time there) as well as Gundrak. I obtained a few upgrades along the way, including a new robe, two new rings, and new shoulders. The experience in the dungeons themselves was pretty poor, but combining them with the quests available made for a much easier time. I could have just quest grinded my way through the level but I’ve been feeling a little burnt out from my latest attempt.

Now that I’ve hit 77 I’d like to focus on my alts a little. I’m still trying to get both the shaman and the DK to 65 so that I can raise their crafting levels (jewelcrafting, inscription, and alchemy). The DK is only two levels away, and the shaman four, so it shouldn’t be too big of a deal to hit those goals. I’m doing my daily random so that I can eventually purchase some heirloom gear, and aside from that things are going pretty well. Once I hit 77 four more dungeons opened up to me, and I’m looking forward to learning them and exploring.

Hope everyone else is having a great day, and enjoy your 4th of July weekend! Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself.

The End is Near

stargrace June 30, 2010 3 Comments

I always wanted to reach ‘end game’ in World of Warcraft. I’ve got so many ‘max’ level characters in EQ2 that it always surprised me that I didn’t have any in the only other game I’ve played for as long as I have, which is WoW. My priest has slowly been inching her way towards 80 – and I do mean inch. From 71+ the best way to gain experience seems to be through doing quests (remember I have no heirloom gear to provide bonuses) and I’m just not a great quest person. Sure, I get in my moods where I’ll want to do nothing but quest, but for the most part I find them boring and tedious. Especially if you spend a few hours doing nothing BUT grinding quests.

By the end of the night the priest managed to clutch onto level 76 – which means just ONE more level and I can finally purchase the skill I need to fly in Northrend. Excited? YES I am. Flying makes things so much easier.

I spent most of my time questing in Dragonblight and Zul’Drak with Manos, though I was sure to pick up at least one random dungeon for the day to get my two tokens. I completed Ahn’kahet: The Old Kingdom, as well as Drak’Tharon Keep. It was my first time in each instance, and they went pretty well. I also picked up a few upgrades which is always nice. Healing is a little easier now, and instances don’t bother me quite as much as they once would have. I still don’t know what to do for every encounter but I’ll learn as I go along. That’s one of the downsides to still being relatively ‘new’ to the game. I don’t have the faintest idea about tactics for a lot of places. Thankfully I do pride myself on being a good healer, and that has gotten me by in most cases. I make sure that I’m stocked up on mana potions, food that increases my buffs, and potions that may help me out. I pay close attention to both the health bars as well as what’s going on in front of me because as I’ve been learning a lot of damage is avoidable if you simply move out of the way. Hard to know when to move if you’re not looking at the screen. This is almost refreshing, as EQ2 requires me to pay attention to little more then health bars and detriment windows. I don’t have to physically move too many places to avoid spikes jabbing me or missiles flying at me and the like.

One thing that I’ve noticed, and even WoW can not escape from it – is the running involved in every quest. Zul’Drak is HORRIBLE for this. I’m working under cover for the scourge, and it requires running from the NPC quest giver, to the scourge base, doing quests there, and running back. Basically back and forth between the two places which are a relatively good distance apart (and remember, I can’t fly) popping on a disguise and making sure it doesn’t fall off while I’m talking to the other side. The story is fun, and I’m not finding the quests themselves too annoying but the traveling between the two points is something I could do without.

I’m hoping today I can climb my way to level 77, and then it’s just three more to go. We’ll just have to see. Until later, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!