On the cusp of 70…

So I haven’t posted for a couple of weeks, work has been busy, you know how it is…

Anyway, I’ve managed to make it to within 10k XP of 70 with my main, Hattan. This is no mean feat for someone as casual as me – it’s taken me about 21 months to get this far. I typed /played last night and was not particularly surprised to see that I’m sitting around 24 days playtime – I’ve always been one to stop and smell the roses… I took a lot of detours, did some PvP for a month or two, spent time clearing out gray quests for the hell of it, explored zones rather than quest there, took part in seasonal stuff like Winter’s Veil and Brewfest, and watched as people i pugged with hit 60, then 70 light years ahead of me… I guess I really tried to experience WoW rather than just race to 70 asap.

I have to say though I’m feeling kinda sad and conflicted about hitting 70. Last post I was still 68 – had an awesome run through Blood Furnace with a pug that was into it but not too serious (Funniest part – our druid healer warns before Maker “watch this guy he mind controls”… Maker mind controls me, I 2-shot the healer (1.4k white crit and 2k+ MS crit), and we all have to wait as the healer corpse runs back to the instance from Thrallmar :P). I hit 69 after that run then have spent the last level finishing off Nagrand and BEM quests. I now have about 10k XP until I hit that magic number. But it seems a bit anticlimactic to ding 70 killing an ogre or turning in some courier quest or heaven forbid, exploring a new zone – I think I would feel kind of cheated… I feel like it should be a huge blaze of glory – downing a boss to ding 70 or something like that. Not to mention that it’ll be just me online to cheer my progress. My good friend who got me into the game quit 3 weeks ago mostly for financial reasons. There will be other people out there but it won’t feel the same.

And after 70? PvP? Start the never ending dailies? Grind rep? Start taking my guild seriously and raid (like that’s ever gonna happen with a fulltime job, a wife & 3 kids)? I dunno, it just doesn’t seem appetising at the moment…

At least I have the gold for my flying mount 🙂

I just think of all the experiences I’ve had in Azeroth – from that first evening as a level 1 in Mulgore – amazed at the surroundings and vastness of it all. Flying over the Barrens for the first time. Venturing into contested territory like a scared rabbit looking for NE rogues behind every tree. Learning to hate Hillsbrad and STV gankathons. Making Sergeant in PvP before they got rid of ranks. Soloing BFD for the hell of it and because I could never get a group for it. Running SM Armory dozens of times for Herod’s Shoulder and never getting it – screw you, Raging Berserker’s Helm! Dinging 40 in Arathi Highlands and getting my lovely Gray Kodo. Leveling through to 50 in Feralas, Hinterlands and Felwood. Those last few levels before Outland at 58 – taking soooo long before that patch 2.3 XP bonus. Grinding Brewfest tickets at 60 to get my Swift Brewfest Ram. And the last few levels, systematically cleaning out each quest zone on the long march to 70.

It’s been a long time coming, and I’m kind of glad the race part is almost over. Is the real fun about to begin?

I’ll let you know.

Nath

UPDATE: I lost my Lvl 70 virginity to an ethereal in BEM… It was quite good timing – I was about to die having aggroed a patrol of two while killing a third when -ding- restored from 1% to 100% health… just in time. I’m loving my new Blue Windrider (couldn’t bring myself to get the green one) and it’s going to make herbing so much more fun. To top the night off, I picked 2 fel lotuses – 50g in about 2 mins, not bad for one night!

The agony and the ecstasy… Lvling to 10

So anyway, I managed to level my Pox Arcanum druid, Hattana, to level 10.

It was painful.

Is it just me or are druids particularly hard to level for the first 10 levels? I seriously almost gave up at one point after the third corpse run in 10 minutes. Up to level 6 I was cruising, didn’t die once, even in the Bristleback Ravine where I spent so long dying with my first ever WoW character… Started the Bloodhoof Village quests and- POW! Pwned by everything! Gnolls, dwarves, Venture Co. peons, a couple of swoops – it got to the point where I wouldn’t have been surprisied if a bunch of critters ganged up on me and slapped me silly while I was trying to cast a single Entngling Roots…  I think I died about two dozen times between level 6 and 10. I was soooo happy to ding 10 and start the bearform quest chain. I hit Moonglade and was pleasantly surprised that unlike the PvP server my main is on, no-one insta-ganked me as soon as I ported in. (Hmmm… I kinda like this PvE thing…) Went to Barrens, killed Lunaclaw after dying once – damn you, Entangling Roots! – and then I had my nifty bear suit.

I couldn’t believe the difference it made. I instantly went out and cleared about 3-4 quests that I had earlier just plain given up on. I had previously attempted the rare spawn Ghost Howl at the base of Thunder Bluff and got killed so fast my head was spinning. This time? Same level, new champion – revenge is sweet. Must turn that cloak in for a nice green weapon, will be my first green too…

Anyway, all this got me thinking. I have levelled at least one of every class to 20+ and they are certainly not equal, even in the first few levels. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone picked up WoW, tried a druid and gave up after half an hour.  By comparison, levelling a hunter to 10 is cake. Autoshot, arcane shot, serpent sting, a couple of hits with your axe and mobs fall down dead… and that’s before you get your pet at 10. Locks, priests and mages get wands FTW… Shammies, pallies and rogues – I don’t remember… Warriors, also painful, and the pain continues past 10 (Defensive stance at 10! Woo. Hoo.) – at least it did for me, but maybe I just suck. Or I’m a masochist.

So how about you, faceless readers out there in Internetsland? What classes have you enjoyed levelling in the early game? Do I just suck at druids/warriors?

My goals for this week are to finally meet up with someone from the Pox Arcanum group online and get my /ginvite 🙂  I want to level my tradeskills – I’m currently skinning/herbalist so I can make money while questing. I’m also keen to try and pick up RFC quests so I can start heading in that direction if I ever get a group of people who can play at ungodly hours of the morning (Server Time).

Ka kite ano,

Shigakiwi

First Post!

Hi, welcome to my World of Warcraft blog. I’ve been meaning to set this up for some time after reading some awesome blogs that are out there, but have never gotten around to it. I’m aiming to start small – a post a week on Tuesday nights (NZ time). I’m not sure what I’ll blog about, mostly my experiences, my WoW life, maybe from a bit more of an Antipodean perspective than most other blogs…

I’ve been playing WoW for about 18 months now – I’ve still yet to get my main, Hattan (Tauren MS/Flurry Warrior) to 70. Just feeling a bit jaded about playing – my friend who got me into the game has recently quit and I’m kinda all alone on my PvP server – well not quite, but the only other guy I really know is a hardcore raider, and that’s not really me – can’t afford the time with three young kids. I much prefer to take my time, explore, level professions and have fun… which is where the Pox Arcanum experiment comes in.

For those of you who don’t know, Pox Arcanum is a guild on Anvilmar formed by bloggers who have all rolled alts on that server and play together once a week. The aim is not so much power levelling as having fun and experiencing the game together. Players can log in separately and upskill professions, but all questing/instances etc are supposed to be done together. I’m really keen to give it a go, the main issue for me is going to be one of timing.

The problem is, I live in New Zealand, and the majority of the bloggers are US based. It’s not a huge problem, being 21 hours ahead is way preferable to being 12 hours ahead… but it means that my preferred playing times of 12am-3am Server Time  might be a bit late for anyone else. I could negotiate time with my wife and do 10pm-12am but it could prove difficult with kids going to bed etc…

I’m quite keen to try something different, like a 3-4 Druid group. Having mostly played tanks I would like to try a healer role or something more DPS based. I especially like the idea of having synergy in our professions – everybody helping each other out and contributing to the group. Hopefully I can find a couple of like minded souls that are night owls and can help me out… 😛

Anyway, that’ll do for tonight… I’ll post again next week and let you know how things are progressing…

Ka kite,

Nath