Wake Up…

I awoke with a feeling unlike any I had ever felt before. It was somewhat discomforting, as though I were in a place I had not been before. The air was damp and I could barely see through the thick sheathing of darkness that surrounded me. This was not home. This was not where I remembered going to sleep. In fact, I could remember very little, where was I? How did I get here? Who was I? to these questions I had no real answer. Yet despite this lack of identity, I felt somewhat secure. I was not afraid, everything was foreign – yes, but it was all somehow natural. I slowly picked myself up from the ground and my eyes adjusted to my surroundings. I appeared to be in some kind of tomb, or burial site – was I buried alive? Surely not, for a flicker of light streamed in from above the small stair well several feet in front of me – this tomb, was open.

I lifted my hand in front of my face, to try and focus my eyes. What I saw, I shall never forget – for in front of my eyes was not a hand of flesh, but one of bone! Were my eyes deceiving me? How could my hand be just bone, no skin, yet I feel no pain? It was at this point in time that I began to realize I was not breathing… was I dead? Had I died in battle, sometime ago, and not made it to the safety of the gods? If I were dead, then why did I still possess a body? Slowly, as though guided by an unseen force, visions of my past filled my mind. I had a family, I had children. My mental images were so vague I could barely understand them, but I soon discovered I had indeed been killed in a great battle. Strangely none of this concerned me, I simply accepted it, it was just how things were. It was as though I had lost all feeling, I had virtually no emotion.

As my thoughts collected themselves I began to gather the strength to walk. I stumbled towards the staircase that seemed to lead to the outside world, slowly, steadily I began to climb, it was as though I was walking for the first time in my life. Every action my body made seemed completely new, I somehow possessed the knowledge required to display such motor skills, but still, everything was entirely void of familiarity.

Something is stirring…

The sands of time have run out, Son of Durotan….

The Past Few Days

My play time has been pretty sketchy over the Christmas break period. This week has been busy irl and consequently not a lot of progress has been made. I got my Paladin to 56 (quests in Winterspring and Western Plaguelands mainly), and I also transferred my druid to my Paladins server.

Once I got 56 I decided I would respec and go Protection, I was pretty reluctant to give up the 15% movement speed increase from Ret but in the end decided I better try it out. It is, of course, an aoe grind spec really and I’m not that much of a grinder – but all in all its ok and it was fun soloing SM as prot.

Since the transfer I’ve been pvping on my druid, levelling pally a little (almost 57 now) and farming a little. (Runecloth amongst other things).

Level 52 – 54

Today I finished off the Blasted Lands quests and then moved on to Felwood. The quests in Blasted Lands we’re pretty much all grind quests, and whilst im not a fan of grinding, in the long run the xp was good. From here I moved on to Felwood, did a few quests and then whilst heading to Winterspring levelled up by discovery.

After getting 53 I decided to do some quests in Azshara, there isn’t a lot of quests here but the few around are quick and rather generous experience. After finishing up here I was almost half way to levelling. To get the rest of my level I moved on to Un’Goro Crater. Here I did a few quests, and it wasn’t long before I got 54. I hearthed to UC to grab skills, which included a new rank Holy Light and Greater Blessing of Wisdom, then I went to bed.

Level 50-52

I started working towards level 51 in Searing Gorge, there was a handful of quests to do here, one of which netted a huge 11k xp, so it was worth the rather long trip. Because I’d been to Felwood and half started questing then decided against it and left, this level felt extremely long, but after a few hours questing in the gorge, I hit 51. Finishing up the remainder of the gorge quests (except 1 which had an incredibly annoying droprate), put me close to half way to 52.

From there I went to UC to do my first AV game, in the hopes of getting an Icy Barbed Spear – unfortunately the queue times were horrible and we lost the game in the end so no spear for me – nor could I be bothered trying again. Following that I went to the Blasted Lands to complete a series of grind quests which got me level 52.

Level 48-50

Today started with a lot of questing in The Hinterlands. There were many quests to do here including killing trolls, owlbeasts, elves and well…more trolls. Luckily many of the quests were able to be completed at the same time, so I was really close to hitting level 49 before even handing any of them in. Handing them in netted me my level and then some, pushing me close to half way to 50.

From here I returned to Tanaris and a friend and I 2 manned parts of ZF. We killed a boss, but couldn’t complete the event with just two of us. We did however find a way to reach the last bosses by wall jumping, but unfortunately because the event wasn’t completed the bosses couldn’t be attacked (nor did they attack us, luckily).

After ZF I returned to the hinterlands to finish my last remaining quests (most of which were in Jintha’Alor),  and this got me level 50. and to help a level 52 s.priest friend fight a level 55 elite spider – it was a tough fight, but with some serious kiting and maybe a touch of luck, we got the kill. I then went to badlands to help my friend try the same elite dragon quest we had tried earlier – this time it was much easier.

From there I returned to UC, about 54k/121k to levelling.

Thursday 20th December 2008

I was quite busy irl today, I bought a new laptop, and didn’t get a lot of time to play. I did play for a couple of hours, killing ZF trash with a friend. This was enough to earn 3-4 bars of experience but not really anything significant.

Level 46 – 48

From STV to Tanaris…

I woke up this morning feeling sick with an upset stomach, so I’m not sure how much I’ll get done today, but time will tell. Firstly I was in the Undercity so I decided to level enchanting a little bit using the mats I had on me (now level 228), sell some older, now useless, mats and also clean up my bags. Whilst doing this I noticed I hadn’t opened the reward from the Lard’s Lunch Quest so I did and was pleased to find a 14 slot bag inside. I then listed a heap of items on the Auction House and decided I should grab the Auctioneer addon. (www.auctioneeraddon.com).

I haven’t used Auctioneer for a while now and I was stunned by many of the advanced new features, such as the appraisal system, and the bottom scanner. It’s going to take a little while for the data I have to be of any use but by the time I hit 70 hopefully I have some reasonably high quality information on which to make decisions around.

After cleaning out my bags and making some nice space, (something I don’t see very often), I travelled to the Hinterlands to collect some bottles of Pupellyverbos Port, for a handin in Strangelthorn, once I had these STV was my next destination. Here I killed Basalisks, then went to the Mosh’Ogg ogre compound to take on Mai’zoth. He had 2 adds, both casters and he was a caster himself. A little LOS kiting and some well timed stuns, a noobie mana pot and a bubble+heal got me through it succesfully. This is yet another area of mobs where the elite tag was nerfed in 2.3. Following that I finished the Saving Yenniku chain, which yielded me a nice heaping of xp – I was now 56684/101000, more than halfway to levelling up.

I then decided to try my luck at getting the eye for Dizzy’s Eye quest – it’s a random drop from Bloodsail pirates and I didn’t plan on looking for long – I got it first kill which was definetly for the win! This more or less saw an end to my STV quests so I hearthed to UC, took the zep to Org and began questing in Tanaris. Here I started by killing bandits, then pirates, then ogres…then finally shrubman hybrid things, a friend of mine came over and that slowed things a little but not too much. I was racing against the clock as maintenance was coming, but I got 48 with a few minutes to spare. I hearthed, got skills (which, sadly, weren’t very exciting), and then the server went down.

Level 42 – 46

Off to the Badlands…

After a little while afk this morning cleaning it was time to start levelling again. Being only 4k away from 43 meant I wouldn’t be 42 long, so it was off to the Badlands to clean up some quests. The trip to the Badlands is quite a journey no matter which way you go about it. I chose to go from Arathi, through the Wetlands, as I usually do. As tempting as it was to stop by Ironforge and attack the Gnome King, being only level 42, I avoided it.

By the time I’d made my way to the Badlands I’d earned more than 2000 xp for discovering new areas so I only had to kill a few mobs to hit 43. From there it was just a matter of cleaning up some wolves, ogres and elementals for quest xp to help me work towards 44. I had to take a trip into Angor Fortress to reclaim a pack and a rapier for a quest, this was frustrating as most mobs pulled in 2 and 3’s leaving me with little mana, but they were only 38-39’s so it was alright.

The Swamp Of Sorrows and More…

A lot of the quests in Badland’s were either too low or I just couldn’t be bothered doing so I returned to UC and decided to head to the Swamp of Sorrows. Before going there however I realized I had a few quests in STV that were starting to go green, so I figured I’d take care of those. After killing many beasts it was time to take on King Bangalesh – one of the few old world mobs that still sport the elite tag. From there it was off to the Swamp to kill some crocs as level 44 became a reality.

After hitting 44 I went to UC to train new skills (Hammer of Wrath), and also did a quick respec to fix my first 5 talent points (to save mana as I barely use BoM anyway), and then went off to the hinterlands to help a friend try to get a spell damage cape. (Deep Woodlands Cloak). This meant myself (44 Pally) and a 45 shadow priest would have to take on a level 51 named and 10 50-51 guards, as well as a bunch of 46-51’s along the way. Things weren’t going to be pretty… but only 1 death later and the quest was complete. On the way out we killed more mobs to finish of the other quest we had there and were able to collect some nice rewards. (Woven Ivy Necklace and Rune of the Guard Captain).
From there it was back to the Swamp of Sorrows to kill some of the most disgusting creatures known to man – Murlocs! After slaying more than 30 of the foul creatures I got what I came for, the Murloc Basher! (Or chopper in this case).

Then it was back to STV for a few more quests to get 45. A few quests involving gorillas and zombies gave me the xp I needed to get my level, then I headed to UC to do some shopping. Bought 7 new items, all plate, big damage mitigation upgrade hehe and some dps improvement as well, which is always nice. I also bought my second 16 slot bag, as bag space, or lack thereof, is annoying. I also levelled my enchanting to 220. (Mining currently 209).

From here it was back to STV to finish of the remainder of my quests. Many of these were quickly becoming low level and I had to make some decisions as to which was actually worth doing. I killed many trolls, many many trolls >_<, this put me about 40k into my level (out of 96k), so I continued to quest in the jungle, killing Naga. Then it was off to kill Gorlash the sea giant to recover the captains chest. Then I killed some pirates and got Cortello’s Riddle, then over to Jaguero Isle to kill the giant gorilla, who sadly has gone from a level 50 to a level 42. By this time I was about 68k/96k to levelling. Solving the riddle put me just 4k from levelling, and as I was in the Hinterlands for the end of the riddle I ended up doing the Lard’s Lunch quest which pushed me over the level mark and woot 46!

Raid on the Undercity ?!?

Whilst in UC I witnessed a 6 man attempted raid on Undercity – nice try by the allies, getting the AV battlemaster to around 5% but they didn’t quite get the kill. – Then they ressed and tried to take on Varimathras…not exactly a good idea lol.

From here I travelled to the Badlands and we tried to do a lvl 50 quest but the mobs were still elite so we left it for now. Then it was bed time..

Level 40 – 42

The Ruins of Alterac

After fiddling with the screenshots on this site, headed to Alterac Mountains to clean up those named (now non elite) ogres in the Ruins of Alterac. Also bought my Pally his first 16 slot bag (replacing an 8 slotter) so thats a big upgrade lol. Of course killing 3 named ogres wasn’t enough – the leader must be crushed! So I was off to destroy Mug’thol.

With Mug’thol squashed it was time to take on Lord Aiden Perinolde… a quest which had gotten the better of me when I tried to do it at level 38 =( – This time however he wasn’t so lucky. – Although the fight did last a good 2 minutes thanks to his constant power word: shield + renew combination.

Onwards to Dustwallow Marsh

From there it was time to go to the undercity to collect the reward for finding the Crown of Will (which Mug’thol had under lock and key), and then off to Dustwallow Marsh as I made my way towards level 41. Having done a few quests such as collecting venom and burning evil tauren tents it was time to take on Goreclaw the Ravenous. When I arrived at Goreclaw’s location all that was left was a corpse so I had to wait around for a respawn. Luckily I only had to wait around 2 minutes and it was an easy kill. By far the best part about that quest was the reward – my first piece of plate (a pair of legs with int and strength).

The next quests in the marsh were in the Wyrmbog – a vile dragon infested compound. I was tempted to leave and go straight to STV but with 41 only 9k experience away, I just had to stay and finish of the marsh. First though I decided to go collect some raptor feathers – at first I thought the drop rate was terrible but 15 kills later I had my 5 feathers so all in all not so bad. By the time I got the feathers and zapped some oozes I got 41..all without even going near those dragons. By now though these dragons could no longer be avoided so I headed off to take care of them. It took quite sometime to finish the quests in the ruins but by the time I was done I was more than half way though 41, so it was well worth it.

One of these new quests asked me to challenge none other than Onyxia herself, this was kool but kind of silly at the same time. (Of course you don’t actually fight Onyxia but rather a lvl 41 non elite dragonkin called Smolderwing). Still it was entertaining nevertheless. From there I just had to finish of the marsh by doing a quick escort (whose handin was in Ratchet) and a few minutes of grinding to get me to 42.

And so several hours after entering the Marsh I was ready to emerge, having gained 2 levels. Now it was time to head to Orgrimmar for skills, the most notable of which was Cleanse, and some profession levelling. (Enchanting and Mining). Then it was finally time to do that single WSG for the last mark needed for my epic plate bracers, WSG is never something I really enjoy and being level 42 wasn’t the best idea in the world but we won in < 20 minutes and that got the daily complete as well which was for the win. From there it was time to just hang around near the WSG vendor waiting for honor to roll over. After the 30 minute wait, my Paladin has it’s first epic! Yay Beserk Bracers.

Then it was time for a quick stint in the undercity, where I made my Runed Truesilver Rod and prepared to head out for another levelling session.

Into the Jungle…

With 42 levels under my belt it was time to return to Stranglethorn Vale. Many of the quests which we’re far to hard for me at 37 we’re now completely doable, so I had plenty to keep me busy. Killing Pirates, Naga, Collecting Snuff and killing many many trolls kept me busy for quite a while..at least until I got killed by a 45 troll and his two adds. I couldn’t be bothered dealing with them so hearthed to UC to finish of the Arathi Highlands, only Stromgarde quests left. With just 4k to 43 it was time to go to bed.