And boy is there a lot of stuff.
Of course, as usual I am writing this from the office. Which means I can't log in and check out any of the new content (and server crashes, no doubt). There is a lot of stuff in this patch, as has been talked about around the community for the last couple of months.
The biggest question is: what ninja "fixes" did Blizzard slip in under the radar?
The most exciting addition is (for me, at least): the Molten Front daily quest hub. I simply cannot wait to head to Hyjal and start that epic journey.
Yesterday, our little one was sick. My wife looked after her in the morning and I went home just before lunchtime to look after her for the afternoon. Once she was asleep for her afternoon nap, it was a great opportunity to do a heroic. :)
The random heroic it gave me was Halls of Origination. Aside from a mouthy healer (obviously emboldened by the presence of two guildies), it was a good run. I just felt sorry for the two tanks we went through who got the short end of a temperamental treehugger's branch.
Surprisingly, I got Faster Than the Speed of Light, my first HoO achievement. I have hardly any achievements towards the meta, but so far I haven't actually tried to get any. It sure would be nice to be able to coincide with guildies to knock off a whole lot of those heroic achievements towards getting my drake!
Just before getting into the heroic, I finished Uldum, getting Brann's quest to meet him inside the very instance I later had selected for me. Which meant that I was also able to complete that quest chain too!
To top it all off, the 70 Valor Points that I got from the random pushed me to 1,000. Exactly 1,000. My Justice Points also shot up to about 3,400. Since with 4.2 they converted Valor to Justice to a cap of 4,000, before the end of the day I had to decide what to do with an extra 400 points. At first I considered getting the 346 caster helm, but then realised it was a complete waste of points. Then, I considered getting the PvP wand through conversion. But that too seemed like a bit of a waste since I don't currently PvP.
I actually settled for a Conquest Points conversion twice over, swapping out 500 VP for 500 CP, which in turn would have been converted to mere HP overnight. 500 "free" Honor Points is better than nothing. And when I can finally log into the game I will have 3,900 JP waiting for me to spend on my first 359 pieces (I'm thinking Melodious Slippers and Firelord's Robes)!
All in all, the time I had yesterday to play felt both very timely and very rewarding.
Next stop: continued Tol Barad dailies for the grind to Exalted, continued Vashj'ir questing to complete that zone (or those three zones, really), and a slow drive into the brand-spanking new and seriously awesome Molten Front to unlock all that new content and experience the whole Firelord and fire elemental plane storyline (minus the awesome-looking raid).
Who knows: perhaps I will have the chance to experience the original Cataclysm raid content a bit more, now that it has been nerfed. Not that it's such a big deal for me to see it, but if the opportunity arises, why not?
Here's to enjoying new content!
Peace.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Showing posts with label heroics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heroics. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
Patches, Gold and Levelling
No, my Worgen is not called 'Patches'. I want to discuss briefly both patch 4.1 and 4.2.
4.1 dropped very recently, and it caused some of my addons to go a little haywire. I still have an issue because of the nameplate changes, but that should hopefully be resolved soon enough.
My biggest issue has actually been with auctioneer, for whatever reason. And so, after getting rid of addons I don't use and reinstalling LUI, I switched out auctioneer for auctionator. And I haven't looked back. I don't intend to spend a lot of time sorting out auctions, but I do still have quite a few glyphs and a few enchants to pawn off on my main server*; and I want to continue working towards a wee stockpile on my new server, with my little Worgen priest.
*Of course, I use TSM for posting glyphs and enchants.
Patch 4.1, Rise of the Zandalari, is not something I've actually got into. My mage is still plodding along through the original Cataclysm content; I have a long way to go still with reputation and quests!
Zandalar can wait; and in fact, the two new five-man heroic dungeons, Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman, are inaccessible to me right now, with an iLevel far below the recommended 346. Until I manage to get a few more heroic items, they will continue to be out of reach. But at least this gives people time to get used to the dungeons so that there will be less chance of frustrating chain wiping when I finally do get to experience the content. As with the other heroics now, thankfully. :)
The Zandalari quest chain is also something that I want to delve into sometime — hopefully — before patch 4.2.
Ok, so speaking of 4.2, Blizzard want to roll it out as soon as possible; and so information surrounding it started being churned out for us the day after 4.1 went live! We have seen the new caster legendary, the new dynamic questing hub with its own world tree, a preview of the Firelands, the tier 13 raid with Ragnaros and his six goonies, Tier 13 itself; and many more cool and exciting things surrounding this major content patch.
In fact, maybe if you haven't already, you should check out this video released by the development team:
I may never raid, but I still want to immerse myself in the story and experience as much as I can with my limited playtime and busy schedule. And that means trying to get through all of the current content first — at least, as much as possible. As I said, there is a lot of questing and reputation grinding ahead still. At least Deepholm is almost over and done with now!
My Worgen priest is level 21. I did the level 20 priest quest, Favored of the Light, that requires you to go to Shadowfang Keep. The reward was Staff of the Hallowed, but during the run I got Odo's Ley Staff, which has higher intellect — and is thus better.
I have also made 50-60g total from auctions. Not bad for level 21. It is hard to pinpoint the exact amount without running beancounter, as I have spent some coin on things. I've bought maybe four pieces of armour that I managed to find (not much supply at this level), for various prices ranging from less than a gold to a couple of gold each. And I spent a bit of gold on two more 12-slot bags (7-8g each), so my priest is now decked out in all 12-slot bags. That's a lot of space for a level 21 toon, actually; even taking into account the herbalism and skinning I hope to do as I continue to quest.
So now my bank toon is sitting on about 27g, with a little leather and maybe a handful of herbs yet to put up. Actual gold is always so liquid: even at this level of dabbling! But I just can't help myself. :p
Progress in Darkshore has been steady. I must have finished more than half of it by now. And the storyline has been very cool. The zone has changed so much, and it's just amazing seeing everything that is going on there. Malfurion standing in the middle with a big whirlwind spinning around him: epic.
So now it becomes a balance between completing zones and enjoying heroics with Gaiwyn, and completing quests and enjoying the fresh levelling experience with my Worgen. The game has gained new excitement for me, and for that I am partway glad. :o
Peace.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
4.1 dropped very recently, and it caused some of my addons to go a little haywire. I still have an issue because of the nameplate changes, but that should hopefully be resolved soon enough.
My biggest issue has actually been with auctioneer, for whatever reason. And so, after getting rid of addons I don't use and reinstalling LUI, I switched out auctioneer for auctionator. And I haven't looked back. I don't intend to spend a lot of time sorting out auctions, but I do still have quite a few glyphs and a few enchants to pawn off on my main server*; and I want to continue working towards a wee stockpile on my new server, with my little Worgen priest.
*Of course, I use TSM for posting glyphs and enchants.
Patch 4.1, Rise of the Zandalari, is not something I've actually got into. My mage is still plodding along through the original Cataclysm content; I have a long way to go still with reputation and quests!
Zandalar can wait; and in fact, the two new five-man heroic dungeons, Zul'Gurub and Zul'Aman, are inaccessible to me right now, with an iLevel far below the recommended 346. Until I manage to get a few more heroic items, they will continue to be out of reach. But at least this gives people time to get used to the dungeons so that there will be less chance of frustrating chain wiping when I finally do get to experience the content. As with the other heroics now, thankfully. :)
The Zandalari quest chain is also something that I want to delve into sometime — hopefully — before patch 4.2.
Ok, so speaking of 4.2, Blizzard want to roll it out as soon as possible; and so information surrounding it started being churned out for us the day after 4.1 went live! We have seen the new caster legendary, the new dynamic questing hub with its own world tree, a preview of the Firelands, the tier 13 raid with Ragnaros and his six goonies, Tier 13 itself; and many more cool and exciting things surrounding this major content patch.
In fact, maybe if you haven't already, you should check out this video released by the development team:
I may never raid, but I still want to immerse myself in the story and experience as much as I can with my limited playtime and busy schedule. And that means trying to get through all of the current content first — at least, as much as possible. As I said, there is a lot of questing and reputation grinding ahead still. At least Deepholm is almost over and done with now!
My Worgen priest is level 21. I did the level 20 priest quest, Favored of the Light, that requires you to go to Shadowfang Keep. The reward was Staff of the Hallowed, but during the run I got Odo's Ley Staff, which has higher intellect — and is thus better.
I have also made 50-60g total from auctions. Not bad for level 21. It is hard to pinpoint the exact amount without running beancounter, as I have spent some coin on things. I've bought maybe four pieces of armour that I managed to find (not much supply at this level), for various prices ranging from less than a gold to a couple of gold each. And I spent a bit of gold on two more 12-slot bags (7-8g each), so my priest is now decked out in all 12-slot bags. That's a lot of space for a level 21 toon, actually; even taking into account the herbalism and skinning I hope to do as I continue to quest.
So now my bank toon is sitting on about 27g, with a little leather and maybe a handful of herbs yet to put up. Actual gold is always so liquid: even at this level of dabbling! But I just can't help myself. :p
Progress in Darkshore has been steady. I must have finished more than half of it by now. And the storyline has been very cool. The zone has changed so much, and it's just amazing seeing everything that is going on there. Malfurion standing in the middle with a big whirlwind spinning around him: epic.
So now it becomes a balance between completing zones and enjoying heroics with Gaiwyn, and completing quests and enjoying the fresh levelling experience with my Worgen. The game has gained new excitement for me, and for that I am partway glad. :o
Peace.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Worgtastic AKA Worgasmic
On the weekend, I took the plunge and rolled a Worgen priest. Since my character slots are all full for Proudmoore, I chose a new server to play on. A new toon with no support, starting from scratch. It's awesome! Feels so fresh.
So far, my priest has reached level 14 and I have started scratching the surface of Darkshore - the changed Darkshore. Since the Cataclysm, I haven't quite explored the entire world. Sure, I've seen a lot of it (maybe most of it, at a glance) through flying around doing Archaeology with Gaiwyn (which incidentally is at 515 now, though no Staff of Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan in sight. Might help to actually gather Dwarf fragments...). But questing in the changed areas just adds to the freshness and coolness of playing through the game again.
I picked up two gathering professions: Skinning and Herbalism. Hopefully they will boost my gold reserves in the long run. It may even be well within my interests to head through Darnassus to the greater Night Elf starting area to level my herbalism a bit; since Peacebloom and Silverleaf seem to be far from common in Darkshore.
It was great to play through the Worgen starting zone - even though I had, unfortunately, already experienced the entire thing through TotalBiscuit's beta videos. At the end of the starting zone, when I was safely guided to Darnassus, I was finally able to put my goblin skills to use: I quickly looked through the auction house and put up whatever was in my bags and wasn't in abundance on the market. I really should turn auctioneer on for my new toon to better gauge things, but for now I'm taking things slowly and at a relaxed pace, without worrying about the minor details.
Well, suffice to say, I had good fortune. The next time I logged in, I had around 6g sitting in my inbox. From 97s to 6g in 24 hours for a level 12 toon on a fresh server is pretty good. I then bid on some 8-slot bags for 10s each, and the next day grabbed those out of my inbox, too. I will upgrade to 12-slotters when I get the chance, in order to better collect leather and herbs; then we'll see how well such lowbie reagents sell.
I guess I owe a big thank you to the guys at the JMTC community, because without being a part of that I would never have thought to attack things head on from the get-go. 6g is nothing in light of my main's stockpile of 65,000g; but I was still pretty stoked at this wee victory - and it's all the gold I have on my new server. It is actually really neat to start afresh. It has really put things into a new perspective for me. And I totally look forward to levelling this fresh toon to level 58, and experiencing the new quest chains and altered zones.
And who knows: if I end up making it to level 58, I may well push to 60, leap into Outland and keep on going, one quest and one instance run at a time.
If I can get patch 4.1 installed without too much hassle at lunchtime today, I may just have a little time to continue questing in Darkshore. Have I mentioned just how relaxing it feels to be levelling a brand new toon in a brand new place? I would recommend it to anyone who has become disillusioned with the game recently. Although, of course, with a new patch having just landed, there is now a lot more for people to sink their teeth into. I have a lot of original content (4.0.1-4.0.6) to wade through still, but I'm sure there are a lot of not-so-casual players out there itching to belly flop into the added flavours.
Since I don't have all that much time to play, before rolling my first Worgen, I was focusing on Gaiwyn. I did a few normal instance runs when I could fit them in, and got a few gear upgrades - boss drops and Justice Point purchases.
I weighed up how I was progressing and decided to try and hit up heroics. So I did a heroic, and it went really well. My first heroic was Throne of Tides. The other four party members were from the same guild and I managed to hold my own while learning the encounters. There was even a point where the tank went down and this hunter and I ended up kiting the big guy around until he dropped. It felt... exultant.
My second heroic, and the last one I managed to do, was Lost City of the Tol'vir. It was a ten-minute run for me, since I warped in at the second to last boss. We one-shot him, and proceeded to womp the last boss. Ironically, the one drop I got was an upgrade from Mantle of Master Cho to Mantle of Master Cho. :)
All that remains is balancing my time spent playing my mage (currently questing in Deepholm) and playing my little protégé, as he struggles and triumphs through storyline after storyline, zone after zone.
Peace.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
So far, my priest has reached level 14 and I have started scratching the surface of Darkshore - the changed Darkshore. Since the Cataclysm, I haven't quite explored the entire world. Sure, I've seen a lot of it (maybe most of it, at a glance) through flying around doing Archaeology with Gaiwyn (which incidentally is at 515 now, though no Staff of Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan in sight. Might help to actually gather Dwarf fragments...). But questing in the changed areas just adds to the freshness and coolness of playing through the game again.
I picked up two gathering professions: Skinning and Herbalism. Hopefully they will boost my gold reserves in the long run. It may even be well within my interests to head through Darnassus to the greater Night Elf starting area to level my herbalism a bit; since Peacebloom and Silverleaf seem to be far from common in Darkshore.
It was great to play through the Worgen starting zone - even though I had, unfortunately, already experienced the entire thing through TotalBiscuit's beta videos. At the end of the starting zone, when I was safely guided to Darnassus, I was finally able to put my goblin skills to use: I quickly looked through the auction house and put up whatever was in my bags and wasn't in abundance on the market. I really should turn auctioneer on for my new toon to better gauge things, but for now I'm taking things slowly and at a relaxed pace, without worrying about the minor details.
Well, suffice to say, I had good fortune. The next time I logged in, I had around 6g sitting in my inbox. From 97s to 6g in 24 hours for a level 12 toon on a fresh server is pretty good. I then bid on some 8-slot bags for 10s each, and the next day grabbed those out of my inbox, too. I will upgrade to 12-slotters when I get the chance, in order to better collect leather and herbs; then we'll see how well such lowbie reagents sell.
I guess I owe a big thank you to the guys at the JMTC community, because without being a part of that I would never have thought to attack things head on from the get-go. 6g is nothing in light of my main's stockpile of 65,000g; but I was still pretty stoked at this wee victory - and it's all the gold I have on my new server. It is actually really neat to start afresh. It has really put things into a new perspective for me. And I totally look forward to levelling this fresh toon to level 58, and experiencing the new quest chains and altered zones.
And who knows: if I end up making it to level 58, I may well push to 60, leap into Outland and keep on going, one quest and one instance run at a time.
If I can get patch 4.1 installed without too much hassle at lunchtime today, I may just have a little time to continue questing in Darkshore. Have I mentioned just how relaxing it feels to be levelling a brand new toon in a brand new place? I would recommend it to anyone who has become disillusioned with the game recently. Although, of course, with a new patch having just landed, there is now a lot more for people to sink their teeth into. I have a lot of original content (4.0.1-4.0.6) to wade through still, but I'm sure there are a lot of not-so-casual players out there itching to belly flop into the added flavours.
Since I don't have all that much time to play, before rolling my first Worgen, I was focusing on Gaiwyn. I did a few normal instance runs when I could fit them in, and got a few gear upgrades - boss drops and Justice Point purchases.
I weighed up how I was progressing and decided to try and hit up heroics. So I did a heroic, and it went really well. My first heroic was Throne of Tides. The other four party members were from the same guild and I managed to hold my own while learning the encounters. There was even a point where the tank went down and this hunter and I ended up kiting the big guy around until he dropped. It felt... exultant.
My second heroic, and the last one I managed to do, was Lost City of the Tol'vir. It was a ten-minute run for me, since I warped in at the second to last boss. We one-shot him, and proceeded to womp the last boss. Ironically, the one drop I got was an upgrade from Mantle of Master Cho to Mantle of Master Cho. :)
All that remains is balancing my time spent playing my mage (currently questing in Deepholm) and playing my little protégé, as he struggles and triumphs through storyline after storyline, zone after zone.
Peace.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Reflecting on Forged Saronite 3.3
Well, a fair bit has happened since I last posted here. 3.3 was released and so the dungeon tool went live. So far it is working out ok, although the wait times are still not terribly satisfactory.
Gaiwyn is very close to exalted with Sons of Hodir. I am focusing more on my mage now, as with the release of Icecrown Citadel and the three new dungeons, not to mention daily heroics, there is a lot for me to do now.
I already got four upgrades for my mage, from running through the dungeons on normal:
Tattered Glacial-Woven Hood
Mantle of Tattered Feathers
Marwyn's Macabre Fingertips
Splintered Icecrown Parapet
I also finally created a guild of my own: Vested Interest. It would be nice to have other people around to talk to, but I'm not really advertising its presence a great deal. So far no one has shown any interest in a casual, non-raiding guild anyway. Oh well.
As far as upgrades are concerned, consider the following:
Gaiwyn's plan of attack (aka mage love through pugging):
1. Run heroic Forge of Souls until Arcane Loops of Anger and Very Fashionable Shoulders have been acquired. Seethe is a bonus.
2. Run heroic Pit of Saron until Ancient Polar Bear Hide, Prelate's Snowshoes and Nevermelting Ice Crystal have been acquired.
2a. If Seethe was not acquired from Forge of Souls, run Pit of Saron until Engraved Gargoyle Femur is acquired.
3. Run heroic Halls of Reflection until Sightless Crown of Ulmaas, Bracer of Worn Molars, Suspiciously Soft Gloves, Strip of Remorse and Soulsplinter have all been acquired.
3b. If Engraved Gargoyle Femur was not acquired from Pit of Saron but Seethe was acquired from Forge of Souls, run Halls of Reflection until Shriveled Heart is acquired.
4a. Purchase Talisman of Resurgence and Band of the Invoker with Emblems of Triumph.
4b. Run both random heroics and 10-man Icecrown Citadel.
4c. If Khadgar's Leggings of Conquest can't be purchased, run normal Pit of Saron until Rimewoven Silks are acquired.
5. Spend Emblems of Triumph on Mantle of Catastrophic Emanation.
5a. Spend Emblems of Frost on Volde's Cloak of the Night Sky.
5b. Spend Emblems of Frost on upgrades when possible: Gloves of False Gestures, Hood of Fiery Aftermath and Belt of Omission.
Bonus: Try and have Deathfrost Boots and Leggings of Woven Death crafted before Cataclysm is released.
Long road ahead for a casual player. ;)
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Gaiwyn is very close to exalted with Sons of Hodir. I am focusing more on my mage now, as with the release of Icecrown Citadel and the three new dungeons, not to mention daily heroics, there is a lot for me to do now.
I already got four upgrades for my mage, from running through the dungeons on normal:
Tattered Glacial-Woven Hood
Mantle of Tattered Feathers
Marwyn's Macabre Fingertips
Splintered Icecrown Parapet
I also finally created a guild of my own: Vested Interest. It would be nice to have other people around to talk to, but I'm not really advertising its presence a great deal. So far no one has shown any interest in a casual, non-raiding guild anyway. Oh well.
As far as upgrades are concerned, consider the following:
Gaiwyn's plan of attack (aka mage love through pugging):
1. Run heroic Forge of Souls until Arcane Loops of Anger and Very Fashionable Shoulders have been acquired. Seethe is a bonus.
2. Run heroic Pit of Saron until Ancient Polar Bear Hide, Prelate's Snowshoes and Nevermelting Ice Crystal have been acquired.
2a. If Seethe was not acquired from Forge of Souls, run Pit of Saron until Engraved Gargoyle Femur is acquired.
3. Run heroic Halls of Reflection until Sightless Crown of Ulmaas, Bracer of Worn Molars, Suspiciously Soft Gloves, Strip of Remorse and Soulsplinter have all been acquired.
3b. If Engraved Gargoyle Femur was not acquired from Pit of Saron but Seethe was acquired from Forge of Souls, run Halls of Reflection until Shriveled Heart is acquired.
4a. Purchase Talisman of Resurgence and Band of the Invoker with Emblems of Triumph.
4b. Run both random heroics and 10-man Icecrown Citadel.
4c. If Khadgar's Leggings of Conquest can't be purchased, run normal Pit of Saron until Rimewoven Silks are acquired.
5. Spend Emblems of Triumph on Mantle of Catastrophic Emanation.
5a. Spend Emblems of Frost on Volde's Cloak of the Night Sky.
5b. Spend Emblems of Frost on upgrades when possible: Gloves of False Gestures, Hood of Fiery Aftermath and Belt of Omission.
Bonus: Try and have Deathfrost Boots and Leggings of Woven Death crafted before Cataclysm is released.
Long road ahead for a casual player. ;)
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Trial of the Warrior
Ensidia wins the game
Zlaenya is now level 79 and motoring through Icecrown. I also tweaked her talents to set her up for my desired level 80 build. I ran Utgarde Pinnacle a couple of times, aiming for Ancient Royal Legguards but I only walked away with Vestige of Haldor. Running instances for specific gear is something I want to avoid, due to the randomness of drops. This is why I will probably end up gearing her up in mostly Savage Saronite Battlegear before repeatedly running Trial of the Champion on normal (iLevel 200 epics, such as Breastplate of the Imperial Joust).
When patch 3.3 hits, running instances will be a whole lot easier. The new dungeon tool will make it very easy to find groups. Once I have a few iLevel 200 pieces of gear, I will run random heroics as often as I possibly can for Emblems of Triumph, to trade in for iLevel 245 gear (and 2x Emblems of Frost per day, to be traded in for Tier 10!).
This is my current aim for pre-Heroic gear.
Peace.
Gaiwyn of Proudmoore
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