Close The Gap

I left it a bit too long between updates here, but there's a very good reason for that.

I haven't been on Gadron lately.

It's sort of a mix between me not having the time because of work and raids and wanting to sort out other things on those occasions where I do have the time.

Been doing a few raids with the guys and gals from Bad Apples lately. Been switching between Grenthal and Dryas when doing these, though after an appaullingly low DPS one night I think I'll probably stop taking Dryas. Not really been getting much in the way of gear, though that's more due to very little stuff that's an upgrade for me actually dropping. Plus I lost a couple of rolls.

They've got some very interesting loot rules. Not sure if they'd be all that useful for 10-mans but for 25-mans they're very good. They basically make it more likely that plenty of people will get drops.

Anyway, I'm in the middle of dailies. When I've finished them I may well do some work on Gadron, so watch this space :)

"Blink" of an Eye

Well, maybe not that quick, but I got from 15-20 on Sunday, so 5 levels in a day isn't bad :)

I finally have access to Blink on Gadron, hence the name :)

The longer spells (gotta love the pun) between having to drink are increasing as they were on Saturday. Whether this is due to better gear or the levelling I don't know, but it's a good sign things are gonna start getting interesting. Speaking of gear, some of the stuff I've just gotten from Tailoring is pretty good. Guess that revamp of the crafted items they did in a recent patch was a good idea since I'm rarely having to purchase anything.

port was unavailable until level 30 but at the least I currently have the other 3 major cities so Another of the benefits I now have is the Teleporting ability. Last time I checked the Darnassusthat'll be quite useful for getting around. It will probably even help quicken up the levelling process a tad, which is never a bad thing :)

I did hit a slight snag whilst levelling on Bloodmyst Isle. I've been able to get to level 20 (or at least very close) on a few different characters, but when levelling there on Gadron I was only just able to get to level 19. In the end I had to go to Redridge and do a few quests there in order to get to level 20. On the plus side it's very close to Stormwind so at least I have easy access to the AH and trainers (even though I can just port there now).

I think I'll stick to Redridge for now. Done the quests there a few times so I know the area, plus I can also level up a bit more before going to places like Darkshire and Wetlands.

This was a short update I know, but I think I'm a bit tired and can't get my mind to focus. I'll be back to levelling tomorrow so hopefully I'll have something more to post (and hopefully I'll be a little more awake).

The Grind

Well, Gadron is level 15 now. I went to Bloodmyst Isle as I said. It's always a bit of a mixed bag for me to go there these days. On one hand it's a great place for experience and quest rewards, but because I always go there to level (except for classes who don't have trainers at The Exodar) I am getting a little tired of seeing the place. However, the pros far outweigh the cons, so I'm sticking with it.

I'm really starting to get a feel for the Mage now. I can usually kill an enemy before they get any cheap shots on me, though occasionally i get stuck with another one attacking me at the same time. Thankfully, polymorph is my best friend at this point :)

I'm still suffering from mana problems, although they are (very) slowly waning. It used to be I could blast two mobs before having to stop for a drink. Now it's three, sometimes four. I'm beginning to understand why Blizz gave mages the ability to make their own water.

Tailoring is going well at the moment, thanks to the stores of Linen and Wool Cloth I had on other characters. Unfortunately I didn't have as much Wool as I though so I came up a little short on that, but I'm quite close to being able to make stuff with Silk Cloth, which I have LOADS of, so I'm looking forward to making use of that. Also on the plus side all the stuff I've been making that I don't need I've been sending to my Paladin for disenchanting, which is building me up some nice stocks of enchanting supplies, which may come in handy somewhere down the line :)

I'm finding Herbalism to be a pain to level up. I've tried this on characters I've been levelling up before and it's always been a pain. The problem is that the most abundant stuff is Peacebloom and Silverleaf, which doesn't always give a point by this stage of levelling. The next most abundant stuff is too high for me to pick, which means I'm stuck in a mid point of levelling. It's usually just a bump in the road of levelling Herbalism (and Mining suffers from it too) but I shall persevere as always :)

One last problem I faced was during level 12. I don't know if I've usually managed to get another level before coming here, or if I usually do a couple of quests on the other Draenei isle before going to Bloodmyst, but about a third of the way through level 12 I ran out of yellow quests. This was obviously a major problem as quests are by far the best way to level. In the end I had to run around killing Blood Elf NPCs in order to get to 13. However, dead Blood Elves are never a bad thing ;)

Anyway, that's all for now. Going to go back on him now and see what I can get today :)

My Kingdom For a Horse!

Well, not anymore!

Heard the news today that, as of patch 3.2 the whole mount system is getting changed. 60% mounts will be attainable at level 20, 100% mounts at level 40 and the former 60% flying mounts, which are getting increased to 150%, at level 60.

Wow!

Having read through various comments and forums posts from WoW players this seems to have been met with mixed reactions. The casual player is exceptionally happy about this as they're getting made cheaper and they can be gotten hold of earlier. A lot less running is on the cards. However, the nostalgic player who pines for the days of level 60 end game and gold gold as a precious commodity is up in arms. Apparently this is yet more evidence of Blizzard making things easy for the "whining casuals".

As far as I'm concerned this is a great thing. I've played ever since vanilla WoW and, while I didn't make it to level 60 before TBC, I went through the hard grind for what was the level 40 mount back then, not to mention all the running around before that. I have also levelled several characters up, including a couple more level 80s, through the old world content ans quite frankly it gets annoying having to make such long trips around Azeroth on foot.

As for the whiners, it's a game. Yes you have to earn certain things, but the earlier levels shouldn't feel like a boring endless grind, especially for new players. New players have a lot further to go nowadays to reach the same place most everyone else has. It seems only logical to make the level grind a little more tolerable for them so that they enjoy the game more, stick to it and eventually hit that golden 80. The fact is that there's plenty to do as a level 80 and having more people get there is only going to be beneficial for those people who want to run heroics, raids, battlegrounds, arenas and whatnot. It's better than having a lack of people and not being able to do these things. So please, drop the elitist attitude and just enjoy the game for what it is. A game.

Anyway, excuse my little rant there, but it was something I needed to get off my chest.

'Til next time :)

Ding!

Well, Gadron is now level 10. I managed to do it all in Dun Morogh, which is something I've done before. It's a mixed bag as a mage. On the one hand when I was getting a clear shot at mobs they were going down faster than when I've done melee. On the other hand areas that were heavily populated (like Frostmane Hold) seemed to be a lot harder due to being a clothie.

Another one of my main problems is mana. On my melee classes it's never been a major issue, but with my mage I seem to have to drink every 2 to 3 mobs. It might be simply a consequence of crap gear at low levels but it's a bit of a pain. On the plus side I can make my own water (not by pissing in a bottle before anyone gets smart :P) so at least I don't have to worry about supply.

I'm gonna keep this sort for now as I'm currently typing this while raiding with Bad Apples on Grenthal so I'll be back later :)

Introducing...

Well, I did it, I made a Mage. Everyone, meet Gadron...

I decided to go with a Gnome Mage because I already have level 80 Humans and Dwarves, as well as a high level Night Elf. I could have gone with a Draenei but at some point I'd like to level up a Shaman as well so it seemed logical to go with the only race I neither have already nor have any future plans for. Besides, Gnomes seem to annoy people so I thought that would be fun :)

After chatting with Radahan and Venomsquid I decided to level up my Mage in a Frost spec. I've been told by these two that it's a good levelling spec and, as I've never tried a frost spec on a mage before I thought it'd be worth a shot.

As far as professions go I had a really open choice. Since I have just about every profession at least at a high level (with the exception of Leatherworking which I don't really want on a cloth wearer) I decided to go with Tailoring and Herbalism. The idea was that once I got Tailoring levelled up I could go for another cloth specialisation than the Mooncloth my Priest has, and therefore make more of the specialist cloth for less mats. Herbalism is simply for money making purposes and getting mats for Inscription for my Priest.

I've done what I do with all my alts now by giving him Heirloom shoulders, plenty of Netherweave Bags and a handful of gold (by handful I mean 200). I also had plenty of Linen Cloth lying aroubd so I sent that to him and have managed to get Tailoring to 50 already. I also have plenty of other cloth lying around ready to help with the levelling process :)

I've already gotten him to level 7 and am now doing the quests around Kharanos. Even before the Heirloom shoulders I was killing things faster than I have on most other classes, so that's a positive sign. I am however noticing my “squishiness” as I have already died twice, mostly due to the fact that I keep tabbing out every now and then to look at the web. Basically it's my own fault.

As it currently stands I'm going to keep levelling around here til I hit level 10. Once I've done that I'll probably go to the second Draenei area, since it's a good place to level (I have used it several times) and the quest rewards there are generally better.

Until next time :)

A New Beginning

OK, so the whole “Choose My Adventure” thing didn't work out. People generally didn't seem interested in it, either because of my spamming in Guild Chat or because they're all a bunch of boring sods :)

So instead I've decided to make this a general blog about all sorts of things in World of Warcraft from my own point of view. I'll be posting insights about various things from classes and roles to dailies and raids.

I've also decided to retain one of the main goals from the original “Choose My Adventure” idea. The premise was that I would describe the levelling process, talking about quests and zones and what it's like to level through them. I'm going to do this anyway, and as Radahan was the only person to make a full on valid vote of Mage, I've decided to go with that, even though I'm very much more at home in the role of a Melee DPSer. My next post will probably be about having started that character.

I honestly don't know if anyone will even read this blog. If they don't then at least I've got somewhere to put my own thoughts and ideas down. If they do, then feel free to post comments and even ask for things for me to post about.

Anyway, I'm gonna go off and finish my dailies, then I'm going to create my Mage. Be back soon :)