Last week saw plenty of improvements on my mains - either gear-wise, achievement-wise or level-wise. The changes made by Blizzard over the year (since WotLK came out), culminating with Patch 3.3 only a few weeks ago, has got to be one of the best changes to happen to me and my toons.
However, behind all the elation and celebration of my toons during the weekend, something else happened that made me stop and look back - waaay back - at my first few baby steps in WoW. Specifically - my very first toon. I'll explain more on this after the usual updates.
Aenur - Has run more heroics and is now only one heroic away from netting the Northrend Heroic Dungeonmaster-thingie achievement. Her dedication to gearing up saw her trading more emblems for a pair of Tier gear - the Liadrin's Shoulderplates of Triumph and the Liadrin's Battleplate of Triumph. So, now she has 3/5 Tier 9 and got one of her set bonuses ^_^
And that's not all too - on one occasion, she got into regular PoS with a capable PuG and managed to snag Garfrost's Two-Ton Hammer to replace the Titansteel Destroyer she's been wielding since forever =P Also, in an amazing display of luck she finally managed to trade her one and only green item - Band of the Bloodletter - for the Band of Frosted Thorns from one of her heroic Nexus runs. Overall, this has improved her AP from 3900-ish to 4.3k (buffed). With further improvement in this week, I'm guessing she may hit 5k AP (buffed).
Also, out of sheer curiosity, I made her trek all the way back to Un'Goro to check out this new raptor mount some of my guildies was so keen about. I got her started on the daily and is now about 3/20 done. If this works, and the new mount is cool enough, I'm making Aelyra do it next.
Aelyra - Has finally hit Exalted with the Argent Crusade, and will soon be hitting Exalted with Thunder Bluff. One thing I've noticed is that her Leatherworking is still stuck at 446/450, and I will need to craft some purps to level that up and get a couple of final LW recipes off the trainers.
Aerhandor - Not much changes - he's still doggedly pursuing the Crusader title (not that he's ever going to use it). I have to say though, jousting with a Tauren toon and jousting with a Blood Elf toon is like heaven and earth: You get a big hairy lump of beef on a big leathery lump of kodo on your screen, and jousting pains will increase a hundredfold...
Aergor - Has been questing a bit, and is now level 55. I may have to amend his schedule since I'm a bit doubtful he'll make it to Outland on time. Honestly speaking, I wanted him to step through the Portal when he's level 60, not 58 - but at his current rate of leveling, I may have no choice but to go for it at 58. But we'll wait and see how things go.
As for the rest of the adventurers, no changes over the last week. This schedule thing is wonderful is keeping progress centered on select toons =P
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Of Running Random Instances, PuGs and More Dailies
The world will never be the same again... at least it won't for me.
Why, you might ask. Well, the answer is simple.
I have been PuG-ging through Dungeon Finder this last weekend, and I'm finding to my great horror (and hidden delight) that I'm actually enjoying it.
Wait! Wait, lemme 'splain...
After finishing up on the dailies on Saturday, I decided to give the Dungeon Finder a spin, to check out this 'nifty little feature', as someone put it. I queued up Aenur for a random LK instance, and while waiting for a hit took her on a mining route. Pretty soon, the confirmation window came up, and I hit the Enter Dungeon button...
...and was transported to this place called Occulus. And there, my enjoyment with PuGs began.
Aenur - Had a blast running instances after instances, be them with PuG or on-the-spur guild runs. She netted a number of achievements for completing those runs (Occulus, Nexus, VH, Hall of Stone etc.) being unable to run them in the first place due to me hesitating to PuG it before. It was such a blast that before I even know it, it was 3.00 am in the morning and I had enough Emblem of Triumph to finally purchase Aenur her first tier piece - the Liadrin's Gauntlet of Triumph, and socketed it with a +20 Strength and +20 Crit rating gem (she's an accomplished Blacksmith ^_^ ). Based on what I see, she may end up doing one random LK instance per day after her dailies so she can get enough emblems to get the whole T9 set (I want the chestpiece next! Or the shoulder - they're cheaper!).
Aelyra - Had a blast running instances after instances, be them with... well, you know the drill. Although, she hasn't done as much instances as Aenur did, she did have one she can boast that the Pally can't - Aelyra's been to the Forge of Soul, completed it, and got Heartshiver out of it as a souvenir. Equipping it against her current weapon will lose her some +Hit, so I'm keeping it as an option for now... besides, the other guys were a Prot Pally, a DK, a Shaman and a Priest =P. However, I'm not making her do random instances for now since her rep grind is not even decently done - I may change my mind depending on day to day situation, though.
Aerhandor - Is now only one day of dailies away from Exalted with the Ebon Blade. I already started him on the Argent Tourney qualification quests - the one leading up to you choosing the faction you're Championing - and will make him follow Aelyra's footsteps once he got that rep faction maxed. He also won the guild roll for a Nimble Climber's Belt - I may have Aenur make him an Eternal Belt Buckle so he can jam a gem in that. And I'm hoping once I get him to Exalted I can get him the Darkheart Chestguard from the Ebon Blade quartermaster to replace his aging Eviscerator Chestguard.
Aerdread - Had the fortune to run one LK instance (actually being the second of my toon to use the Dungeon Finder feature, after Aenur). The difference between them is that while Aenur use the 'random' option, I had Aerdread choose a specific instance - one I planned to make him do a long time ago: The Culling of Stratholme. With luck, he joined a group of excellent PuG-gers who are actually looking to get emblems and not gears. With even greater luck, both the items I'm after dropped - the Spiked Metal Cilice off Salramm and the coveted Dreadlord's Blade from the final boss. So now he only need the upgrade for the chest, legs and gauntlets (I still need to make him grind rep get that shoulder from SoH).
Aergor - I leveled him to 52 and managed to get to Honored with the Timbermaw furbolgs. Then stopped and switched back to my mains for moar instance fun. I do feel pity for him though - my mains had my full attention once again thanks to Patch 3.3 and now he's been relegated as filler alt. I still need to get him to Outland, hopefully before January.
Aeyrin - Aenur has bought her the second piece of her Heirloom gear, the Stained Shadowcraft Tunic and I had my secondary bank alt Aezurin put a +3 All Stats on it. She looks a bit cuter now... and a lot more deadly if Aelyra would only finish her darn rep grind and start getting Champion's Seal to buy her the Heirloom sword and dagger!
Like I mentioned, it was quite an enjoyable experience I had this weekend. Yes, to be honest, I encountered a number of fail PuGs but they were so few you can count them on one hand (I actually had two fail PuGs out of nearly a dozen overall). One group wiped at wave 7 on reg CoS and promptly disbanded - because only me and the healer had ever been there before and the rest got lost inside the Caverns of Time - and the other group disbanded after a fatal 'accident' with the first boss of Occ.
I'm hoping to do at least one random heroic and one random LK instance (for a total of at least 5 Emblem of Triumph and 2 Emblem of Frost per day) to be able to afford Aenur, and later Aelyra, their Tier pieces. Here's to hoping this plan works.
P/S:- It's been decided that I'm running Aenur, Aelyra and Aerhandor daily for my schedule. All of them are more or less capable of fast grinds and even faster gear progression thanks to maxed out Blacksmithing, almost-maxed out Leatherworking, and strokes of luck with equipment upgrades. So there - 3 circuits on 3 toons in 3 hours every day. Bada-dum-tish!
Why, you might ask. Well, the answer is simple.
I have been PuG-ging through Dungeon Finder this last weekend, and I'm finding to my great horror (and hidden delight) that I'm actually enjoying it.
Wait! Wait, lemme 'splain...
After finishing up on the dailies on Saturday, I decided to give the Dungeon Finder a spin, to check out this 'nifty little feature', as someone put it. I queued up Aenur for a random LK instance, and while waiting for a hit took her on a mining route. Pretty soon, the confirmation window came up, and I hit the Enter Dungeon button...
...and was transported to this place called Occulus. And there, my enjoyment with PuGs began.
***
Aenur - Had a blast running instances after instances, be them with PuG or on-the-spur guild runs. She netted a number of achievements for completing those runs (Occulus, Nexus, VH, Hall of Stone etc.) being unable to run them in the first place due to me hesitating to PuG it before. It was such a blast that before I even know it, it was 3.00 am in the morning and I had enough Emblem of Triumph to finally purchase Aenur her first tier piece - the Liadrin's Gauntlet of Triumph, and socketed it with a +20 Strength and +20 Crit rating gem (she's an accomplished Blacksmith ^_^ ). Based on what I see, she may end up doing one random LK instance per day after her dailies so she can get enough emblems to get the whole T9 set (I want the chestpiece next! Or the shoulder - they're cheaper!).
Aelyra - Had a blast running instances after instances, be them with... well, you know the drill. Although, she hasn't done as much instances as Aenur did, she did have one she can boast that the Pally can't - Aelyra's been to the Forge of Soul, completed it, and got Heartshiver out of it as a souvenir. Equipping it against her current weapon will lose her some +Hit, so I'm keeping it as an option for now... besides, the other guys were a Prot Pally, a DK, a Shaman and a Priest =P. However, I'm not making her do random instances for now since her rep grind is not even decently done - I may change my mind depending on day to day situation, though.
Aerhandor - Is now only one day of dailies away from Exalted with the Ebon Blade. I already started him on the Argent Tourney qualification quests - the one leading up to you choosing the faction you're Championing - and will make him follow Aelyra's footsteps once he got that rep faction maxed. He also won the guild roll for a Nimble Climber's Belt - I may have Aenur make him an Eternal Belt Buckle so he can jam a gem in that. And I'm hoping once I get him to Exalted I can get him the Darkheart Chestguard from the Ebon Blade quartermaster to replace his aging Eviscerator Chestguard.
Aerdread - Had the fortune to run one LK instance (actually being the second of my toon to use the Dungeon Finder feature, after Aenur). The difference between them is that while Aenur use the 'random' option, I had Aerdread choose a specific instance - one I planned to make him do a long time ago: The Culling of Stratholme. With luck, he joined a group of excellent PuG-gers who are actually looking to get emblems and not gears. With even greater luck, both the items I'm after dropped - the Spiked Metal Cilice off Salramm and the coveted Dreadlord's Blade from the final boss. So now he only need the upgrade for the chest, legs and gauntlets (I still need to make him grind rep get that shoulder from SoH).
Aergor - I leveled him to 52 and managed to get to Honored with the Timbermaw furbolgs. Then stopped and switched back to my mains for moar instance fun. I do feel pity for him though - my mains had my full attention once again thanks to Patch 3.3 and now he's been relegated as filler alt. I still need to get him to Outland, hopefully before January.
Aeyrin - Aenur has bought her the second piece of her Heirloom gear, the Stained Shadowcraft Tunic and I had my secondary bank alt Aezurin put a +3 All Stats on it. She looks a bit cuter now... and a lot more deadly if Aelyra would only finish her darn rep grind and start getting Champion's Seal to buy her the Heirloom sword and dagger!
Like I mentioned, it was quite an enjoyable experience I had this weekend. Yes, to be honest, I encountered a number of fail PuGs but they were so few you can count them on one hand (I actually had two fail PuGs out of nearly a dozen overall). One group wiped at wave 7 on reg CoS and promptly disbanded - because only me and the healer had ever been there before and the rest got lost inside the Caverns of Time - and the other group disbanded after a fatal 'accident' with the first boss of Occ.
I'm hoping to do at least one random heroic and one random LK instance (for a total of at least 5 Emblem of Triumph and 2 Emblem of Frost per day) to be able to afford Aenur, and later Aelyra, their Tier pieces. Here's to hoping this plan works.
P/S:- It's been decided that I'm running Aenur, Aelyra and Aerhandor daily for my schedule. All of them are more or less capable of fast grinds and even faster gear progression thanks to maxed out Blacksmithing, almost-maxed out Leatherworking, and strokes of luck with equipment upgrades. So there - 3 circuits on 3 toons in 3 hours every day. Bada-dum-tish!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
My Impression of 3.3, Part 1
It's kinda hard for me to put into words how Patch 3.3 has affected me - I don't PuG very much, my adventurers are not yet sufficiently geared for Icecrown instances, and the changes to the UI, although very useful, are merely cosmetic IMO. I can do without the flashing words telling me I'm entering/leaving combat, what buffs/debuffs I'm having and when it's faded and the amount of damage/healing I'm getting... although to a new player, this may all be informative information that he/she might want to know.
I've taken a little time to detach Aenur to Dalaran to take up the cookie trail quest to ICC - you know, the one that points you to the Forge of Souls to meet Dark Lady Sylvanas - and I toured the place a bit. The looks are cool and stuff, but I've not gotten the urge to whip up a group (never did =P ) and thrash the place. On the other hand, Grey, Krae and Dharr apparently has run the place over and over and they've managed to snag their own Quel'Delar in the process (lucky b*stards... I envy them =D ).
Honestly, the change that I'm very much liking is the reputation tweaks. Aerhandor have started again on the Ebon Blade - he's halfway through Revered now - and getting 325 rep per daily instead of the 250 rep is very helpful. The original schedule estimates that it would take him 5 days to get to Exalted, but with the new estimate it would shave a day off. That means I can move him to Tourney dailies slightly faster, and would make Aenur's attempt at Exalted with the Wyrmrest Accord and Sons of Hodir more bearable.
I'll leave my opinion on the patch on 'Pause' right now, since I have an entire weekend coming up where I can finally test the ICC instances and maybe try the Dungeon Finder feature.
I've taken a little time to detach Aenur to Dalaran to take up the cookie trail quest to ICC - you know, the one that points you to the Forge of Souls to meet Dark Lady Sylvanas - and I toured the place a bit. The looks are cool and stuff, but I've not gotten the urge to whip up a group (never did =P ) and thrash the place. On the other hand, Grey, Krae and Dharr apparently has run the place over and over and they've managed to snag their own Quel'Delar in the process (lucky b*stards... I envy them =D ).
Honestly, the change that I'm very much liking is the reputation tweaks. Aerhandor have started again on the Ebon Blade - he's halfway through Revered now - and getting 325 rep per daily instead of the 250 rep is very helpful. The original schedule estimates that it would take him 5 days to get to Exalted, but with the new estimate it would shave a day off. That means I can move him to Tourney dailies slightly faster, and would make Aenur's attempt at Exalted with the Wyrmrest Accord and Sons of Hodir more bearable.
I'll leave my opinion on the patch on 'Pause' right now, since I have an entire weekend coming up where I can finally test the ICC instances and maybe try the Dungeon Finder feature.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Of a Hectic Weekend
Since this is my first weekend back in Azeroth, naturally I switched over to every single adventurer just so I can get a feel of where they were and where they're going later. Checking up on their professions, skills, talents, gears and so on. Apparently I was so engrossed in the "getting-the-feel" thing that a few levels popped up =D
So, here goes the weekly report:
Aenur - At last count, she has 34 Champion's Seal in her inventory. Another week and she'll be all set to buy the last Heirloom for the lowbie Rogue... then, I'm going to set her out to finally get that Argent Charger she so covets. Aside from doing the usual dailies though, I did not take her anywhere else - looks like she's glued to the Tournament.
Aelyra - I will spare the rep details, but in short the amount of grinding needed for her to get "Crusader" is hellish. She's halfway through TB now, and still need to acquire rep with two more cities (I think it was Org and UC). That's not all though - she's also halfway through Argent Crusade and still need the rep for The Sunreavers. The redeeming point? The dailies circuit she's doing now rewards rep for all those faction, and there's that gold, too.
On the weekends Iily started a run for some Heroics and I volunteered to bring Aelyra with them. Also with us is Tomori, Krae and Vev. We did Nexus (which was the daily) and then VH. Staff of Trickery dropped off Cyannie, and Krae wanted me to have it - but I surprised him when I refused (I DW'ed my Hunter out of preference). Vev took the staff for DE-ing. Both runs helps a lot with Argent Crusade's rep, but I wish there was another run so it can go much higher =(
Aerhandor - In a daring move that defies expectation, Aerhandor soloes Setthek Halls for the achievement, the Shadow Lab key, the Lower City rep (to Honored) and the Terokk's Legacy quest! Well... the only reason I pushed him to do all that is that so he can get the Heroic key to SH and finally attempt to get his Swift Flight Form done.
Then, elated by his achievement and his awesome Druid prowess, in a daring move that defies expectation Aerhandor soloes Hellfire Rampart for the achievement, Thrallmar rep (to Honored) and so that he can get the Heroic key to Hellfire Citadel.
Aside from that, he's been mining Adamantite ore for Aerdread for the whole of Sunday =P
Aerdread - In daring move that defies expectation, Aerdread soloes Setthek Hall... or at least soloes the place up until his demise at Darkweaver Syth's hands/paws/claws?/whatever. Lacking any manner of multiple mob handling (aside from DnD) his death at that arakkoa's minions was swift and painful. Learning his lesson, he went back quietly to Nagrand to contemplate his slow-growing hoofnails. And his slow-growing JC skills.
Aergor - After finishing Tanaris, Aergor flew to Felwood to establish some kind of diplomatic relationship with the Timbermaw furbolgs. He managed to get to Neutral, and to level 51, from sheer grinding. You go, Orc!
Aeyrin - Did some leveling with Aeyrin the Rogue in Stranglegank Vale. Managed to hit level 32. Managed to hit a brick wall, too - I'm parking her in UC until that Heirloom chest item comes through. >.<
One thing that bothered me - how come the Druid can muscle his way through SH without much pain, yet the (OP) DK is stuck during the first boss? Is it because of the gear? Hmm... this calls for an analytical post!
Stay tuned for the Druid versus DK analysis, coming soon to HDWT!
Note: I got the details, I got the general posting idea, but apparently I don't have the time to make the Druid vs DK post for the time being. I'm putting it on hold and maybe do it after Christmas, when there is a lot less demand on my time.
So, here goes the weekly report:
Aenur - At last count, she has 34 Champion's Seal in her inventory. Another week and she'll be all set to buy the last Heirloom for the lowbie Rogue... then, I'm going to set her out to finally get that Argent Charger she so covets. Aside from doing the usual dailies though, I did not take her anywhere else - looks like she's glued to the Tournament.
Aelyra - I will spare the rep details, but in short the amount of grinding needed for her to get "Crusader" is hellish. She's halfway through TB now, and still need to acquire rep with two more cities (I think it was Org and UC). That's not all though - she's also halfway through Argent Crusade and still need the rep for The Sunreavers. The redeeming point? The dailies circuit she's doing now rewards rep for all those faction, and there's that gold, too.
On the weekends Iily started a run for some Heroics and I volunteered to bring Aelyra with them. Also with us is Tomori, Krae and Vev. We did Nexus (which was the daily) and then VH. Staff of Trickery dropped off Cyannie, and Krae wanted me to have it - but I surprised him when I refused (I DW'ed my Hunter out of preference). Vev took the staff for DE-ing. Both runs helps a lot with Argent Crusade's rep, but I wish there was another run so it can go much higher =(
Aerhandor - In a daring move that defies expectation, Aerhandor soloes Setthek Halls for the achievement, the Shadow Lab key, the Lower City rep (to Honored) and the Terokk's Legacy quest! Well... the only reason I pushed him to do all that is that so he can get the Heroic key to SH and finally attempt to get his Swift Flight Form done.
Then, elated by his achievement and his awesome Druid prowess, in a daring move that defies expectation Aerhandor soloes Hellfire Rampart for the achievement, Thrallmar rep (to Honored) and so that he can get the Heroic key to Hellfire Citadel.
Aside from that, he's been mining Adamantite ore for Aerdread for the whole of Sunday =P
Aerdread - In daring move that defies expectation, Aerdread soloes Setthek Hall... or at least soloes the place up until his demise at Darkweaver Syth's hands/paws/claws?/whatever. Lacking any manner of multiple mob handling (aside from DnD) his death at that arakkoa's minions was swift and painful. Learning his lesson, he went back quietly to Nagrand to contemplate his slow-growing hoofnails. And his slow-growing JC skills.
Aergor - After finishing Tanaris, Aergor flew to Felwood to establish some kind of diplomatic relationship with the Timbermaw furbolgs. He managed to get to Neutral, and to level 51, from sheer grinding. You go, Orc!
Aeyrin - Did some leveling with Aeyrin the Rogue in Stranglegank Vale. Managed to hit level 32. Managed to hit a brick wall, too - I'm parking her in UC until that Heirloom chest item comes through. >.<
One thing that bothered me - how come the Druid can muscle his way through SH without much pain, yet the (OP) DK is stuck during the first boss? Is it because of the gear? Hmm... this calls for an analytical post!
Stay tuned for the Druid versus DK analysis, coming soon to HDWT!
Note: I got the details, I got the general posting idea, but apparently I don't have the time to make the Druid vs DK post for the time being. I'm putting it on hold and maybe do it after Christmas, when there is a lot less demand on my time.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
State of BD
No, the title does not mean I own a state - it's about my current predicament over my adventurers.
At the moment, I'm having four level 80, one level 49, one level 31, one level 27 and two bank alts (at level 39 and level 10 respectively). Out of those toons, only three of them are actually active - the level 80 Hunter, level 80 Paladin and the level 49 Hunter. The rest are either in flux (which means I don't know what to do with them yet), or unable to adventure due to time limitation, or are permanently assigned in the case of the bank alts.
I've compiled a list of what I actually wanted for each of my toons, as well as fix a time period that I'll be playing for each day. Going over these things, I can actually visualize what I need to do and set a realistic objective over a certain period for achievements.
I'll go over the "Wanted" stuffs for my toons first:
Aelyra
Right now Aelyra's primary concern is to get the 'Crusader' title. Don't get me wrong, it's not really the title I'm after, but getting all those factions to Exalted and the chance to get Champion's Seal on a daily basis. I'm planning to have her collect enough Seals so she can purchase Heirlooms for my other alts and mounts that she'd like. Her secondary goal would be to finally corner and tame the elusive Spirit Beast Loque'nahak.
Aenur
Aenur has two things on her head right now - the Argent Charger and the Red Drake. Unfortunately, since she's the only toon capable of grinding dailies for the Champion's Seal at this moment, she's stuck having to spend those Heirlooms on the other alts. Yeah, yeah, I know - "BD, you should buy that Charger first, then concentrate on your alts!". So sue me =P And to think that her rep with the Wyrmrest Accord is still somewhere around Honored... /shudder
So I gotta get Aelyra up there pronto and let Aenur run back to Dragonblight for more grinding...
Aerhandor
When Aerhandor was a young Druid, he aspires to become well-known in the Cenarion's inner circle. To this end, he works hard to gain the Exalted status with the Cenarion Circle and the Cenarion Expedition. He managed to achieve the former, but alas the latter proves slightly harder than he anticipated. Short of soloing some BC instances, there is nothing he can do to improve his standing with them. Also, for reasons that cannot be disclosed, he still has not managed to finish his Swift Flight Form quest, hesitating to initiate that encounter with the Raven Lord even though he is now a full-fledged level 80 Feral Druid. Alas...
Aerdread
Leveling Jewelcrafting. You know how hard it is, right? So stop bugging me about it =P
Aergor (Hunter) / Aeyrin (Rogue)
I'm planning to at least get one of them into Outland before Cataclysm hit - so far, it definitely looks like Aergor will manage that. He should be 51 by this weekend, and maybe with a bit of luck hit the Dark Portal just after Christmas. Aeyrin still has a long way to go, but at least she's making progress in Inscription and Alchemy, thanks to herbs mailed to her by Aergor. Anyway, I'm guessing it wouldn't be too hard for Aeyrin to catch up with the rest of the gang once she has the full set of Heirlooms on her (weapons, armor and trinkets).
What to do once they're 80 then, you might wonder? I honestly don't know yet... I'm weird that way. Or an uncurable altaholic.
Aerdanil
The main reason for the Side-Project is not to actually have a Shadow Priest, but to have a high-level potential healer in my arsenal. Hence the "Side-Project" designation. As for tanking, Aenur already has Protection as her secondary spec, which leaves the healer side of things uncovered. I'm planning to level Aerdanil as Shadow all the way to 80, then get him Dual-Spec and procure a viable healing spec for him. Then I'm going to take the 'healer' out for some test runs and see how I like healing. I probably won't like it, but nothing wrong with giving it a shot, right?
The schedule:
After giving it some consideration, I decided that I have exactly three hours every week day to play - 8.30 p.m. until 11.30 p.m. Weekends are a different matter - I'm thinking of doing some Heroics/raiding only on them since I can't actually fix weekend play time in line with family demands... I'll play when I have the opportunity and time.
So that's it, three hours a day. Anything less and I won't have enough time to finish two circuit of dailies plus some leveling/questing/key activities, and anything more would impact my family time.
Now, the predicament.
With only three hours available daily, I will not be able to squeeze every toon into the schedule. At the very most, only four toons will make it. Two of them are vital - Aelyra and Aenur, my mains - but the rest is still open to debate. I wanted to level my lowbies just as much as I want my other high-end toons to finish their rep grinds. Even with the promise of better leveling experience coming in with Cataclysm, I still want another level 80 toon before the expac hits.
On the other hand, the expac is still some time in coming, and I may end up fulfilling everything I wrote on this post before the release date is announced (I sure do hope so). But realistically, I want to give 100% focus on the final selected toons. No more switching here and there in the middle of the week like previously.
So now I'm considering which of my other toons I should really focus on...
At the moment, I'm having four level 80, one level 49, one level 31, one level 27 and two bank alts (at level 39 and level 10 respectively). Out of those toons, only three of them are actually active - the level 80 Hunter, level 80 Paladin and the level 49 Hunter. The rest are either in flux (which means I don't know what to do with them yet), or unable to adventure due to time limitation, or are permanently assigned in the case of the bank alts.
I've compiled a list of what I actually wanted for each of my toons, as well as fix a time period that I'll be playing for each day. Going over these things, I can actually visualize what I need to do and set a realistic objective over a certain period for achievements.
I'll go over the "Wanted" stuffs for my toons first:
Aelyra
Right now Aelyra's primary concern is to get the 'Crusader' title. Don't get me wrong, it's not really the title I'm after, but getting all those factions to Exalted and the chance to get Champion's Seal on a daily basis. I'm planning to have her collect enough Seals so she can purchase Heirlooms for my other alts and mounts that she'd like. Her secondary goal would be to finally corner and tame the elusive Spirit Beast Loque'nahak.
Aenur
Aenur has two things on her head right now - the Argent Charger and the Red Drake. Unfortunately, since she's the only toon capable of grinding dailies for the Champion's Seal at this moment, she's stuck having to spend those Heirlooms on the other alts. Yeah, yeah, I know - "BD, you should buy that Charger first, then concentrate on your alts!". So sue me =P And to think that her rep with the Wyrmrest Accord is still somewhere around Honored... /shudder
So I gotta get Aelyra up there pronto and let Aenur run back to Dragonblight for more grinding...
Aerhandor
When Aerhandor was a young Druid, he aspires to become well-known in the Cenarion's inner circle. To this end, he works hard to gain the Exalted status with the Cenarion Circle and the Cenarion Expedition. He managed to achieve the former, but alas the latter proves slightly harder than he anticipated. Short of soloing some BC instances, there is nothing he can do to improve his standing with them. Also, for reasons that cannot be disclosed, he still has not managed to finish his Swift Flight Form quest, hesitating to initiate that encounter with the Raven Lord even though he is now a full-fledged level 80 Feral Druid. Alas...
Aerdread
Leveling Jewelcrafting. You know how hard it is, right? So stop bugging me about it =P
Aergor (Hunter) / Aeyrin (Rogue)
I'm planning to at least get one of them into Outland before Cataclysm hit - so far, it definitely looks like Aergor will manage that. He should be 51 by this weekend, and maybe with a bit of luck hit the Dark Portal just after Christmas. Aeyrin still has a long way to go, but at least she's making progress in Inscription and Alchemy, thanks to herbs mailed to her by Aergor. Anyway, I'm guessing it wouldn't be too hard for Aeyrin to catch up with the rest of the gang once she has the full set of Heirlooms on her (weapons, armor and trinkets).
What to do once they're 80 then, you might wonder? I honestly don't know yet... I'm weird that way. Or an uncurable altaholic.
Aerdanil
The main reason for the Side-Project is not to actually have a Shadow Priest, but to have a high-level potential healer in my arsenal. Hence the "Side-Project" designation. As for tanking, Aenur already has Protection as her secondary spec, which leaves the healer side of things uncovered. I'm planning to level Aerdanil as Shadow all the way to 80, then get him Dual-Spec and procure a viable healing spec for him. Then I'm going to take the 'healer' out for some test runs and see how I like healing. I probably won't like it, but nothing wrong with giving it a shot, right?
The schedule:
After giving it some consideration, I decided that I have exactly three hours every week day to play - 8.30 p.m. until 11.30 p.m. Weekends are a different matter - I'm thinking of doing some Heroics/raiding only on them since I can't actually fix weekend play time in line with family demands... I'll play when I have the opportunity and time.
So that's it, three hours a day. Anything less and I won't have enough time to finish two circuit of dailies plus some leveling/questing/key activities, and anything more would impact my family time.
Now, the predicament.
With only three hours available daily, I will not be able to squeeze every toon into the schedule. At the very most, only four toons will make it. Two of them are vital - Aelyra and Aenur, my mains - but the rest is still open to debate. I wanted to level my lowbies just as much as I want my other high-end toons to finish their rep grinds. Even with the promise of better leveling experience coming in with Cataclysm, I still want another level 80 toon before the expac hits.
On the other hand, the expac is still some time in coming, and I may end up fulfilling everything I wrote on this post before the release date is announced (I sure do hope so). But realistically, I want to give 100% focus on the final selected toons. No more switching here and there in the middle of the week like previously.
So now I'm considering which of my other toons I should really focus on...
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Of Return of the Kin- I mean Adventurers...
Yesterday, I went and bought the game card intending to reload my WoW account - and found out that Blizzard has offered me a 7 days free game time. So I registered for the free days and kept the game card for afterwards =D
The new PC and new 'Net connection are superb (at least for now). I had no DC at all during my 6-hours refresher, and the latency stayed at an average of 700 ms. Although the sound is a bit muffled in my opinion, the overall experience is a good one.
Anyways, on to the adventurers!
Aenur did some Argent Tourney dailies just for warm-ups - I had a slightly hard time accustoming myself to playing WoW again. No death though, just some silly mistakes: Not having a Blessing of Might up until about 3 dailies in, not using the Art of War procs to throw an Exorcism... things like that. Managed to clean the circuit in about an hour though - I still recall where to go and how to do the dailies, at least.
I had intended to take Aelyra out for her dailies, but decided to test Aeyrin the Rogue first. Got hooked playing her and went to take her from level 28 to level 30 in Ashenvale. I decided that the next heirloom would be one for her =p
Next up is Aergor. I was planning to take him to Tanaris to finish some quests and maybe move him into Un'goro, but a sudden insight hit me - maybe I can try Feralas? And that's how I managed to snag ten quests and a level (from 47 to 48). Still a lot to do, so I may let him stay here and finish the zone.
Oh - and I did let all my toons get their Onyxia Whelping and Chilly the Penguin from their mail. Managed to get the WoW 5th Anniversary achievement too - I thought I'd have to miss out on those. Lucky me ^_^
I will need to do a proper schedule after this - I'm not going to have so much free time as before, as I'll need to look after my son Adam too. Maybe a 3-hours a day schedule, where I'm going to focus on dailies and maybe one Heroic run, and the weekends will be leveling and farming. I'll be sure to note it down so I'll have a point of reference (and to avoid WoW becoming out of control =p ). But two things are for certain.
One, I'm attempting to go into regular Heroic/Raiding business. Two, I'm BACK! =D
The new PC and new 'Net connection are superb (at least for now). I had no DC at all during my 6-hours refresher, and the latency stayed at an average of 700 ms. Although the sound is a bit muffled in my opinion, the overall experience is a good one.
Anyways, on to the adventurers!
Aenur did some Argent Tourney dailies just for warm-ups - I had a slightly hard time accustoming myself to playing WoW again. No death though, just some silly mistakes: Not having a Blessing of Might up until about 3 dailies in, not using the Art of War procs to throw an Exorcism... things like that. Managed to clean the circuit in about an hour though - I still recall where to go and how to do the dailies, at least.
I had intended to take Aelyra out for her dailies, but decided to test Aeyrin the Rogue first. Got hooked playing her and went to take her from level 28 to level 30 in Ashenvale. I decided that the next heirloom would be one for her =p
Next up is Aergor. I was planning to take him to Tanaris to finish some quests and maybe move him into Un'goro, but a sudden insight hit me - maybe I can try Feralas? And that's how I managed to snag ten quests and a level (from 47 to 48). Still a lot to do, so I may let him stay here and finish the zone.
Oh - and I did let all my toons get their Onyxia Whelping and Chilly the Penguin from their mail. Managed to get the WoW 5th Anniversary achievement too - I thought I'd have to miss out on those. Lucky me ^_^
I will need to do a proper schedule after this - I'm not going to have so much free time as before, as I'll need to look after my son Adam too. Maybe a 3-hours a day schedule, where I'm going to focus on dailies and maybe one Heroic run, and the weekends will be leveling and farming. I'll be sure to note it down so I'll have a point of reference (and to avoid WoW becoming out of control =p ). But two things are for certain.
One, I'm attempting to go into regular Heroic/Raiding business. Two, I'm BACK! =D
Monday, November 23, 2009
...umm, hello again?
I can't believe it's been almost three months since I last logged in - my, how time flies!
I have a very cute and quite healthy son now in my life, and my wife is doing fine after the delivery surgery (yes, it was a Caesarean). Work is piling up, but that's to be expected come year end - budgets to be looked into, rates to be reviewed, contracts to be renewed... On the other hand, I did manage to grab a brand new PC tailor-made to my request. Unfortunately, due to budget constraint at the time (coupled with the 'no WoW at the moment' thinking) I opted to not install the WiFi network card. She'll cook, but she'll not surf >.<
I was impressed with the stark difference in performance, to be honest. My old PC took almost 5 minutes to start (from switch on to Windows) and could not run some of my games at default video settings - I always have to turn them to Low.
With the new PC, it goes from switch on to Vista in less than a minute. I got to finally play Company of Heroes at home, I can play NFS Most Wanted with the graphic settings cranked to Very High, the older games were almost 'instant-start-up' and hassle free...
...okay, enough gloating, methinks =p
I'm planning to re-activate my WoW account some time in December, subject to situational changes in the house. My wife has no objection to it - with the compromise that I stay up during the night for diaper sessions - so it's a matter of getting a reload card and installing that WiFi network card.
So... here's to hoping that Aelyra, Aenur, Aerhandor, Aeyrin, Aerdread and the rest of the gang will be able to continue adventuring in Azeroth (and beyond) in a few weeks' time.
I have a very cute and quite healthy son now in my life, and my wife is doing fine after the delivery surgery (yes, it was a Caesarean). Work is piling up, but that's to be expected come year end - budgets to be looked into, rates to be reviewed, contracts to be renewed... On the other hand, I did manage to grab a brand new PC tailor-made to my request. Unfortunately, due to budget constraint at the time (coupled with the 'no WoW at the moment' thinking) I opted to not install the WiFi network card. She'll cook, but she'll not surf >.<
I was impressed with the stark difference in performance, to be honest. My old PC took almost 5 minutes to start (from switch on to Windows) and could not run some of my games at default video settings - I always have to turn them to Low.
With the new PC, it goes from switch on to Vista in less than a minute. I got to finally play Company of Heroes at home, I can play NFS Most Wanted with the graphic settings cranked to Very High, the older games were almost 'instant-start-up' and hassle free...
...okay, enough gloating, methinks =p
I'm planning to re-activate my WoW account some time in December, subject to situational changes in the house. My wife has no objection to it - with the compromise that I stay up during the night for diaper sessions - so it's a matter of getting a reload card and installing that WiFi network card.
So... here's to hoping that Aelyra, Aenur, Aerhandor, Aeyrin, Aerdread and the rest of the gang will be able to continue adventuring in Azeroth (and beyond) in a few weeks' time.
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