Halls of Lightning - Heroic

Finally hit my first Heroic which was loaded with Achievements earned and some gear upgrades. Would like to thank Dwarfinator, Shammiet, Rilli and Efil.

The End or Just the Beginning?

I've finally reached level 80. I have no clue what to do or where to start now. I'm not geared for heroics by no means. I can't do any raids yet either. I guess I'll start by getting all my tradeskills maxed out.

Sholazar Basin Down - Almost Level 80

So with Borean Tundra, Dragonblight, Howling Fjord, Grizzly Hills and now Sholazar Basin in the bag, it's off to Zul Drak to get to level 80. Completing that will leave me with three more zones to go.. Icecrown, Storm Peaks and Crystalsong Forest. What will I do when I hit level 80? Not sure yet.. Hopefully do some instances and start getting some gear to get ready to raid.

I want to finish all the quests Northrend has to offer for that achievement and then head back to the old world to do those. When you hit the maximum level there is so much to do yet. I haven't even started the Crusader Coliseum yet. What to do, what to do!?

Brewfest and the Death of Onyxia

Today was pretty awesome. I've earned well over 200 achievement points since this morning. I've done all but four Brewfest achievements, netted myself a brand new non-combat pet (Wolpertinger) got my first two Purple Epics (the Brewfest Daggers, got two of them from multiple Coren Direbrew runs) ran Dire Maul with Rosellia and then kicked Onyxia's ass with just 6 of us. Thanks to my guild again - Gwena, Nightgirl, Imkay, Hex and of course Moderna.

Good stuff.. I'm about to go solo Mauradon to get yet another achievement.

Ahn Quiraj is gonna have to wait..

(this picture is my old Alliance warrior 'Ein' on the Kael'Thas Server. This was taken 3 1/2 years ago when we were making legitimate attempts on AQ40 in Vanilla WoW)

It figures. Everyone is too worried about getting purpled up or getting those dailies done then to go back and do an old-world raid! We are still saved. Have two bosses left to go!! Twin Emperors and then the Old-God himself. Someone said.. Oh Twin Emps are too hard even at 80! Nay I say to them. It's just that they couldn't figure out how to do the first pull properly. After that it's a tank and spank rinse and repeat gimmick fight.

Ahn Quiraj temple as always eluded me. For four years now I've waited to see C'thun die. No, scratch that.. I've waited to SEE C'thun. Finally we get close enough to finish it, and.. No.. No one wants to go back in there.

LAMESAUCE!!!

Warrior News: Devilsade is now level 24

Ahn Quiraj Temple

So tonight turned out to be a great night. It started out with Savexalya and I wanting to just kill trash for the Bug Mounts, and ended up turning into a full fledged raid. We blasted through most of the bosses but hit a snag on the Twin Emps. Special thanks to everyone who attended. Gorrig, Rillith, Drivmustangs, Shammiet, Dwarfinator, Hallard and Efil. There were a few others who came in and out, but I appologize if I don't remember your names. I'm still semi-new to the guild and don't remember all the names.

Thanks for making it a fun night after a day of frustration.

Warrior News - My Draenei Warrior hit level 16 tonight.

I've started my first Alt on Alliance.

I'm angry!! Very annoyed. It seems impossible to get into a group for an instance run prior to level 80 without either being in a large guild or being a Healer or a Tank. The guild I am currently in 'Old-School' is pretty cool so far.. The guild seems to be full of really nice folks, however the majority of them are already level 80. I can't blame them for not wanting to take time out of their daily grinding and heroic runs to run me through an instance or two. To be totally honest a couple of them already have. Personally I don't like being run through an instance, whereas I like the challenge of doing it with others of equal level of myself. Some would call the prior statement as having your hand held, and I believe that when you are run through an instance you don't really learn how to play your class any better. Old-School only has a few healers and tanks so getting instance runs on a regular basis doesn't happen.

So my other option is to go into the LFG system or ask in General Chat. The other day I wanted to run GunDrak with the twin Locks, Moderna and Hexena and I spammed trade and general chat in Dalaran to no avail. I then flew from Zul-Drak to Sholazar Basin and back spamming the request for a Healer and Tank without a single response. One thing I will never do is interrupt people while they are playing with a Ninja Invite. I also don't like whispering folks I don't know and asking them to run an instance with me. I could do this as a last resort, but I'm sure if they aren't AFK, they can see my messages in the channels.

There really isn't any other way to get groups. You see, my favorite, absolute favorite part of playing World Of Warcraft is running instances. You get the best gear upgrades short of raiding and also gives you a real challenge. Let's be honest here.. Questing is fun sometimes, but fighting mobs really aren't much of a challenge. The meat and potatoes of WOW is Instances and Raiding. I don't PVP so the one thing I enjoy I don't get to do.

And you can FORGET about running old-world or BC instances. While it is a rare occurrence to get a group together for instances on Azeroth, it's like pulling teeth to get people to run any content in Burning Crusade minus Hellfire Instances. It's like people get their upgrades so their gear is good enough to have an edge on quests in BC, and then rush to 68 to get to Northrend to repeat the process.

I am level 78 now and I've run only the instances you see in this Blog. I wanted to get some heirloom items to roll a Warrior for myself, but with 6 Stone Keeper's Shards out of the 200 I might need for one piece. It's never gonna happen.

There is a solution on the horizon. Cross Server LFG which was announced at BlizzCon. I have high hopes for it right now, but let's look at the past LFG methods. It hardly worked in the past with the LFG channel, and currently with the LFG system.

LFG GOD-DAMMIT I WANT TO RUN INSTANCES!!!!!!!!!! WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO GET SOME INSTANCE PLAYTIME?

What did I do? I rolled an Alt. I now have Devilsade - Female Draenei Warrior who is level 13 as we speak. I'm going to play her every-other day and hope this fixes the problem of finding a Tank for a group, since I will be one. I gotta do what I gotta do to get some instance runs, even if it means dropping my Rogue that I worked so hard on and making Devilsade my main.

What does this mean for the Blog? I'll keep it. I want to raid with my Rogue..... But.. Will I start chronicling my adventures with my Warrior? I doubt it. No one reads this thing anyway!!!

Ding 78! And yes, thats the Frostmourne..

I didn't have any really good shots of myself hitting level 78, but as I was questing in Dragonblight I came upon Frostmourne Cavern and a quest that showed where Arthas found his Frostmourne blade.

So I am currently finished all Quests in Howling Fjord, Borean Tundra, Dragonblight, and Grizzly HIlls. I am currently in Sholazar Basin doing the Nesingwary quests. I can't believe I am almost 80 I get closer everyday.

World of Warcraft Radio!

I dunno how I never ran across this before, but I've found the ultimate radio station to listen to while playing WoW. You can find the live stream on their website HERE

Level 77 - Taking to the Skies of Northrend

It's a bird!? It's a plane!? No! It's Damere flying about in Northrend. I finally got to level 77 and with 1000g I was able to buy my Cold-Weather Flying ability. This should make questing a lot easier and reach places I couldn't previously.

I had 940g when I hit level 77, and I took some greens I was saving in the bank and vendored them for the rest of the cash. Now it's time to save up for Artisan riding so I can get the Epic Flier and then my Netherdrake.

Wrathgate and the Siege of Undercity.

Wrathgate - Before

Wrathgate - After

I love Blizzard's phasing tech. It makes the environment around you change as the storyline develops. Not everyone who runs into it sees it the same way you do (unless they progress the storyline the way you do). This was used extensively for the Death Knights starter quests.

Wrath Gate is one of the cooler questlines in Dragonblight, and the game in my opinion.(Heck it even comes with it's very own cut-scene) Blizzard also mentioned at Blizzcon that they will use phasing extensively in Cataclysm since they mastered the art of it in Wrath of the Lich King.

Also during the Siege of Undercity quest which occurs as part of the WrathGate chain, you get to invade Undercity with King Varian Wrynn and gain a blessing that increases your power ten-fold. You are pretty much invincible throughout the whole thing (as long as you stay with Wrynn and Jaina) - One thing I noticed in the beginning, your standing there with Broll, Wrynn and Valeera Sanguinar. For those of you who don't know, these three characters are the main ones in the World of Warcraft comic book which I collect.

Jenkins!, UBRS and the first boss of Blackwing Lair.

So I guess for a fun night the guild decided to do some old-world instances. Molten Core, BWL, Magisters Terrace where all thought of, but it was decided that Blackwing Lair was it. When we arrived there I guess it was then that we realized that none of us were attuned to take the short-cut into BWL, so we decided to get it done. We split into two groups and while we were in Upper Blackrock Spire I got the Leeeerrroooy achievement. Upon getting both groups attuned we made our attempts at Razorgore, the first boss of BWL. We took him down with ease, but then in common Blizzard fashion, the raid bugged out. The mobs that spawn in the corners of the room decided to not stop coming out.

So we decided to leave the instance and let it soft reset. Thats when we realized one of our members never got attuned (he took the UBRS entrance), so we decided to help him get attuned as well. Well, our luck was about to get worse, as the arena part of UBRS kept bugging out and we kept getting stuck there with Nefarian laughing at us. At this point is was getting late, so a lot of folks started to leave.

So it wasn't a complete loss. I got the Leeeerrroooy Achievement as well as the UBRS dungeon clear one too. Was fun to get a big guild run going even if the instances kept bugging out. Just my luck. Perhaps now that we're all attuned we can go back into BWL and clear it next time.

Level 76 - Drak Tharon Keep

Awesome run through Drak Tharon tonight. Once again the very helpfull and awesome Savexaleya covered the heals, while Tanqu, Hexena and Moderna kept us rolling. I also managed to hit level 76 in this run! 4 more levels to go!

Hour of the Worg

Hour of the Worg is one of the cooler quests in Grizzly Hills.. It involves heading to Bloodmoon Isle to destroy Arugal (the last boss of Shadowfang Keep) again! It seems the Lich King is looking to ressurect his soul and while they are in the process of doing it, you are sent to destroy his shade.

I want to thank Savexaleya, Lottalovely (again!!) and Necromortis for helping me finish the quest. These guys are great! I will repay you all someday I hope. When I get high enough level to make a difference.

Grizzly Hills and Level 75

Today I made it to level 75. I'm also halfway through the quests in Grizzly Hills for the achievement - Fo' Grizzle My Shizzle. As soon as I complete the Grizzly Hills quests I will then head to Dragonblight and finish that zone. I'm thinking I will be pretty close to 80 by the end of Dragonblight.

As you can see by the picture I got the Armored Bear mount from Dalaran. Had a little extra gold left over burning a hole in my pocket so I decided to pick it up. It's pretty cool, a nice little treat to myself since not being able to fly here in Northrend till level 77.

I'm hoping to get another run through Nexus and possibly Azjol-Nerub or Zul Drak.

Its good to have connections!

I don't know many people on the Alliance side.. Not as many as I'd like to have as I had on the Horde. So when trying to finish the Netherwing starter quests to get my Netherdrake I had my Horde Warrior friend Kagem help me defeat Zuluhed.

Now once I get the money for the Epic Flying skill, I can start doing my Netherwing dailies to get a Netherdrake. Good stuff.

The Nexus - Completed!

A couple folks from Old-School ran me through the Nexus, netting me the achievement and a really nice dagger. It went quick (cause they're all 80's)but it was very nice of them to take a half hour out of their day to run a regular instance for me. I appreciate all who were involved. Thanks toTemplar, Savexaleya, Broni and Lottalovely.

I think since Borean and Howling Fjord are complete I want to head to Grizzly Hills.. Only because I've never fully explored that zone. I've done Dragonblight once before on Horde side and got the achievement for it, but I never got to see all that Grizzly Hills has to offer. I'll do Dragonblight after that.

Ding 74

Actually this post is a bit late.. As I got to level 74 two days ago.. Just hadn't updated the blog. Things are going ok so far in Old School. Lots of nice folks.. This is just a quick update as I am about to do my first guild run of regular Nexus.

More to come shortly.

My New Guild - OLD SCHOOL

So yeah.. I haven't been playing much lately. Been really busy at work, but with the limited time I did have to play this week I've been trying to get into a guild on the Alliance side of Exodar. And it's not been easy to say the least. I tried guilds like Essence of Azeroth, Resolve, Chimera and Malicious with no luck. I saw their recruitment posts on the Exodar Forums but most of them wanted 80's ready to raid and nothing less. And I don't think Chimera or Malicious even exist at this point.

So today after dilly-dallying around with my new MMO Runes of Magic, I tried one more time in General Chat to get a guild invite.. And quiet honestly I didn't care who invited me. I just wanted to be in a guild to kill the boredom, have someone to talk to, and hopefully group with. Suddenly I got a ninja invite from a Williy and after looking at the name (Old School) I decided to take it. Afterall I would consider myself old-school in this game.. From playing shortly after the games release..

I hope I make new friends out of this deal and become a great asset to them. Let's see how it works out. I had high hopes for Portent as well, but if you've been reading this blog - you'll know how that worked out.

Speaking of Portent.. I haven't seen Rev or Zavaria in almost two weeks. I hope they're ok. Maybe they server transfered or did the new faction change that was just introduced. - Oh well.