Replaying 80-85, or why I already start to hate deepholm.

I did mention this in a previous post of mine, what is the replayability of Cataclysm. I made a post where I compared the different expansions to books/comics.

I recently levelled a shaman to 84, and my warrior (now named stoneheart) to 85. I didn't really planned anything, just played a little around, mostly in dungeons, and with herbing for the warrior.

When I did do quests, I didn't read them, and just went to the place I needed to go. And because i already did almost all the quests (sans Vashj'ir), it was reasonable quick. But it did got me thinking about the different zones... and the fact that most people with altism want their alt to be good geared.

You see, I want my alts to have nice gear, to actually do heroics without to much to worry. And the quickest way is to get gear through reputations. Now, as a fresh 80, you have got two choices. Goto vashj'ir, or to hyjal. Let me put it clear,
DO NOT GO TO VASHJ'IR

If you go Hyjal, you will get rep, and you will probably be almost 82 if you finish there, and a long way to revered, opening a lot of goodies. The only thing you want in Vashj'ir are the opening quests. They give you a mount, and the portal to Vashj'ir. You should also get the flight....rrr...swimming-path to where the Earthen Ring-vendor is, and (till the patch) swim down the vortex to find the entrance to the Throne of the Tides, that's all.

Now the moment you hit 82, drop all you are doing...well..hypothetically...and go to Deepholm. This is absolutely necessary, you need to do almost all the quests there to get access to the therazane-vendor, which not only provides you with a nice ring, but also the must-have shoulder-enchant.

This is the biggest problem I have with deepholm... if you want to gear your alts good, you NEED that therazane-reputation... so..get ready to do deepholm to often.

After you are done with deepholm, you probably are into your 83's... hey..you have a choice... either continue with hyjal-rep (if you didn't finish that already), or go to uldum. Well... do at least some quests in uldum, to get the portal and the tabard. The moment you hit 84, I would suggest going Twillight Highlands.

Again... do all the quests until you can get the tabard, and the portal...see the pattern. Oh, and because every zone has better gear, you probably want to do the highest zone available. And one thing about gear... most of the times, a GREEN Ilvl 2 higher then a BLUE one is better...so, you don't have to hold onto your blues from lower dungeons...

So, conclusion: There are some alternative ways to levelling, but if you, like most altists want to gear your alt... get ready to hate deepholm.

..and yes...the same applied to the sons of hodirs..but those enchants where at least Bind on Account. And talking about BoA...if the Head Enchants are BoA...why do I need to be revered with that faction to actually use them....wouldn't that actually made the BoA-function..well..kinda useless??

Mental Note

I should try to make more posts, before this turns into a 'look-what-we-killed-today'-blog...(well, actually tuesday)


But luckily I have some more things on my mind. Like Tobolds suggestion that if you CAN tank and/or heal, you should, instead of whining about long waiting times... which is probably true, but alas, retired tank here, so I just take the long times.

And of course there is a new patch looming with lots of information, and paragon took 11 druids...QQ, and lazorchickens are doing 25k dps... which is a lot, etcetera, etcetera...

But what really caught my attention this week was this:

Honors Code : This really was the hardest button to push

Now, there have been bloggers in the past who stopped blogging because they stopped playing, like Phaelia and BRK. But what caught my eye was the reason honors stopped, he just doesn't have anything to say anymore, and (I quote):

But blogging and doing it well takes a commitment of time that I’m simply not able to give right now.

He will still be playing, but he is just not going to blog about it. This of course everyone saw coming. Honors changed his main, and had very little posts last months. And tbh, I think if I had a wife/gf (oooh, personal information), my blogging also would stop... on the other hand, this blog is more a journal of my travels through WoW, so if for months nothing happens...well then there will be no post.

I have the utmost respect for people that write a post every single day.... I could just not do it.

And for Honors, keep the blog, and just write when you like, not write because you need to fill a blog, but write whenever you like, or feel the need to it, because you can. (well, that is how I write).

..laters.

Magmaw mowned down..

After 2.5 hours, several wipes (see skeletons), I got my first raid-boss-kill in a full guildrun since a long time



We did it with only 22 people, and it took some tries to get the fire-pillar sorted. If we all got out in time, we had no problems with the little adds, but seeing a red circle spawning, between all the 'good' blue/green/whatever on the ground can be tricky, specially when a new aoe-healing-spell has just been cast. Those tend to be brighter then the red circle.

It was a real wiping-->learning fight. In the end we had one of the DK's kite the adds around, and we had divided the raid into two, screw you tactics... time to find something else. To bad I died in the end, not because of adds, or a pillar, but probably due to Triage-Healing. Not all players, where actually ready for raids, at least gear-wise.

If this continues, I think I have a good stay there :)

Bridge-exploit? or is it?

I am playing at the moment, so not much writing... well actually, I have enough time to write something, because I am trying to get the epic stuff fors casters from archaelogy, and waiting for TB to switch sides, so I can hand in quests.

So, I have a lot of time to just surf the web. I refound tankspot, found the moonkin resporitory-something, and just fly around from one dig-site to the next.

I am lucky though, I already have the Tol'vir ring..... now trying to get the Nelf-trinket, and the Tol'vir staff.... or dorf staff, but keeping to Kalimdor atm. Just flying around, digging stuff. Luckily I am a druid in a lvl9 guild. Teleport:moonglade and 15min Heartstone FTW

Now on to Tol Barad, I really started doing the dailies today, and also tried to get into a fight. Well... that went well. But I was surfing da internet and found numerous posts, and a gamebreaker-video, talking about the bridge-exploit in Tol Barad.

For those who don't know, if you que up for TB, and the raid is full, you can actually stand on the bridge for around 6 seconds before ported a few yards back. When on that spot, you are considered IN Tol Barad, and if the battle ends, everyone in TB, in raid or outside raid, just IN the zone, gets honor for completeing (win/loss doesn't matter). So the exploit is to stand on that spot when a battle ends for free honor...well free?

Let's look at it a bit closer. As far as I know, only 80 people can actually participate in a TB-battle. 40 Horde, 40 Alliance, just like an Alterac Valley. But Tol Barad is not on a different server like other BG's. Just like wintergrasp, it is server-specific. That means that on a very busy server like AD, only 80 people can actually participate in a battle, the rest has to sit-out.

Now let's look a moment at PVE-raiding. All guilds I was in had a rule that if you where available to raid, but weren't chosen, that you still got some DKP for being there. This is both an incentive to actually sign for raids, and a little compensation because you are online for the raid, while not raiding.

Now, in my humble opinion; IF you actually take time to stand on the bridge, and be ready for the battle, why not get a little honor in exchange? You already miss out the HK's, but with this you actually get something back for being available. And it's not AFK-farming, you actually have to move in/out to get it.

Now, TB itself is hopelessy unbalanced (see greedygoblin). But I did see (and participate in some) 4 TB-battles today. The horde has a simple strategy for defense. 30 people go counterclockwise around the towers, taking them with a lot of force. That leaves 10 free to simply guard the previous tower taken, until the current one is taken. Rince and repeat.

The alliance only way to get all towers is to actually have around 30 people at the same spot as the horde, while simultaneously holding the other 2 forts with around 7 people to counter the 10man of the horde, so... a quick math later. Can 24 hold 30? If yes--->win, if no--->loss.

Oh well... it is PvP... what do I care....

...

.... oh yeah..dailies for PVE-trinkets.