Thursday, January 20, 2011

Leveling Holy

I know, I know. I'm totally doing it wrong. I'm leveling a Holy Paladin by questing. But, you know what? It isn't that bad. I may not kill things super quick, but I can take one heck of a beating and keep on swinging. The only thing that's driving me crazy right now is gear.

Where is the healing mail? I guess Blizzard realized they overkilled quest rewards in Wrath with Holy Pally gear, so when they revamped the old world for Cataclysm they put nearly none of it in. Either that or they never expected someone to be stupid enough to try and quest as Holy. I have bumped into all of two pieces of mail gear with Intellect on it. One of those was a BoE random enchantment drop, and the other was a quest reward from the one dungeon I've completed.


At level 33 I'm wearing a motley assortment of Cloth, Leather and Mail. I'm terrified to try to heal a dungeon. Several levels ago I managed to get through SFK, but afterwards I was told that my gear was abyssmal and that it was a testament to my healing skill that I managed to heal through the dungeon. Great compliment, but it doesn't exactly make me eager to try another dungeon.

I don't know what to do. I'm leveling faster than I ever dreamed possible. I swear I went from level 30-33 in an hour last night. That is without a guild, without BoAs, without rested XP. The pace is mind-boggling, and I don't like it. I don't want to go into a dungeon because that will put me that much further ahead of the quests I'm working on. I'm trying to linearly complete zones so I can see all of the story. I'm sacrificing dungeons to do it. I'm almost half tempted to switch this toon to all dungeons all the time, but then what? Sure, I'll probably level up really fast and have healing gear, but I won't get to have the story.

What do you think I should do?

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

In Stormwind

The first thing I did when I got into Stormwind proper was go to the nearest tavern. The Tram drops you off in the Dwarven District, and it was a right good thing. I don't think I could have got my bearings with none of that weak stuff the Humans drink. Alcohol made of grapes! Bah! It may taste good, but that's about it. No, what I needed was to lose myself in a rowdy Dwarven bar with a good flagon of mead. I found just that at The Golden Keg. I almost felt like I'd never even left Ironforge.

With my drink drunk and my nerves as settled as they were going to be, I headed to the Cathedral Square to seek out The Shadowbreaker. It was with awe that I entered this area of Stormwind.

Right in front of the Cathedral of Light is a beautiful fountain, a monument to The Lightbringer. And then there is the Cathedral itself. It's beautiful, but it sure ain't Dwarven workmanship. Them spires and such are far too dainty for Dwarven sensibilities. It's a wonder the thing weren't damaged when Deathwing came. I'd imagine the power of The Light was what protected it from the dragon's wrath.

I couldn't resist letting a passing gnome snap some pictures of me at these monuments. I don't know much about how the gnomish picture-taker works, but it sure is nice to have some momentos from my trip.



When I entered the Cathedral it was bustling with Paladins and Priests and the faithful, all rushing around to whatever business they had. I nervously looked up to the altar, and there he was, The Shadowbreaker himself. I nearly stumbled over my own feet making my way across the blue and gold carpet to reach him.

I hadn't quite mastered the art of bowing properly without my wild tresses getting themselves in the way, so I opted to kneel before him, hoping I looked humble enough but still strong. He smiled kindly at me, and it made me feel a touch more at ease. He gestured for me to rise and said, "I have been watching your progress, Gwennis, and I can only conclude that The Light shines brightly upon you. You are becoming an exemplary Paladin."

I felt my cheeks warming as I stood up. I knew they were turning beet red with an embarrassed blush. I'm not so used to such praise and it was coming as a shock. And then it only grew worse.

He nodded and continued, "To honor your dedication, King Wrynn has commissioned the royal armorer to forge a special weapon."

And my jaw nearly dropped down to the floor. The King had commissioned a special weapon to honor me?! I don't even know how the Humans had heard of me. The only thing I could think was that Valgar had been telling tales. I knew that he thought I was doing well enough in my training, and I'd been helping the folks in Dun Morogh and Loch Modan to settle things down after all the earthquakes and such, but I didn't think I deserved all this.

Well, turns out there was a catch. The special weapon to be made for me requires special materials. Basically I got to go get them out of Shadowfang Keep, which has lately been infested with the undead. I don't know if they're Forsaken or Scourge, but either way this is a good chance for me to prove, at least to myself if not to my fellow Paladins, that I deserve this weapon.

The Shadowbreaker took me aside to his study to provide me with maps, the list of items I needed to retrieve, and an explanation of what I may be going up against. It was refreshing to be learning from a Human Paladin. I love my people, but it is always good to keep an open mind and to learn different ways of doing things. He taught me a few tricks I may not have learned otherwise.

I spent that night in Stormwind at The Golden Keg and shared a a few drinks with the Hammerbeaks before bedding down. Borna and Dalga are Wildhammer Dwarves, and I haven't had much opportunity to spend much time with our flying cousins. I was curious about their relationship with the gryphons and what it meant to be a Shaman. We chatted maybe a bit too late into the evening, because when I crawled into bed I could see through my window the distant light of the Sun starting to rise on the horizon. It was beyond time to get some rest. When I awoke I'd have to begin planning my trek to Shadowfang Keep.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Link Love for the Silly Bloggers Soul

In case you don't read these blogs, here for your enjoyment, it's silly time!

Starting with Larisa at The Pink Pigtail Inn, who posted about The Unfiltered Joy of Smashing Thieving Little Pluckers. Sometimes you just gotta smash things.

Alas from Kiss My Alas had a little bit of captioning fun, even if it was a tad Immature.

Desukar of 5 Minutes on Hearth found a fabulous video of Kitteh, Slayer of Dragons. I wish my cat got that excited about WoW too.

Search terms are making a comeback this month, and they are still as hilarious as ever.
Note to self: Make more creative and interesting post titles in order to win at Search Term LOLs.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Everybody Hates Questing?

< Rant>

As I've been popping around the blogosphere I've noticed a trend. It's a trend wherein people think questing sucks and everyone must feel that way. It's used as a given, as if there need be no explanation of the statement, just questing sucks and everyone else thinks so too.

Who are you people? Why do you even play WoW? I would argue that 80% of the game is questing. If you really hate it so much and everyone else hates it so much, wouldn't you move on to a different game with less questing?

I hate having words put in my mouth. I am one of the mass of WoW players therefore I must hate questing too.

Well guess what? I LOVE questing. Questing is why I play. And quite frankly, I don't think I'm the minority. 12 million people are only rushing to reach level cap and secretly hate questing? Puh-lease.

I can live with people saying that they personally hate questing. I'm ok with that. Whatever floats your boat. But do not tell me what I do or do not hate. Blanket statements make you sound like an idiot, especially if you don't even attempt to back it up.

</ Rant>

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Disappointment

I've been having the time of my life working on my new Dwarven Holy Paladin. I have hardly had any thoughts of making a new alt. Gwennis had become my focus, until now.

The other day I mentioned the quirks I have when playing (really I think it might be a touch of OCD). Well, my little quirk has made me run ramming force into a brick wall and now I can't go any further. Why you might ask?

The Battle for Thandol Span is broken. I refuse to move on to Arathi before completing this quest. This is one of those iconic moments in the Dwarven story. I am not skipping it. Apparently my best bet is to try to get it done directly after a server reset. The comments at Wowhead say not to hold your breath, that you're better off questing someplace else.

I'm extremely disappointed. I wouldn't be so upset if this hadn't been broken since The Shattering. Yeah, you remember, Patch 4.0.3a back on November 23rd, 2010? Yeah, it's been broken this whole time. I'm just glad I didn't bump into this back then. If I'd been waiting this long for it to get fixed so I could continue my Dwarf's story I'd be hopping mad by now. I wonder how much else in the world is broken like this.

I imagine I'm being a bit extremist and unreasonably stubborn. There isn't really anything preventing me from moving on. It just feels wrong to me to do so.

Anyway, I'm back to my altoholic ways, making random alts to pass the time. Maybe I'll finish my Dwarf someday. The ball is in Blizzard's court now. I hope someone out there cares for those of us who actually love questing.