Level 70 Druid! Now that I’m in Northrend, I’m actually able to start tanking instances! Yaaay!

Firstly, tried my hand at tanking Utgarde Keep. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great, either. I think tanking is the hardest of the three roles, by far. Target switching to maintain aggro when you have Death and Decay happy Death Knights is a right pain in the neck, and I’m still not sure of all my abilities, nor have I developed any sort of faith in healers – Barkskin and Survival Instincts are used liberally.

(Note to self: Must sort out Omen’s Aggro warning – not really needed as a tank. And it obstructs screen something awful.)

Shortly after that, I tried Nexus. Whilst trash was generally better than it had been in UK (though there are a couple of pulls that aren’t there in HC Nexus, which confused me greatly), we didn’t get Keri down. We wiped twice, and our healer had to go. I did my best, I really did, and we had her at 8k the last time – I swear I didn’t get a single heal the last 10 seconds before I died, so I’m blaming it on the healer. Bah!

Whilst we’re on the topic of the Nexus, I ran it last night with Kazura and Yuanjia for some emblems. I’ve run it something like 25 times now (20 of those actively looking for the stupid mace) and I never saw it, not once. Kazura had a similar record. We’ve both found other maces – I have a similar quality one from Naxx, and she has a nice one from the new 5-man. And do you know what happened when we looted Keri?

NOWAI!

That slimy harpy bitch! D:<

On the upside, I did get this that run.

I’ve also been on a bit of a baby Hordie kick recently. Spurred on by a desire to do Mulgore again – I love Mulgore – I made a little Tauren Warrior, another in a long line of Faulsey’s, who became the first of that class to reach 10… Compared with at least 5 Hunters and 3 each Shaman and Druid. Only thing I haven’t gotten to at least 10 now is Rogue.

Another baby Hordie, this time created due to a desire to get a Raptor on a character (without lots of rep grinding on some higher level Hordies, or grinding ZG on Ellaria), is a Troll Shaman on my PvP realm.

As much as I love Draenei, I feel the Troll Totem quests are a little bit better – maybe because you do get some nice views doing them. Did you know that at level 1 you could quite easily get to Ratchet from the Valley of Trials within 5 minutes?

I reckon I’ll probably play this gal a decent bit the next few days, to get me a raptor!

I’m finished at my little job now – seriously, the management was farcical, I had to get out of there – and am totally free for the next two weeks before I start university. Well, kind of free. I need an eye test and new glasses, amongst other expensive things. Guh. But in any case, interest in WoW has returned somewhat recently, so I should be playing a fair bit.

With the flurry of Cataclysm information unleashed by Blizzcon, most people are looking ahead to the future of WoW. However, as someone who doesn’t expect to be playing WoW when Cataclysm is released, I’ve been looking to the past.

Though it hasn’t be obvious, I’m sure, I’ve kind of lost interest with WoW recently. Actually, I’m amazed at how long it held my interest! Back when I played FFXI, I had a sort of 3-4 month on, same off way of playing… I kept burning myself out. But with WoW, I played regularly from August last year, when that blasted fool Kazura sucked me back into it, until the start of June this year – ten months!

Can’t deny I enjoyed myself during that time – I experienced the wonders of Northrend with friends, discovered my true love of Shamanism, and met some fantastic people in raiding guilds. But if I’m truly honest, the best time was when I was a newbie, when everything was totally fresh and new.

One of the strong points of WoW, in my opinion, is how the game begins. Compared to FFXI, my previous MMO, rolling a character for the first time really feels exciting. In FFXI, you get a brief intro scene, some random citizens of your nation give you a quick hint about something, and then you are deposited in a random section of the city, without any real idea of what you should do first.

In WoW, you get that lovely little intro, sweeping across your starter area, with a brief history of your people as a voiceover.

Once that is complete, you are immediately faced with the famed Golden Exclamation for your first quest, giving you an immediate goal in the game. Over the new few hours, you quickly grow from the small starting village, into a larger town, before finally, around level 10 for most new players, wandering into your capital with a sense of awe. That build up – village, town, city – is much more fun, to me, than being dropped slap in the middle of a city!

Before you know it, you’re leaving the familiar surroundings of Mulgore, or Teldrassil, or wherever, taking your first steps into the wider world of Azeroth. As you grow, there’s that sense of anticipation, wondering what the next area will look like, what creatures will live there, and what jobs you’ll be able to do, and as you enter zones like Thousand Needles or Nagrand, there’s a sense of awe.

(My very first character, pictured here with an earlier incarnation of my beloved Erethia, on the famed Wetlands run. While the link straight to Stormwind saves a lot of headaching, it’s almost a shame to have lost such a rite of passage.)

(While not my first time –in- Ashenvale, it wasn’t until I go a full account and my Hunter into the 20’s that I truly experienced the zone, and I loved it. If I do play at some point during Cataclysm, it’s going to be so sad seeing the zone deforested!)

Of course, being an MMO, a huge part of the appeal is that you can experience this with your friends. Kazura, an RL friend, makes for a pretty good WoW companion… I guess. –grin- We had our fair share of adventures adventures as we made a push to Outlands (and beyond!), including the classic “OH SHIT A DEVILSAUR RUN!” moment.

But when you reach the level cap, the game is never the same – at least, not for the rest of that expansion. I don’t ever get the same sense of awe on seeing new raid zones and bosses as I did on that first night in Northrend, taking the turtle boat from the Borean Tundra right over to the Howling Fjord. In a way, expansions make everyone a newbie again, returning them to the excitement they had on first starting the game.

Unfortunately, that very quickly wears off. The places may be new, but it’s still the same game. Boredom creeps back into it. Though, in a way, that could make Cataclysm a very successful expansion – quite aside from the new zones, and updated old zones, classes like Hunter and Warlock are getting huge overhauls, as is the talent system – a core and almost unchanged aspect of the game. If I am playing, Cataclysm may revive some of my love for the game…

But you know what I’m really looking forward to? FFXIV. I want a fresh world! Azeroth’s history is interesting and fun, but I really do love the idea of going into a vast new world without any preconceptions, like I did with WoW (though that is part of the appeal for others – being able to truly explore the world of Azeroth they grew to love in the RTS games.)

Hopefully FFXIV learns a little from WoW, when it comes to being a newbie. I don’t want to be dropped right into the middle of civilisation – I want to start somewhere remote, somewhere it’ll feel right to start my adventure. I’m also looking forward to a new style of play – unfamiliar combat systems, different classes – though I’m kinda worried at the moment about FFXIV’s class system – there seems to be a distinct Physical / Caster split… But I want to be a Close Combat Caster, like I am in WoW as an Enhancement Shaman!

Hmmm.. Being new will be exciting. Hey, SE, WTB FFXIV now, PST.

What about you guys? Do you miss being new? Or is endgame what you live for – do bosses give you more of a thrill than they do me?

Ta da! Here’s a recording of the post. Hopefully you can understand me.

for-anea <– Clicky.

Aye, well, ah wis gonnae try an fin’ somethin’ WoW related tae write a post on, but that’s actually a lot mare bother than it’s worth – ah cannae be arsed wie that pish.

So instead, just a silly wee post to kinda illustrate, as best ah can, how ah actually talk, since Anea was kinda wonderin’ how Scottish people sound – rather more complex than you may think, because, just like any other country, there are plenty of regional variations! When ah’m writin on mah blogs, ah usually do it in proper English, since that’s A. What ah’m most used tae writin in, and B. easier fur everyone else tae understand!

Also, ah think that mah Scottish accent may be a wee bit ay a let down – ah’m fae a pretty well spoken famly, which is to say, my wee auld granny has ideas above her station an tries tae speak “properly”, which, of course, rubbed off on ‘er weans and eventually, their weans! So, ah don’t have all the hallmarks of a Glaswegian accent, which ah suppose is somewhat appropriate, as ah’m no quite in Glasgow – ah live near Loch Lomond, which, coincidentally, is one ay the most beautiful regions in the UK. (At this point, you may imagine me making a rude but light hearted gesture in the general direction of England.)

Ah’m also, as much as possible, refrainin’ fae exaggeratin’ things, like ah usually would if ah wis talkin’ Scots tae an American on the internet. Like, ah willnae say “Awa’n bile yir heid!” (Away and boil your head) as that’s not somethin’ ah’d say tae ma pals. Ah would, however, say somethin’ like “aye, that wull be right! Don’t gies yer pish!” (Yes, that will be right. Don’t give us your piss… which would, in “proper” English, be Yeah, right. Don’t give me that crap.) Use of “us” for “I” seems to be a distinctly Glaswegian thing, ah think. Ah will, at work, regularly ask a colleague “gonnae gies a hand wie this?”

Tae give ye a wee example of how things are different regionally, one ay the more famous examples of Scots, the word “ken”, as in, “Ye ken whit ah’m sayin’?” isn’t actually used here on the west coast – it’s a much more east coast, and possibly Highland, word. Also, while a distinctly Glaswegian thing, despite havin’ a Weegie mother, neither of us do the typically Glaswegian thing of saying “haun” instead of “hand”, or “staun” instead of “stand.” Another difference is mah grandfather, who lives in a wee fishin’ village down in the extreme south-west of Scotland. He might say somethin’ like “Ah caught a fish, it was aboot yon length.” I’d never use the word “yon”, though I do occasionally say “aboot.”

Anyway, ah hope that’s satisfied yer curiosity, Anea, and if ah have time the morra, ah’ll mebbe record masel readin’ this tae give ye a proper idea.

Oh, an since mah guild leader, who’s also Scottish, once called me Taggart (a famous Glaswegian Detective show)… There’s been a murder!

I believe my last update was Ilthiran reaching level 55. He’s now 61, making him my third “proper” character in Outlands – Death Knights don’t count, since they near enough start in the damn place. And, thanks to the mount changes in 3.2, he can fly!

Look, Storm Crow Form. GET IT? AHAHAHAHA… /wrists.

But there’s something rotten in the World of Warcraft. Right now, Instance servers are totally stuffed full of people, I imagine a large part of that is to do with the changes to Emblems – I see many people looking for groups to run through multiple HCs for Emblems.

So, in an break from the usual path, Ilthiran hasn’t actually set foot inside Hellfire Ramparts, though not for lack of trying. Twice. For half an hour each time. With full parties. Ugh. This is especially annoying, because the Ramps quest gives a pair of Blue boots as a reward, which would be a great improvement over my 40-something Greens, and the follow up Q’s in the Blood Furnace give a great cloak – one that I’ve made sure to grab on both previous trips through.

I have, however, finished Blood Furnace. And I did it as a tank! My first time properly tanking. It was a bit iffy at times, partly due to my awful gear, lack of an actual tanky spec, and general newbishness. Oh, and those @#!?*% technician mobs, that bomb the crap out of you. Hatehatehate. But we managed to complete the instance, and I got valuable EXP as a tank.

No loot though. Sigh. Shouldn’t be that concerned with it, since it’s going to get replaced in Northrend, if not before. I just like having good gear. Clown look doesn’t bother me, since I spend all my time in forms.

When back in Darnassus learning my level 61 abilities, I remembered how pretty some of the places in WoW can be. Nowhere near as lovely as such a scene would be in real life, but still pretty damn nice.

(Kind of a “faux glow” there, had to edit pic a bit, since for some reason screen cap ignored the shiny glow!)

I actually had the “Full screen glow” effect off since I first started playing the game, as a matter of performance, but I didn’t even think to keep it on when I got this new computer back in November… I think the difference in NE areas is quite drastic.

Anyway, WTB gargantuan tree with pretty Elven city in it’s boughs IRL, PST. Just make sure it doesn’t have any of those Elves as tenants. They are creepy.

3.2 hit EU servers today, which means I could finally pick my Druid back up, with his shiny new forms. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll know I love white animals, so, I had to pick the white forms.

Pre.2:

Post 3.2:

Bear pics are kind of small because for some reason I had to make sure my name was in the shot, and your name really floats quite high when you’re in bear form.

I was kind of iffy about the pink ‘do on the Cat Form, until I discovered it made me the ultimate Winterspring predator!

Almost impossible to see me. Muwahaha.

I went from 53-55 on him today. Would have done more, but wasn’t feeling up to a massive grind. Should be in outlands within a couple days, thanks to his nice new tunic.

My Shaman UI has kind of exploded right now, so I’m not going to play Ellaria for a little while, till everything is back in order, and even then, will probably just run the odd heroic. Though I’ll need to remember to do the Orphan quest whilst I still can.

Yes, t’is true! This is a post! It’s about WoW! And something I did in it! EGADS!

Logged on tonight, about half 12, just to check my Emblem count, to see if I would be set just to pop on and grab the Heirloom chest piece when the patch goes live on EU servers tomorrow. I’m immediately asked by a guildy if I want to do Flame Leviathan.

I think, eh, what’s the harm. I may be a bit rusty, but it’s only Flame Leviathan. So we trundle on through the gauntlet, and reduce Leviathan to a glorified heap of scrap metal, without even overloading him. Easy!

Then we all think, hey, sure, it’s just Levi, but this is a PUG! PUGs just do not work on our server. And we actually downed a boss! Let’s do another! How about XT?

We work out we have three tanks, one healer, and six DPS. Hmm, hardly optimal. Against my better judgement I tell them I can switch to offspec and heal. Bear in mind my only raid healing experience is less than an entire Wing in Naxx, so I’m not exactly confident in my abilities, especially not when there’s only two healers, I’m undergeared, and the other hasn’t done the boss.

Much to my (pleasant) surprise, aside from a couple of deaths to Bombs and Tantrums, we actually down XT! I was drier than the Sahara by the end of it (even with potting and using Mana Tide twice in the fight), but we did it!

He kindly drops me a little surprise – a snazzy helmet. Not a fantastic piece for Resto, due to lack of MP5, but certainly a nice ugprade over my goggles. Which is a shame really – them gogs are stylish.

By this point, we’re pretty chuffed with ourselves. We’ve got about 40 minutes till the server goes down to apply the patch. Let’s give Razorscale a shot!

It takes us four groundings to make her land permanently. There’s about a minute left on the enrage timer at this point. We’re never going to make it, no way. I dunno what she was at, but it was a fair chunk of health, when she enrages. But we press on. Spam heals. One tank goes down. Keep up the spam. Another tank goes down. She’s not got much health left. A third tank is still up. Spamspam OMGHE’SOUTOFRANGEWHATISHEDOING?!? spamspam VICTORY.

Squee! We made an attempt to get to Kologarn in the 20 minutes before servers went down, but we wiped on trash – can’t blame us, really, two stressful fights, and it being nearly 2AM.

Yeah, there’s a new patch out tomorrow. Normal mode 10 Man Ulduar is hardly impressive anymore, is it? Yes, actually, it is. I haven’t healed a raid in over a month. I’m undergeared. The other healer hadn’t done Ulduar before. We were the only two healers! My guild wiped endlessly on some bosses with three healers, much better than me! I’m so proud of myself, and of our rag tag little PUG, for achieving so much tonight.

It was an absolute blast, and it really made me miss getting to raid with my guild. There’s no real chance of me actually getting back into raiding, not with just over a month to go till Uni, and getting plenty of overtime at work. Sucks, kinda, but that’s life, eh?

Anyway, patch hits EU tomorrow, I’ve got the day off work (I was actually off today, too! I haven’t had two days off in a row for a few weeks now!), and I intend on making a start on my freshly re-furred Feral druid, currently sitting at level 53. Heirloom chest and epic ground mount should speed leveling right up, eh?

This blog ain’t dead yet, my friends!

(Apologies for slightly incoherent nature of this post. It’s now 2:15 AM. I’m ever so slightly tired.)