Still Moving Forward

Not a lot of excitement lately… the usual grind of XP and instancing. Finally happened… Sloosh's first green upgrade is the Mendicant's Charm, replacing Dark Iron Smoking Pipe; it's better to have the higher base damage and take the drop on the use boost. Also ended up putting away my beautiful Hammer of Judgement for an ugly yet fearsome Kalu'ak Rep Reward: Totemic Purification Rod.

Did a Nexus run last night with some of Klutz's crew, Zethos, Nitespirit, and Fowler. Since I was tanking with Aenara it was nice with Nitespirit there. Klutz can totally heal me but we went really crazy with the extra backup. After Nexus Nitespirit had to head out so we picked up Pobedog then ran Azjol-Nerub and Utgarde Keep.

Try to get dailies out of the way in the morning. Today's set is:

Blackriver Skirmish: 20750xp, 5g60s, 10 Venture Coin, 137 Alliance Vanguard
Break the Blockade: 12050xp, 4g70s, 138 Alliance Vanguard
Defending Wyrmrest Temple: 20750xp, 5g60s, 275 The Wyrmrest Accord
Planning for the Future: 16250xp, 5g, 550 The Kalu'ak
Preparing for the Worst: 16250xp, 5g, 550 The Kalu'ak
Drake Hunt: 12050xp, 4g70s, 275 The Wyrmrest Accord
Infused Mushroom Meatloaf (Dalaran Cooking): 16200, 5g30s, 3 Northern Spices, 165 Kirin Tor

Sloosh (1298779/1653900) should be finishing up in Grizzly Hills tonight and I'm sure she'll hit 79.

Gaining Ground

I was pretty pleased with myself for soloing The Jig is Up with Sloosh. A Blood Elf rogue failed horribly after me as she didn't realize that Hozzer still had to be killed. "Mad" Jonah Sterling is fearable so he was very easy to beat down to 5000 Health. The bear wasn't fearable and also had over 20k health, so he was more of a challenge. What ended up making it easy for me was shortly after I sent my Shadowfiend in I was knocked up to the high ledge. As with most knock-backs, aggro on the bear was reset. So my fiend held Hozzer down lower for a few extra seconds while I finished him off before he could reach me. Turning around I also found The Frozen Heart of Isuldof conveniently waiting on the ground to be looted.

While my gear is still making things go well the mobs are starting to get harder to kill. My standard kill sequence is Vampiric Touch, Mind Blast, Power Word: Shield, and a Mind Flay. I used to be able to start on another mob while VT finishes yet now I find I'm casting a second Mind Flay to end it, which is just enough to start making my mana drop. After about five-seven kills I'm at half mana so I have to chill. Oh well… couldn't stay easy forever. I may have to start working in more Crit and Spirit gear.

Then again, maybe the new spells will help. 74 was a sweet spot for me since it included upgrades to Prayer of Mending, Smite, Mind Blast, and Mind Flay. Those last two are staples plus I picked up Silence. 75 will be even better for grouping with Shadow Word: Death, Shadow Word: Pain, Vampiric Touch, and the shiny new Mind Sear!

In Dalaran I did check out the Cold Weather Flying trainer and was relieved to see that I can pay the 1000g to train flying at 77 even though Sloosh only has cheap flying. Since she's not a gatherer I trained Decimate in Epic Flying first. Between all my characters I don't have over 3000g so I'll have to find some way of churning out some gold. For now, I'll keep doing the lower level quests for XP then save the higher quests for cash. Leveling the other characters will also generate gold… especially when it's five at once. *lol*

Questing into 74 and Dalaran

Thought not very challenging, Sloosh (1280497xp/1571800xp) went back to back the Howling Fjord to quest. Some of the quests were green yet the XP granted was still over 20k. Got the lines around Westgarde done then went South to Scalawag Point. Was really nice already having the Fort Wildervar FP so I picked up a few there.

People are still assholes and I'm happily one of them. Like when I was staking out Bjomolf's spawn for Brother Betrayers there was a Pally waiting to Consecrate. Naturally it spawns further away so I tag with Shadow Word: Death then Larac decided to invite me to a group. I almost decided not to Accept but I did. The drop rate for The Fragrance of Money sucked so I pulled three bears at once, easily DoT/Flaying them down. Another Shadow Priest, Darcspirit, came up and spit on me! *giggle* I let her watch in amazement/annoyance as I solo'd The Jig is Up. She got no invite on that one.

Most of the questing was pretty chill and relaxing. Scare the Guano Out of Them! was tedious so I shielded and feared to collect the shit. Leader of the Deranged was cake because people had cleared a path for me (Take North entry above the EE in Keep down then turn Right (West) to get to the cave) so I waited less than a minute for the spawn. There was a Warrior, Zakniel, running around ahead of me so Mission: Eternal Flame was easy to complete (and I gave him a Fortitude and Renew by way of thanks). The drop rate for The Yeti Next Door was sucky but I was doing Preying Upon the Weak at the same time. Was even rewarded by one of the spawned Prowling Worgs with my first BoE Blue drop: Mendicant's Robe of Mendacity.

Getting late in the evening and I had leveled off exploration experience… of Gjalerbron! Happened to be passing through Valgarde when I noticed a new quest giver on the top floor of the Inn. It was Archmage Hooper offering me a free port to Dalaran! I figured I would have to make the run from Windrunner's Overlook yet it was as simple as getting this quest and letting him port me. Once there there's a quest to show you how to port down to Crystalsong Forest. Wandered around and asked a guard where the City portals are, bound myself at the Alliance Inn, then headed down to the sewers to do my daily cooking quest (The Pot mentioned in the quest is placed in your inventory and is not found in the kitchen or sewers *sigh*) and pick up my Ghostly Skull.

Sloosh is at 100/130 quests in Howling Fjord so I plan to finish them off tomorrow then resume work in the Dragonblight.

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[Image:Skull!]

Not Quite Ahead

Once Sloosh entered the Dragonblight from the West I put myself in LFG for an Azjol-Nerub group. A few of my guild mates had been in there and they said it was fast and fun. After an hour I had no invites but I had kept busy.

An “Exit Borean Tundra” quest The Lost Courier had taken me to Star’s Rest. There were one or two quests for the area but instead I followed the messenger line. It flapped me out to Wintergarde Keep. There’s was a lot of Scourging to deal with yet the first quest was very fun, Flight of the Wintergarde Defender. You get a whistle to summon a two-seater Gryphon to rescue people on. And when flying out of the approved area (or sometimes when you are still in the approved area), the bird drops you off with a handy parachute!

Tromping around the mine I saw Cellar looking to do the group “Wanted” quests so I sent a whisper. We picked up another two, Bobbyorr and Galathenar, then headed out. Kreug Oathbreaker ended up killing Cellar with relative ease since he didn’t even bother to put on a shield so the rest of us finished the kill. We actually wiped at Bloodpaw because each of us brought mobs from different camps on the way in. Thankfully Iustus went down without a problem.

Since I was pretty far North East in the zone I decided to head over to the Crystal Forest. Started to go through the Crystal Vice but there were too many elites for a clothy so I followed the North West border to the middle of the zone. There were a few elementals in the way but it was pretty easy getting to the incredibly high overlook. Being a Priest, I backed the horse up a few steps then took a running leap, casting Levitate at the last possible moment. *snicker* There was some aggro from Level 78 wolves but nothing I couldn’t outrun. Turned on achievement tracking so I could be sure to open up all the main areas. The only one I couldn’t easily get to was the one I was most concerned with, naturally. I finally got the Windrunner FP by following the East zoneline path.

Landing back at Wintergarde I got an invite from Cõõlbreeze for Azjol-Nerub. I headed over to help with summons once we found Whaam, Babyboi, and Aetius. Babyboi and I were the only ones who hadn’t been there so it went pretty smoothly. It was quick and I completed Death to the Traitor King and Don't Forget the Eggs!. That took me from 774,349xp to 920,509xp.

I left that group fully intending to get a few errands run then camping out for the night yet when I saw someone actually requesting a Shadow Priest for The Old Kingdom I sent a whisper; ended up being a good decision. Hooked up with four people from Spies Like Us: Littlehammer, Goocher, Crimsonmage, and Enhancment. They were all in their vent so I’m sure I was missing stuff but it’s always a pleasure to group with people that work well together. Littlehammer knew the instance well so our only wipes were from exhaustion.

After the first run I was good for more XP and Littlehammer really wanted the Plate Chest from Jedoga Shadowseeker. Goocher had to go so they had Sephestra join—lotsa totems! Herald Volazj’s Insanity ability was very fun. The whole party turns on each person individually; each image has the same abilities but only 4000 Health. With Fear and my PvP skills it was cake but still amusing. The two runs and completion of The Faceless Ones had me go from 922177xp to 1210919xp.

Really wanted 74 for the new Mind Blast and Mind Flay, but it just wasn’t in the cards. Oh well. There’s always tomorrow…

Boring Borean

Conta is really into his new Death Knight, Saidar. While I really enjoyed playing my Tauren I did make an Alliance on the second account. The Dranei free heal sounded really appealing, yet I figured I would mostly PvP so I went with a Night Elf. Faerune was still sitting half-way through the intro quests so I got them all finished up and parked her in Honor Hold. She’s half Unholy and half Blood for now. Getting back to Sloosh… who was still 71 (77151/1555700).

Sent the bank alt to the IF AH and the cheapest Overcharged Capacitor I could find was 79g. Instead of my usual crying, pissing, and moaning I just bought it and moved on. Don’t have an engineer high enough to make one nor is Favor able to go out and mine the Cobalt. Sloosh was parked at the Air Strip so I wanted to log in, complete Just a Few More Things..., then move on. When the priest is leveled I’m definitely going to have Favor gather tons of ore to sell; vengeance via profit.

While I did complete The Cell, I decided to let Keristrasza rest comfortably within the Augmented Arcane Prison in my bags for a while. There were so many people around Coldarra it seemed wiser to wrap up the other Borean areas. Actually got the Nothing Boring About Borean achievement done around 7pm. Finished up by playing with the Murlocs. The Oh Noes, the Tadpoles! took forever with all the competition but it was fun to have the army of baby Murlocs following me around.

The whole DEHTA quest line was pretty amusing. The gnomes at the Air Strip made me kill mammoths for a robot; never did try to approach the druids with the “Animal Blood All Over You” debuff. As I was turning one of the quests in, a gnome rogue walked up bloody and was dead in like two hits. Gnome deaths always make me laugh yet this one was doubly amusing. The final quest to kill Harold Lane I finished up with Daryius (who I did the first failed UK run with) and his friend Midgetcaster. We were doing fine yet I wanted to use the horn anyway. The mammoth stampede was even more hilarious than the pelts that Harold was throwing at us. That line actually got Sloosh Exalted with Cenarion Expedition since she started it at 19k in Revered.

Off to Dragonblight.

My Other Characters Aren't On

In the Geyser Fields I ran across a team of four shaman! Being lead by Turkiye were Ikiz, Zey, and Amasya. All are members of Animalhouse and they were spewing out synchronized Lightning Bolts. *whimsical sigh* Was amazed the person was able to get all four accounts going despite the queues. I really have to get Sloosh to 80 first. Then I’m working the boxes…

Show Me the Fish

One of my guild mates squawked when they fished up a Weather-Beaten Journal. Now according to the Wiki it was added in 2.3.0 but I had never heard about. Apparently it allows tracking of the schools of fish… need to pick a few up.