Sunday, February 28, 2021

It's Ok, I'm Not All Disgruntled

 I haven't had a chance to post since that last scary picture, but I've been busy playing World of Warcraft as always and I'm writing posts in my head.  No problems, then!

Although, I did find myself thinking this morning why wasn't the one kept and tormented and taken over by the Jailer, Baine or Thrall?

Wouldn't Sylvanas have wanted a bit more payback from those who "betrayed" her, her own Horde besties?  Why be interested in the Alliance leaders much at all, really?



Thursday, February 18, 2021

Up and Down the Character List

 There you are, enjoying your level 52 Warrior, and the Engineering I've generally ignored.  


Then you find yourself late one night playing a long unplayed low level Warrior, and you have a great time.


How about that Gnome Engineer?

 


Maybe I could go back to this character and really work on and enjoy Engineering from the ground up.  It turns out that Target Dummy, for instance, is a useful distraction, and is cute!


I love her bombs and dynamite but fights aren't lasting long enough usually for her to use them.  She's a now level 10 Warlock.  

Somehow, I started Battling Pets while she was out and about.  In the past, I only Battled Pets I wanted to "Collect".  In my Pet Journal, then, I have loads of level one and 2 pets (and up, but these are what she's running into around Kharanos/Iron Forge.)


Next thing I know I am battling every single Snow Cub and Alpine Hare I come across.  I quickly got over the "but I already have that pet" idea and just kept pitting my lowbies against the irresistible creatures.


 

I'm learning Pet Battle stuff as I go.  Much like Engineering, this is a new area of the game suddenly opening up.  



I think I'd like to keep this character in this area for awhile, what if there pets here I can't get elsewhere?

The only drawback is I really don't like the circular layout of Ironforge (or any city that has it).  Also, why on earth is there no Transmogrifier in Ironforge?  Shouldn't they add one there, and a more convenient repair guy?

Monday, February 15, 2021

Weekend Realm Hopping

 Mel, our intrepid BWR Retribution Paladin had a bit of a rougher time after her previous section.  She was inexplicably swarmed in two spots of the Temple of Purity.  It's not like her to be dead.

Luckily once at Xandria's Vigil, she was fine.  And not dead.


 

She's done with Bastion except for the Necrotic Wake Dungeon, which I haven't done with Ely either.

So in my short time in Beta I did two dungeons, because I needed extra xp towards the next level or I couldn't move on. And I had done all the quests available.  The group for this one wasn't very good, or nice.  The whole group wiped let me say at least six times right where the dungeon starts. Just at the steps! Not a good sign, right?

Moving on, more wipes.  At the last boss, where apparently a random player gets tossed down to this little gauntlet , of course my character is tossed. Dies, comes all the way back, tossed right down again.  They finally defeat the boss.  Then, they have this little chat about how they did better last time with better DPS.  Right.  So now I don't want to goooo in!  But I'm going to watch videos of it innumerable times and we shall see.

On ER, my Rogue is doing Draenor.  I had planned to just move everyone up to BFA here, but you can't wear any of the armor till level 45 there.  And she began Draenor at 31.  She had a terrible time getting there, and could not for anything beat the bird in the cave that comes right before your garrison.  I had to ask my son to send a character there to help her with the fight!  She's now level 39 and is getting better, and is making useful armor.  Poor Nypster! (I've got nicknames for everyone)



 Draenor is still my favorite expansion.  I love the Garrison, the buildings, the treasures everywhere.  They've nerfed fishing reward xp to 5 for each completed quest.  Not very nice.

I love fishing here anyway, and I always go where the fish are, I never just stood around my Garrison fishing in the pool there.  I never got the highest level Fishing Shack.  Nypster is my girl.

I also seriously love Cooking in Draenor, getting those new recipes every time you cook something!

Also on ER a new mage!  No idea why, she just appeared and is now a solid member of the guild there (wink).


Following in the What Would Ely Do mode, everyone now fishes on their turn.


 

This is my ER Warlock who forever has been Enchanting and Skinning.  Suddenly, she's the main Tailor on that server, and my Hunter, who was always the Tailor (bad choice) is now in Bastion and is Leatherworking and Skinning.

On the character screen, where you can move your characters around to show their level of play and or importance,  my little Warlock has moved up to the number three spot.  :)

Speaking of importance, on BWR my little Arms Warrior/Engineer/Miner is suddenly the next active character to move through and finish Bastion.  She is having better luck than Mel finding Ore.  And she made a single grenade she can't wait to use called a Nutcracker.


I found she had several BFA Engineering recipes that are so cool, but I needed Wire.  Went back there to grab some!  A personal Transmog device, a portable stable for a Hunter...and can't recall the other.  Nice stuff!  My little Engineer will be having a good time.

Again with the character shuffling, my Engineer and Jeweler keep and use the ore they pick up. But I have three characters on BWR who can grab Minerals and Herbs.  Those go to the Blacksmith and Alchemist.

I was pleased to loot, with different characters, Warglaives for my Demon Hunter.  Interesting though I like playing her, I've never made another.


 

You see the beauty of it all.  I may not be doing Mythics or Torghast, but I'll still be puttering along when those folks have gotten bored and moved on to something else.




Friday, February 12, 2021

Azerothian Adventuring 2/12/21

Ely has finished Bastion, yay!  She's done every quest available in the intro area quests except for three kill quests for Elites.

Before she leaves for Maldraxxus and everyone's favorite place "The Theater of Pain", I'll run her through the Necrotic Wake Dungeon to complete the quest there.


 

Next up is Mel, my main Retribution Paladin.  She's also a Blacksmith and Miner.  She's got as far as the memories of Lysonia quests.  I had to move my screenshots out of the Wow folder today, since they'd gotten unwieldy and I couldn't find anything anymore.  Action shots of glorious Mel next time.

The thrills of her day were handling memories and bad guys easily, finding a Laestrite Key while fishing, also some nice Silvergill Pikes (yum).  She scrabbled for enough ore for a nice pair of sabatons which Ely enchanted and sent back.  Puzzle pieces, nicely fitting together.

Ore is so hotly contested.  If you a see a node pop up, you have to move on it fast, and you'll still be the second one getting it.

How will she equip herself, a DK and a Demon Hunter at this rate?

Thursday, February 11, 2021

What Would Ely Do?

 My unassuming Fire Mage has become the model for how characters play out their sessions this expansion.

 


She's level 54 and just about finished with Bastion.  

She's a Tailor and Enchanter, so while she's out fighting things, she keeps in mind that her "nodes" for craft items are NPCs and she takes out as many as she comes across, going for that nice Shrouded Cloth and Lightless Silk.  Anything not useful to her or another, she Disenchants.

Thanks to this character, I'm also a huge fan of Fishing, Hunting, and Cooking.  Any pool, any time, particularly if there's a nice school of fish.

I'm buying bait.   Every character cooks up some nice food and drink when they're in Oribos.

I find, in many expansions, particularly Legion and beyond, I have done little crafting.

My philosophy now is I have two years to not just power level characters, but to gear them up well as they go, and to get all the Tradeskills leveled as I go too.

Ely, for instance, is one of three cloth wearers on Blackwater Raiders.  In the past I wouldn't make any armor till my character would be able to wear it.  Unfortunately by the time they could wear it I'd have forgotten about it. 

Now Ely makes three of each cloth piece she can make, notes the level, and carefully makes sure the characters equip as they're able.  Very nice!   The cloth armorer of course has the advantage of getting cloth from all 11 other BWR characters. 

The Leatherworker and Blacksmith have to scavenge their own materials.  Ores in particular are hard to grab before someone else gets them.

There you go. What would  Ely do?  Craft as you level, always hunt, fish, and cook as you go.  It is very much like treasure hunting, which I always love. 

Blah, Blah, The Maw

 I haven't even been through all of Shadowlands, but I have Don't Shake Hands With Cyrus Syndrome already. 

 This refers to the beginning of Battle for Azeroth where you meet Cyrus the Dockmaster and as soon as you shake his hand, he launches into this long irrelevant tale that you can't click past for love or money.  You can however go run some errands and he keeps babbling.

In the Shadowlands intro, first you have the torturous crawl to set the pieces of the Helmet of Domination in place while Bolvar goes on and on and on.


 

Then, there is another long odd speech by Jaina at the Forlorn Respite describing the Maw, the Jailer and Sylvanas.  Unlike the Cyrus speech, you can't just kick start it and go get a snack. Nooo. She pauses periodically and you have to click on her to jump start the speech again.


 

Even once out of the Maw, the Oribos Overseers have long speeches you have to listen to, though you can get past the included cutscenes.


 

What is the thinking here?  Is this because "nobody reads Quest Text?"  You have this information dump about the new area...but how to get the information out there.

Oof, I hope they find another way.

These screenshots are courtesy of my Silverhand Hunter, the 16th character, in "retail" I've sent through the Maw.

Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Welcome to Atheren's Azeroth!

 This blog is just about how I play the game of World of Warcraft.  Not a power player, more than casual.

Remember it's an adventure diary, not a treatise!

I am also missing my nice blogger snippet sidebar.  Sidebar greed is real!  I can always use Inventory Full's expansive list (and I will steal from him, because who wouldn't?).  I would like though, when I click through to read someone's posts, for them to know I read and enjoyed what they had to say.

That aside, I'm currently playing characters on three realms, Earthen Ring, Blackwater Raiders, and Proudmoore.

It's honestly like putting together some sort of puzzle.

Who should go to what era on each server?

If I'm trying to eventually get all the achievements I've missed along the way as a goal (I am), how can I do that methodically?

Why do I keep creating new Kul Tirans with floaty blonde hair?  I can't stop!

You'll get to know my characters, and almost certainly love them as much as I do.

For Azeroth! For the Alliance!



Atheren's Adventures

 Shouldn't have killed off my old Atheren's Adventures blog.  After I did, someone claimed the name and URL afterwards (weirdos).   ...