Still too tiny for Outlands (the Burning Crusade expansion must wait until level 58), I found myself scanning available zones and decided to venture forth to the Blasted Lands-- home to the Outlands portal, a dragon to avoid, and various denizens of the wastelands. I rather like this area due to one "gimmick" in the design-- periodically giant bolts of lightning will ground, kicking off plumes of smoke. I have no idea if they damage, as I've never been at ground zero when they strike, but it adds atmosphere.
Fortunately, my earlier wanderings had given me a flight path to Nethergard Keep, located in the far north of the region and, curiously, no one really had any quests to give me except a "go visit this guy" quest. This didn't bode well.
After a bit of exploring, I found a pair of quest givers on the way to aforementioned guy and they wanted a lot of miscellaneous body parts from the zone's critter population: boar lungs, vulture gizzards, and the like. Annoyingly enough, the requests overlapped. One quest, for example required 3x, 2y, and 1z while another required 10x and 2y. Given there were about six of these quests, it was going to make keeping quest progress by checking inventory tricky. That's when I noticed the quests were all four levels beneath me.
Ugh. It'd be a slow level, but I didn't feel compelled to venture somewhere else. Quest xp is still a decent reward and I figured by knocking out all of these, I could progress a tidy way to the next milestone on my path to Dalaran.
I tucked the laundry list of assorted viscera into my back pocket and meandered over to the aforementioned "guy", who turned out to be a Tauren, or a spirit of a Tauren, or a leopard. I wasn't really paying attention. His minor task was to annihilate a couple dozen Servants of Insert_Gibberish_Name_Here and free their captive souls. The quest was slightly above my level, so this would be very good xp. Yada, yada and I'm off. This is one time it would've paid to have read the quest description fully.
I explode various animals on my way to the first place Servants roam and find one near a sparkling crystal on the ground. Trusty Steve and I annihilate it quickly, though it doesn't die-- it just looks stunned and is hovering at one hit point, despite receiving hundreds of extra damage every few seconds from Steve. Oh crap. The glowy crystal thing! I had kited it away from its home and feverishly blinked over to the crystal...and I couldn't use it. Perplexed, I tried everything to affect it to no avail. Meanwhile, the dazed expression had worn off and the Servant, still at one health just continued to wail on Steve until my elemental was no more. The Hell?!
I ran away and let the...thing reset. I tried again. Same result. Hrmph.
Finally, I read the quest and figured out I had to knock the living snot out of the Servants while they were practically hugging the crystals, then break the crystal, then do the last point of damage to the Servant. Glah!
After that mess was done with, Steve and I took to patrolling the savage wastes, annihilating everything in our path in the hopes of gathering enough guts to satisfy all of the quests. Six mixed collection quests combined with low drop rates does not make for Happy Fun Time. Still, as I killed I received a few stones which were tradable to a local blood elf for random green (uncommon) magic loot, so it wasn't a total wash.
Finishing up the last of the quests earned my ding and I was ready to leave the zone for good.
Next stop: Silithus!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Me, Myself, and Steve
Hooray for a holiday weekend! I was able to get an amount of playtime in that a sane person would consider "unhealthy" and my virtual treasures reflect it!
I began by honoring and extinguishing all of the flames in the various zones I could access, earning considerable experience and trauma in the process. In many cases, it involved quite a bit of running through insanely difficult zones and served as a "preview" of zones that'd be adventuring in the future: the dark forests of Felwood, the plague-ravaged lands of the...err...Plaguelands, the snowy icefields of Winterspring, the Jurassic-themed Un'goro Crater, and Slithis, a land overrun by giant killer insects, among others.
In addition to the experience granted by the fires themselves, I earned a tidy bit from exploration and as my maps filled in, advancement through level 44 went hastily. I snagged the flames from the two remaining Horde capital cities-- the Undead of the Underdark never knew what happened and I escaped with my prize unscathed, but capturing the blood elf flame was a painful walk of attrition, summing up to no less than a dozen deaths in the process. By the time the festival ended, I was able to complete one of the "major accomplishments" and danced happily at a ribbon pole, bedecked in full holiday gear, earning the "burning hot pole dancer" achievement. I'm content knowing I did as much as I could at my level.
A few days previously, I had quit using the "level guides" and instead just kind of went where it felt right, using only the names of the guides as a guideline to hit areas when I was running dry on ideas (example: Tanaris (41-42)).
As the weekend progressed, I rolled like an icy ball of hurt through the zones, watching level after level breeze by in a never-ending game of "just one more quest". At some point I unlocked the achievement of "500 quests completed" and I grinned outwardly with self-satisfaction. (Technically, you're always grinning inwardly). I revisited zones as I turned in quests, did them in batches to strive to be as efficient as possible, and zones that were once unimaginable horrors now became my hunting grounds.
Every second level brought new spells and each level granted me a bit more oomph to my utility as a frost mage. I attained a skill that randomly lets me throw free-to-instant-cast fireballs, my bolts did more damage, my snares lasted longer. But at level 50, everything changed. That level gave me Steve.
Steve is a Water Elemental and he's mine. A mage is not normally a "pet class", that distinction being reserved for the Warlock, but frost bends some of the rules to make up for the fact they are on the low end of the DPS stick. Now... I had a pocket tank/nuker. The water elemental-- in Aion terms-- does damage like a wind pet (hitting maybe 1/3rd of my own DPS), can take damage like a earth elemental, but holds aggro like a toddler. He only lasts less than a minute with a few minutes between castings, but it was enough to seriously jump up my average DPS.
Then, at level 51 in an auction house...I found godhood.
I had come to love a nice Frost Aura glyph that caused my roots to last longer and replacing it was the last thing on my mind-- until I saw it. For the low price of 30 gold, I could possess... The Glyph of Eternal Steve, err...Water! My elemental would not have to be re-summoned. That sick DPS upgrade would last...forever. The only tradeoff is that Steve wouldn't be allowed to root on his own. Oh gosh, how EVER would I survive? /sarcasm As it is, I can root and snare from just about any key on the keyboard (hell, I could probably root something with a /spit emote), and truth be told, I never used Steve's special ability.
From that point on, Steve and I tore apart the landscape and all those who dwelt upon it.
My exploits were not without some Really Interesting Moments, however...
In Un'goro Crater, dinosaurs stalk the earth. I'd been fighting human-sized raptors for a while now in the various zones. Now I was pitted against diametradons and pterodactyls as well. A quest in the zone sent me looking for the remains of an expedition, in a section known as "Terror Run." I quickly learned that it was named that for a damn good reason.
The monsters there were huge-- think dinosaurs the size of well...dinosaurs, with stats that befitted their measure. Even if I had Steve at that point, it would've been tossing a wet snowball into a Volcano of Hurt. I darted this way and that on my mechastrider, trying my best to avoid attracting the attention of several flesheaters and failing miserably at the prospect. The first massive blow popped my ice barrier (a protective field) and left me defenseless. In the distance, I spied the camp. Popping my shield froze the monsters for a second and gave me enough time to close half the distance to my goal. That's when I discovered giant dinosurs run REALLY fast.
I knew now this was a suicide run-- but could I make it in time? The second blow knocked me off my steed and left me "dazed". I used a special racial ability to clear my head and blinked forward 20 yards and recast my ice shield. I was nearly to the camp! I now had three diametradons in hot pursuit-- and with a sickening wrench, my ice shield dropped again. It would be half a minute before I could use it again-- were it not for "cold snap", a truly last ditch spell with an insanely long cooldown that resets the cooldown of all frost-related spells.
Cold Snap! Frost Nova! Ice Barrier! Nearly there!
I hit the camp and began searching for the needed supplies, just as I'm surrounded by 500 virtual tons of anger incarnate. My life lasted about .05 seconds longer than my ice barrier that time, but I was able to collect the supplies in time.
In the muky depth of Felwood, I summoned an ancient spirit of the forest with a magic flute (why not?) and released it from its bonds. It was large, +3 levels to me, and was destined to be A Really Bad Escort Quest. It needed to escape the tainted woods and began a horrifically circuitous lumbering (sorry) route through the densest packs of creatures it could find. Steve and I slaughtered treants by the grove as Skippy the Wood Lord (or whatever his name was) off-tanked. The monsters were a couple of levels above me, but it would be what lay ahead that nearly resulted in a timber tantrum (not sorry).
Skippy the Woodlord turned away from a particularly nasty-looking pack of treants and headed towards a small riverlet, that was positively rife with "toxic elementals"-- greenish-colored Steves that were totally immune to water and ice-based spells. Oh, crap. With three of them on Skippy, his health was depleting, thanks in no small part to stacking poison DOTs they were laying on thickly. Steve was useless and it was down to me. Unfortunately, I bit off more than I could chew and died a horrific poisoned death after felling two of the noxious beasties. I failed the quest by leafing Skippy in a larch. (Ok-- seriously stopping that now)
Fortunately, the graveyard was very close and I was able to resurrect and restart the escort quest before anything had re-spawned. Those five minutes may seem eternally long when waiting for a mob to spawn, but are oh so short when escorting a pine tree through a forest. In time, we came to the stream of woe and crossed it without much trouble. One at a time I can handle well enough. We ended up on a road just outside the forest and Skippy just stood there stupid and mute. After a solid half minute, I wondered if the quest was glitched or if there was something I needed to do. Suddenly, 3-4 of the fel trees appeared and bum rushed us. Trees I could handle! Laying down a rain of blizzardy doom, they literally splinted before the onslaught and Skippy thanked me for the rescue.
By Monday night, I had reached level 54. The /played command told me it had taken 4 days, 19 hours to reach this-- not exactly a world record, but respectably swift. Enough to surprise Brian, I think. Now...where to go next?
I began by honoring and extinguishing all of the flames in the various zones I could access, earning considerable experience and trauma in the process. In many cases, it involved quite a bit of running through insanely difficult zones and served as a "preview" of zones that'd be adventuring in the future: the dark forests of Felwood, the plague-ravaged lands of the...err...Plaguelands, the snowy icefields of Winterspring, the Jurassic-themed Un'goro Crater, and Slithis, a land overrun by giant killer insects, among others.
In addition to the experience granted by the fires themselves, I earned a tidy bit from exploration and as my maps filled in, advancement through level 44 went hastily. I snagged the flames from the two remaining Horde capital cities-- the Undead of the Underdark never knew what happened and I escaped with my prize unscathed, but capturing the blood elf flame was a painful walk of attrition, summing up to no less than a dozen deaths in the process. By the time the festival ended, I was able to complete one of the "major accomplishments" and danced happily at a ribbon pole, bedecked in full holiday gear, earning the "burning hot pole dancer" achievement. I'm content knowing I did as much as I could at my level.
A few days previously, I had quit using the "level guides" and instead just kind of went where it felt right, using only the names of the guides as a guideline to hit areas when I was running dry on ideas (example: Tanaris (41-42)).
As the weekend progressed, I rolled like an icy ball of hurt through the zones, watching level after level breeze by in a never-ending game of "just one more quest". At some point I unlocked the achievement of "500 quests completed" and I grinned outwardly with self-satisfaction. (Technically, you're always grinning inwardly). I revisited zones as I turned in quests, did them in batches to strive to be as efficient as possible, and zones that were once unimaginable horrors now became my hunting grounds.
Every second level brought new spells and each level granted me a bit more oomph to my utility as a frost mage. I attained a skill that randomly lets me throw free-to-instant-cast fireballs, my bolts did more damage, my snares lasted longer. But at level 50, everything changed. That level gave me Steve.
Steve is a Water Elemental and he's mine. A mage is not normally a "pet class", that distinction being reserved for the Warlock, but frost bends some of the rules to make up for the fact they are on the low end of the DPS stick. Now... I had a pocket tank/nuker. The water elemental-- in Aion terms-- does damage like a wind pet (hitting maybe 1/3rd of my own DPS), can take damage like a earth elemental, but holds aggro like a toddler. He only lasts less than a minute with a few minutes between castings, but it was enough to seriously jump up my average DPS.
Then, at level 51 in an auction house...I found godhood.
I had come to love a nice Frost Aura glyph that caused my roots to last longer and replacing it was the last thing on my mind-- until I saw it. For the low price of 30 gold, I could possess... The Glyph of Eternal Steve, err...Water! My elemental would not have to be re-summoned. That sick DPS upgrade would last...forever. The only tradeoff is that Steve wouldn't be allowed to root on his own. Oh gosh, how EVER would I survive? /sarcasm As it is, I can root and snare from just about any key on the keyboard (hell, I could probably root something with a /spit emote), and truth be told, I never used Steve's special ability.
From that point on, Steve and I tore apart the landscape and all those who dwelt upon it.
My exploits were not without some Really Interesting Moments, however...
In Un'goro Crater, dinosaurs stalk the earth. I'd been fighting human-sized raptors for a while now in the various zones. Now I was pitted against diametradons and pterodactyls as well. A quest in the zone sent me looking for the remains of an expedition, in a section known as "Terror Run." I quickly learned that it was named that for a damn good reason.
The monsters there were huge-- think dinosaurs the size of well...dinosaurs, with stats that befitted their measure. Even if I had Steve at that point, it would've been tossing a wet snowball into a Volcano of Hurt. I darted this way and that on my mechastrider, trying my best to avoid attracting the attention of several flesheaters and failing miserably at the prospect. The first massive blow popped my ice barrier (a protective field) and left me defenseless. In the distance, I spied the camp. Popping my shield froze the monsters for a second and gave me enough time to close half the distance to my goal. That's when I discovered giant dinosurs run REALLY fast.
I knew now this was a suicide run-- but could I make it in time? The second blow knocked me off my steed and left me "dazed". I used a special racial ability to clear my head and blinked forward 20 yards and recast my ice shield. I was nearly to the camp! I now had three diametradons in hot pursuit-- and with a sickening wrench, my ice shield dropped again. It would be half a minute before I could use it again-- were it not for "cold snap", a truly last ditch spell with an insanely long cooldown that resets the cooldown of all frost-related spells.
Cold Snap! Frost Nova! Ice Barrier! Nearly there!
I hit the camp and began searching for the needed supplies, just as I'm surrounded by 500 virtual tons of anger incarnate. My life lasted about .05 seconds longer than my ice barrier that time, but I was able to collect the supplies in time.
In the muky depth of Felwood, I summoned an ancient spirit of the forest with a magic flute (why not?) and released it from its bonds. It was large, +3 levels to me, and was destined to be A Really Bad Escort Quest. It needed to escape the tainted woods and began a horrifically circuitous lumbering (sorry) route through the densest packs of creatures it could find. Steve and I slaughtered treants by the grove as Skippy the Wood Lord (or whatever his name was) off-tanked. The monsters were a couple of levels above me, but it would be what lay ahead that nearly resulted in a timber tantrum (not sorry).
Skippy the Woodlord turned away from a particularly nasty-looking pack of treants and headed towards a small riverlet, that was positively rife with "toxic elementals"-- greenish-colored Steves that were totally immune to water and ice-based spells. Oh, crap. With three of them on Skippy, his health was depleting, thanks in no small part to stacking poison DOTs they were laying on thickly. Steve was useless and it was down to me. Unfortunately, I bit off more than I could chew and died a horrific poisoned death after felling two of the noxious beasties. I failed the quest by leafing Skippy in a larch. (Ok-- seriously stopping that now)
Fortunately, the graveyard was very close and I was able to resurrect and restart the escort quest before anything had re-spawned. Those five minutes may seem eternally long when waiting for a mob to spawn, but are oh so short when escorting a pine tree through a forest. In time, we came to the stream of woe and crossed it without much trouble. One at a time I can handle well enough. We ended up on a road just outside the forest and Skippy just stood there stupid and mute. After a solid half minute, I wondered if the quest was glitched or if there was something I needed to do. Suddenly, 3-4 of the fel trees appeared and bum rushed us. Trees I could handle! Laying down a rain of blizzardy doom, they literally splinted before the onslaught and Skippy thanked me for the rescue.
By Monday night, I had reached level 54. The /played command told me it had taken 4 days, 19 hours to reach this-- not exactly a world record, but respectably swift. Enough to surprise Brian, I think. Now...where to go next?
Friday, July 2, 2010
Into the Marsh
Woke up in Theramore and noticed there was a LOT of available quests. I knew these would be a bit under my level, but I figured as long as I was in the neighborhood, I might as well check them out. The xp rewards would be about the same as killing 15-20 monsters and some of them could be done quickly. All of them sent me into Dustwallow Marsh, so I put on my thicker boots and waded into the quagmire.
The enemies were not overly challenging and I was able to quickly plow through various encounters without breaking a sweat. After discovering the secrets of witch hill and slaying the demon that haunted it, gathering some frog’s legs from non-combative tiny amphibians, and culling a tribe of tauren, I discovered a goblin (neutral) encampment in the south side of the zone I'd never known about. As a bonus, it gave another chunk of quests and a flight path!
I had reached level 42, so I teleported back to Ironforge and learned a few new spells then hastily flew back to the goblin village to undertake their missions. None were terribly bad and after completing most of them, I found I had made significant progress to my next level. Took a flight south to Gadgetzan and finished the level by collecting a couple dozen pirate hats from some very fashionable pirates who were overly reluctant to part with them. So, yay: level 43!
Called it a night early so I could watch Futurama.
The enemies were not overly challenging and I was able to quickly plow through various encounters without breaking a sweat. After discovering the secrets of witch hill and slaying the demon that haunted it, gathering some frog’s legs from non-combative tiny amphibians, and culling a tribe of tauren, I discovered a goblin (neutral) encampment in the south side of the zone I'd never known about. As a bonus, it gave another chunk of quests and a flight path!
I had reached level 42, so I teleported back to Ironforge and learned a few new spells then hastily flew back to the goblin village to undertake their missions. None were terribly bad and after completing most of them, I found I had made significant progress to my next level. Took a flight south to Gadgetzan and finished the level by collecting a couple dozen pirate hats from some very fashionable pirates who were overly reluctant to part with them. So, yay: level 43!
Called it a night early so I could watch Futurama.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Gnomewhere to run, gnomewhere to hide...
Still feeling fresh and giddy at level 40, I felt no need to immediately begin leveling again, so I opted to knock out a couple more fires and do a little torch tossing for fun. Then, I decided to do something really stupid: go steal the fire from the heart of the orcish capital city.
Dear sweet, Quetzalcoatl! What began as a quick sojourn into the heart of darkness became a war of attrition as I claimed 50 yards of space with every life spent along my own personal Trail of Tears. I would resurrect 30 yards from my body...apparently the maximum, immediate enter combat mode, 'blink' forward and gain 20 yards...then it was usually getting one-shot in under two seconds and a 3-5 minute run back. After 3 such deaths, I made it inside the city gates. After another 10, the flame was mine! Can't wait to try the Undercity of the Undead! Oh, wait. Yes, I can.
About this time I heard from Jacob: he had just finished every last thing for the summer festival. Yeesh! Forty levels makes a difference, it seems. I offered my congratulations and noted to myself it was time to get back on the level track.
I alternated between Booty Bay and Gadgetzan to complete a few quests that were now attemptable, most of which involved slaughtering nagas, trolls, gorillas, bandits, and trolls. (There was a LOT of trolls.) Along the way at some point, I hit level 41 and finished a third of the way into the next level.
Game time was shortened to get the wife set up with Netflix(tm).
Dear sweet, Quetzalcoatl! What began as a quick sojourn into the heart of darkness became a war of attrition as I claimed 50 yards of space with every life spent along my own personal Trail of Tears. I would resurrect 30 yards from my body...apparently the maximum, immediate enter combat mode, 'blink' forward and gain 20 yards...then it was usually getting one-shot in under two seconds and a 3-5 minute run back. After 3 such deaths, I made it inside the city gates. After another 10, the flame was mine! Can't wait to try the Undercity of the Undead! Oh, wait. Yes, I can.
About this time I heard from Jacob: he had just finished every last thing for the summer festival. Yeesh! Forty levels makes a difference, it seems. I offered my congratulations and noted to myself it was time to get back on the level track.
I alternated between Booty Bay and Gadgetzan to complete a few quests that were now attemptable, most of which involved slaughtering nagas, trolls, gorillas, bandits, and trolls. (There was a LOT of trolls.) Along the way at some point, I hit level 41 and finished a third of the way into the next level.
Game time was shortened to get the wife set up with Netflix(tm).
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