Monday, November 24, 2014

My First Level 100!!

Hi,

Yep. Did it. About mid-afternoon on Sunday, Flaying got to 100 while questing in Nagrand.

100!!

And here she is, chilling at her Garrison, proud to be level 100.

Flayingbrit at her Garrison
Another reason for that picture is to make it the background for the entire blog.

So, a lot has happened this week, nearly all of it in Draenor. Flaying completed Shadowmoon Valley, and then did nearly all of Gorgrond. She went to Talador and did the first few quests there and hit 96. I read that you could get the Salvage Yard (to get some cool salvage while doing Follower missions), so I knew you had to go to Spires of Arak to do that.

Flaying abandoned Talador, and went off to Spires. It took a lot of quests to actually get the Garrison Outpost set up, and then the start of the quest chain for the Salvage Yard Blueprint still wasn't showing up. So, I went and did the Admiral Tailor quests, and boom, it opened up. A few more Golbiny quests later, and I had finally unlocked it.

Spires of Arak is pretty cool, and at the end of it, you're given a quest to kill all the bosses in the Skyreach dungeon. So, while questing in Nagrand, I queued for it, and got in a good group and did it fine (making sure I also had the quest for Skyreach from my Inn).

Nagrand is really cool. Lot's of Throwback to Outland quests (or is that Throw Forward? :)). Things like going to the Throne of the Elements, killing Clefthoof and Taibuk etc. I really liked it though.

So, Flaying is now 100. I was unsure where the daily for Apexis Crystals was, but went back to my Garrison and it was on the War table next to where you send your followers on missions. I got the PVE one (of course) and it was doing stuff in the area between Shadowmoon Valley and Spires of Arak. Not bad at all. Took about 30 minutes because of all the people there.

Flaying now has about 5 level 100 followers, and they've been going on missions to get gear and weapons tokens to upgrade. It's still a fun little game. I've stopped doing follower missions on other characters so that the followers don't level too quickly.

On the Profession side, my characters are swimming in Ore, with me having 2 level 2 mines, and 2 level 1 mines. Draeny is up to about 71 Truesteel, and will soon be able to make her shield. Gnomey is up to about 83 Hexweave Cloth, and will be able to make a Robe for Flaying soon. Fliction has about 35 Gearspring Parts now. Oh, and Flaying got to 700 Herbalism too.

I leveled Draeny, Gnomey, and Fliction to 92 to get the mines. And now that Flaying is 100, I'll be leveling Gnomey next (she got to 93 this week). Another thing I did was take many more characters into Draenor. I have now done 9, and only 3 remain.

In the mornings, I've also got a bit of time in on Priesty. She got to level 41 this morning and is questing in Eastern Plaguelands.

Alliance (Brits United) on Draenor:

Flayingbrit (100) - Human/Priest (Herbalism 700/Alchemy 613) - iLvl 596
Draenybrit (92) - Draenei/Shaman (Mining 683/Blacksmithing 605)
Gnomeybrit (93) - Gnome/Priest (Tailoring 608/Enchanting 601)
Flictionbrit (92) - Gnome/Warlock (Mining 650/Engineering 643)
Fengsuibrit (90) - Pandaren/Hunter (Skinning 606/Leatherworking 600)
Blizzybrit (90) - Draenei/Mage (Mining 600/Jewelcrafting 600)
Boomybrit (90) - Night Elf/Druid (Herbalism 600/Inscription 600)

Unstablebrit (90) - Human/Warlock (Mining 600/Skinning 600)
Pallybrit (90) - Human/Paladin (Mining 600/Tailoring 600)
Bamboodbrit (90) - Pandaren/Priest (Herbalism 600/Alchemy 600)

Priestybrit (41) - Draenei/Priest (None)
Raidbrit (10) - Doesn't matter (2nd account)

Alliance (Brits United) on Echo Isles:
 
Shaolinbrit (90) - Pandaren/Monk (
Mining 591/Jewelcrafting 600) 
Slealthybrit (90) - Pandaren/Rogue (
Skinning 600/Leatherworking 600)
Smashbrit (12) - Pandaren/Warrior (None)
Frostybrit (68) - Draenei/Death Knight (None)
 
Horde (Britannia) on Ghostlands:

Priestybrit (40) - Undead/Priest (Tailoring 168/Enchanting 179)
Elfybrit (3) - Blood Elf/Priest (None)
Shammybrit (25) - Orc/Shaman (Mining 16/Herbalism 23)


Achievements made it up to 5140 this week, with the last two being Level 100, and Skyreach.

The plan for next week is to keep doing the Apexis Crystal daily and Follower missions on Flaying. To also level Gnomey, and probably work on Boomy too, because I can't wait to get started on Inscription. I'll also work on Priesty in the mornings and maybe even Frosty too.

No Opinion Time this week. I think the blog post is long enough as it is. It will return next week.

Cheers.
 

Monday, November 17, 2014

Warlords of Draenor is Here!!

Hi,

Yep, Warlords released last Thursday, which seems like such a long time ago now. It certainly was a rocky Thursday and Friday, with lag, queues, all sorts of bugs. But it really settled down on Saturday after maintenance, and I've been having a blast ever since.

I of course started with Flaying. The Jungle intro is really great. So much better than the MoP starting experience. Then Shadowmoon Valley is just awesome. As soon as you get there, you get a couple of quests and then get to start up your Garrison. What a great feature Garrisons are. I got Flaying all set up, did some more quests in SMV, and then took Gnomey and Draeny there to set up their Garrisons also.

One thing I particularly love about Garrisons is recruiting Followers, and sending them on missions to level them up. It's such a great little mini simulator. Assign the followers with the right traits for the particular mission to take the likelyhood of success from about 64% to 100%. Flaying now has 8 followers and Draeny and Gnomey have about 3 or 4.

This is what happens after sending out the 8 followers on missions. I usually choose short duration ones, but then the 10 hour ones for at night, or before I come to work.

Completed Missions
Then, go and see what's been completed. The characters even do a little dance of joy when they level up. Here, they both leveled to 95.

A successful Mission
Flaying now has four level 95 Followers. I can really see getting lots to 100 by the next blog post.

In actually leveling, Flaying completed all of Shadowmoon Valley, has started in Gorgrond, and is level 93. Gnomey is still in SMV and is 91, and Dreany is in SMV and is 91. They are the only ones I've taken there so far. All of them have their prof buildings set up, and have started doing Work Orders. I'm not really looking to level professions right now, just start getting the high level mats.

Oh, before I forget, even though Flaying is not a Miner, she got a Mine on her Garrison. It's great getting all that Blackrock and True Iron Ore every day. I can't wait to get a Herb Garden, but that doesn't appear until level 96.

I should also mention that Flaying decided to get the Inn at the Garrison. At level 1, she gets daily quests for dungeons (which she actually did once), and when it gets to level 2, she can recruit followers.

Other than my play in Draenor, I've been leveling Priesty, Shaolin, and Frosty. I actually got Shaolin to 90, and she's my 12th level 90. Priesty has moved on to the Cape of Straglehorn, and Frosty actually made it through Outland, and is about to start in Northrend.

With Shaolin getting to 90, it was time to pick professions. I decided she should get Mining/JC. So, she started gathering all the ore and zooming through JC. One problem was that it appears that Wintergrasp is bugged, so she couldn't get any Ore from there (and that's usually my go to spot for Saronite and Titanium :(). Anyway, with the help of Flaying making Earthsiege Diamond, Shaolin did make it to 425. She made it through Cata no problem, and is now into MoP JC.

Alliance (Brits United) on Draenor:

Flayingbrit (93) - Human/Priest (Herbalism 673/Alchemy 601)
Draenybrit (91) - Draenei/Shaman (Mining 603/Blacksmithing 600)
Gnomeybrit (91) - Gnome/Priest (Tailoring 600/Enchanting 600)
Flictionbrit (90) - Gnome/Warlock (Mining 600/Engineering 600)
Fengsuibrit (90) - Pandaren/Hunter (Skinning 600/Leatherworking 600)
Blizzybrit (90) - Draenei/Mage (Mining 600/Jewelcrafting 600)
Boomybrit (90) - Night Elf/Druid (Herbalism 600/Inscription 600)

Unstablebrit (90) - Human/Warlock (Mining 600/Skinning 600)
Pallybrit (90) - Human/Paladin (Mining 600/Tailoring 600)
Bamboodbrit (90) - Pandaren/Priest (Herbalism 600/Alchemy 600)
Priestybrit (32) - Draenei/Priest (None)
Raidbrit (10) - Doesn't matter (2nd account)

Alliance (Brits United) on Echo Isles:
 
Shaolinbrit (90) - Pandaren/Monk (
Mining 591/Jewelcrafting 600) 
Slealthybrit (90) - Pandaren/Rogue (Skinning 600/Leatherworking 600)
Smashbrit (12) - Pandaren/Warrior (None)
Frostybrit (68) - Draenei/Death Knight (None)
 
Horde (Britannia) on Ghostlands:

Priestybrit (40) - Undead/Priest (Tailoring 168/Enchanting 179)
Elfybrit (3) - Blood Elf/Priest (None)
Shammybrit (25) - Orc/Shaman (Mining 16/Herbalism 23)


Achievements have gone up over 5000 now at 5030, with the last two being Bloodmaul Slag Mines, and As I Walk Through The Valley of the Shadow of the Moon.

The plan for next week is probably take a few more into Draenor. Also to level Flaying up more, and probably Draeny and Gnomey too. I'll try to sneak in some time for Priesty and Forsty, and will definitely get Shaolin's profs to 600. Horde didn't get any play this week, and will probably not next week either.

Opinion Time: The Single Best Feature of WoD

Well, you've probably guessed what I consider the best feature by now. Yep, it's Follower Missions. It's so much fun sending them out and missions and seeing them complete (or even if they fail, they still get XP from) it. I love the little animations, especially the dancing when they level up.

I can imagine further down the road, when I have 12 characters with Garrisons, that I could just be logging on to each of them, looking at completed missions, and sending the followers out on new ones. This could be an entirely new little mini game with WoW. I don't think I'll just be doing that though.

Cheers.  

Monday, November 10, 2014

A Change in Direction!

Hi,

Yep, here's what happened. I was working on leveling all my Pandaren to 90 to get Classy Pandaren from the Guild. But then it hit me. Blizzard have spent massive amounts of resources to make new character models, and Pandaren isn't one of them. So, I've switched gears now, and decided that I will level all classes of Draenei to 90 instead. To that end, I started a Draenei Death Knight, and a Draenei Priest.

Frostybrit

That's my Death Knight. I got her up to level 64, and she's heading to Nagrand next. She got all the Heirlooms from Smashbrit, who I'm no longer playing.

Priestybrit

This is my Priest. She got all the Heirlooms from one of the Venture Co toons. I got her to 25 this morning in Duskwood. I'll continue in Duskwood for a while, before heading to Northern Stranglehorn.

I also decided to do other fun stuff this week, instead of the same old farming and TI. So, Flying went to ICC, to see if she could solo it. Well, indeed she could. She completed ICC and got tons of Achievements. I also researched where you could get Ashes of Alar from. So, Flying went to Tempest Keep, and soloed that too. No ashes though :). Draeny also did Tempest Keep.

Well, there's more to talk about. I decided to start leveling Horde characters too. So, I started up some characters on Ghostlands. I decided to give them a quick start by transferring over the guild from Ravenholt. So, my Undead Priest transferred over with the Guild. I wanted to start on Classy Blood Elf, but after starting a Priest, realized that I didn't have the Heirlooms (they're on Priesty). So, I had Shaman Heirlooms handy, so decided to level an Orc Shaman.

Elfybrit

This is the Blood Elf Priest I started. She won't be leveled until she can get the Heirlooms.

Shammybrit

And here's the Orc Shaman. I got her to level 13. She's questing in Silverpine Forest now (one of my favorite zones!). I decided I probably will use the AH on these Horde characters, so I gave Shammy Mining and Herbalim, so she can sell tons of stuff.

That's about it. I did go through Blasted Lands on quite a few more 90s, and you'll see an increase in iLvL, because a few of them got upgrades from it. Oh, I also leveled Shaolin a bit. I want to get her to 90 and then do professions.

Alliance (Brits United) on Draenor:

Flayingbrit (90) - Human/Priest (Herbalism 600/Alchemy 600) - iLvL 552
Draenybrit (90) - Draenei/Shaman (Mining 600/Blacksmithing 600) - iLvL 528
Gnomeybrit (90) - Gnome/Priest (Tailoring 600/Enchanting 600) - iLvl 548
Flictionbrit (90) - Gnome/Warlock (Mining 600/Engineering 600) - iLvL 523
Fengsuibrit (90) - Pandaren/Hunter (Skinning 600/Leatherworking 600) - iLvL 536
Blizzybrit (90) - Draenei/Mage (Mining 600/Jewelcrafting 600) - iLvL 522
Boomybrit (90) - Night Elf/Druid (Herbalism 600/Inscription 600) - iLvL 505

Unstablebrit (90) - Human/Warlock (Mining 600/Skinning 600) - iLvL 529
Pallybrit (90) - Human/Paladin (Mining 600/Tailoring 600) - iLvL 525
Bamboodbrit (90) - Pandaren/Priest (Herbalism 600/Alchemy 600) - iLvL 506 

Priestybrit (25) - Draenei/Priest (None)
Raidbrit (10) - Doesn't matter (2nd account)

Alliance (Brits United) on Echo Isles:
 
Shaolinbrit (86) - Pandaren/Monk (None) 
Slealthybrit (90) - Pandaren/Rogue (
Skinning 600/Leatherworking 600) - iLvL 485
Smashbrit (12) - Pandaren/Warrior (None)
Frostybrit (64) - Draenei/Death Knight (None)
 
Horde (Britannia) on Ghostlands:


Priestybrit (40) - Undead/Priest (Tailoring 168/Enchanting 179)
Elfybrit (3) - Blood Elf/Priest (None)
Shammybrit (25) - Orc/Shaman (Mining 16/Herbalism 23)

Achievements have zoomed up this week to 4890:

Achievements
The last two were explore Neterstorm, and giving Explore Outland (I thought I'd polish that off when I went there for Tempest Keep.

The plan for next week is to start leveling my 90s in WoD (which releases on Thursday). I'll also level my low level characters in the morning, when CRZ is more bearable.


Opinion Time: Less Than 3 Days To Go!

Well, not really opinion, just excitement. Even though I told you of a couple of things I'm not looking forward to in WoD, it's still going to be awesome. I can't wait to start questing in new zones, getting my Garrisons up and running, and collecting new gathering materials.

2 days and 15 hours to go, as of writing this sentence. I can't wait. 

Cheers.    

Monday, November 3, 2014

Boosted!!

Hi,

Yep, I got Stealthy to 60 on Sunday, questing in the Blasted Lands. I hearthed and went and got Skinning and Leatherworking and then - Boosted!!

Stealthy at 90

She started doing the level 90 Blasted Lands quests, but stopped after the first 3. She went back to Stormwind and visited her class trainer. There, for 23 gold, she reset her class talents and got all the abilities, and 280 flying. She ported off to Pandaria, started on the farming quests, and went and set home to the Shrine. Soon, she'll be getting tons of 496 Timeless gear in the mail :)

Well, one thing she did in the shrine was do the one thing I decided to boost a Rogue for. Open all the Ghost Iron Lockboxes I'd been collecting. She netted about 1.5K gold from them.

You may wonder why it took me from Monday to Sunday to get from 51-60. Well, I've been really sick. I had some sort of Viral Infection and I was basically out of action from Tuesday to Friday. On antibiotics now and feeling much better.

Well, what's next? I guess I'll level my Warrior now, without boosting :)

Smashbrit on the Wandering Isle
I got Smash to level 10 just this morning. I will level her in the morning, and play my 90s in the evening. Of course, on my 90s, I've still been doing the farm with my two Tailors, and TI with Blizzy, Untable, and Pally.

I must admit that I didn't play as much as I expected over the weekend. That's because - Civilization: Beyond Earth got released last Friday, and I've been playing it rather a lot. I'll have time to play them both, no problem though.

Alliance (Brits United) on Draenor:

Flayingbrit (90) - Human/Priest (Herbalism 600/Alchemy 600) - iLvL 552
Draenybrit (90) - Draenei/Shaman (Mining 600/Blacksmithing 600) - iLvL 528
Gnomeybrit (90) - Gnome/Priest (Tailoring 600/Enchanting 600) - iLvl 546
Flictionbrit (90) - Gnome/Warlock (Mining 600/Engineering 600) - iLvL 519
Fengsuibrit (90) - Pandaren/Hunter (Skinning 600/Leatherworking 600) - iLvL 532
Blizzybrit (90) - Draenei/Mage (Mining 600/Jewelcrafting 600) - iLvL 510
Boomybrit (90) - Night Elf/Druid (Herbalism 600/Inscription 600) - iLvL 505

Unstablebrit (90) - Human/Warlock (Mining 600/Skinning 600) - iLvL 523 

Pallybrit (90) - Human/Paladin (Mining 600/Tailoring 600) - iLvL 515
Bamboodbrit (90) - Pandaren/Priest (Herbalism 600/Alchemy 600) - iLvL 506
Raidbrit (10) - Doesn't matter

Alliance on Echo Isles:
 
Shaolinbrit (85) - Pandaren/Monk (None) 
Slealthybrit (90) - Pandaren/Rogue (
Skinning 600/Leatherworking 600) - iLvL 485
Smashbrit (10) - Pandaren/Warrior (None)


Achievements went up to 4640 this week, with the new one being Blackrock Depths.

The plan for next week is to level Smash. Transfer the heirlooms over from the Smash over on Venture Co. and level really quickly. I'll continue to do stuff on 90s, and will complete the Blasted Lands quests on all of them. Only 10 days until WoD now.

Opinion Time: The Level 90 Blasted Lands Quests
  
Having done these quite a few times now, I'll give my opinion on them. They are fine. They're a nice little addition in content until WoD, and are really good for lower geared alts. The gear is a nice boost up from the regular Timeless gear, so it's a nice addition for those without better gear.

However, with flying, the quests are really pretty trivial. Fly there, click on that. Fly there, attack that. I'll actually be looking forward to when we have current level content where we can't fly. I feel they missed an opportunity here. As the Blasted Lands stuff was instanced, they could easily have made it a no flying area. This would have made it feel more like WoD content, and would have made it better IMHO.

Cheers.