Think Pink
Well, after quite a bit of a break from blogging, (and even a short one from the game), it's time to come back with another WoW update. Two and half weeks into TBC, Echuta hit 70. After that, the Trolls and I worked on getting our Karazhan keys, and thanks to what many in the game have dubbed "The Karazhan Effect," after fits and starts at getting a competent group together, many of us promptly stalled out in our interest in the game. Not totally, mind you. No, rather it was more of a misplacing of the drive that has been pushing to play Warcraft to the exclusion of every other game out there. In the interim, those of us in the Troll Patrol rolled alts. Blood Elves, specifically, and although I have no idea what possessed me to do it, in addition to Ysalamiri (warlock), and Sacrosanque (priest), I also decided I was going to force myself to find out what the fracking big deal was about playing a paladin. Thusly, Alusara was born.
The reason I say "force myself" is because if you are anything like me, you know how absolutely infuriating it can be to face a paladin in PvP. (This is assuming, of course, that you have the sense that God gave a goose, and play Horde. By now, even if you are one of those filthy heathens on the other side, you have run into a Blood Elf or two wearing plate, and know exactly how it feels to get hit with that goddamned hammer of justice. Suck it, Trebek). As I began to level Lucy, I came to the conclusion that it was not the class that I despised, but rather the way that people played it that made them the focus of my wrath. Dwarf paladins, specifically, I found are the most brazen cowards in the game. That's not to say that I haven't shielded myself when low on health in a BG, then healed myself up to full, but I've spent enough time as a warrior and a mage in the battlegrounds to know that dying is an inevitability, and it only means you get all your mana back. My expectations for myself were extremely low, given the fact that heretofore I'd never leveled a healing class higher than 23. (RIP Islero).
The intention in the back of my mind all this time has been to spec Lucy for healing. This is sort of a gimme, since Echuta is my tank and Amp is my DPS/PvP character. That said, though, I've always wondered what a paladin could do when they were spec'd for tanking and placed in the hands of a capable tank. I realized that I could sit around and play theorycraft all day, but wasn't ever going to get an answer to my liking until I did it myself. It's the very same question I've always had about a feral druid, but even I'm not masochistic enough to go through that massive suck-fest to try. Nexu lived to see bear form and level 11, but that 10 minute flight from Moonglade to TB has got to go!
Flash forward two months from the start of the characters, and Alusara, Lilsqueak, Icindra and Kroln are now 70. (The cow is an honorary Blood Elf, and Lollipopman is quickly en route to the level cap, athough Ythia is there now. Overachiever). Lucy's /played to 70 was 14 days, 16 hours on the nose, pretty much. I don't know Echuta and Amp's times exactly, but I do believe that that was about 2 days less than 'Chutes' ding 60 and only slightly longer than Amp's. But to 70. I know that it was just over 9 days to 60 with her. That was a new personal record. At any rate, we cruised straight to the top with them, only pausing briefly for a few instances and some of the must-have gear pieces, but other than that, never darkened an instance door after Zul'Farrak till Hellfire Ramparts. Knowing how unbelievable the gear was in Outland, it was in our best interest just to quest grind to 58, and hit the Portal running as soon as we dinged.
It was at approximately 68 that the doldrums hit. The 2.1 patch noted had been out for several weeks and it seemed that much of the malaise that had hit the game from the onset of version 2.0 until the release of The Burning Crusade was back, in microcosm. The forgiveness curve seemed a bit too steep for the heroics, and the issue of a 7 day lockout on Karazhan threw all manner of logistical nightmares into the usually fluid group formation within TPP. (Many of those woes are still being expressed, mind you, but after a healthy dose of the officers urging the less proactive members of the guild to be the answer to their own, fervent prayers, it seems to have died down now that everyone sees that the KZ keying process isn't rocket surgery. The BC keying chart is daunting, to be sure, but once you've experienced much of it, it's not nearly as bad as it looks).
Spurred on somewhat by my ravenous consumption of 1UP.com's stable of podcasts, (Legendary Thread, 1UP Yours, GamesThe Sc for Windows, and The Retronauts), I took on the challenge laid out between Luke (The Scarab Lord) Smith and one of the other casters and tossed in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to see how quickly I could defeat the first boss. Luke's time to beat was somewhere along the lines of 21 mins. 19:31 bitches. That scant 20 minutes was enough to whet my appetite for SotN once again, though, and by the time I had to pick up Luke from work, 7 hours later, I had cleared the first castle. The next few days saw me defeat the evil wizard Shaft and the reverse castle, and all was right with the world.
Still not quite ready to deal with the more morose part of endgame (HAHAHAHA), I decided that it was time to go back and check out San Andreas, given the fact that I hadn't ever played it much longer than about two hours. I realize that that admission is the geek equivalent of never having seen Star Wars, but it's hardly like I care. Here's the quick rundown: Halo 2 comes out, and Mel pitches a fit that I'm going to be home to play it the first day. Having a GameFly subscription, I go ahead and make sure that I get San Andreas and Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal for the PS2, in the meantime. UYA is such a phenomenal game that I don't really want to play Halo that much, after all. The XBL interface was still buggy as hell, and there wasn't a lot of multiplayer going on. By the time I finished R&C, we were in the midst of buying the house, moving, etc, the holidays, ad nauseum. Mercenaries and Halo 2 were next on the list of stuff to play. Shortly after that, Jason introduced me to WoW, and there you have it.
Long story longer, two and a half years of consistent Warcraft is enough for much of anyone to reach their breaking point and need to come up for air. Now that Memorial Day is finished, and folks' schedules are going to be opening up more, it's easier for us to get a full run in KZ together. Over the holiday weekend, I made +1700g on the AH, and was able to get Echuta's Swift Red Windrider and lvl 300 riding skill. It took burning through every crafting mat I had stockpiled, but at least I'm done with it. So far, it's been worth every red cent. (280% mount speed is screaming). Now to get the money for Lucy's. I have no idea what I'm going to do with Amp for his mount, as his money will go towards her epic training. I'd love to think that the Netherwing mount is reasonably attainable, but these quests are a massive pain in the ass. Daily quests for the block, Chuck. At least it keeps the retards from just grinding it out. It's not a case of Turtle Wax, but as consolation prizes go, it's a nice one.
The reason I say "force myself" is because if you are anything like me, you know how absolutely infuriating it can be to face a paladin in PvP. (This is assuming, of course, that you have the sense that God gave a goose, and play Horde. By now, even if you are one of those filthy heathens on the other side, you have run into a Blood Elf or two wearing plate, and know exactly how it feels to get hit with that goddamned hammer of justice. Suck it, Trebek). As I began to level Lucy, I came to the conclusion that it was not the class that I despised, but rather the way that people played it that made them the focus of my wrath. Dwarf paladins, specifically, I found are the most brazen cowards in the game. That's not to say that I haven't shielded myself when low on health in a BG, then healed myself up to full, but I've spent enough time as a warrior and a mage in the battlegrounds to know that dying is an inevitability, and it only means you get all your mana back. My expectations for myself were extremely low, given the fact that heretofore I'd never leveled a healing class higher than 23. (RIP Islero).
The intention in the back of my mind all this time has been to spec Lucy for healing. This is sort of a gimme, since Echuta is my tank and Amp is my DPS/PvP character. That said, though, I've always wondered what a paladin could do when they were spec'd for tanking and placed in the hands of a capable tank. I realized that I could sit around and play theorycraft all day, but wasn't ever going to get an answer to my liking until I did it myself. It's the very same question I've always had about a feral druid, but even I'm not masochistic enough to go through that massive suck-fest to try. Nexu lived to see bear form and level 11, but that 10 minute flight from Moonglade to TB has got to go!
Flash forward two months from the start of the characters, and Alusara, Lilsqueak, Icindra and Kroln are now 70. (The cow is an honorary Blood Elf, and Lollipopman is quickly en route to the level cap, athough Ythia is there now. Overachiever). Lucy's /played to 70 was 14 days, 16 hours on the nose, pretty much. I don't know Echuta and Amp's times exactly, but I do believe that that was about 2 days less than 'Chutes' ding 60 and only slightly longer than Amp's. But to 70. I know that it was just over 9 days to 60 with her. That was a new personal record. At any rate, we cruised straight to the top with them, only pausing briefly for a few instances and some of the must-have gear pieces, but other than that, never darkened an instance door after Zul'Farrak till Hellfire Ramparts. Knowing how unbelievable the gear was in Outland, it was in our best interest just to quest grind to 58, and hit the Portal running as soon as we dinged.
It was at approximately 68 that the doldrums hit. The 2.1 patch noted had been out for several weeks and it seemed that much of the malaise that had hit the game from the onset of version 2.0 until the release of The Burning Crusade was back, in microcosm. The forgiveness curve seemed a bit too steep for the heroics, and the issue of a 7 day lockout on Karazhan threw all manner of logistical nightmares into the usually fluid group formation within TPP. (Many of those woes are still being expressed, mind you, but after a healthy dose of the officers urging the less proactive members of the guild to be the answer to their own, fervent prayers, it seems to have died down now that everyone sees that the KZ keying process isn't rocket surgery. The BC keying chart is daunting, to be sure, but once you've experienced much of it, it's not nearly as bad as it looks).
Spurred on somewhat by my ravenous consumption of 1UP.com's stable of podcasts, (Legendary Thread, 1UP Yours, GamesThe Sc for Windows, and The Retronauts), I took on the challenge laid out between Luke (The Scarab Lord) Smith and one of the other casters and tossed in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to see how quickly I could defeat the first boss. Luke's time to beat was somewhere along the lines of 21 mins. 19:31 bitches. That scant 20 minutes was enough to whet my appetite for SotN once again, though, and by the time I had to pick up Luke from work, 7 hours later, I had cleared the first castle. The next few days saw me defeat the evil wizard Shaft and the reverse castle, and all was right with the world.
Still not quite ready to deal with the more morose part of endgame (HAHAHAHA), I decided that it was time to go back and check out San Andreas, given the fact that I hadn't ever played it much longer than about two hours. I realize that that admission is the geek equivalent of never having seen Star Wars, but it's hardly like I care. Here's the quick rundown: Halo 2 comes out, and Mel pitches a fit that I'm going to be home to play it the first day. Having a GameFly subscription, I go ahead and make sure that I get San Andreas and Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal for the PS2, in the meantime. UYA is such a phenomenal game that I don't really want to play Halo that much, after all. The XBL interface was still buggy as hell, and there wasn't a lot of multiplayer going on. By the time I finished R&C, we were in the midst of buying the house, moving, etc, the holidays, ad nauseum. Mercenaries and Halo 2 were next on the list of stuff to play. Shortly after that, Jason introduced me to WoW, and there you have it.
Long story longer, two and a half years of consistent Warcraft is enough for much of anyone to reach their breaking point and need to come up for air. Now that Memorial Day is finished, and folks' schedules are going to be opening up more, it's easier for us to get a full run in KZ together. Over the holiday weekend, I made +1700g on the AH, and was able to get Echuta's Swift Red Windrider and lvl 300 riding skill. It took burning through every crafting mat I had stockpiled, but at least I'm done with it. So far, it's been worth every red cent. (280% mount speed is screaming). Now to get the money for Lucy's. I have no idea what I'm going to do with Amp for his mount, as his money will go towards her epic training. I'd love to think that the Netherwing mount is reasonably attainable, but these quests are a massive pain in the ass. Daily quests for the block, Chuck. At least it keeps the retards from just grinding it out. It's not a case of Turtle Wax, but as consolation prizes go, it's a nice one.
posted by Voice by Ben at 8:17 PM
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