All This and World War Three

So, it was my daughter's 4th birthday on Thursday. If I said it had taken me this long to recover, it would not be too far from the truth.

So, I've not been to PTR Land since the latest Build (which I finally managed to download this afternoon) but the changes look very interesting. I also see that there are some new Fishing Quests in Dalaran, so that needs some investigation. The last couple of days however have been about clearing up loose ends.

• M finally got Exalted with the Sons of OhDear and has her shoulder enchant. This involved a long and entertaining grind session in the Blue Laydeez Mine area where, for the first time since at least before TBC, I found a Bot. How did I know? Well, I spent an awfully long time (back in the day) farming black scales from the dragons in Burning Steppes for crafting. That used to be the Farmers Base, the BM hunters who never slept, never took a break and who would have a manner about them that made them unmistakeably not human. You get a Spider Sense, after a while... and so I reported it to a GM who agreed that the behaviour needed further investigation. Let's hope it's quicker to ban someone now than it was back then.

• M the Shaman is now very close to 48. When I've typed this she's likely to ding, as it happens, which gives her a ton of stuff to grow into. I still need to do Alliance TRAUMA which still gives me bloody sleepless nights. I HATE that quest. It's gonna be another clear of the current quest log and then it is back to Searing Gorge to start on the Thorium Brotherhood quests. I may even get the rep for the patterns, because I can. I've finished everything up to Sunken Temple... and then it's BRD... :O

• There has been what, I suspect in business circles, would be referred to as cost containment amongst the alts. A couple are likely to be *gasp!* deleted as well, as I try and sort out who has use and who I want to play with in the future.

So, let's go get the Shammy up another level then...

Passing Through

Yes, I've gone quiet. There's a very good reason.

Expect a massive splurge of stuffs in the morning :D

New Kid on the Block

Not much now, but we all have to start somewhere...

So, I have a new project.

I have wanted to level a Shaman since they appeared in TBC on the Alliance side, but every attempt at doing so stalled (most in the late 20's/early 30's) It was a combination of having RL as a priority, being a GM when I was in-game and raiding, and simple inability to make it over the awkward hump when I did have the time. When Wrath hit I quietly resolved it would be something I would do, to see if being self-sufficient wearing mail was as much fun as being self-sufficient in leather has been as a Druid.

So far, it's been far more fun than I thought was possible.

It could be that I'm in a lull pre-Ulduar, that I like the simpler stuff right now (as opposed to the Elbow of Justice/Valor Farming, which does have it's moments but can get a bit wearing) or just that I have realised that what I enjoy in the game above everything else is to be useful. Hunters (as a good friend said to me only this morning) bring dps, dps and... dps to a party. They don't bring offspec healing or the ability to rez or a lot of other useful items... they are not a helpful class. To be honest, Hunters can be selfish. Not all of them, this is not a blanket criticism, but there are still many who think that they are all there is. Ironically I did a Heroic VoA on P this morning and hunters were 3 of the top 5 DPS lots. All of course were Survival.

Blizz should be shot for all they've done (and continue to do) to the class which once was fun to play but now really does seem to be a one dimensional raid tool. If you can't max the meters, you're no good, coz you can't bring anything else to the table other than damage and a bit of mana regeneration.

Hang on, when did this become a rant?

Anyway, back to the latest project.

M is L45, has Blacksmithing at 275 (Weaponsmith seemed the best bet as I can already make her epic armour at 80 via P) and has spent the last few days whizzing around Badlands, Desolace, ZF and Maraudon (top loots from both, thanks to Hubby and D for doing the runs) before spending most of yesterday zooming around getting FP's so I can dive into Searing Gorge and Felwood once I've done with the new quest hub at Duskwallow. She will, I hope, have 1000g to dual spec as Resto + dps once the time comes. I suspect Healing will be primary not simply because the Guild needs Shammies, but because I am increasingly enjoying the healing role in the end game.

I will keep you up to date with progress.

[PTR] More, More, More!

Flush with the success of yesterday, I'm back to the Argent Tournament, to see what they've fixed and what's still borked. As it transpires, a lot has been addressed in the latest PTR build.

Clear, concise and to the point on the Feeback front.

I've seen the feedback forms on earlier PTR's and this is miles better. Of particular interest is the 'Suggestion' box which gives the definite impression Blizz is listening. This cannot be a bad thing. They've fixed the borked quest I couldn't do last time (The Stories Dead Men Tell) for starters, which I was able to progress with. When I found another quest inside the starting area with objectives to track, that rather handily popped up on my screen as well. I don't remember that happening when you picked up a quest before, only when you picked up an item associated with it or completed a step. They've even taken it further:


See the little purple crystal icon that's appeared next to the Quest Text in the first screenie? I thought it was a bug but it's actually the quest item icon. Clicking on it brings up the Seer's Crystal quest item dialogue. You need to have both items for the quest text to highlight as completed.

I've never used any kind of Quest Helper before so I have no idea whether this is standard if you have such an addon, but the developments here make sound logical sense. I am going to forgo the new content altogether as the next stage and try some low level questing on M to see if this has been implemented throughout the game.

Now I have to find a squire about some unexplained disappearances...

Blimey!

So, my spot on the Quest Tooltips made it onto WoW Insider... :D

/waves at anyone new passing by. Hello!

[PTR] Same As it Ever Was

So, I tried to get into the PTR when Ulduar was active. Needless to say...



was as far as I ever got. This is the Game Gods way of telling me it's not my time yet, go grind some glods coz frankly you're gonna need a lot of stuff to sort out the 325 Alt Family 'o' Doom.

Yesterday morning however, I did get to sneak on, and went back to the Tournament. I need 15 signets to proceed to the next stage of participation (managed to get to 12 despite several quests still being borked) so hopefully at some point today I can see what happens when you finally arrive at a proper Joust. What also caught my eye whilst mooching around were the new shirts:


[Note: as you can see, arrows are still stacking to 200. One assumes this stacking to 1000 change is gonna pop up on the next build]

Blizz have really pulled their finger out on the character decoration front: new outfits for the Seasonal events, even (GASP!) new shoe patterns, and now we have shirts with your fave Alliance or Horde's Faction crest shoved on the front in obligatory Fangnome fashion. 25g seems a bit steep to be honest, but if you have 1000g lying about to become a Dual Speccer it's hardly gonna break the bank. Here I am (still headless, *sigh*) modelling the Gnomeregan version. I love them in that underground lair:


Perhaps the most interesting thing I noticed totally by accident. Blizz have started getting a bit more creative with mob tooltips. Let me show you a couple of examples:



The top mob was part of the quest 'Training in the Field' (one of the new Tournament dailies) and not only does my tooltip now tell me I need the mob for that quest it also tells me I need five more mobs to complete it. Similarly the Unbound Seer drops the quest item I require in able to complete the other quest I'm on (which is completely borked sadly) Some might think this is further evidence that the game is being dumbed down, I am actually quite pleased to see it. On brain slow days, it's going to cut down a lot of the stupid questions in Guild and elsewhere.

In it's own way, this could be one of the most significant in-game developments for some time.