The week in Kadomi-land
How’s Northrend been treating you? I still have a jolly good time, and I am not anywhere near the level cap myself. I am leveling my main Kadomi and my shaman Garande mostly side-by-side, so I am sitting at 75.5 with Kadomi and 73 with my shaman.
During the week I mostly played my shaman, who is currently in the Borean Tundra. I did HF with Kadomi, so I wanted the change of scenery. While I hated the first couple quests around Warsong Hold, I really have to agree with the achievement, Nothing Boring about Borean. I really loved the D.E.H.T.A quests in all their diversity. Who wouldn’t want to stomp on things with a mammoth? And seriously, who wouldn’t want to free baby murlocs?
Seriously, the D.E.H.T.A quests in the murloc village really made me laugh so much, it was awesome. From the cuteness of the babbling babies, to the hilarity of the murloc suit. If you haven’t done any quests in the Borean Tundra, do those two, and don’t forget to /dance and jump around a lot while wearing the costume. I moved my shaman to Taunka’le village now, and am still about 20 quests away from the quest achievement for the zone.
Later in the week I started playing Kadomi more seriously, investing more time. Let me just tell you how much I dig the Dragonblight. I thought the whole zone was done fabulously well, and even the more mundane tasks lead you to quests that make you feel epic. The phasing is so gentle it’s hard to notice, but it’s there. Once you’ve sworn the Taunka into the Horde, you will notice more and more of them show up at Agmar’s Hammer, ready to fight. Then you go to Icemist Village, and free the Taunka Chieftain from the Nerubians. A mini-boss shows up and even though the Taunka chief and the taunka he summons do most of the work, it feels really epic. Afterwards, you get to Agmar’s Hammer, and he’s there, and you get him to declare himself for the Horde. That’s the whole thread throughout the zone. You do great things. I really enjoyed the whole Scarlet Onslaught quest chain. Reading Abbendis’ diary was pretty creepy. I can’t wait to met Barean Westwind again. I enjoyed traveling to all the Dragonshrines and fighting along with bitchy Future Me. The machinations of the Blue Dragonflight were everywhere, and it’s cool.
I won’t say much about Wrathgate. The prequests were great and when you finally get out there, to Wrathgate, I think most people won’t be disappointed. It’s too good for me to say much about it. I love Saurfang, he really is as cool as all the myths about him. Also, Thrall kicks ass and from a lore-standpoint I don’t think Alliance has any leader comparable to him. I have forgiven him all his crimes of noobdom from Old Hillsbrad, he just kicks ass.
If I have one quibble with Dragonblight, it’s Alexstrasza. Was it really necessary to turn her non-dragon form into a female bloodelf in a bikini and thigh-highs, with horns? Really, Blizzard, really? I am sure you picked out the most regal slutwear for her, I am sure. Bah. Male designers, catering to the masses. I pretty much prefer her dragonform. She’s got bling, the lady!
I had hoped to hit both Azjol-Nerub and Ahn’kahet this weekend, but I only got in a couple Azjol-Nerub runs. If you are arachnophobiac like me, Azjol-Nerub is not exactly the place to be, especially not the second boss in there. The passage down through the spiderwebs to the hole in the ground is fantastically beautiful. It reminded me a bit of Maraudon on crack. The jump down the hole is really amazing, you zoom past so many beautiful sights. I didn’t even know you can die while jumping, so I am pretty happy no one in my groups died. I would call the place short but not sweet, and it’s a lot of fun running it. I really can’t wait for Ahn’kahet though. It’s supposed to be enormous, beautiful and have the best end-boss fight ever.
Leveling as prot continues to be amazing. I really love the AoE grinding, and my new pastime is testing my limits with soloing group quests. It doesn’t always work out anymore, the elites in Dragonblight are a bit more taxing. The two closest calls were Rattlebore in Really Big Worm and Grom’thar the Thunderbringer from Wanton Warlord. I had to blow all cooldowns for Rattlebore, and almost all of them for Grom’thar. Enraged Regeneration is <3. By the way, thank you, group of four alliance guys who stood there and watched when I fought Rattlebore, without lifting a finger when it got really close for me. Thank you so much. Thankfully most of the other alliance people I ran into when trying to solo elites were a lot more helpful than that. Your admiring BUR when I survived only made me want to KEK at you.
Gear upgrades have slowed down to a crawl. I have made my Saronite Defender and switched to Expelling Gauntlets as quest reward from Azjol-Nerub. I am also loving on my new Medallion of Heroism for grinding. I highly recommend Veneretio’s macros for grinding, though I dig the Retaliation one a lot more than the Recklessness one. But they both work and I am having fun finding out the best uses for them.
Sounds like your having alot of fun!
I decided that leveling prot was going to be too slow for me and decided to go arms – I had some good gear (mostly kara but good enough ;-D) and quested that way. Bladestorm = <3 with only 1.5 min cooldowns I was using it whenevr possible. Made leveling really easy. I hit level cap around sunday night and immideatly switched back to prot!
My favorite zone was indeed Dragonblight! The movie which insues from that achivement line. The movie was awsome. The quests afterwards were awesome. My 40k crit excecutes were… AWESOME! I had a really fun time with that whole quest line.
I started in Borean Tundra and did all the quests there getting both achievments for that zone, went onto Dragonsblight then Grizzly Hills, Sholazr Basin, zul’drak and finishing the last few quests in Storm peaks when I hit 80. I plan on doing the Howling Fjord quests and Ice crown when Blizzard patches and allow for dual specs. Since patch I’ve respeced 13 times and spending ~ 635 gold. Which isnt too bad since I’ve made ridiculus amounts via auctions and the way OP’d mining profession.
Back onto quest lines however the questline where you pretend to be scourge and head up and kill the troll boss (bad with names and quests lines sorry :X) and you stand face to face with the Lich King with his measly 22 million health – I was thinking “Holy CRUD!!!” it was just the craziest I’m going to die moments in WoW. I like how they’ve incorperated him into more than the final end boss.
I’ve also started to raid first we went to the Obsidian Sanctum only missing out on the first kill by an hour
and then heading into Naxx and tackling some bosses! I’m having a ton of fun with WoW again mostly ’cause I’m a hard core raider and raiding is something I thourly enjoy day in and out.
Reply
Sounds like your leveling at the same pace as me. Although I am a Dwarf so have a slighlty different vuewpoint.
The alliance Wrathgate quest was very cool. Got a little confused at first and ended up trying to solo it without the King’s help.
As for gear upgrades I am depending almost entirely on my Blacksmithing for Tanking items and have been simply retaining some of the best DPS stuff for when I feel this is appropriate.
Your complaint about the alliance not helping you is amusing to me. I play on a PvP server and plenty of horde have simply ganked me when fighting tough mobs. My response is usually to ignore my quest for a little while trying to get pay back.
I also enjoyed Dragonblight and soloing the group quests. I feel like I am really achieving something as I make efficient use of all my abilities.
Enraged Regeneration is simply awesome.
Keep up the good work.
Shagh
Reply
What addons are you using?
Reply
admin Reply:
November 26th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Check out this older post of mine, it identifies most of my addons. I use a lot of addons, and regularly post an addon corner. If you have any specific questions about UI elements, let me know.
Reply
Orchanna Reply:
November 27th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
UnitFrames, Recent CombatLog, Procs and Target Debuffs.
Reply
admin Reply:
November 27th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Pitbull, Eavesdrop, Mik’s Scrolling Battle Text and Classtimer.
Reply
Prot leveling has been a blast. I have to say, it was fun during the battle for UC quest to see my shield slam crit for 19k.
As for gear, I was able to get so much stuff off the AH for cheap before people knew how to price it. I got a Saronite Bulwark (better than the Horde Expedition shield) for 50g.
And as for the quest where your future self helps you.. I have not seen it yet, but I’m told there is a level 80 quest where you go back to help your past self!
Grizzly Hills is where I’m at now. Absolutely beautiful. If I were made of pixels, I’d move there.
Reply
Ah I envy your slow & joyous levelling experience
No, I’m still level 79, but have certainly felt stressed to rush it. Then… I take a chill pill, go back to reading all the quest texts & extras (like that long book you mention) and feel a whole lot better. Raiders talk all the time about wanting to experience new content – then rush through the most beautiful content the game will ever have to offer… weird huh?
Omg I love all the zones, they’re just beautiful. Dragonblight – yeah! Grizzly hills I fell in love with. I was oddly moved by a one off quest to feed a bear some fish from a nearby river – one last meal before the bear dies (which it doesnt, so dont panic). I identify with bear a little too much, I guess. That bear was sooooo cute.
So you warriors finally got your version of frenzied regeneration huh? Glad you like it
Ok guess I have no issues bringing a warrior along anymore.
Reply