Whirly: good to go

We had a hard time in Dire Maul, dieing multiple times. Even so, we did everything we’ve ever done in there, plus a little extra, so go figure.

It’s crazy simple to get into Dire Maul now. The outside guys are all non-elites. The dog packs? Singles. Oooo, look out!! here comes a level 48 dog. We couldn’t figure out why they would make the outside mobs easier. Any group capable of working inside one of the Dire Maul instances would have no trouble getting in. The only thing I could think of was that single players can solo there now.

We were in the neighborhood so stopped into Stratholme to say hi. Not such a good place for three 56s. We’ve never worked any further than the very beginning. That’s still true, though we did a couple of the beginning groups. What a pain. We’ll have to check it out again in a couple of levels.

I’m off to the big city for a week or so, but I’m looking forward to Blackrock Depths when I return. We did some good business in there last time, even though we had no idea what we were doing. We are only a little ways from 58 and Burning Crusades, content we’ve not experienced before, how cool is that?

Things have change drastically since the patch. Mike suggest a trip into The Temple of Atal’Hakkar. We’ve need to enter the ground floor and kill Morphaz for both a Mage and Priest quest. It’s been hard for the three of us to work that area because of the large groups involved. Well, it’s changed now. Not the size of the large groups, but their difficulty has been reduced considerably. It was embarrassing how easily we mowed through them, reached Morphaz & Hazzas, and took them down. We killed everything on the floor we could get to then poked around the rest of the Temple just to burn up the clock till it was time to go home.

Mark and I ran into each other one evening trying to gain experience to reach level 56. He suggested we head over to Mauradon and attempt Rotgrip. I thought he was crazy, but agreed anyway. Turns out I was the crazy one. We easily reached Rotgrip, defeated him (I picked up the shoulders I’ve been looking for), and continued till we killed Tinkerer Whats-his-name. The experience wasn’t very good, maybe a bubble, but it was fun all the same. I never would have thought we could have worked that place so easily with just the two of us.

I’ve suggested Dire Maul next. No way we can own that place. Well, maybe.

We died too many times in Blackrock depths, but somehow managed to make it to The Black Vault, where you use the coffer keys to unlock the coffers. We didn’t have the time, coffer keys, or level to proceed, so that’s where we ended our night. Blackrock is such a big zone and we’ve seen so little of it. We’ve got to study and prepare if we are going to see it all.

We used our Scepters to enter Mauradon on an unscheduled Saturday run. This is our first visit since the patch. The bosses have changed. Princess Theradras is level 48 elite now. She was 51 elite the last time we tried. Her three level reduction plus our one level increase made her an easy fight. Rotgrip was level 48 elite as well, and an easier kill. We also took Landslide though he didn’t seem any easier to me. We can run those three bosses in less than an hour now.

I guess we are about done with Mauradon. There are a couple of boss-drops we’d like to have. I would be surprised if we went back more than twice looking for them. Our last trip to 60 we worked Mauradon only a few times. It wasn’t a fun zone. The experience was poor. We picked up no drops. This time we had a much better experience. I don’t know if it was our improved attitude or better game skills.

A return to Mauradon, this time via the Scepter of Celebras which dropped us off at the bottom of the falls instead of by the stone as expected. We ran through Tinkerer Gizlok and Rotgrip with ease, but it took us a while to track down Princess Theradras who was hiding from us. We gave her a try, our first, and did a credible job of getting her to 20%, but it just wasn’t to be. Maybe next time. Then again, after today’s patch, she may be level 46 or something. The rumor is that they have reduced the level range of mobs in pre Burning Crusade instances. Who knows what that means.

Friday night in Mauradon was a bust. Except for two good things. We Killed Noxxion, not an easy fight, and we all dinged 54. It’s hard to call the Noxxion kill a complete success as we all died, but so did Noxxion. We were able to loot the Celedrian Rod, after our graveyard run, which we needed for the Scepter of Celebras quest. Mike didn’t release his spirit, staying with the dead Noxxion. We thought Mike being there might keep Noxxion’s corpse from de-spawning. It’s an urban legend we can’t ignore. I resurrected Mike on our return. We tried Landslide again and failed. It’s frustrating fighting our way in for two and a half hours to fail. Not a great night.

Saturdays, Mike and I usually play for a couple of hours. This week Mark showed up so we headed back into Mauradon. Mark was sure he knew where Lord Vyletongue was, the next kill require for the Scepter of Celebras quest. The Scepter would allow us to bypass about an hour and a half of mobs, reaching the heart of Mauradon quickly. It would open the central bosses to us on our two hour raids. Mark was correct and we took Lord Vyletongue quickly. We then worked our way to fight Celebras the Cursed. We’ve only tried him once, it was a complete humiliation for us. This time we were a little more prepared and killed him. His ghost created the Scepter for us. Quite a thrill, I must say.

Well, we are here. Might as well try Landslide again. Success! Thought it was very close. How far to the next boss Tinkerer Gizlok? Success again. What about Rotgrip? Another Success. We were kickin butt, but had no time left to reach Princess Theradras. We called it an outstanding day and Mike ported us back to Ogramaar. The folks in town didn’t know we were returning heroes, but we did. It was a good day. Woot! Woot!

I’ve played Tabula Rasa to level seven, I guess that makes me entitled to an opinion. The newbie orientation was a bit frustrating, not enough instruction for the tasks assigned. I’m making some headway in figuring things out, the rest will come in time. I read some of the manual. It’s probably time to read it completely now that I know what they are talking about. The “AFS Field Guide,” as they call the user manual, doesn’t seem to have any screen shots of the UI, making it harder to follow.

They say TR is geared towards casual players. Only have 15 minutes to play? You can pop in and make some progress in that time. That’s my style of play, so I’m hopeful I’ll like the game. The death penalty isn’t great at this level, which is a good thing cause I’ve gotten killed quite a few times. Travel is a easy, well almost. Once you’ve visited a camp, you can quickly transport there from another camp. The first time you visit a camp you’ve got to walk. The world’s not safe out there for walkers

TR is ok so far. Often, I’m through with a game after the first 30 minutes. Not here. Check back in a couple of weeks to see if I’m still playing.