Whirly: good to go

I was looking for something to do and somehow decided to start a Warlock – how crazy is that? I’ve made it to level 14 this weekend in little spurts and I’ll have to say it has felt good. This is not my first Warlock by any means, but I’ve never gotten past 20ish or around the time you get the succubus. It just didn’t seem worth the effort to continue once I’d gotten slappy. I call the pets sparky, big blue, and slappy.

A strange thing happened at the Cross Roads tonight. I’d just returned from two quests proud how easily I’d pulled them off with a 13 Lock. There were ten level 70 Alliance players laying waste to Cross Roads, including the guy I needed to finish my quest. No prob, I’ll just sit here on this shipping box and wait for it all to end. I’m listening to a podcast and surfing the web on my other computer, not paying much attention to the big fight, when out of the corner of my eye I see my pet, big blue, engage. Oops, that’s a bad sign. I didn’t even run. I returned from the graveyard flagged PvP.

Ok, I’ll just sit here on this box in ghost form. Later, I noticed I was no longer PvP. I hit the rez button, continued to listen to the podcast (python 411), and mind my own business on the box. I got killed again. This time without a pet. How somebody, who isn’t flagged PvP, can be killed in such a way is a complete mystery to me, but apparently it can be done. Again, no problem. I sat on the box as a ghost till they were all gone before rezzing. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Hellfire Citadel (Ramparts) is a mixed blessing, so far. The experience is incredible for the small part we can reach. The drop loot isn’t bad either. Unfortunately, with only three of us, our technique has been on the crappy side.

First two bridge guards, a walker, two more bridge guards – no problem. Next group of three we start mind controlling one to death and taking the remaining two. A walker with two dogs, another group of three, a couple more, then real trouble. About here is where we run into three casters plus a melee guy. Last night was our first semi-success with them. We mind controlled one caster to death then ran for the entrance. On our return, we mind controlled another caster and took the two remaining. It sounds easy here, but there were a few deaths on our side when things didn’t work out as planned. I’m using ‘planned’ loosely here. It’s really more a considered hope.

We saw the first boss, Watchkeeper Gargolmar, and his two friends. There was also a short lived view of them killing us. Oh well, it was time to call it a night anyway. Everybody should ding 61 Monday. I hope that will make a positive difference in out success in Ramparts. It’s been fun, though challenging. That’s why we came.

Mike and I took our Pally / Druid out for a crawl Saturday. I don’t remember when we played these two last – it’s been a while. We found ourselves parked in Gadgetsan. That seemed as good a place to start as any. I couldn’t remember what level Un’Goro Crater was so we headed in that direction. It starts at 48-50. We are both 45. We found we could do some work there though 50+ mobs take a long time. We stayed less than 30 minutes. We next worked the south wall of Tanaris from Un’Goro to the beach, then up the beach through the pirate camp. It wasn’t very exciting. We ended in The Hinterlands which wasn’t very exciting either.

Our technique changes depending on where we go. Today, my druid pulled, Mike’s Pally tanked, and I healed, nuked, and the occasional cat form. I don’t think we had more than three or four interesting fights in the three hours we played. Pally / Druid combo works well. I know I’ve said that many times, it’s true.

Now that the full group is 60, we’ve been joking about starting over again. We’ve played Tank / Healer / Damage for years in various games. In our joking conversations about alternatives, I’ve been pushing for something completely different. Maybe three Druids, or a combination of Druids and Pallies. I don’t think we could go far in instances without some healing. That means Druid, Pally or Shaman. I don’t know Shaman. The advantage of three Druids is that we could all heal, all tank, all damage. Outside content never seems to work for us, not enough challenge. Any three we build would need to be able to work instances. It doesn’t matter though. We aren’t starting over. At least not till we all ding 70 with our mains or something dramatic happens.

We decided on a trip to Dire Maul. One minor problem, we didn’t have a key. We figured we’d get one. We chased Pusillin down in DM east to get a key. It’s been two years since the last time we did him, so we were a little confused. Working our way to Pusillin’s ledge, we found he wasn’t there. Oops. We’d forgotten you have to interact with him a few times to get him to run to the end. We went back, found him, and finish the thing.

We had problems in Dire Maul West the last time we tried, it’s easier now. Not that we still didn’t have some trouble, there’s only three of us. Not knowing anything, we simply killed the large trees, and what not, clearing a way to Tendris Warpwood who also went down. The Tendris success felt a lot like luck. I don’t think we could take him regularly yet. We continued on into the Circle room with Immol’thar in the center. We took one group in there before calling it a night. I know we were able to do all this because they changed the old world zones with the last patch. Still, it was fun. The patch opened content for us. Zones that are probably underused now.

Ding, ding, ding. We all made level 60. It’s been a fun couple of days.

Friday night, Mike was late – a planned event. We didn’t know how late so Mark and I headed to Blackrock Depths to wait. We’ve been looking for the passage to the parts of the instance we’ve yet to visit. We thought the Highway might be the way, it kind of looks like there’s an entrance on the map. We cleared most of the way to the huge doors. We found no entrance.

We couldn’t proceed further so went wandering and stumbled on the room with the lock for the huge door. After the big unlocking, we cleared a path to the door-passage room, it’s the same room from which we used to jumped down to the highway before we were able to succeed in the Ring of Law. We crossed to the other side and was checking things out when Mike logged in. After picking up Mike we entered the newly found section of Blackrock. The mobs were harder than we were used to, plus it was getting very late. We didn’t get far.

Saturday we headed to Hellfire Peninsula. We worked a handful of outside quests, and all dinged 60. This is my third level 60, Warrior, Hunter, and now Priest – my first Horde 60. I purchased my new spells, there were quite a few, and my new mount.70 here we come.

I’ve been trying to get richer. I have over 6,000 gold, but that doesn’t seem enough. We are only days away from level 60 and new mounts – a minor expense. I find it better to have cash than not. That’s only half true. It’s kind of fun going to a new server with nothing. Should I buy a four slot bag or train first aid? It adds an edge. Then again, starting a new toon knowing it has no financial problems is a good thing. I remember people arguing against twinking, I guess I’m pro-twink.

I’ve been using Auctioneer for a long while, it’s where the 6k came from. Now I’m trying to take it to a new level. I’d like to make 1k a week. I’m not sure that’s possible, horde side, but I’m trying. It’s starting to be a lot of work, so I don’t know how long I’ll be able to continue before I crash. I’ve been buying product for a couple weeks, spending thousands of gold. As I write this, I’ve 57 items up for sale, seven of which are over 100 gold. I don’t know if that’s a lot. Until recently, I kept my inventory down to about two bags, which was more manageable.

I suppose many people disapprove of my making money on the auction house. I’m not ganking anybody though. I buy things at the price asked, never less. I sell at what people wish to pay, never more. I don’t control the market, though, in some ways, I am the market. Who buys the junk you put up for sale? If it’s at a good price, it’s me.

I don’t know why I feel the need for more cash. It is nice being able to buy anything you want at any price, but that doesn’t happen very often. It’s rare we find anything on the auction house that is an upgrade. And, to tell the truth, I like having the cash more than spending it. For what we do, I don’t think stuff is all that important anyway, it’s level that counts. Oh and looks. You’ve got to look good while doing it.

Mike is back, all is well with the world. Mark thought it would be a good idea if we started in Blackrock Depths, so we did. We headed to the coffer room to try our luck. There were a couple of deaths along the way, but we made it in and unlocked the coffers. I’m not sure if we ever finished this thing before. We only half-knew what would happen when the last coffer was opened. Just enough to have Mark’s Warrior open the last. We were able to take the boss that spawns and the four activated stone dudes. They didn’t drop anything, but I picked up a slight upgrade Wand from the dark coffer. It probably wasn’t worth the effort, experience, or loot wise. We enjoyed the challenge anyway. We are even thinking of returning next time. There is so much left unseen.

We were standing around gloating, in the coffer room, when some dude with four friends showed up, killed Mike’s Mage, my Priest and Mark’s Warrior 1 2 3. I don’t know if they were triggered spawn or what. They kicked our butts. I know that.

Mark and I were getting a little tired of Vanguard. It’s been fun, but we’ve both canceled our accounts. It’s hard to get up for a game you’ll never play again. We decided to play WoW even though Mike doesn’t get back until Monday. We didn’t want too much experience, but wanted a challenge, so we headed to Blackrock depths.

I didn’t expect we’d do very well in Blackrock with just and 59 Warrior and Priest. There are large groups in there. Actually, we did fine. We even beat the Ring of Law, which was a complete supprise, though it seemed easier than ever. We spent too long screwing around, having fun, so only made it to, and killed, Lord Incendius.

Mike returns Monday and we get back on the grind-to-70 bike. We are a three person instance running machine. I don’t know how that will transition into The Burning Crusade. I’ll let ya know.