Pets and Fun

What a great week last week to have the pet battle bonus event. I managed to pick up and level 3 of the 4 new falcosaur pets, plus some others that will make some of the world quest achievements easier. Why only 3 and not all 4?

PSA Make sure your pet journal is not capped when you go to get these. I found and fed the Orphaned Sharptalon, but my journal was maxed so he wasn’t added to it. ‘No sweat,’ I said to myself, ‘I’ll just cage some of these dups I’m sitting on and try again.’ Yes, well … because of they way they did it, where it goes right into your journal instead of into your bag, means that once it’s done, it’s done, the quest to obtain it is complete and if your journal is full you are SoL. The only way around it is to do it on another character. SO .. I guess getting another alt to 110 moves up my priority list. I have a couple at 106 so it won’t take too much, I just need time to do it.

One of my favorite world quests is the one in Highmountain where you turn into a creature and get back at the hunters. The cat is plenty fun, but my favorite is getting to be a moose and butting them into oblivion with my antlers.

Also fun was this new transformation when getting tricked at Hallow’s End. I didn’t go out of my way this year but the characters that were in Dalaran hit the one in the Legerdemain. Look out peeps, this spider’s got a gun!

Also, that Kosumuth thing is up this week. I’m still clicking orbs, and I think once I finish that I have to go kill him inside Eye of Azshara to unlock the world quest. I’m not quite sure how to accomplish that because I’ve only done dungeons through LFD. Time to do some research.

Play Time!

At the end of the workday, I will officially be on vacation for a week. That means extra time to play! It probably also means no posts. Sorry about that.

The other day I was browsing Warcraft Pets to see what I had missed so far. (Note to self: remember to visit the ley ruins in Northern Azsuna at night for that manafiend.) I had done all the quests at Bradensbrook, or so I thought, but had totally missed Grumpy in the burning farmhouse! Look at this cute little face, I think he’s my favorite pet so far this expansion, and I missed him!

So I quickly read the notes and most suggested getting Fighter Chow food for the quick regen because running through the fire hurts, especially if you stop in the wrong place and are still in it. But it also said there was a clear spot on the landing, and a clear spot around Grumpy himself. So Hunahuna went and used her answer to all things that cause damage when you run through them … bear form! (If you remember, she used it in her artifact quest to run through the grabby spirit arms instead of using her ranged Solar Beam interrupt to just stop it from being cast.) It worked perfectly, and Grumpy was mine. Yay!

It Only Took a Month

I’ve come a long way from the days when I used to take a week off for an expansion launch so I could level and gear in time to raid. Note that I am not saying there is anything wrong with that, it’s just not what I want to do in the game anymore. Sort of a ‘been there, done that’ scenario. I did, however, decide it was about time I buckle down on one character and get to max level. So the alts (or maybe I should say the OTHER alts) got set aside temporarily while I finished things up with Oranis. He did the loremaster achievements in Azsuna, Stormheim, and Val’sharah. He did all of the class and order hall quests as they came up, and also did one dungeon for a pillar which, naturally, ends up being the dungeon he has to do again later for the class hall campaign. I guess that’s what I get for wanting to just do things as they appear instead of looking them up ahead of time. Anyway, he dinged 110 and hit friendly with the Highmountain all at the same time, completing his rep requirements in the leveling zones and ready to go straight to Suramar.

Suramar is as gorgeous as everyone has been saying. I died a few times, sure, I mean, I’m a fresh 110. Almost all of them were, like, if I’d had just one more pyroblast proc or one more charge on blink the thing would be dead instead of me. No big deal, a couple of pieces of gear (or fewer times fat-fingering ice block so that it’s on CD when I actually need it ahem) and that will improve, it’s all good. I was a bit distressed that the quests were only worth like 25 rep each, so getting to friendly did take longer than I expected. But I had so much to do it didn’t really matter. I wasn’t all that keen on the charging the ley line puzzle, but I enjoyed flitting around Oculeth’s workshop. And the portal system is going to be very useful. I only have two, well three, locations and I already love it. Then again, I’m a mage, of course I love portals.

World quests are … ok. I did a few. I didn’t have a lot of time though by the time I got them unlocked, so that’s probably a project for … well, maybe tonight. When does the event start again? I also got started on the archaeology quest, did the next order hall quest, and got my 5th champion. Fortunately, being dual gathering, I don’t have any professions to worry about. Honestly, with the way professions are gated this time, I’m considering dropping one of Kerick’s crafting profs and picking up the gathering prof that goes with the one I keep. I could do it because Karius and he both have alchemy and I don’t necessarily need two, especially since I’m not raiding. But we’ll see, I might not bother and just say ‘screw professions’ and not do anything with it. My priority for now will just be getting people leveled and prepped for world quests/class hall campaigns.

Adventuring in Azsuna

Now that the weapons are mostly collected, it was time to head out into the world. Oranis, former bank alt, got the nod to be the first one out of the gates. (Actually, Kerick beat him to it, but only did the very first questline so there wasn’t much to report on.)

Harpy’s Nest posted last week about how the Dalaran flightmaster, Aludane Whitecloud, has you pay him to send you out on one of your own mounts. It’s kind of weird but also really cool at the same time. I never would have realized that the Warforged Nightmare leaves a trail of red if he hadn’t, because I never see my mounts from the side while in flight.

Fire is a lot of fun. Not that that is anything new, I’ve always found it enjoyable. But it’s a good bit more durable than it used to be. Aside from Ice Barrier now being baseline for all specs, one of the early traits on the artifact tree heals you when you blink. Coupled with the shimmer talent which gives blink two charges, you can easily get out of harm’s way AND heal up, all without much interruption in your damage.

So he had a good time running around setting everything on fire of the correct hue, not that ghastly green fel stuff. Although he did pretend to be a warlock for a little while when Tehd sent him to find his runaway imp.

Even better, he got to 101 and unlocked the missions in his order hall, so I was able to get the Legion companion app up and running. Now I can work on other characters and still keep him busy … at least until he runs out of order hall resources, then it will be his turn to quest some more.