Ding 100!

100!

How I got there,  ... from 98 to 100.

I made a lot of leveling progress by running a current content dungeon.  A first!

How did it happen that I am running "current content dungeons", you might ask? [typing those words still kinda freaks me out.  I cannot believe that I have progressed far enough in the game to be running current content dungeons!]

Vier called one evening as asked if I wanted to run High Maul with her.  "um, ... OK."  [thinking to self, this ought to be interesting!]  By the time I got online and in-game, the adrenaline was running high.

"Crap!", said Vier, "um, ... sorry, ... I forgot you weren't at max level yet."

Taking pity on me, and because she had roused me from reading my book into an adrenaline rush - she offered to run a "my level" dungeon with me.

Already at the "OK, why the hell not!" mind set, I agreed.

"Crap!", [again!] " ... your gear isn't a high enough ilvl to join in the lowest current content dungeon."  

No problem, I know exactly what the next level weapon is that I want, now to find the quest string that rewards it.  I thought I found it. After doing a dizzying couple of quests in what I thought was the right area, realized, ... it wasn't the right place.  The rewards I was getting were way too lo level.

Just think about that for a second ...  ... I found a quest chain to do that was was too LOW a level for me.  ME!

As I was Alt-Tabbing in and out of wowhead/the game, trying to find the quest chain for my next big-ass-purple-sword [Restalaan's Great Sword], Vier disappeared for a bit.

"Come to my garrison" she says.

"but I think I found the right quest hub, it's right close by here, and, ...  the garrisons are way over there [remember, no flying in Draenor] ... ", I whined.

"just come to my garrison, I have a sword for you.  I just bought it at the AH."

"You are so like your father.  No problem too great, or too small, that throwing a little money at it won't solve".

I'm not even going to think about, or ask about, how much gold she threw away on my new sword.  It was JUST enough to get my ilvl at exactly the minimum to enter the dungeon.

As I was to learn later, Skyreach is the first dungeon in WoD. Remember way back, when I was given a week-long homework assignment to learn about the bosses in Throne of Thunder?  Red Bear does!  She helped me study over two weeks, even though she had absolutely no interest or knowledge of the game!  Imagine the thrill of helping someone study for something you don't know anything about, or could care less about!  That is friendship!

Now, Vier and I are sitting in a queue for a dungeon that I not only don't know the name of, I don't have a hairy-rat's-ass clue what it's about!

While we wait, Vier's giving me some pointers.

"Just attack what the tank does, but don't attack anything until the tank starts."

"Don't run ahead."

"Just follow the group."

And a summary of the encounter, which I vaguely remember was a lot of typing about ... not falling off ledges,... lots of birds, ... and many "up the stairs" references.

"Watch the chat window!"

My head spinning, I asked some important questions.  "How can I tell who the tank is?"  "How do I know what the tank is attacking?"

To her credit, Vier did not feign an internet outage and disappear offline!   She didn't even make the most horrible sound in the game, by using her "feign death" ability!  Such a loving daughter. [It's at times like these that I'm sure she questions herself about why she was ever so hot and bothered to get me into the game - lol - ]

Something I had long wanted to know, has such a simple solution it makes me slightly crazy.

• The tank has the Shield-symbol by their name in the group list on the left. 
• The Healer symbol is the + cross sign.   

Have a look in the upper-left of the screenshot all you non-WoW readers.  See the list of character portraits up there?  The top one has a white + sign, the second one has a shield and the other two have sword.  At least I think that's supposed to be a sword - even viewing it at 100% magnification, I have a hard time telling exactly what it is, but the red background behind the sword stands out.  Red for Danger!  That's us Damage Dealing [DPS] guys 'n gals, danger on the run! lol

Doh!

And we're in!

My first current content dungeon.

The good, the bad, and the ugly, of World of Warcraft.

The Bad.  

The first tank we had in our group was an ass-hat.  Plain and simple.  During our first run, I got swept off the ledge by the Jet Steam imitation "wind river".

C'mon, we all knew THAT was going to happen.  

I got healed right away and all I had to do was run up to where I left the group.  Around the ledge, up the stairs, .. uh oh, two stairs to choose from ... choose left?  choose right?  Of course I chose wrong and ended up in the middle of a fight with the mobs on the side we didn't clear ... Of course I died again.

So instead of just sitting there feeling stupid and not playing, I typed in chat ... "Sorry, I'm lost".

Ass-hat:  "what?  she doesn't remember the route we took?"  No, ass-hat she doesn't.

Vier: "Her first dungeon".

While the group waited for Vier to come escort me back to where everyone else was [dammit, choose the --clear-- stair case Nor, not the one with mobs on it!] Ass-hat is querying Vier's spec and wondering why her DPS is so high.

"I've never ran with anyone that has twice the DPS as I have" ponders Ass-Hat.

Being a terrible person and a bitch, and feeling stupid for not remembering the route we took, I typed

" ... 'cause she's awesome" [but didn't type "ass hat"].  

The Good.  

Ass-hat left our group.  While we were waiting for a new tank, I asked the healer and Vier some questions.

I felt like maybe I was doing something wrong 'cause I was the only player getting up close and personal with the Boss and adds, was I doing something wrong?  Nope, just happened that I was the only melee DPS in the group.  OH!, OK, that's cool.  I forget now what other lame questions I asked but the explanations made sense and cleared things up for me.

Our new tank, our healer and the rest of the group, were awesome ... The second run went so well.  I kept up.  I didn't fall off the ledge.  The other DPS, the healer, and Vier, all cheered when I made it!  We had, I don't remember how many, great runs.  I actually felt like I was getting the hang of it.  Other people were making mistakes too, not just me.  I fell off the ledge again, got rezzed and found my way back all by myself.

I had a lot of fun!  

The Ugly.

The only ugly part would be my DPS statistics.  But, ... being a smart cookie, I didn't even bother to look at the numbers.  Not that I would remember how to do that anyway, but knowing the numbers would just depress me.  I decided that I didn't need to know.  They'll only get better anyway! lol  Living by the River De'Nile is a blissful place.

Besides looting some great tokens for gear that "requires level 100", [wow, 3 good pieces to start off when I finally get there], "Holy Crap!" Sometime during the dungeon runs, ... I dinged 99 and was well on my way to 100!

I did most of my levelling from 99 to 100 by doing the Bonus Quests [which grant a lot of gold that I'd need to upgrade my Garrison] and, of all things, hunting a Snowy Owl [Battle Pet for the non-WoW readers] in Winterspring.

The Snowy Owls only spawn during real-life Northern Hemisphere winter, Dec. 21 - Mar. 20.  In addition to being a time-limited pet to collect, it is also a less-than-plentiful spawn, and a bit of a PITA to:

1. find a Snowy Owl Battle Pet, 
2. have a rare quality show up and, 
3. successfully trap it!  

The very first one I found spawned was a rare and I was so excited I killed it!

Also in Winterspring, I discovered, are quite a few mechanical pets [mechanicals being some of my faves], a "free" Frostsaber Mount, and a couple of other easy achievements that I forget, y'know, it being a whole 10 days or so later as I type this!

Which brings us to March 18, 2015.

I was out and about, mining, and collecting cooking meat, when I noticed I was about to hit 100.

I very carefully ran back to my garrison.  Carefully, as in taking care not to aggro some random mob and hit 100 by killing a wolf, or worse, one of those annoying little flower dudes.  Just for the eye-roll inducing pleasure of it all, I wanted to ding 100 as I handed in a Daily at my Fishing Shack.  Just because ... reasons.

W00t!

 I DID IT!
It only took sixteen months to reach max level!

Woo Hoo!
 --two arms raised in joy--

Yippee!

I reached 100 and I'm finished the game!

ROLFLMAO
Just kidding!

Playing WoW is like "reading the internets", ...you never finish!  There is always something interesting, cool, or confounding, at the next mouse click.

So what now? ... ... In no particular order:

• finish my Crazy Cat Lady title.
• finish the Darnassus and Ironforge Lunch Lady achievements.
• gather the pieces for my Lightsworn Garb (Recolor) set.
• Sushel - change profession to engineer, level into WoD, and get her garrison going.
• Saelybrooke - get her to level 60 so I can boost her and her professions of Alchemy and Herbalism, level her into WoD, and get her Garrison going.
• Soozuu - figure out how to level, gear for, and play PvP. Also, level her Tailoring to make many big bags.
• Gnome Death Knight - start an alt, just because I want a teeny "cute" gnome playing the bad-ass-est spec in the game!
• Bank Alt with a Guild Bank - I need to start a bank alt that I won't be tempted to play and level, who will stay just a bank alt.  So I'm thinking a human, male, something.  Probably a Ret. Pally just because it will be my third and I won't be tempted to level that!  I also have to learn how to set up a one-person guild to get a guild bank to store my crap.  I wonder if that is "legal"? Research Required.
• level fifteen pets to pet level twenty-five so I can take on all the Pet Tamers, the August Celestials, and get my damn Safari Hat.So I can open the Pet Menagerie in my garrison, to have all my cat pets running around the ol' castle. To go with my Crazy Cat Lady Title. [I was confused about how to open the Pet Menagerie, I've since discovered how easy it is and mine has been opened]  
• finish my Crazy Cat Lady mini-scrapbook that Red Bear made for me.  ah ... the collision of my life in WoW and IRL activities! [in real life, Red Bear made me a Scrapbook for my Crazy Cat Lady status irl and, hopefully, in WoW]
• run all the dungeons with Mr. Kitty. [my new WoW friend whom I've dubbed Mr. Kitty because of his battle tag I.D.]
• get Vier to update my Profile Pic! [as soon as I take a good screenshot for it!]

That's all for now!  Ciao!  Nor.

Dungeons -- Brewfest -- Ret. Pally -- Flyin' High

In August, I took a week off from WoW to have company, Red Bear came to visit irl!  Then I took a couple of weeks off to recover from Red Bear's visit!  And then I got back to Wow realizing ... OMG only two months til WoD drops!

ACK!

OK, we're up to mid-September in the screenshots and level 74.

Vier was getting bored with my questing so for a few days she ran me through some dungeons.  Which was "Holy Crap" Scary at first.  Though, I was getting some sweet gear - like my glowy, shiny, big axe!  And rackin' up the gold ... gotta get to 5,000 gold so I can get Northrend flying and mount!

Here we are in one of my first dungeon runs.

In the Titan Place - very cool.  Very Mines-of-Moria.

At the same time, I was studying to take my Dual Spec live, something I was very nervous about.  Several times I had the thought "just sign in, and Do It!"  But, I'd chicken out.

When I started my Bank Alt, Soozuu, I even made her a Ret. Pally to see what that was like from the ground up.

[for the non-WoW readers: Retribution Paladin.  The damage-dealing specialization of the Paladins.

In Wow, whenever you get into a group, you can play one of three roles:

• a Tank [which I have no earthly idea what they do or how they do it], 
• a Healer [which I told Vier I wanted to be 'cause I had the naive notion I wouldn't be killing things, or killing a lesser number of things -- rolls eyes--], or, 
• a Damage Dealer.  

What I didn't know, and I don't think I would have listened if Vier told me, was that every group has at least One Tank, One Healer and Many Damage-Dealers [DPS].  When you're starting out, it's easier to hide your ineptness if you're one of many v.s. the One Healer - who, if she screws up - wipes or wrecks the whole group.]

So yes, I was makin' a bank alt and I figured I'd get some "sneak" WoW time.  Time when Vier wouldn't be looking over my shoulder and chiding me for not concentrating on questing and wasting my time fishing.  I even joined a different guild on a whim!

I didn't recognize Vier in this spiffy get-up!

Busted!

Might as well get back into my "real" guild!  And of course, do some fishin'!

Soozuu in Fists with her White Kitten Gift.

Holy Crap!  I caught Old Ironjaw!

Old Ironjaw is mine!  

"The legendary uncatchable fish of Ironforge"   According to El's Angling, catching him is a less than one percent chance! Wow!

Now apparently I have to sneak into Orgrimmar to fish up Ol' Crafty!  Not looking forward to that, go to the link and read the first comment by Dsc666.

I got my Holy Paladin up to the low-70s, healing all the way but during my reading on Ret. Pallies, I've been learning that questing as a healer is not as easy as questing as a DPS [damage dealer].  The tipping point came when I had done so much Ret. Pally studying, that it was interfering with my actions as a Holy Pally.  That was when I knew it was definitely time to switch.

So, there was a day lost trying to figure out how to switch back and forth between the two specs and setting up my action bars for the Ret. Pally spec.

I took a day to re-visit some low level areas and get used to being a Ret. Pally.

Nether Faerie Dragon

woo hoo!  I caught me a Sprite Darter thingy in Feralas!  Drat.  Nope.  I caught a Nether Faerie Dragon  in Feralas, which is cool enough.  But it's the Sprite Darter Hatchling I really want.  Next time.

Got some Explorer Achievements.

Cape of Stranglethorn fully explored!

Got my Brewfest Wolpertinger.

It's a Rabbit with Antlers!

Defeated the Dark Iron Dwarves.

No, my new computer isn't crapping out.  The screenshots are blurry 'cauze I bin drinkin' ... hic!

Drank a Lot!

that's a lotta brewskies

 
Ate my way through the Brewfest Diet!

and a lotta sausages!

Can't help but think of my Papa and the rest of my family out at the lake, eatin' sausages and drinkin' beer!

And saw some cool mounts and pets with other 'toons at Brewfest.

sobering up!

I was feeling pretty confident with my Ret. Pally skills after Brewfest, but just to be sure, I went over to Borean Tundra to do the Airport Quests that I missed the first time I was there.

Now I'm REALLY flying!

Fizzcrank Fullthrottle at the Fizzcrank Airstrip

Fizzcrank Fullthrottle started three sets of four or five quests that had me flyin' to Dalaran in a Gnome Aircraft!

Though why they're equipped with floats for a frozen northern zone is beyond me!

That was a LOT of fun!

Great STOL characteristics on this plane!

Vier dropped by on her fancy flyin' disc and ran me through the spider dungeons.

That was NOT fun.

 O.M.G.  

ugh  HUGE spiders and webs everywhere!

shudder

but ...  Ding 76!  YaY!

Now, I've been a Ret. Pally for a few weeks and I ain't lookin' back!

First Daily Quest - First Dungeon

My last two WoW sessions a week ago, just about did me in.

 I had a lot of firsts: my first Dungeon, my first Daily Quest, and my first Raid!  A week ago, after a long six hours in game, I was invited to watch a raid with Vier and her team. To recuperate, I slept almost through 24 hours in a row, ... twice!

Had a couple of craft days, just to get away from the computer.  Then another lengthy meta-gaming session.  The end result, I am way overdue to make some blog posts, I've forgotten more than I remember, and now this is in the "just get it done" realm of life.

But, ... we have screenshots!

[I don't know about you, but I love pictures.  Reminder: If you want to see the whole thing in large format, to read the writing, right-click and open in a new window]

On Saturday, February 1. 2014 we set about finishing the Nesingwary quest line. Here we're about to set to demolishing a few tigers with Simon along just to make us look a more intimidating team!

This next shot is indicative of the undercurrent of cruel that lives in Vier's heart.  I had been riding on Vier as her Obsidian Nightwing, we were taking a boat from Stormwind to I-don't-remember-where.  She landed on the sticky-outy thing on the front of the boat, morphed back to herself as a night elf, walked off the long sticky-outy thing, leaving me there.  Casually saying "Don't fall off" as she walked back onto the boat.  I promptly withdrew my hands from my mouse and keyboard, pushed my chair back and just watched.

Vier mentioned that she should find a dungeon for me to do and I told her I had one in my quest log.  Off to Dun Morogh and Exploring Gnomeregan!

Here we are about to enter the dungeon --- eek!  "Just stay behind me!" was Vier's rule for the adventure.

As an aside, Vier had mentioned, excitedly, that she had had her gear "transmorgged" since we were last together.  "Good for you!" I replied, hoping to sound enthusiastic, but in reality not having a hot clue what she was talking about.  It wasn't until I was reviewing the screenshots that I noticed that she and Simon are look-alikes!  I was later informed that "transmorgging" is making gear look different from what it really looks like.  And she chose to have hers look like Simon!  Here I am being a good doobie and staying in back, hiding behind Simon.

Hmm, ... where to next?

Permission granted to step forward for a screenshot!

Even though we didn't successfully complete the dungeon, I gained a ton of experience, some cash and some fantastic loot.

~~~

I wanted to try out a Daily Quest to see what they were all about, and here I am on my first fishing daily.  Catherine Leland sent me to Olivia's Pond to dig up some earthworms and catch 4 specific fish.  It was a lovely little quest, and I discovered a new fishing hole that I enjoy!

While we were there, Dan happened along and we started chatting about fishing.  In real life, Vier hates it when her father and I talk about our work, in WoW life, she hates it when Dan and I are talking fishing.

In-game, Vier is my mentor, my hero, my rescue-er, our mother-daughter roles fall away, we're just characters in the game.

 Which gives license to:

...  trying to set me on fire,

... affixing me with the Mask of Shame,

... doing 360's on her fishing raft and interfering with my fishing casts,

...  - generally being a high-energy, dexterous, brat!

In the shot below, the fire on the right is one I set to do some cooking.  The one in the water is the one Vier tried to set on top of me!

After Dan told me about El's Angling, I had to go check it out and then spend some quiet time back at "home".   I wanted to document some fish catches, Oily Blackmouth and Rainbow Fin Albacore, on the north coast of Ammen Vale.

You can see them in my back-pack and documented in the chat log.

Taking pictures of my mounts.
Here I am on my Purple Elekk and the Exarch's Elekk is shown on the Mount interface.

Here I am on my Exarch's Elekk and the Purple Elekk is shown on the Mount interface.

I do prefer the Purple Elekk [I still need a name for her].  The seat is more comfy looking and, well ... she's purple!  However, the Exarch's Elekk is meaner looking.  He's far more wrinkled, he has fierce glowy eyes, and his tusks and horns are darker with more accessories.

Those are the big memories I have of last Saturday.

Nor.