So, yesterday afternoon, at level 67, I finally healed something other than the free-for-all that is Alterac Valley. I joined a group for the Ring of Blood quest chain in Nagrand, a chain that I've not done on any other characters.
You know what, it was harder than I expected. I think Alterac Valley had left me comlacent - usually a couple of healers throwing heals around, picking up thespikes etc, but being the only healer in a 4 man group was tough going when we got to the last challenge (the guy that rezzes himself). As soon as he rezzed - wallop, the tank went down like a sack of you know what. I tried harder when we got back together after the wipe, and thought I'd done all I could until one of the guys said "First time healing, Ano?". Hmm, thanks mate. To be fair, he was fine about it, and once I realised that the 'bloom' in Lifebloom could be used to your advantage then things got a little easier. Makes me worry a little about healing a 5-man instance though.
On another note, I found a great post over on Aspect of the Hare about tree healing which helped me understand some of the heals that I'm not really using (hello Swiftmend, Nourish etc). Will be good to give those a go at the next opportunity.
Finally, I came across something really odd yesterday in AV - the Horde were actually PVPing. Really strange, no-one new what to do; just goes to show that AV is now more of a PVE race to get XP than anything else. Certainly not complaining though - I went from 58-60 purely through AV, so it's a great tool for levelling quickly, particularly as Alliance seems to win a lot on my server.
This weekend should see me hitting 68; I'll probably spend some time getting a bit closer to 70 before heading off to Northrend, if I can resist the temptation...
Friday 23 October 2009
Wednesday 21 October 2009
From a tiny acorn...
I have a job. A proper job, with responsibilities and budgets and everything. I'm also married, and I don't live with my mum.
All things that may surprise the man on the street when it comes to their idea of someone that plays online games. However, also things that mean that my playtime is pretty limited. Generally speaking, I'll play on the laptop, at night, after my significant other has dropped off to sleep. This gives me maybe a couple of hours play at most (work in the morning, remember), making it difficult to commit to prearranged group things.
I've currently got a couple of characters that I play on. My main (if I can still call him that) is a level 80 hunter. The problem is, being limited to what I can do means that at 80 I was running out of things to do; I'd maxed fishing, which originally filled in some time, I got the Explorer title, and the Ambassador title from the Colliseum quests, but then what? Keep running the dailies? Some Wintergrasp maybe?
I took the decision to use some of those Stone Keeper's shards to buy some Exceptional Stormshroud Shoulders for a new Druid alt, and I've been running him up through the levels. It's been a while since I've levelled from scratch, and it's amazing how quickly the levels have flown past; the new levelling changes brought in, combined with the 10% XP boost from the shoulders makes things fly along.
I've also been running with the Tourguide addon, in conjunction with Jame's levelling guide. For those of you not familiar with it, Jame's levelling guides are great, particularly for those light on time, or those that have levelled already. I used his website whilst levelling my level 80 hunter, which encourages a little more interaction with your environment and the quest text, but for this alt I installed Tourguide which gives you a list of places to go, quest to pick up, monsters to kill in the most efficient order, along with a big green GPS style arrow pointing in the direction of the next objective. Great for those with limited playtime, maximising your XP gains.
So, in the past few weeks I've managed to get my druid up to level 66. This has been through a combination of questing, and a bit of BGs now that they give XP. It was great finally being able to contribute in places like WSG without being twinked out completely. In fact, once I got to the mid-50s, I levelled almost exclusively in Alterac Valley, having heard about the great XP to be gained on wow.com. OK, so hardly any PVP goes on, but for those looking to get levelled up quickly it's great.
I also dual specced, so I'm now Feral / Resto. Resto's a great place to be in AV - I'm finding myself really useful, sitting there HOT'ing people. My first main was a Paladin, so I think that's where my heart lies.
So, next time I'll talk about the trials and tribulations of a new druid, learnign the ropes, and the challenges of playing late at night.
All things that may surprise the man on the street when it comes to their idea of someone that plays online games. However, also things that mean that my playtime is pretty limited. Generally speaking, I'll play on the laptop, at night, after my significant other has dropped off to sleep. This gives me maybe a couple of hours play at most (work in the morning, remember), making it difficult to commit to prearranged group things.
I've currently got a couple of characters that I play on. My main (if I can still call him that) is a level 80 hunter. The problem is, being limited to what I can do means that at 80 I was running out of things to do; I'd maxed fishing, which originally filled in some time, I got the Explorer title, and the Ambassador title from the Colliseum quests, but then what? Keep running the dailies? Some Wintergrasp maybe?
I took the decision to use some of those Stone Keeper's shards to buy some Exceptional Stormshroud Shoulders for a new Druid alt, and I've been running him up through the levels. It's been a while since I've levelled from scratch, and it's amazing how quickly the levels have flown past; the new levelling changes brought in, combined with the 10% XP boost from the shoulders makes things fly along.
I've also been running with the Tourguide addon, in conjunction with Jame's levelling guide. For those of you not familiar with it, Jame's levelling guides are great, particularly for those light on time, or those that have levelled already. I used his website whilst levelling my level 80 hunter, which encourages a little more interaction with your environment and the quest text, but for this alt I installed Tourguide which gives you a list of places to go, quest to pick up, monsters to kill in the most efficient order, along with a big green GPS style arrow pointing in the direction of the next objective. Great for those with limited playtime, maximising your XP gains.
So, in the past few weeks I've managed to get my druid up to level 66. This has been through a combination of questing, and a bit of BGs now that they give XP. It was great finally being able to contribute in places like WSG without being twinked out completely. In fact, once I got to the mid-50s, I levelled almost exclusively in Alterac Valley, having heard about the great XP to be gained on wow.com. OK, so hardly any PVP goes on, but for those looking to get levelled up quickly it's great.
I also dual specced, so I'm now Feral / Resto. Resto's a great place to be in AV - I'm finding myself really useful, sitting there HOT'ing people. My first main was a Paladin, so I think that's where my heart lies.
So, next time I'll talk about the trials and tribulations of a new druid, learnign the ropes, and the challenges of playing late at night.
Something new
Well, what do you talk about on your first ever blog post? I guess an introduction is in order...
Well, I'm a World of Warcraft player, living in the UK. Maybe I'm a little older than the rest of the player base (the wrong side of 35...), but still loving the game after three years.
I'm going to be using this blog to talk about some of the things I'm interested in within WoW, and maybe some of the challenges that I come across and (try to) solve others will also be experiencing. I'm an absolute sponge when it comes to WoW info, and spend far too much time reading about what's going on, and trying to get information on how to play better, or get the most out of the game.
This week, I am mostly interested in making gold, levelling my druid, and trying to work out how to apologise to the guild that my main is in for not going on him for so long...sorry guys.
Well, I'm a World of Warcraft player, living in the UK. Maybe I'm a little older than the rest of the player base (the wrong side of 35...), but still loving the game after three years.
I'm going to be using this blog to talk about some of the things I'm interested in within WoW, and maybe some of the challenges that I come across and (try to) solve others will also be experiencing. I'm an absolute sponge when it comes to WoW info, and spend far too much time reading about what's going on, and trying to get information on how to play better, or get the most out of the game.
This week, I am mostly interested in making gold, levelling my druid, and trying to work out how to apologise to the guild that my main is in for not going on him for so long...sorry guys.